Rodgers POV
Danny came by the morgue and filled me in on everything that was happening. I had expected it to be bad, but this was so much worse than I anticipated.
Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to stay for long and as much as I would've liked to, I couldn't leave work to go with him.
Because I did have a boss to please, and although I could often times come and go at will, I had been doing that a lot lately. The boss had asked me specifically to work through the weekend, so I felt that I needed to do so unless a seriously major crisis occurred in which I could actually be of some help.
At this point, I wouldn't be much use other than moral support.
Although, considering my area of expertise, I hoped that they never would need my help.
I gave a lot of thought to Carolyn throughout the course of the day.
I wondered what she was going through, and I thought back to the time that she and Mike had welcomed me into their home.
I barely knew her then. In anything other than a professional capacity anyway.
But she had been perfectly willing to put her life on hold to help me sort out mine.
There weren't many people like that anymore, and I felt lucky to know her, and to be able to consider her a friend.
She wasn't outspoken like Alex, so it was going to take longer to get beneath the surface, but I had a good feeling that it would be worth it.
I only prayed that I would still get the opportunity to learn more about her.
Although I had heard some stories about her.
I'd gotten together with her and Alex a time or two over the past month, and while it was usually Alex doing the telling, Carolyn would add a modest detail every now and then.
I knew how she had single-handedly taken out two good ol' boys down in North Carolina. And she'd offered to go one-on-one against a man twice her size in order to end a stand-off.
Not to mention the incredible patience and understanding that she must possess in order to be able to love a man like Mike Logan.
And it wasn't that I didn't see Mike's assets. Literally, I thought with a smile.
But he surely wasn't an easy man.
So I knew that Carolyn was smart and tough and wily, but unfortunately that wasn't always enough. It only took one bullet…or two meaty hands around a throat...or something equally indefensible to end it all.
I knew that all too well.
I didn't hear back from Danny until nearly seven o'clock. I was on hour thirty-six of my forty-eight hour shift and sucking down my twelfth cup of coffee.
"Logan's supposed to be meeting with Rhonda out at Inwood Hill Park," he told me. "I'm going to have my phone off."
"Okay. How's he holding up?"
"Not well. It's been a long day, and everything we're learning is bad news," he admitted.
"Do you need me there?" I offered.
Maybe this was the seriously major crisis. If something happened to Carolyn…
"The Gorens and I will have the park entrances covered. It's not that big of a place. I've got Bernard stopping by to give us a hand, too. I think we'll be alright."
"Bernard? The new guy?"
"Yeah. He might make the cut."
"Call me when you know something, okay? Anything."
"I will. I promise."
I hung up the phone, but couldn't shake the feeling of portent.
And the knot in my stomach got increasingly worse as the minutes dragged by.
I wasn't working on an autopsy at the moment, but rather finishing a report from one I'd done earlier, so I kept looking at the clock.
Seven-ten.
Seven-fifteen.
Seven-twenty.
Surely the meeting had taken place by now. Were they in pursuit? Had they caught Rhonda? Had they found Carolyn?
The waiting was killing me.
When my phone rang, I snatched it up before the first ring finished.
"Rodgers," I barked into the phone, because I hadn't checked the display.
"Got a body for you."
Obviously, it wasn't Danny. It was my dispatcher.
"Okay," I sighed. "Where?"
And when he told me the address, I very nearly broke down.
"In the house or outside?" I asked, struggling desperately to keep the panic out of my voice. I got up from my desk and grabbed the van keys from the hook.
"Outside. On the sidewalk in front of the house."
His reply only barely tempered my fear. It was possible that it was unrelated.
"Who is it?" I asked as I made my way out of the morgue.
"What?"
"Who is it?" I repeated, even though I knew that we weren't in the business of worrying about the identity. That was for the cops. And us if we needed to make a determination later, but as far as on-scene went, it was irrelevant. I still couldn't help myself. "Is there an I.D.?"
"Dr. Rodgers, we don't ask that," the dispatcher reminded me in confusion.
"Do you at least know if the victim is male or female?"
"Uh, no. I'm sorry. I don't have any details."
I hung up the phone and hustled through the parking lot.
I could feel the bile rising in my throat as I fought against the encroaching fear.
I debated calling the 6-9, maybe insist on getting the names of the officers on scene so that I could find out what I needed to know, but then I decided to just concentrate on my driving.
If I did that, I'd probably get there faster than I could learn the answers any other way.
But it just couldn't be her.
And I kept telling myself that over and over as I maneuvered the van at top speed to the indicated address.
The home of the Logans.
Ross POV
I called Liz just before we went into the park because I didn't want her to worry if she couldn't reach me by phone.
It was the courteous thing to do, and I was trying hard to be a better husband.
I had barely talked to her all day, but she'd been working and I usually don't interrupt her while she's working if I can help it, but in all honesty, I was missing her a little bit. She'd been at the damn morgue since early Saturday morning.
So I called her to fill her in on the latest, and to let her know that I'd be inaccessible.
And then I went to my previously determined location in the park and waited.
We'd checked the entire park out earlier in the day, and found the best places to keep an eye on the entrances.
There were four of them, so I'd enlisted Bernard's help. He was off the clock, which was good since I was really off the grid at the moment.
I'd sort of made up my mind that if this thing continued on into Monday, I might have to come up with some sort of creative explanation for what had been going on.
Maybe I'd get Alex to help me with that.
I shook my head at the irony of my thoughts and checked my watch again.
It was seven-thirty.
I had a feeling by this point that Rhonda wasn't going to show, but the biggest question was why not?
Had she spotted me or the others?
Did she sense a sting?
Or did she have another reason for bringing Mike to this location? What would that do for her?
I considered that for a moment while I kept my eyes trained on the entrance.
For starters, it would let her know where he was.
And where he wasn't.
"Ready to hang it up, Logan?" I said into the com device.
"Ten more minutes," he replied.
And I didn't blame him for wanting to stick with it, but at the same time, I was starting to get a bad feeling about this whole thing.
Why would she do this, I asked myself for the hundredth time.
Had something gone wrong? Is that why she hadn't shown?
Maybe Carolyn had overpowered her. It was a plausible explanation, but if that was the case, wouldn't she have called Logan by now?
We didn't give it ten more minutes. We gave it fifteen. And still no Rhonda.
"Okay," Logan conceded. "Let's wrap it up."
I moved from my spot and walked to the rendezvous point. As I did so, I clicked my phone back to vibrate, but I hadn't even put it back in my pocket before it started buzzing.
"Danny!"
"Liz? What's wrong?" The fear coiled in my stomach at the sound of my wife in such an uncharacteristic state of distress.
"I'm at the Logans," she said, and then her voice cracked. "There's a body…"
"What? Is it her?"
"Is what her?" Mike shouted, running toward me. He had just come up from the bench where he'd been waiting. "Is that Rodgers?"
I held out my hand to Logan, getting him to stop talking so that I could hear her.
"I don't know," Liz was saying. "I…I can't…her face is beaten…"
"Oh my God," I whispered, and I ran my hand over my face, completely at a loss for what to say to Logan.
"It's a female," Liz continued. "About five-two, dark hair, slight build…but I can't say for sure. I just don't know."
"Okay, calm down. There's no ID on the body?"
"Body?" Logan yelled. "Oh no…no, no, no…"
Logan turned away from me and started walking aimlessly. He was coming completely unglued.
Hell, we all were.
Both Gorens had just shown up and quickly caught on to the situation. Bobby started walking with Mike, and Alex stood staring at me in disbelief.
I noticed Bernard standing a few feet back from everyone. I'd almost forgotten he was here.
"That's the thing," she said. "There is ID. It says Carolyn Barek."
"Don't move her yet," I ordered. "We're on the way."
I hung up with her and called to Logan.
"We don't know anything yet. Let's go."
"I'll drive," Bernard offered, and I was grateful. Of the five of us, he was the only one not overcome by emotion.
We piled into his sedan and he turned on the lights and sirens. I gave him the address, and then got on the phone with the captain at the 6-9.
"There's a body that's been recovered in your jurisdiction," I stated. "I wanted to give you a heads-up that this is now a Major Case investigation."
"Why is that?" the captain argued.
"The body was placed in front of the home of one of my former detectives, and the suspect is currently under investigation by my department. If you need further explanation, you can take it up with the commissioner. Are we clear?" I shouted.
I didn't want to waste my time explaining myself to this jackass. I was the captain of Major Case. If I wanted a damn case, I was going to take it.
I hung up the phone and looked at Bernard as he skillfully weaved his way through traffic.
"You're now officially on the clock," I told him. "This case is yours. Don't screw it up."
We arrived down the block from the Logans' house, and Bernard got as close as he could due to the barricaded scene. He parked crossways in the middle of the road, right up next to the crime scene tape, and then we all got out of the car.
I could see Liz bending over the body, and my heart was in my throat.
Logan was walking next to me, slowly as though he didn't want to face reality.
But as we got closer, he sped up and we all kept pace.
"We can't let you in here," one of the officers said as we approached.
"Detective Bernard, Major Case," Bernard said as he flashed the officer his badge and took him by the elbow. "This is my captain. Let them pass."
I was glad that he'd handled it because I felt incapable of doing anything but look at the body.
Was it her?
I narrowed my eyes and tried to find some point of dispute. Something about her that would tell me, it's not Carolyn.
"That's her sweater," Logan mumbled, and then he ran the last ten yards before dropping to his knees next to Liz.
I made no effort to stop him from touching the body, nor did Liz, even though we both should have.
Liz stood up and came next to me while Alex and Bobby each knelt down on either side of Logan.
"Still no confirmation?" I asked her, still watching Logan. He reached over and picked up her hand, and I noticed the wedding rings firmly in place on the victim.
Carolyn's were unique. I remembered wondering when I'd first seen the engagement ring why Logan had picked sapphire, but after seeing it on her, I'd understood.
It suited her perfectly.
And as I looked at the rings now, I saw that the stone sparkled dark blue under the police spotlights, and my hopes were dashed.
TBC...
