Chapter Eleven – Give Me A Reason
"Simon put you up to this, didn't he?"
Olivia glanced at Ruby before settling her eyes back on the road again.
"Why would you say that?"
"Because Simon had told me stories about you and Peter. There's no way that this would be happening without him requesting it."
Olivia smiled slightly.
"Letting you in on the case, that was his request. After seeing you dissect Mrs Green's heart and hearing you went to medical school allowed me to invite you on this particular adventure."
"Well, I appreciate it. It's been driving me crazy being at home with Julia. I don't think I am built for domesticity."
"It's not easy."
"You do it."
"Not quite. I still get to run cases even though I play house with Peter. And Walter for the moment."
"That must be a task."
"Living with Walter? Certainly is. Which is why we spend most of our time at my apartment. Mrs Green used to live in the apartment above mine and the running water created a leak in my apartment. So I get to play house with the both of them for a while."
Ruby shook her head.
"I don't know how you do that."
"What? Live with Walter?"
Ruby chuckled.
"No. Living and working with Peter."
Olivia shrugged.
"It's not too bad. You would know. You were in Antarctica for six months with Simon."
Ruby's mouth pinched.
"Yeah, that wasn't what I expected when I went there. Did Simon tell you how I ended up there?"
Olivia shook her head. Ruby sighed.
"I watched someone I worked with get murdered. And it changed things, you know? I couldn't do my job the way I used too. I couldn't find that passion or drive anymore. When I got offered the position to Antarctica, I took it. I needed some time to think, I needed time to breathe."
Olivia frowned.
"I'm sorry. I've been through that too. A good friend of mine was murdered. But I had it a little easier. Peter was there to help me where he could."
"Simon tries. He wants to make our life good but it's hard. I went from a life of action and movement to a life of house hunting and baking. It's a hard change to make when I'm still grieving that friend that I lost. Simon wants to be normal, he wants to get a boring job and live in a house with kids and a dog. I just don't know if I can be like that too."
It was long confession, an unexpected one that made Olivia feel terrible for Simon. He loved Ruby, wanted her in his life but clearly there were still things that needed to be worked out. It seemed to Olivia that Simon got wrapped up in this idea of life outside of being classified and Ruby got tugged along for the ride.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. You barely know me and here I am just chucking my problems at you."
"Don't apologize. And believe it or not, I understand your issues, I really do. Just give yourself time, that's all. Things will slide into place."
"It's not that simple."
"Why?"
"Because Simon wants me to marry him. I found the ring in his pants when I was getting our laundry together."
"Oh."
"You knew?"
"He mentioned it when we were doing the dishes the other night."
Ruby chewed on the corner of her thumb.
"It's too much pressure."
Olivia parked the car near the crime scene and turned in her seat to look at Roby properly.
"Do you love Simon?"
"Yes."
"If he's the man I know him to be, he's going to be fine. You would not believe what Peter has had to put up with to be with me and I with him but we make it work. At the end of the day, if the other person thinks you are worth the effort, it doesn't matter if you need the time. He'll wait."
Ruby nodded slightly, slipping off her seatbelt and slipping out of the truck, Olivia following suit. Ruby remained beside her as they reached the crime scene tape around the small park. Olivia flashed her I.D and they ducked under the tape. Broyles frowned at Olivia at their approach, pulling Olivia slightly to the side.
"Who is that?"
"Ruby Carter."
"And why is she here?"
"To help me with this particular body."
Broyles studied Olivia for a moment, his eyes flicking over Ruby. He sighed and finally looked over towards the body. Olivia could see the form of the body, clearly a woman, lying on her back.
"Her name is Dinah Richards, thirty and she has been missing for three days. She said that she had a meeting to go to and when she didn't come home by the next morning her husband called the police."
"Why did it take him so long to report her missing?"
"She told him that she would be back in the morning."
"Did he say anything about any kind of financial issues?"
Broyles frowned, shaking his head.
"No. Why?"
"It's the theory."
"Ok, well I will go and question the husband and let you know."
"Thanks."
Olivia turned back to Ruby before heading towards the body. The first thing that struck Olivia was that Dinah was her clothes were wet. The second was the bloody tear to the top of her jeans, on the outer edges of her thigh. Olivia slipped on a pair of rubber gloves and gently pulled at the tear in her jeans. It looked like a stab wound, long but fairly shallow . Her clothes were in disarray but there was no evidence to suggest a sexual assault or anyone re-dressing her.
"So Ruby, what do you notice?"
"How wet she is. She's not damp like you would expect with the rain being on and off. She looks like she was dunked in water completely."
"That's what I was thinking."
"Do you mind if I check something?"
"Go for it."
Ruby carefully slipped on her gloves and made her way down to the waist of the victim. She put one hand on top of the other on the stomach, pressing hard. Dinah's body convulsed slightly before a mixture of blood and water came gushing from her mouth. It ceased as soon as Ruby removed her hands. Olivia frowned.
"She drowned."
Ruby nodded.
"Blood in the lungs is often present with a drowning. She's also more swollen than she should be given the temperature."
Olivia took a quick glance around them, failing to see any body of water that Dinah could drown in. Even the puddles that had been forming with the rain were almost completely dry.
"She didn't die here?"
Ruby shook her head.
"I wouldn't think so."
"So she has a stab wound and she drowned."
"That's not all."
Ruby held up Dinah's hand. The tops of her fingers were bloodied and torn up, small slivers of what looked like wood sticking out of the flesh.
"She put up a hell of a fight."
With Dinah Richards in tow, they headed back to the lab. When they got there, Olivia was surprised to see Mrs Green's body covered and tucked back into the corner of the room.
"Did you find the entry point?"
Peter offered her a small smile.
"Yeah we did. She had a very slight burn mark on her chest but it was hidden under the damage from the water. But we found it. And it wasn't fun."
Olivia nodded towards the body that the coroner was pulling in.
"We have another one. Dinah Richards. Ruby thinks she may have drowned."
Walter frowned.
"Why?"
Ruby cleared her throat, directing her answer back to Walter.
"There is fluid present in her lungs and blood. This indicates drowning but there was nowhere present at the scene where it could have happened. The state of her hands also indicates a severe struggle."
Walter opened his mouth and then closed it again. He stood, took the rubber gloves that Astrid offered him and watched while Astrid started unwrapping the body. Olivia smiled. Ruby one, Walter zero. This particular woman knew how to hold her ground. Olivia wondered over to Peter, who was still going over the files.
"How's it going?"
"Pretty well. Simon's theory on finances looks pretty solid. All the information that Astrid had found points to the fact that every victim had some sort of issue with money. From homes going under to medical costs, everything is covered."
"Good. Broyles talked to Dinah's husband and it turns out that they were having some financial issues too."
Peter sat back, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm starting to think that this urban legend is a real thing. All of these people went missing for no longer than 48 hours, all were found in the clothes they were last seen in and all had associated injuries."
"Well, Dinah has a stab would on her thigh but it wasn't deep enough to kill her."
"Mrs Green didn't have any other injuries that we could find."
"What about Jerome?"
"Hard to tell with him being in the ground for so long. It will be the same with any of the other bodies we exhume as well. In this case, fresher is better."
They both looked over to where Dinah, now naked, was lying before Walter, Astrid, Ruby and Simon. Wordlessly, they had each seemed to take a certain section of the body. Ruby was focused on the hands, taking pictures and samples. Simon was examining the stab wound, his hands running over the smooth edges, trying to figure out the depth. Walter was busy extracting fluid from Dinah's lings and stomach, the blood giving it a horrible colour in the syringe.
"Hey guys?"
They all turned to Astrid, who was clearing out the clothing that Dinah had been wearing. She held up a large slip of papers.
"These look like I.O.U's."
"Can I have a look?"
Astrid handed the slips to Peter, who flicked through them quickly.
Looks like our girl had a gambling problem. She owed thousands."
"Who too?"
Olivia moved closer to Peter.
"No last names. It's normal for slips to not have last names. She was expected to know."
"Is it possible one of them did this to her?"
Peter shook his head slowly.
"It looks as if she still had a little time before she had to cough up. They would rather have the money than the issue of a body. Plus, these kinds of things usually come with warnings, a broken leg or a threat to the family but not death. Not for a while anyway."
"I think we need to talk to Mr Richards."
"I doubt he knew. And if he did, he would have kept it really quiet."
"Why?"
"Because gambling is right up there with alcoholism. Plenty of denial and it usually takes something big to push them out of the denial."
