Return To Maine Chapter 27
Kate awoke to the sound of her neighbor, Bert Matthews' fist banging against his door.
"Open up, Ethei. I forgot my keys!"
The Matthews had been here since before she moved in and were excellent neighbors and she was lucky to have them. The elderly couple always looked out for her. Not that she needed it, but they were so sweet and it was nice to know that if she ever needed help, it was right next door.
Last Spring when she returned from her dad's cabin, the Matthews or one of their 3 grown daughters kept a steady stream of casseroles, baked goods, and fruit baskets coming to her door for days. And while it was unnecessary, she was so thankful and so blessed to have them as neighbors and friends.
"Ok. I'm coming, Bert." she heard Ethel yell through the apartment as Bert was getting hard of hearing.
She squinted and looked blearily at the alarm clock on her nightstand.
Holy Hell! She had wanted to go in early in case any of the reports from the lab came in about Pam's case and she was running later than usual.
Rick normally called her with a good morning call, but he hadn't this morning and then she remembered their Face time last night and how she had gone to sleep listening to Rick telling her all of the delicious ways he would make her day better if he had been there.
That was why she hadn't heard from him this morning. Her phone was dead and she had no time to charge it if she wanted to be on time for work.
She jumped out of bed, did the minimum of her regular morning routine, hoping to find the time to grab a shower in the gym at the precinct later, jumped into the first outfit she pulled from her closet, grabbed her phone and it's charger and was out the door, wishing Bert and Ethel a good day and was on her way in 15 minutes.
Standing just outside the precinct, she checked her dad's watch. Well, she wasn't as early as she would have liked to been, but she wasn't late, either.
Her stomach rumbled and she realized that she was starving. Having been called away before she had had a chance to grab even one slice of the pizza Lanie had brought the night before and had been too tired to worry about it when she had finally gotten home this morning, she decided to head to the doughnut shop just down the block that Rick sometimes used to get a coffee and something to nibble on to get her through until lunchtime.
The little bell above the door jangled as she entered the crowded shop. She kept trying to look around the people in front of her to see what was left in the glass cases, but the throng of customers kept her from it.
By the time she reached the counter, the busy little shop had sold out of her regular bear claws and actually had very little left. She had intended to get a bear claw, her coffee, and take a box of mixed doughnuts for her team, but that was not going to be the case today.
She ordered her coffee, and took the 2 remaining Boston Cream filled doughnuts and left the shop. Her experience made her both miss and appreciate the things Rick did on a daily basis, not just gor her, but, the kind, loving, passionate man that he was.
She was surprised to see that she still had a few minutes before the boys arrived , giving her time to enjoy her coffee and doughnuts before they came in.
Arriving at her desk, she set her coffee on her desk and peeked inside the bag. Hmmm. The shop had neglected to put napkins in the sack. Taking the bag with her to the break room to get some paper towels, she was stopped by Tori who entered the break room.
"Detective, I have some footage taken near the Alice In Wonderland Statue that you may want to see."
She left her doughnut bag on the table in the break room and headed off with Tori. "What did you find?" she asked.
"See for yourself, Detective." Tori answered as she pulled up the footage.
Sure enough, there was a dark, grainy image on the screen of someone dressed in black, dragging a large black garbage bag behind him.
"Can you lighten and sharpen the image a bit, Tori? It's too dark too get a glimpse of the perp and he moves out of the frame. I am pretty sure that Is Jack Wyatt, but it's too difficult to tell. This person is the same build of Jack, same height and weight, but without a more definitive image, I can't tell.
Tori nodded. "I'll work on it some more and let you know what I find."
"Thank you, Tori."
On her way back to the break room, she stopped to pick up her coffee and maybe eat her doughnuts in peace before all hell broke out in the bullpen with officers coming and going and phones began to shrill.
"Hey!" she cried indignantly as she entered the break room to find Ryan and Espo chowing down on her doughnuts! "Those are my doughnuts!" she exclaimed hotly.
"Really? I don't see your name on them." Espo said, before taking another huge bite of doughnut.
"I brought them in with me this morning because SOMEONE called last night and rudely called me away from my dinner." she snarked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Not my fault we spotted Jack going into his home." Espo remarked, cheekily.
"You can have the rest of mine." Ryan said, contritely, holding up half of one of her doughnuts.
Really? After he had eaten half of it? "No, thank you. I'll just take an early lunch."
"No need to get huffy, Beckett. It's just doughnuts." Espo commented.
Yeah. Just doughnuts. HER doughnuts, damn it! This was not over! She'd get back at them for this if it was the last thing she did and she would have such sweet revenge.
Just doughnuts, my ass! she thought as she turned and returned to her desk. At least, she still had her coffee. And this was just the beginning! Wait until Rick got back and there would be even more fireworks and she couldn't wait to see what he had planned!
About 10 am, Tori came out of the tech room and approached her.
"Kate, I have something else I think you should see."
Without question, Kate rose from her desk and followed her into the tech room.
Tori was the best tech in the entire NYPD as well as a great friend.
"What' cha, got for me?"
She watched as Tori forwarded through the footage, then rewound it to the time stamp she was looking for.
"Well, I decided to go back through the security footage from Pam's apartment building and came across this." Tori replied, stopping the machine and then hitting the play button.
"Now, this cam is just down the hall from Pam's apartment near the elevator, but if you look closely, it also covers her door." Tori explained.
Kate watched as the time stamp appeared on the screen and she watched as Jack Wyatt stepped from the elevator. The time stamp was 10:47 pm.
Tori stopped the tape just before Jack reached the door. "Now, there was no sign of forced entry at Pam's apartment. Right?"
"Right." Kate responded.
"Now, watch this." Tori said as she hit the play button again.
They watched as Jack removed his wallet and removed a key, inserted it into the lock and entered the apartment.
Flabbergasted, Kate asked. "They were estranged, separated, she had a restraining order against him. How the hell did he get a key to her apartment?"
Tori shook her head. "I don't know, Kate. All I know is that he entered that apartment at 10:47 pm and did not leave again until 12:15 am. Here, watch." She sped the tape up to 12:15 am and sure enough, Jack was clearly seen exiting the apartment carrying a large, black plastic lawn and leaf trash bag thrown over his shoulder.
'That Son Of A Bitch! He carried her body away from the scene of the crime in a trash bag!" Kate exclaimed. "Great work, Tori! Save that footage for me."
"Already done, Kate."
She had no sooner gotten back to her desk than her phone rang. "Beckett." she said, snatching the receiver from the cradle.
"Hey, girl. I have those reports you were wanting. Lab results and toxicology reports reveal that your victim was clean and clear of all alcohol and drugs." Lanie informed her'
"I expected that, but...?"
"But we found pieces of black plastic on her body that came back as a large trash bag."
"Yeah. Looks like he used it to transfer her body from her apartment to the statue."
"I figured as much." Lanie said. "But what you don't know for certain is that the skin beneath her fingernails indicate that she struggled very hard against her assailant. And guess who that skin belongs to."
"Let me guess. Jack Wyatt?"
"You are correct! And the semen we found?"
"I'm guessing Jack Wyatt again."
"Ding, ding, ding. Right again. You've got your perp's balls to the walls."
"Thanks, Lanie."
"You're welcome. Want to gather the girls and go to The Magic Bottle for a victory celebration tonight?"
"As long as you don't delve into more questions about you know who and we're done by 10:00, sure."
"Oh, relax, girlfriend! Your secret is safe with me."
"Good. Let's make sure it stays that way. I'll ask Roz and Tori if they want to join us if you'll call Jenny."
"Done deal! See you tonight."
"Fax over those reports for me, would you?"
"Already on their way." Lanie replied.
"Thanks, girl."
She heard the fax machine kick on and went to retrieve her reports from Lanie, paper clipping the pages together and placing them inside Pam's file on her desk.
The boys were back in the break room and she saw Tori head that way herself with coffee mug in hand. Great! She could use another cup herself and she needed to update her team on the case.
Picking up her coffee mug, she headed to the break room and entered just as Tori did. "Great work with that footage, Tori. With that and the evidence Lanie just sent over. I'll be able to nail Jack Wyatt for Pam's murder.
"Seriously, Kate?"
"Yes, seriously, Espo. I want that bastard brought up from holding and put in Interrogation 1 now. He will undoubtably ask for his lawyer, but stall him as much as you can. Lie to him if you have to. I want him to sweat this out. Tori, I missed breakfast this morning." she said, narrowing her eyes at Ryan and Espo. "I'm taking an early lunch in about 30 minutes and thought I'd try that new little Greek deli down the street. I hear they have excellent sandwiches. Would you like to join me for lunch?" Kate asked, as she drew her latte from the machine.
"I'd love to, Kate. Thanks for inviting me."
"And before I forget, Lanie would like all of us girls to meet at The Magic Bottle for an impromptu girls night. You in?"
"Oh, yes! I'm all over that!"
"Good! If you happen to see Ann and Roz ask them along, too. Lanie is calling Jenny."
It used to be that only Ann, Jenny, and Lanie had significant others. Now she would be joining their ranks of the non flirters. She hoped no one besides Lanie noticed. She had rather watch Tori and Roz take that over, anyway. Her flirting days were over. She just couldn't tell anyone, yet.
"Will do. Any special reason for this impromptu girl's night? I mean, no one has gotten married or is pregnant, heart broken over a broken marriage/relationship, lost love or anything, right? We normally meet on Monday evenings." Tori asked. "Just want to know if there is a need to stuff a box of tissues in my purse while we ponder different forms of torture over which guy we are going to kill and how to dispose of their no good, rotten corpses. I still vote for spikes under their fingernails and pigs eat everything. Even bones."
Kate snorted. "No. Nothing like that. We are just going to celebrate the closing of this case." Kate responded.
"Can we go?" Espo asked.
"Man, don't go there." Ryan muttered to his partner behind his coffee mug.
Both Tori and Kate's heads swung to Espo.
"NO!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Told you." Ryan muttered again
"Why not? Didn't we help solve the case, too?"
"Seriously, Espo? Do we ask to be included on your boy's night out? It's just a reason to have a girl's night out. That's all."
"Oh? So the regular girl's bitch session, then?"
"If you must know, yes, but I don't see why we have to explain it to you."
"You must be going to talk behind our backs if you won't let us come." Espo stated.
"Really, Espo? You think these are all about you guys?" Kate asked.
"Well, what else could be behind it? However, I don't know what you could have to complain about."
"Really, Espo? As opposed to you guys getting together and discussing what? Our bra size? The color of our panties? Get Jack Wyatt to Interrogation 1 like I asked." Kate said, as she picked up her mug and started for the door.
At the door, she turned towards the counter where both boys were leaning and said, "Oh yeah. In reference to your question, Espo, we talk about all sorts of things, not just you guys. That being said, we do discuss you guys at times, even the size of your…" She flicked her eyes from his face to his groin and exited the break room laughing.
Tori left from the other door, laughing to Espo's "What the f…? Did she just imply…?"
"I think she did, man. Maybe next time I tell you not to go there, you'll listen to me,"
TBC
AN: This chapter came as a complete surprise to me and just flowed, so I had to get it out. I have started Chapter 28, but not sure when I will get to work on it as I go in for evaluation on cataract surgery Tuesday. I will try to keep you all informed. Kate will get even with the boys for eating her doughnuts. The Putz, I agree. Rick needs to come back soon and he will. I'm not sure if it will be this next chapter, but soon. I'll see how the next chapter goes.
Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, and encouragement. Hope you all have a great week!