2nd Tuesday
Rae woke up on Tuesday morning and looked around the bedroom. Tonight she would be sleeping next door. She had chosen some bedding that had summer flowers on it. She smiled, it was like being a student again, except this time she'd had the money to buy what she wanted. Thanks dad! She remembered her digs when she first arrived in London. It was before she'd joined the force, and she'd been a secretary in a bank. The flat was small with a wonderful view of a brick wall, but it was hers. She'd been just as excited then, but all her purchases had been from market stalls and discount shops. It had been so nice yesterday to be able to pick up what she wanted, and not to have to worry about the cost, well not too much anyway.
She got out of bed, Jesse groaned and opened his eyes. "Shhh, you don't have to get up yet. I just want to be ready when my stuff comes. It's due at nine, and it's eight fifteen already." Jesse didn't need telling twice. He turned over and went back to sleep.
Rae got dressed and went into the living area, picked up the Hoover, and headed for her apartment. She locked the door and got to work. The carpet was dry now, and she had soon vacuumed the whole area. She had to admit it did look cleaner than it had. She went into the bathroom and began to clean it. She had run out of energy the other evening before she got here. Soon she was singing to herself, and happily making the room sparkle. She put her toiletries into the cupboard, and smiled at herself in the mirror. She went into the kitchen, put the kettle on, and then headed back to Jesse's to pick up some tea bags.
"Hey, you seemed to be enjoying yourself next door. How's the carpet looking? Or did it roll itself up to try and get away from your singing?" Jesse was rewarded for his sarcasm by Rae poking her tongue out at him.
"About the same as yours, actually! It was worth all the effort." They heard the noise of a van pulling up down below, and Rae headed downstairs.
It took just over twenty-five minutes to move all the furniture into the apartment. Once the van had gone, Rae stood just inside the doorway and looked around. She had one and a half hours to sort things out a bit before she had to go to work. Jesse sat on the sofa looking at her. "Why don't you leave it like this now, and then you can move it all around when you wake up in the morning? I take it you will want to sleep in here tonight?"
"Yes, you're welcome to stay, too, if you'd like." She smiled at him. "You know, I have a feeling I might have some fun here!" She walked over to him, and pulled him to his feet, then she began to kiss him. Jesse began to respond warmly, and for a few minutes there was no noise at all in the room except for their hearts beating as one.
When they parted, Jesse looked into her eyes. "I guess you had better get ready for work, aren't you being Sheree today?"
Rae groaned, "Oh, yeah, so I am, I'd forgotten about that." She walked into the bedroom, and took a bag off the top shelf of her closet. Inside it was a dress of pure white. It had straps over the shoulders and then a gap before the sleeves started. It had a scooped neck and not a lot else! It was made of Lycra, and Rae couldn't believe that she was actually going to wear it. She looked in the mirror. The last week had taken its toll, but she hoped that she could get away with looking about eight years younger than she actually was.
"Right, I'll have a quick shower, and then head off. What are your plans for this morning? I don't suppose you could go and see Alex for me?"
"Yeah, that's not a problem. Look, keep in contact, ok? Even if you didn't have this creep after you, I would want to know you were safe. I'm not thrilled about what you're doing today." Jesse came over, and looked in her dark brown eyes.
"I know you're not, and I'm grateful that you're just letting me do my job. Listen, I'd better grab that shower, I just remembered that I didn't get a new phone yesterday!"
Rae was on the road in twenty minutes. She stopped at the first mall she spotted and was soon on the way up the stairs to the squad room with the new cell in her bag. Steve was already there. He looked fine, maybe a little tired, and she was relieved to see him.
"Hey, partner, how are you feeling?"
"Great, compared to yesterday. I think I'll sleep well tonight, but I don't feel sick anymore, and apparently the liver check came back all clear, so I'm back on the job.
Rae picked up her phone and put a call through to Jan. She told her about what had happened to Alex and Jesse, that she would be working all day, and that she would be in contact again.
Steve waited until she had finished on the phone. "Was that Jan?"
Rae nodded, "Yeah, I said that I would keep in touch. So what is your plan for today?"
"We need to get Sheree and Marcus up and running, don't we?"
Rae nodded her head. "You know I was thinking on the way over, I have no idea how to go about having photos like that taken. How about I give Phil Levington a call, and get a few pointers?"
"He was in here a few minutes ago, he'd taken some shots at a homicide that Campbell caught. Yeah, there he is." Steve could see the photographer in the hallway, and called to him. "Hey, hotshot, could you come in here?"
Phil Levington turned round; he looked as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"
"Not for me really, but for Detective Yeager, we need some photos taken." Rae had gone into the ladies room, she came back out now with the dress just about on. Once again the room erupted in catcalls.
"Hey, gorgeous, anything I can do for you, and I mean anything?"
"Hey, Stevie, is she wearing that for you?"
"Come over here and I'll show you a good time." Rae turned to them and blew them a kiss, then she walked back over to her desk. She was going to sit on the corner of it, but changed her mind just in time.
"So, Phil, what do you think, has Steve told you what we want?"
"Ah, no, he hasn't. I guess there is a reason for the dress?"
"Yeah, you could say that. I am going to have my picture taken by a photographer who sends pictures to girlie magazines, illegal girlie magazines. I need to get information on the owner. Trust me, this is not my normal choice of work clothes."
"Rae has never had her picture taken like this before. We wondered if you could give us any pointers." Steve looked over at the young man who looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Phil, are you all right with this? If you don't want to do it, I'll find somebody else."
He seemed to pull himself together. "No, no, it's just a bit of shock, that's all. I normally take pictures of dead people, and in that dress well, you are anything but dead. I can give you a few tips though."
Slowly and haltingly, Phil began to explain how Rae should move and smile and make herself look more confident than she felt.
"Do you think that you could take a roll of film and then we could see what it looks like? There's a one hour place just down the block."
"That's ok, I can develop them myself in less time than that."
They went into one of the interrogation rooms and Phil began to take some photos talking to Rae the whole time.
"That's it, smile at me, now pout. Great. Turn away and look over your shoulder. That's it. Remember you have to think that the camera loves you, and trust me it does. Ok, walk towards me, that's it. Smile, baby, c'mon wonderful. Ok, now lean across the table, head in your hands, beautiful. Now turn over and look back at me. Keep smiling, run your tongue over your teeth, that's magic. And that's the end of the film." Phil stood up and Rae did the same.
"Hey, you know what I enjoyed that." Phil smiled at her. "Let's hope they come out ok, so that you can see what the effect is. I'll get these down to the developing lab. I'll be back in about an hour."
Rae smiled at him. "Thanks, Phil, you know, I enjoyed it too."
"I don't think we were alone, you know." Rae turned and looked out through the interrogation room door. Outside half the squad room was looking in the window. As she left the room they broke into a round of applause. She walked over to them, gave a bow and headed to her desk; they could hear her laughing as she went.
"Well, that looked like fun!" Steve was at his desk drinking a coffee and looking at the notes they had made at the weekend.
"It was, but I'm not sure I will enjoy it as much this afternoon. Excuse me, while I go and peel myself out of this dress." She padded barefoot back towards the ladies room. There was a full-length mirror in there and she looked at herself. Thank goodness the dress did make her look younger. Soon she was ready to go back inside. As she did so a couple of the guys made groaning noises. She smiled and stuck her tongue out at them and tried to get back to the business at hand.
"Ok, when we finished up Sunday night, we had decided that our man Norville was blackmailing Ms. Lane, probably because he had found out she or someone close to her was skimming off the top. He was probably killed because they got fed up with paying. The only thing I can think of as to why Ms. Brown was killed was that she wanted out, but it seems a bit extreme. Mario I have no idea yet." Steve stopped and looked at her.
"Hey, you were a busy boy when you were in the hospital weren't you? Maybe when we find out who Ms. Lane is the rest will fall into place. You know, I have been thinking, too. I don't know why, but it bugs me that we are a magazine missing. Why would Norville have every issue in his flat except number three? And why weren't those discs under the bath as well as the money, unless he was waiting to show them to somebody. The obvious person would be Myer, but he didn't know that Norville was dead, or at least it seemed that way to me."
"We need to find out what was in issue three."
"Or who." Rae looked over at him.
At that moment Phil Levington came back into the room. "Have you been gone an hour already?" Steve looked at his watch. It was twelve thirty.
Phil spread out the pictures on Rae's desk. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at them. She had to admit she didn't look half bad. "Hey, Phil, I bet you could have even made Steve look good in that dress!"
He smiled at her. "I take that as a compliment."
"I don't! But these are good. If you do the same again this afternoon, Rae, we should at least get in through the door!"
"Well, I have other things to do, so if you will excuse me?" Phil got up and shook him by the hand.
"I'm sorry if we kept you from your normal day job. Thanks again." Rae looked after him as he exited, then she turned to Steve and said, "Ok, I think it's time to pay good old Lloyd a visit. Have you got your Marcus outfit with you?"
Steve nodded, he picked up a bag from behind the desk, Rae picked up the dress again and they headed off in different directions. Ten minutes later they were back, in character and ready to try and get a little further on in the case. Rae looked at Steve.
"Steve, words fail me! Where did you get those trousers?"
"What? I've had these pants for a long time." He said proudly. "I always knew they would come in handy. I told Dad they were keepers! I had a great shirt to go with them too, but I couldn't find it."
"That's a blessing for us all! Come on, before you get arrested by the fashion police."
About twenty minutes later they pulled up outside Perfect Pics and Rae took a deep breath. She had been surprised at how good Ok, for good read cheap she had looked.
Steve took her by the hand, and they walked into the shop together. Marlene was standing behind the counter. Steve walked up to her, an oily smile on his face. "Well good afternoon, Marlene, darlin', remember me? Give my friend Lloyd a call, he's gonna take some pictures of my baby."
"Lloyd, you're needed. I guess you'd better come with me, honey, that dress just ain't gonna cut it!" Rae looked over at Steve, he just nodded so she teetered over to Marlene in her impossible heels and followed her. Marlene opened the door to a small room. On the one wall was a rail with what could loosely be described as outfits hanging there. The other three walls were covered with mirrors.
Rae stood there, seeing far more of herself than she had ever wanted to when dressed. Marlene had chosen a bronze coloured almost two-piece. "Ok, honey, Lloyd will tell you what he wants you to do, and when to take your things off. You just listen and do as he says and you'll do just fine. I'll come and get you when he's set up." She left the room and Rae sat down on the bench in the corner. She hoped that she hadn't shown the shock she'd felt when Marlene said 'take your things off'. Steve had better make sure they got the negatives for these when the case was over. She wanted to see them burn.
Steve sat in Lloyd's office. They had discussed the cost of the photos and then he had asked what the chances were of getting the pictures in the same magazine that his friend Kelly had been in. Lloyd chewed on his pencil and said, "I just send off what I think they'll like. Then I get a call the next day. If you're good, you get a call from the lady herself."
"Do you have any of the Pleazure magazines here? Only I've got them all but number three."
Lloyd shook his head. "I don't keep 'em here, but I've got the whole lot too. I tell you what, when you come back to see the photos tomorrow, I'll let you have a look at it." Then he got up from his desk, picked up his camera and headed off to his studio. Steve followed behind him, and his eyes nearly fell out of his head when he saw Rae walk into the room.
Rae couldn't believe that Steve was going to watch the photos being taken. There were some things that a partner shouldn't see. She walked over to him. "Marcus, honey, I didn't want you to see me. It should be a surprise for you, you payin' for 'em an' all."
Steve, who was delighted to have an excuse to leave, just nodded his head and turned around. He remembered just in time who he was supposed to be and came back over to her. "You make sure you do me proud, sugar, and let 'em know why I love ya." Then he pulled her towards him and kissed her on the lips. He wasn't gentle with her, and he knew he would have to apologise later. Then he turned and left.
Just over an hour later, Rae came back out into the waiting area. She had her white dress back on, and felt overdressed. Steve got up and came over to her. He pulled her close to him and heard her whisper "Get me out of here!"
He walked over to Lloyd; "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. He gave a card to Lloyd with his spare cell phone number on. He only used it when he was undercover and so he was always wary when it rang. "Call me when they're ready. C'mon, sugar, let's go home, and you can show me what you showed the man!" He put his hand on Rae's butt and guided her out of the shop.
As soon as they were out of view Rae turned to Steve. She shuddered. "My God, I have never felt so cheap in my life."
"Rae, you saved my butt in there, thanks for finding a way to get me out of that room, oh, and I'm sorry about the kiss." Steve started the car and they headed back to the station.
"Steve, I need the negatives of those pictures. I don't care how you get them, but I want to see them destroyed." She stopped and Steve looked over at her. "Can you imagine what would happen if my stalker got hold of them!"
It was the first time that Rae had mentioned him all day. Steve turned to her. "We'll have at least enough to search Lloyd's premises, even if we can't charge him. Don't worry, I'll get them for you."
As they turned back into the station Rae wondered whether she was being followed. In this dress he would have a field day.
As they sat at their desks, thankfully back in their normal clothes, Steve suddenly looked up. "I forgot to tell you, Lloyd has a copy of issue three. He's going to bring it in when we go and pick up the pictures tomorrow."
"I wish you didn't have to see them." Rae looked so embarrassed that Steve's heart went out to her. "Nobody has seen that much of me except my mother!"
Rae's phone on her desk rang and she picked it up. "Detective Yeager,"
"Rae? It's Jan. I'm just phoning to make sure you are all right."
"Yeah, so far, but I've been really busy. I'll let you know if anything else happens… Yeah, bye." As she turned away from the phone it rang again.
"Detective Yeager… Hey, Jesse, I think I'll be here until about eight tonight. Then I'm coming over to see Alex… Yeah, I'll meet you there then… Love you. Bye."
Rae ran her fingers through her hair. She had the start of a headache. "We should get some lunch. You know I think I might run home and have a shower. I feel so cheap and dirty. Would that be alright?"
"Yeah, you want me to come?"
"No, I think I can shower on my own, Lieutenant!" Rae smiled over at her partner, she appreciated his concern. "I'll be all right, Steve, thanks all the same. I'll keep my eyes peeled, I promise."
"OK, then, go on. I'm gonna try and find out where Norville would have hidden issue three. It must have something to do with the blackmail. Why else would somebody who distributes the magazine be missing an issue?"
Rae went out to Tom and drove home. She checked her mirror a few times, and she was sure that she wasn't being followed. She parked in her usual place, and went up to the apartment. She opened the door and started to scan the room. She moved further into the living area, not realising that she hadn't fully shut the door, it clicked but did not engage. She dropped her keys on the counter as she passed through the kitchen, and headed for the bedroom. Once she knew it was clear she flopped down on the bed, and shut her eyes. She had tried all day not to think about her stalker, and what he had done, but not thinking was just as big a strain as thinking. After about five minutes she got up, and went into the shower. After she had washed herself thoroughly until she felt a little cleaner, she went and changed into clean jeans, and the baggiest t-shirt she could find.
She picked up her gun, and her keys, pulled the door to after her and headed towards Tom. Inside the apartment building a shadowy figure walked up to her door. He checked that the door hadn't shut, because of the piece of plasticine over the clip. Satisfied that it worked he removed it, closed the door and hid it back in the corner where he had spent most of the last couple of hours.
Rae picked up some sandwiches for both Steve, and herself, and headed back into the precinct. She had been trying to think where she would hide a magazine, especially if you hated banks, and safety deposit boxes. So far she had come up with nothing.
Steve was on the phone when she entered so she sat down with her lunch, and carried on thinking. She wondered if Norville had had a girlfriend, or boyfriend. Mario Santos and Daniel Myer knew that he was up to something; maybe the magazine had nothing to do with it. Maybe he spilt his coffee on it, and had never got round to replacing it. You are babbling to yourself, girl, get a grip!
Rae's phone rang, "Detective Yeager … Ok, hold on." She picked up a piece of paper. "Where did you say? That's not very far from here, we should be there in say ten minutes."
Rae turned to Steve; he had finished on the phone, and was eating his food. "We just got a call, taxi driver, shot through the back of the head, looks like theft was the motive, the cab was stripped clean, no money, no radio, nothing left."
"Oh, great, another unsolvable crime! Just what we need, ok, let's go." They both stood up, and headed out of the room. As they entered the parking lot Rae could feel rain on her.
"Hey, rain! I didn't think you got that stuff here!"
Steve smiled at her. "We're just not as used to it as you are, Detective." He paused. "Rae, do you think we could use your car? I'm feeling really tired, reaction to the chloroform, I guess, unless you would like to drive a real car!"
Rae stuck her tongue out at him, and headed over to his car. "I will drive yours, I must admit it's a nice car!"
Rae was right in her estimation, and ten minutes later they arrived at the scene. Amanda was already working on the body, and they went over to see her.
"Hey, Amanda, how are you?" Rae was pleased to see her friend. They hadn't spent as much time together as she would have liked lately. "Is this as unsolvable as Steve seems to think?"
She nodded. "I would say so, unless we get lucky with the bullet and can match it up to another killing. He's been dead for about three hours I should think, but don't quote me on that. I doubt he knew what hit him. Looks like he drew up to the kerb, and was shot before his passenger got out, or was shot as soon as his passenger got in. Either way finding the person who did it will be hard."
"Were there any finger prints, or hairs left, anything like that?" Steve looked over at her. "A bit of luck would be nice."
"It's a taxi cab, Steve!" She looked at her friend. "You'll have more than you want to deal with. But we'll vacuum the car and check what we get. We'll dust the car too; you know that. But don't hold your breath."
Rae walked over to the kerb where a very shocked looking lady was standing. Rae imagined she was about forty to forty-five and her hands were shaking. There was a female officer with her. Rae walked up and held out her hand.
"I'm Detective Yeager, ma'am. Was it you who found the body?"
The woman nodded, but didn't speak. She looked as if she was about to fall over. "Why don't we go sit in my car, and you can tell me what happened?" She directed the woman over, and opened the back door. "What's your name, ma'am?
"Jaynie, Jaynie Bennett."
"Ok, Ms. Bennett, can you tell me what happened then?"
The frightened woman nodded her head, and very haltingly began to talk. "I needed a cab, to get to the mall. It's my daughter's birthday next week, and I wanted to go and get her a present." Steve came over, and stood behind Rae, listening to the tale as well. "I walked out onto the sidewalk and I saw the car by the kerb. I tapped on the window, to see if he was for hire, y'know. I could see that something was real wrong. I opened his door and I could see…" she stopped and her shaking increased.
Rae put her hand gently on the woman's arm. "Come on, Jaynie, you're almost at the end, just keep going a couple more seconds."
"I could see that he had been shot, I, I, didn't touch him, just his door. Then I went to that phone booth over there and rang 911." She let out a sigh. Her ordeal was over.
"Ok, I want you to go back to the precinct with the lady officer. She'll take your statement down, and if we catch the person that did this, we'll get back in touch with you, all right?"
Jaynie Bennett just nodded her head. She walked back over to the other officer with Rae who explained what she wanted done. Then Rae turned back towards Steve. "Right, what do you want me to do?"
"We need to check to see if the weapon has been dumped. I also need to know if any of the shops on this block had an agitated person in them, probably splattered with blood. I know that the victim's cab had a screen, but it wasn't shot through, so he had to have opened it, and then closed it afterwards. Maybe we'll get lucky with that. So, if you want to start on the shops, I'll have a look at the vehicle."
Rae walked up to the first shop and tried the door, but it was locked. She peered in through the dingy glass and could see that it didn't look as if it had been open in a long time. She moved on to the next shop and pushed that door, it swung open, she entered and looked around. It was a general store, and looked like it sold most things. Rae went up to the counter and got out her I.D. The woman standing there just stared at her.
"I'm sorry to bother you, ma'am, but I need to ask you a couple of questions." The woman just nodded, so Rae continued. "We're investigating a shooting, and I wondered if you heard anything." Answered by a shake of the head, Rae carried on again. "Have you had any agitated or nervous customers in here this morning?" For goodness sake the cab driver's more agitated than you are! Unsurprisingly, Rae got another shake of the head. "Well, thank you, ma'am, I won't take up any more of your time."
"Hey, aren't you that cop in the Comet?"
Rae turned back to face her. "Yes, ma'am, that's me." She left the store and walked back over to Steve as she felt her face begin to burn.
"Nothing in there, the shops each side are both closed. I hate to admit it, but I think you might be right, Steve, this is a dead end."
Steve smiled at her. "Sometimes we get them. We won't file it away yet. We don't know what Amanda will come up with." Steve saw her face and looked concerned. "Are you ok, Rae?"
"Yeah, the shopkeeper reads the Comet!"
"Oh! Come on, Rae, I'm fed up with getting wet, let's go and visit with Alex. It's warm in there and I'm hungry!"
"Did you not have any lunch?"
"Yes, but hey, I'm a growing Lieutenant!"
"How much bigger do you expect to get?" Rae laughed as Steve stuck his tongue out at her, then they got into Steve's car and Rae drove towards Community General.
Tuesday Well, what a day. I managed to work out how to keep her front door open. That will come in handy tomorrow. And I watched her as she was investigating a cab driver's death. She looked so professional and caring as she spoke to the woman who had found the body. That's the woman I remember from the first time I saw her. That is the woman who will be living with me.
Alex was resting quietly when they got to his room. His face was now livid with bruises. Rae felt all her guilt well up inside her. This wasn't his fight, it wasn't hers either, but he shouldn't have been hurt.
"Hi, Rae," Alex tried to smile, but his face was so bruised and swollen that it looked like a snarl. "How are you feeling?"
"So guilty, you wouldn't believe. I am so sorry, Alex, now you know why I didn't want you to get involved."
"Are you sure that it was him?"
"Who else would it be? He drove at Jesse, and if you hadn't been there he would probably have killed him."
"Hey, I said I wanted to help didn't I?" He lay back on the pillows and Steve and Rae could see that he was very tired.
"Has anybody been in to take a statement from you?"
Alex nodded. "Yeah, an Officer Robertson was over this morning. I know him from the Howard case, so it wasn't too bad." He tried to hide a yawn.
"Look, Alex, we'll come back tomorrow ok? You take care." Steve went out of the room and Rae walked over to the young man in the bed. She took his hand in hers.
"Thank you, Alex, for saving Jesse for me."
"Hey, remember what I said about the white coat and stethoscope!"
She joined Steve in the hall and they headed down to the ER. Mark and Jesse were talking by the reception desk as they walked in. Rae took Jesse's hand in hers. "Hey, sweetheart, how's your day going?"
"Not too bad. It's been pretty quiet so far. What about yours?"
"Interesting, I think you could call it interesting. Mark, how are you today?"
"Not too bad. Steve, how are you feeling? You look tired, son."
"Yeah, I am. I think we are gonna call it a day. We can write up our reports tomorrow. Rae, d'you want to drive back to the station so that you can pick up your car, and I'll see you in the morning? You'll make sure you go home, and stay indoors though, won't you?"
Rae nodded. She had no intention of being silly. "I'll see you later, Jesse, let me know when you're home, ok?"
Once their plans were made, Steve and Rae headed back to the precinct. They went into the squad room, checked their messages and made a few quick notes to help jog their memories in the morning. Then they went their separate ways.
Rae unlocked the door to her flat, once again scanning it with her gun drawn. As she had her back to the door she didn't see the small piece of gum being put back into the lock. Knowing the room was clear Rae shut the door, hearing it click behind her. She put her keys on the work surface and headed for the kitchen. She put some music on the stereo, and began to get something to eat. Her mind was working all the time; trying to work out if there was any way that they could sort out who killed the cab driver. Nobody deserved to die like that, and the least that they could do was find out who was responsible.
After eating her meal she got her book from the bedroom. She had finished the one that Jesse had recommended and now she was reading one of her old books from her social science course. Not through choice, but because it helped her to focus her thoughts on cases. It also helped her feel drowsy and by nine o clock she was ready for bed. She picked up her phone and rang through to Jesse.
"Hi, sweetheart, how long do you think you are going to be? … Ok, look I'm going to go to bed now, I'll see you in the morning … I love you Jesse, good night!" She put the phone down and got into the shower. Fifteen minutes later she was in bed, the blind drawn. It didn't take her long to fall asleep. She felt at home already.
After the apartment had been quiet for about ten minutes, the shadowy figure crept into the living area, he picked up the keys, went about his business, and left as quietly as he had entered. One and a half hours later the keys were back on the work surface and the gum was gone from the door.
Tuesday My plan worked like a charm. She was so intent on checking her rooms that she didn't think about the door until it was too late. How dare she get an apartment all sorted out just for her, when she knows that her place is with me? She'll soon find out what that mistake has cost her. She's had an easy day today, but tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow will be the beginning of the end.
