2nd Wednesday
For a moment Rae was disorientated when she woke up. Then she realised that she was in her own room in her own apartment. She smiled, and snuggled down under the covers. She looked at her watch. It was just after eight, probably too early to ring Jesse. She didn't know what time he'd got back the night before. She shrugged off the duvet and went into the shower and enjoyed the feeling of the water on her back. As she returned to the bedroom she heard her phone ring.
"Hello? Hey, sweetheart, I didn't want to ring you and wake you up. How about coming round for breakfast? … See you in minute."
Jesse tapped on the door, a small parcel under his arm. Rae opened the door, smiling broadly. "Hey, first visitor, won't you come in?"
He walked in and smiled at her. "Good morning, beautiful, how did you sleep?" He kissed her gently on the lips, and handed over the present.
"Jesse, what's this?"
"Just a little something. I though you might like to put by your bed." Rae opened it up. Inside were two photo frames, the picture sides together. She separated them, and gasped.
"Oh, Jesse, thank you! How lovely to get nice photos for a change."
"Oh, God, Rae, I didn't think, I'm so sorry." Jesse could kick himself; fancy giving her photos after everything that she had been through.
"Shhh, they're wonderful. Oh, I remember that." The first picture was one that they'd asked a passer by to take when they were on a day out, wandering around Brentwood for a couple of hours. They were both smiling; they'd had a wonderful time that day. The second one was an up to date one of her three children. "Where did you get this one from?"
Jesse smiled at her; "I e-mailed John and got him to take care of it for me. I'm sorry, Rae, do you really like them?"
"I love them, would you like me to show you how much?" She kissed him and pulled him over to the beanbag. They felt it mould around them before they ignored everything but each other.
Soon they moved into the other room and Rae felt Jesse push her onto the bed, she relaxed against him, and he began to remove the clothes she had only just put on. She pulled at the t-shirt he was wearing and soon they were lying naked on the bed, Rae smiled shyly at him. "I feel about eighteen, hoping that nobody on my floor needs to borrow any sugar!"
They kissed and explored each other. She felt him enter her and the feelings became so intense that she thought she would take flight. Soon she could take no more. "God, Jesse, now, now!" As she let go of herself, she felt him do the same. They came back down to earth together. They were so close they could almost be one person.
"Oh, Jesse, don't move away, stay here, just a little while longer. I need the feelings that you give me." She looked over at him. When they were together like this, either in his apartment or now her own, she felt that she could shut out all the bad things that had been happening to her. They relaxed together for a little while longer and then Rae got up and headed for the shower. "What shift are you working today?" Jesse heard her voice raised over the noise of the water.
"I start at eleven, but I'll be home by about eight tonight. I'm off tomorrow, then I'm working four days straight, and Friday will be a double shift."
"Yuk, still mine's not much better than yours. I need to be in by ten today. I, unfortunately, am not off tomorrow. I have to be in at eight, same Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then Monday I go back to eleven again."
Rae came back into the room, and got into the clothes that had been discarded in a heap on the floor. Jesse went into the shower; Rae tidied up the bedroom, and headed out for the kitchen. She had her usual boring breakfast of yoghurt drink, and an apple and then put the water on for a cup of tea. She didn't have a coffee machine so she hoped that instant would do.
"I'll head into work in a minute, honey, what about you?"
"Yeah, I'll probably get in early. I need to write up the report from yesterday and I have to turn in to Sheree about lunchtime. I think I'll be in the jeans again today."
They drank their drinks quietly, and then after Rae had made sure that she had everything she needed to become Sheree, she locked the place up, and they headed off into work.
Rae was just over three quarters of an hour early for her shift, but once again Steve had beaten her in. "Don't you have a home to go to, Lieutenant?"
Steve looked completely confused. "Sorry?"
"You always seem to beat me in. Even when I make an effort to be early."
"I just wanted to get yesterday's murder written up, so that we could get back to the matter at hand."
"You know, I remember you saying that about the Kelly Brown murder. Now look at us."
Rae sat at her desk, running her fingers through her hair. She had finally managed to speak to Amanda about finding a hairdresser and had just arranged for an appointment in half an hour. "Steve, I'm going to pop out for about an hour, I'm just gonna have my hair cut. It's getting way to long for my liking. See you later." She got up and walked towards to door, "Oh, if you need me the number's on my desk. Bye."
Steve smiled at her back. She seemed a little more relaxed at the moment. He went back to the pile of papers on his desk. They were missing something with all this money, but he just couldn't see it.
Rae hummed to herself as she walked towards Tom; she liked having her hair done. It never took long, but she had always found it very relaxing, and right now she could do with a bit of relaxation. Rae sat in her car and got out her map. She had a good idea where she was going, but it never hurt to double check.
Fifteen minutes later Rae drew up into a parking lot at a mall quite near to the hospital. She walked through the shopping area looking in the windows as she passed. I must have another shopping trip with Amanda this place is great. There was a map on the wall next to an elevator and Rae checked where she was going. The salon was called Dawn's and, according to Amanda, it was one of the best around.
Rae stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third level. She ran her fingers through her hair again. It was about twice the length she usually kept it. The doors opened and she walked down past some more interesting stores until she got to the one she was aiming for. A bell rang as she entered, and a pretty young girl smiled at her from the reception desk.
"Hi, I'm Rae Yeager, I phoned and booked a hair appointment."
The receptionist looked in her book. "I'm sorry, Ms Yeager, your boyfriend phoned and cancelled it. He said he might have trouble getting hold of you, but to tell you," She paused and checked her message pad. "That he had changed his mind, he liked it how it was. Sorry." The receptionist, whose badge said Cindy on it looked very apologetic.
Rae felt all the blood fall to her feet. She put her hand out to the counter, took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. "I see. Well, I don't like it how it is, and I want it cut, do you have any other appointments I can take?" Rae wasn't sure she had managed to keep the fear and anger out of her voice.
"No, I'm sorry, your appointment was taken almost straight away, and we are fully booked now for today. I can make you an appointment for tomorrow if you would like."
"No, that's ok, I don't know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Thank you, Cindy." Rae turned and went to leave the store.
"I'm real sorry, for the mix up. Have a nice day."
Rae walked back down the hallway to the elevator. She wasn't sure how she felt. How could he have known that she was going to have her hair done when she hadn't known herself until about an hour ago? She felt her anger rise. How dare he decide that she couldn't have her hair cut? Rae took her phone out of her purse to call Steve, but she couldn't get a signal where she was. As she walked back towards Tom her anger started to rise even more.
By the time she got to the car, she was so angry that she knew that if she went back to the precinct she would blast somebody out again, and probably end up having another argument with either Steve or if she managed to hold it in with Jesse later. She thought for a minute, checked that she had her gun on her, even though she knew she did, and decided to pay a visit to the shooting range first.
Steve put his pen down and shook his head. He had gone through all the figures he could find, and had made a right nuisance of himself the amount of times he had been down to the exhibits locker this morning. But he still couldn't account for why Santos had $1 million in his bank accounts. He must have some other connection to the magazine, or something else, to have that kind of money, but he couldn't see it. Maybe Rae could come up with something. He looked at his watch; she had been gone an awfully long time. He felt uneasy, this wasn't right. Where had she said she was going? Steve got up and walked over to her desk. He picked up a card, which said 'Dawn's Salon' on it with a number underneath. 555-93485 and dialled it.
"Dawn's Salon, how may I help you?"
Steve suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Oh, hi, um, is Ms Yeager still there?"
"Oh, are you the gentleman who phoned this morning to cancel her appointment? No, sorry, I passed your message on, and she left. She seemed a bit upset. Sorry, Sir."
Steve's mind began to race. "How long ago did she leave?"
"About an hour ago."
"Ok, thank you." Steve put the phone down. Something was very wrong here. He went back to his desk and found the number for Rae's new cell phone and dialled it. It rang and rang, but nobody answered it. He wasn't sure what to do next. Somebody must have heard her book her appointment. No, not somebody, HIM! He must have heard. He tried to imagine how Rae would have felt when she found out what he had done. Frightened, he knew she would be frightened. But he had a feeling that she would be angry too. That worried him; he didn't want her to go and do something stupid or dangerous because she let her anger overwhelm her.
The phone began to ring on Rae's desk. Steve picked it up. "Steve? It's Jess. Is Rae there?"
Steve sighed, now he would have to worry Jesse as well. "No, Jess, she isn't."
"Steve, what's up? Why isn't she there, if you are?"
"Hey, we aren't joined at the hip you know." Steve tried to joke, but he knew Jesse wouldn't be fooled.
"Steve, what's happened? Where's Rae?"
Steve could hear the panic rising in his friend's voice. He took a deep breath. "She went to get her hair cut. But her stalker must have heard her, because he cancelled it for her. That was over an hour ago, she hasn't come back yet, and I can't get her on her cell."
"I'll try as well, Steve, maybe between us we can reach her."
Steve heard the phone go dead as Jesse put it down without his normal cheery goodbye. He went over got himself a cup of coffee and headed back towards the phone.
Rae had used all her energy and anger up on the shooting range. When she had first arrived, she had been so angry, that her shooting had been all over the place. But as she focused on the target and deepened her concentration, her breathing had calmed and her racing heartbeat had slowed down. After that her shooting had been very good, and she had actually been quite impressed with herself.
Jesse put the phone down and started to pace up and down. He walked out to the reception desk in the ER and signed himself out for an hour. Then he headed for the precinct.
Steve was trying Rae's phone again when he saw Jesse walk in.
"Sorry, Steve, I just couldn't concentrate on my work, not knowing where she was. I've only got an hour, but I needed to be here." He smiled at his friend, and felt reassured as Steve placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I know, buddy. We'll get it sorted out, ok?"
Rae walked towards the exit. She had been surprised how long she had been there. She checked her phone and saw the unanswered call light flashing. She shuddered. He doesn't have this number; it can't be him. Yeah right. He cancelled your appointment remember. Don't do anything until you are back with Steve. Her brain carried on whirring until without realising it she was walking back up the stairs to the precinct.
She tried to get her mind back on what she was supposed to be thinking about. Money, it all came down to money she was sure of that. How did a deliveryman have all that money under his bath? Suddenly her face changed, she needed to speak to Steve straight away.
"Rae! Oh, thank God!" Jesse ran up to her, sending all her thoughts out of her head.
"Honey, where have you been, we were so worried about you? Why didn't you answer your phone? We've both been calling you." Jesse enveloped her in a hug.
"Jesse!" The word came out muffled as she was pressed up against him. She moved her hands and pushed him away. "Jess, I need to be able to breath and talk. Please let me go."
"Sorry, sweetheart. Where have you been?"
"I would like to know as well, Rae. Why didn't you answer your calls?"
Rae sat down at her desk. "I'm sorry, guys." She took a deep breath and prepared to tell her story. "I went to get my hair cut. I told you that, Steve." She looked at her partner and was surprised to see so much concern in his eyes. "Well, when I got there the appointment had been cancelled – by my boyfriend!" She ran her fingers through her still long hair. "Apparently he had decided that he liked my hair how it was, and didn't want me to get it cut. I was frightened by that, really frightened. Not only must he have been here when I made the call, but he thought he could dictate to me what I did to my appearance." She couldn't stop the shudder that went through her. "Then I got angry. I was so angry that I knew somebody would get blasted." She paused and smiled a small tight smile. "One of you two probably! So, rather than let the anger take over I went to the shooting range, and killed a few targets. I didn't answer my phone in case the calls were from him." She put her hand up. "I know, there is no way he could have the number, but hey, fear is irrational, at least it was in my case. I'm really sorry."
Rae stood up and walked over to Jesse. She kissed him on the lips and then clung to him. The other detectives in the room must have sensed something, because there were no catcalls and Rae and Jesse were left completely alone. After a few minutes Rae took a deep breath. "Go back to work, darling. I'm all right now. I'll see you tonight. I'm sorry about this."
Jesse didn't look at all convinced, but he nodded. "Call me if anything else happens. ok?" He kissed her once more, waved at Steve and headed out of the room.
Rae followed him with her eyes. Then she went over to the coffee machine and got herself a cup of boiling water. She sat down at her desk and opened the drawer to get out a tea bag. "Steve!"
He was there in an instant. Rae pointed to an envelope in her drawer and he pulled on a pair of gloves. He picked up the envelope, which once again had her name typed on it. "Do you want me to open this, Rae?" She just nodded, so he slit it open with her letter opener and read the contents.
"How dare you decide to have your hair cut without checking with me first? You'll find that I will make this sort of decision when we are together. As you've seen I have the power to change any arrangements you make. I will not tolerate you making any plans without my say so. You have been warned."
Rae's face had no colour. She put her head down on her desk. "Give me a couple of minutes, Steve. I'll be all right in a couple of minutes."
Steve could see her try to gather herself, but as he watched he knew that she was failing. Part of him wished that she would let go and cry, but he knew that the squad room was the last place she would let her emotions get the better of her. As the thoughts went through his mind he saw her square her shoulders.
"Right. I am not going to think about it. I'll go crazy if I do. I have something important to talk to you about. Something we missed with Norville."
"What, I didn't think we had missed anything." Steve's mind was reeling. One minute she had been a mess, unable to even lift her head off the desk. Now she was back on the case, and pointing out what errors they had made. He shook his head. Amazing.
OK, Detective, what did we miss?"
"His work locker! We didn't check where he worked did we? Oh, we made sure he actually did work there, but that was all."
"You mean magazine number three?"
She nodded. "Did he have more than one key on his key ring?"
"Hold on, let me find the inventory of stuff we pulled from his apartment." Steve was leafing through papers now, and soon he picked out what he needed. "Let's see. Magazines, black box, three discs, wallet, money! Keys. Plural, it says keys." They headed off together towards the evidence lockers and soon were on the way back to their desks with a set of keys with a L.A. Raiders key chain. "Ok, this must be the key to his front door, this one's his car, which was checked by the way, before you ask. Forensics went over it and found nothing. But this one, looks like a locker key. C'mon let's go!"
Soon they were heading for the distribution company where Ethan Norville had been employed. They went into the office and asked to speak to the manager. A young and completely bored looking woman walked off towards the door at the back of the room.
"The police want to see you Mr. Little… Yes Sir." Then she turned and walked back. "You can go straight in." She sat down and started to type again. Thank goodness I have an interesting job Rae thought, dangerous, but interesting.
"Good morning, Mr. Little, I'm Lieutenant Steve Sloan, this is my partner Detective Reagan Yeager, we're investigating the death of one of your employees, Ethan Norville."
"Yes, terrible tragedy that, terrible. But I did speak to two officers just after it occurred. What extra information do you need?"
"We found these keys at Mr. Norville's apartment, and we think this is a locker key. Do you provide your employees with lockers, Mr. Little?"
"Yes, Sir, we do, that looks similar to my locker key, but I believe that we have already allocated Ethan's locker to somebody else."
"Do you know who that would be, Sir?" Rae looked at the man behind the desk. "Only it could be very important for us to know what was actually in there when it changed hands."
"Oh, I can tell you that. The contents are now in a box in one of our storerooms. I'll get it for you if you would like."
"If you don't mind, we'll come with you." Steve headed towards the door, which he opened, and waited for the man to walk through. The storeroom was just down the hallway, and they were soon looking in a small box, which held Ethan Norville's possessions. There was no magazine.
"Was there anything else?" Rae looked through the contents of the box.
"What exactly are you looking for, Detective?"
"A magazine, a magazine called Pleazure, edition three."
"I don't know, Detective, he often had that sort of magazine, but I don't remember seeing one when we emptied his locker. I'm sorry, is it important?"
"It could be, Sir, if you find it could you please ring either Detective Yeager or myself on this number." Steve handed over one of his cards and they headed back out towards the car.
Steve drove back to the station; he looked over towards his partner and noticed that Rae looked pre-occupied. He wasn't surprised, but he was concerned. He knew that she tried to keep her worries to herself, and whenever they'd been out working she had been efficient and professional. But she'd had a rough morning. "Rae, are you alright?" She nodded. He wasn't convinced, but he had expected nothing more.
As they walked over to their desks Steve's spare mobile rang. He picked it up and listened. He shut his phone off and turned to Rae. "Our friend Lloyd called, it's time for Marcus and Sheree to hit the town again." He smiled at her, but she just picked up her bag and headed for the ladies room.
Fifteen minutes later they were back in Steve's car and on their way once again to Perfect Pics. Steve stopped the car a block away and turned to his partner. Rae hadn't said a word for over an hour. "Rae, talk to me, what's the matter?"
She looked at him and he realised that he couldn't read her at all. "I'm sorry, Steve, it's nothing. I don't want to talk about it. No that's not true, I do, but there's nothing I can do about it, so it doesn't matter."
"Detective, I have no idea what you are talking about, but I know you're worried about something, so talk to me!"
"I don't want you to see the photographs!"
"What?" Steve looked at her; he thought she was concerned about something to do with her stalker, with what had happened that morning, not the current case.
"The photos, I can't get out of my mind how cheap and ... and, and well, I just don't want you to see them, ever."
"Rae, we have to go get them, and hopefully find out who this Ms. Lane is. I don't think we can do that without these pictures." He paused and thought for a moment. "I tell you what, you go and pick them up, and I'll wait just inside the door. You can say that you're going to show them to me later. But if he has sent them on to the magazine then we'll have to go along with that for now. He's supposed to be bringing the missing issue in, maybe that will help."
Rae just nodded her head; maybe she would be able to get rid of the worst ones without either Steve or Jesse seeing them. Steve started up the car again and soon they were out on the sidewalk and back in character.
Rae walked teetered; if I ever have to wear these shoes again it'll be too soon into the photo store, her purse swinging on her shoulder. The bell rang and as she looked around, to her horror she saw a picture of herself up on the wall! "Hey, Marcus, honey, don't I look pretty!" Rae wanted the ground to open up; she had never been so embarrassed in her life. For the first time she was glad that she could hide her feelings behind Sheree. She went up to the counter and there was Marlene, looking her normal cheerful self.
"Hey, Marlene, does my baby get a discount 'cos I'm up on your wall?" Rae chewed on the gum she had popped just before they had entered. Marlene looked right through her and smiled at Steve. "Do you want me to get Lloyd for you?"
"Yep, he and I have some things to talk about." Steve walked over to Rae and put his hand on her waist. She felt him give her a gentle squeeze, and she placed her hand over his. She knew that it was Steve reassuring her, not Marcus groping her.
Lloyd came up and into the room with a folder in his hands. Rae could see herself through the transparent cover. "Can I take them, Lloyd, I was plannin' a surprise meal for my man later, with these as the main course!" For goodness sake, uugh! She smiled at Lloyd and reached over to take the folder.
"Not yet, missy, I have business to conduct with your 'man'. The lady at Pleazure magazine is running a feature on older models and wants you in it!" Rae resisted the temptation to ram the photos down his throat, and then seeing that Steve was having a problem keeping a straight face trod on his foot as she moved in front of him.
"Aw, Lloyd, can't I just have a little look at them while you talk? I'll take real good care of them!" She tried to look pathetic, which in this outfit isn't hard, she felt very pathetic.
Lloyd gave in and handed the folder over. Steve followed him into the back room and Rae sat down where she could see what was going on. "So, Lloyd, what did you want to say? Hey, man, did you get that magazine?" Steve looked across the desk wondering what was going to happen next. He didn't think they'd been spotted, but Lloyd had just split them up again.
"Yeah, here you go." He handed a magazine across the desk and Steve hoped that there was no reaction on his face; there on the cover was Mario Santos' wife.
"Thanks, can I borrow this, I'll bring it back?" Steve started to flick through the magazine. What he saw on page five made him draw in a gulp of air.
"No way, man, way you're looking at her, I'll never see it again." Lloyd held his hand out for the magazine.
"I'll need to take this magazine with me." Steve stood up and Rae, sitting outside saw him reach into his pocket for his I.D. She rose and headed for the office door. Marlene appeared in front of her.
"Stay right there, ma'am." Rae eased her I.D. from her pocket and showed the clearly shocked woman.
"I need the information in this magazine for an ongoing murder investigation." Steve saw Lloyd reach down and a gun was in his hand before the drawer was fully open. "Don't try it." Steve's tone was icy. His gun was pointed straight at Lloyd.
Rae seeing what was going on reached into her purse and pulled out her gun as well. "Step over to the wall, turn round, and put your palms against it." Rae smiled at the woman as she directed her from behind the counter. Marlene didn't have a gun, but she did have an extremely thin stiletto blade in her boot. Rae put the cuffs on her and sat her down on one of the chairs. Then she went over and locked the entrance door and looked over to see how Steve was doing.
"I think we'd better take this down town, don't you, Lloyd?" Steve put his cuffs on the photographer, picked up the gun, bagged it and then got his cell phone out and called for some back up to come and search the store. While they waited Steve kept Lloyd in his office. He shut the door and then came round to face the man. "Where are the negatives of the photos you took of my partner?" Lloyd just stared at him. "I suggest that you tell me, because it will be the difference between a thorough search, and demolition when my men arrive."
Lloyd looked up at him and held his gaze. Then after about thirty seconds he looked away. "Top drawer of the file cabinet, under 'Sheree'." Steve walked over to the cabinet, his eyes never leaving his prisoner. He opened the drawer and keeping his gun raised at Lloyd began to search. It didn't take him long to locate the file he was looking for, and remove it.
"Are these the only ones?" Lloyd nodded. "My suggestion still stands. If my men find any more photos of 'Sheree' it will be my pleasure to develop this further!" There was a rap at the front entrance and Steve looked around. He could see Martin Robertson and his partner waiting the other side of the glass. Rae got up and opened the door.
"Hi, Martin," Rae blushed as she saw the young officer let his eyes roam. "Steady, Officer! Let's go, Lieutenant Sloan is in the other room." Martin turned to his partner and told him to keep an eye on Marlene.
Steve explained what he wanted the two men to do; he then took Lloyd and Rae took Marlene out to the car. Rae looked over to him. "Do you think we should send them some more help?" Steve nodded and Rae put in the call.
It took just over an hour to process Lloyd and Marlene. Lloyd was detained, because he had pulled his gun on Steve. Then they got changed, Steve went out for some lunch, and they sat at their desks eating in silence. When Steve had finished he walked over to Rae's side, and put the folder he had been guarding down next to her. She opened it up, and then smiled at him. "Thank you, Steve." She took the envelope out of the folder. "Once this is all over I intend to set fire to them." She looked over at her partner again, and noticed for the first time the satisfied smile he had on his face. "Ok, out with it, you're grinning like the cat that got the cream." Steve said nothing, he just handed her the magazine, issue three, and continued to grin.
Rae stared at the face on the cover, and then looked up at Steve.
"I believe you will find what you are looking for on page five, Detective."
She turned the pages and there, as large as life was Mrs. Santos, Rae looked at the headline on the page. 'Sexy Sandi, Feast Your Eyes on our Managing Director, Beauty and Brains in one cute package!' "I think we need another little talk with Mrs. Santos."
"I think so too, let's go." Steve was off across the room before Rae was even standing up.
"Hey, wait for me!" She took off after him, a smile on her face, at last this was moving. It's not the only thing.
Rae and Steve drew up outside the Santos house two hours later. They had stopped to pick up a search warrant and another unit was on its way. They got out of the car, and walked up to the door. Rae pressed the bell; they could hear sounds inside, and in a moment a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Mrs. Santos answered the door. Rae held up her I.D. "Good afternoon, is Mrs. Santos home?"
If the woman was shocked she hid it well. "Yes, of course, won't you come in?" She walked into the house in front of them. "Sandi, the police are here to see you." Then she walked away from them, and left them standing in the hallway. Sandi Santos came down the stairs towards them.
"Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"
"We would like to search your home, Mrs Santos, I have a warrant here which gives us the authority to do just that." Steve held up the document, which Mrs. Santos took and read slowly from beginning to end. Steve very rarely had that happen to him, and he stood there, looking a little uncomfortable.
Finally when she had finished she handed it back to him, and smiled. "Go right ahead, Lieutenant. I trust you will have no objection if I call my lawyer?"
Steve shook his head. "If you think you need his assistance you go right ahead, ma'am."
Rae walked over to him. "Where would you like me to start?"
Steve let a smile cross his lips. "I think it's your turn to take the bedrooms, Detective." Rae went up the stairs and saw Steve head towards the living area.
Sandi Santos' bedroom was as understated as Kelly Brown's had been lavish. The entire room was white; it was almost empty of any ornamentation. There was one picture of two children up on the wall and a glass unicorn standing on a table underneath the window. Apart from that the room was bare. Rae started off by searching the drawers, which contained nothing apart from what they were supposed to. She took all the drawers out, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. She then stripped the bed down to the mattress, which she turned. Again nothing. As she picked up a cushion to put back on to the remade bed she noticed that the corner of the carpet was coming away from the skirting board. Baseboard Rae pulled it back a little further and there, carefully hidden from sight, was a floor safe.
"Lieutenant, could you please come up here a minute?" Steve came to the bottom of the stairs. Rae smiled at him and indicated that she needed him.
"At last, how long does it take to search a bedroom?" Steve came up the stairs. He looked at the neat room. "Only you would tidy up after a search! So, what do you have, Detective? It would appear it's your turn to grin." Rae said nothing, but led him to the corner of the bedroom. "Ok, we need to get into this. I'll just go and get the lady of the house.
Steve returned a couple of minutes later with Mrs. Santos in tow. "We need the combination to your safe, Mrs. Santos, if you don't mind."
Rae saw the woman blanche under her gaze. You didn't think we'd find it did you?
"I… I… I didn't know that was there, Lieutenant, it must be Mario's."
"I don't think so, ma'am, unless you have slept in this perfectly ordered bedroom with the carpet up in the corner for the last few days. Now, could we please have the combination?"
Sandi Santos shook her head; she tried again. "I… I… haven't been sleeping in here."
Rae held up a pair of white satin pyjamas, which she had found, folded neatly on the ottoman at the end of the bed. "Oh, I think you have. We will get the combination, but it would be so much better if you gave it to us."
"Twenty-five, Oh, Six, Twenty-five."
"Thank you," Rae said acidly.
Steve moved over and turned the combination lock, they all heard it click and then as Steve opened the lid Rae moved around behind the woman standing in the middle of the room. "I think now would be a good time to call that lawyer of yours, Mrs. Santos."
By the time they got Mrs. Santos down town and her lawyer had met up with her it was gone six. Rae and Steve had the list of the contents of the safe in front of them as they tried to bring all the loose ends together. The gun that they had found had been sent to ballistics so that it could be checked against the bullets that killed Norville, Santos, and Brown. Also on there were the legal documents showing that Sandra Santos nee Lane was the sole owner of Pleazure magazine in Los Angeles, and at least a joint owner elsewhere in the country. There was also paperwork that showed Mario as a part owner of Pleazure in three other cities, although whether Mario had actually known that they had no idea. They had read the blackmail letters sent by Ethan Norville, threatening to tell Mario that not only was she his boss in distributing the magazine and protecting the photographers, but also that she was redirecting a proportion of the profits for her own use.
"You know if she owned most of the magazine in almost all the places it is available, surely she could have paid herself however much money she wanted. Why take it illegally?" Rae looked puzzled. It seemed to her that Mrs Santos had broken the law for no reason.
"I guess that she had to find a way to be able to spend some of her ill gotten gain, without Mario becoming suspicious. She obviously didn't want him to know what she did for a living. So putting her husband on the payroll was what she came up with." Steve paused; the conclusions were coming easier now that they knew what was going on.
Rae nodded. "Well, there is something to be said for keeping in all in the family."
"I wonder how Norville found out about it."
"And about the account deficits. Well, we know he had the discs, but I wonder where he got them from."
Rae's phone rang and she picked it up, casting a worried glance over to Steve as she did so. "Detective Yeager … yes that's right… thank you... What, you're kidding? That's brilliant, thank you very much." She put the phone back down with a smile. "The bullets match, but she only shot Norville and Santos. When you ask for a rush job you certainly get it don't you?"
"I think it's time for an official, little talk with Ms. Lane." The little talk took almost three hours. By the time she'd been taken away to be fitted for the orange jumpsuit Rae and Steve had been working for just over twelve hours. They had little more information; Mrs. Santos didn't know where Norville had got the CDs. All she knew was that it was worth her while to pay him, until he got greedy, and started to demand more and more from her. Then she decided that it was time to stop him once and for all.
She also admitted killing her husband, she thought that she had covered her tracks and got rid of all the third issues of the magazine, but Norville had suggested to Santos that it would be a good idea for him to look at his copy. When Santo had confronted her she had admitted to being featured in the magazine and his boss. He had apparently lost it. It seemed he could happily condone his own behaviour in being a cop and working for an illegal magazine. But finding out that his wife was the owner of said magazine had been too much for him. He had told her that he would have to inform his superiors about it. She had tried to talk him out of it and failed, so finally she had followed him when he went on duty and killed him.
Rae stretched in her chair, "She didn't kill Kelly. You know that, don't you? There was no connection after all. The connection was between Santos and Norville, and we only got Santos because the Chief called us in." Rae was smiling broadly; she didn't look at all upset that this was the case.
"You don't appear too heartbroken about this, Detective."
"That's because I know who did kill her! Ballistics got another match, the bullet that killed Kelly came from Lloyd's gun!"
Steve began to smile, then laugh. He leant back in his chair and enjoyed the moment. Rae joined in, and for the first time in what felt like a long time, they laughed together.
By the time that Lloyd had been formally charged with murder, Rae was ready to sleep at her desk.
Steve looked over at her. "I can't believe that he would murder her because she didn't want to be a call girl any more. We'll look closer, but I think you will find that our friend Lloyd has quite a few girls on his books." Steve paused. "Well, Detective, I think we should go home now, only stopping to buy a lottery ticket each on the way!"
Keen to get out of the office Rae needed no encouragement. She put her cell phone into her drawer, grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair, locked up her desk, and headed for the exit. Steve followed her out.
"Why are you leaving your cell in your desk?"
"Just in case, I don't want him to get my number so I figured leaving it in a police station in a locked desk was the safest bet!"
"Are you ok, Rae? What time does Jesse finish tonight?"
She checked her watch "He should be home already, he said he would be in by eight. If I have any problems I will dial 911, I promise!" With a smile Rae got into Tom and headed home.
She parked in her usual place, remembered to use the alarm and decided to call on Jesse before she went home.
"Hey, beautiful! How was the rest of your day? You look great, did something good happen after I left?"
"Yep sure did! We solved all three of the murders, Kelly Brown, Ethan Norville and Mario Santos. I tell you Jesse it's a great feeling. Anyway I'm going to go and have a shower, grab some tea and have a slouchy evening, you're welcome to join me if you'd like."
Jesse smiled at her; she looked so much more relaxed. "We're ok aren't we, Rae, we've got past Sunday haven't we?"
Rae put her hand up to his face. "We're fine, Jess, don't worry about it any more. It's finished. She moved towards him and kissed him passionately on the lips. I love you, Jesse, I love you so very much."
"I love you too, Rae, I won't mention it again. Let me grab my keys." They went out into the hallway together and Rae pulled her keys out of her pocket. But as she pushed them into the lock the door moved. Rae looked over at Jesse, her good mood forgotten and her heart beating so loudly she was sure he could hear it. She took out her gun and gestured to him to move behind her. She pushed open the door with her foot and Jesse heard her let out a gasp. "Oh, my God, Jesse." She turned away from the door, all her training forgotten. The gun hung limply by her side; her right hand covered her mouth. Jesse went to move around her, but she put a hand on his arm, suddenly needing to keep him safe. "No, don't, get Steve on the phone. Ask him to come down here, now."
She slid down the wall into a sitting position on the floor. Jesse took his phone out of his pocket and put in a call to Steve. "You need to tell me what to say to him, Rae, why does he need to come here? Oh, hi, Steve, it's Jesse here, listen, buddy can you come over here right now? Something's happened… no she's OK, but she needs you… yeah see you in a while."
Jesse sat down on the floor next to Rae, "What's happened in there, Rae?" She leant over and pushed the door back open with her foot. Jesse could now see into the room. It had been totally trashed; it looked as if a hurricane had been through it. "Oh, Rae, sweetheart, I'm so sorry, come here." He put his arm around her and she snuggled up to him. They sat that way until Steve arrived. Neither of them had any idea of how much time had passed. They hadn't spoken a word to each other; they had just needed to be together.
"Rae, Jesse, what happened?" It wasn't Steve who spoke, but Mark. Rae got to her feet, and moved towards them.
"He ransacked my home, Mark, look at it." Steve pushed at the door with an elbow and they both saw the devastation for themselves.
"This guy has got to be stopped. This has gone way past anything anyone should have to put up with." Steve was trying very hard to keep his emotions under control, but it wasn't easy. He put through a call to the precinct and requested a team to come and deal with the apartment.
"Come on, Rae, let's go into Jesse's until the others arrive."
Rae pulled herself together a little, and realised that she hadn't secured the area. "No, wait. Steve, I haven't actually been in, he may still be there."
In an instant Steve had his gun drawn, he edged slowly into the room, scanning it as he went. He was horrified by the violence that had been used. All the new furnishings had been destroyed, there was broken glass and china everywhere. He moved into the bedroom again there was nothing left, but here there was a message. Written across the wall was 'Soon You WILL Be Mine'.
Steve walked back out of the room, checking the bathroom as he went. He shook his head to Rae, "No, nobody in there. Come on, I think we all need something to drink." They were sitting drinking their tea and coffee's when the SCU arrived. Steve went back out to them and spoke to Martin Robertson.
"Ok, guys? This is Detective Yeager's apartment. She's been having a problem with a stalker lately. This appears to be his latest attention-seeking move. There's a message in the bedroom, I want a picture of that. Did you call anybody in?"
"Yeah, Phil Levington, he was at home. He should be here in five minutes; he doesn't live far from here. Officer Burlington is also on her way." As Martin spoke Steve could see him coming up the hallway.
"Lieutenant? What are you doing here? Is this a homicide?"
"No, but it's a cops apartment, Rae's apartment actually." Phil looked puzzled. If you go in you'll see." Steve led the way into the living area.
"Wow, I see what you mean." Phil looked around him. "Would you like me to just snap away, Lieutenant?
"Yeah, make sure that you have a picture of every bit of each room. One day we will get this guy and we'll need them as evidence. Look this isn't my investigation, I'll be next door with Rae if you need me."
"OK, Lieutenant."
Steve went back into Jesse's apartment. "They're in there now, Rae, did you want me to get Jan to come in here when she arrives?"
Rae nodded her head. Steve dialled the cell phone number that Rae handed him. "Jan, Steve Sloan here. Listen; when you come over, Rae is in Jesse's apartment. Rae could hear Steve giving the apartment number over the phone. She couldn't believe what she had seen, albeit briefly; her flat was ruined.
"She's coming over right away. Phil Levington is in there at the moment, taking pictures. When he's finished you'll need to go and see if anything is missing."
Rae just nodded again. She looked at Jesse and he smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll be right there with you. We could look in one room while they're photographing the other couldn't we? Get it over with a bit quicker?"
"Yeah, Jesse, as long as you don't touch anything. I doubt if they'll have dusted yet."
The four of them got up and headed for the hallway. Rae and Jesse went right into the room, Steve and Mark stayed by the door. Rae had her hand holding tightly to Jesse's. She stood in the middle of the floor and looked about her. The beanbag had been slashed, as had the cushions and her sofa, which had also been pushed over on its side. All the cupboards in the kitchen had been opened, and on the floor foodstuffs mingled with broken crockery.
Martin came over towards Rae, "Detective, could you come and look at this?" He guided her over to the kitchen and there on the counter, in a clear space amongst all the destruction, was a present, beautifully wrapped with a tag attached to it. Martin gently lifted the end of it with his pen; the card said 'To My Love, a girl's best friend.'
"Should I open it do you think?" Rae didn't know what to do.
"Wait until Officer Burlington gets here, see what she says." Martin looked at the pain in Rae's eyes. Then he turned and headed back towards the bedroom. Jesse and Rae stood, hand in hand, neither of them moved.
Mark broke the silence. "What time did you get home, Jesse? This must have made a helluva noise."
"I finished at seven, and was home just before eight. I certainly didn't hear anything. I would've called Steve if I had."
Rae walked towards the bedroom; she'd let go of Jesse's hand now and was running her fingers through her hair. She stopped in the doorway and saw the message on the wall. "No, no, how could anybody do this to me?" She turned and ran from the room, "No, God, no!" and straight into Steve's arms. He could feel her shaking as he held her. He felt awkward with Jesse there, but he tightened his grip around her and let her rest on his chest. "Oh, Steve, I don't think I can carry on like this. I know what's in that package, but I don't know what to do, please help me." Steve looked down at her, he was worried that she would collapse.
"Lieutenant?"
Jesse was there to take hold of her. He held her gently, but she could feel his strength flow into her. "Jesse, can I stay with you tonight?"
"Hey, like you have to ask!" He kissed her on the forehead and then moved her out of the way as Phil came back into the hallway.
"I've finished now. I'll get these back to the officer in charge as soon as I can. Detective, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I hope my pictures will help." With that he took his leave of the shocked foursome.
"Let's get out of here, Jesse, I think I've seen enough." Rae shuddered and Jesse led her back into his own apartment. They hadn't been there more than a couple of minutes when there was a knock on the door. Rae jumped.
"Easy, easy, I'll get it."
"No, Jesse, I'll get it." Steve got up and looked through the peephole, then he opened the door and Jan stepped inside. She went straight over to Rae and crouched down in front of her.
"Detective," she put her hand over Rae's and squeezed. "What happened?"
"Hey, slow down a bit, you're hardly in the room, would you like a drink of anything?" Jesse was immediately defensive.
"No, thank you, doctor. I didn't think there was any point in beating about the bush, we all know why I'm here after all."
Rae smiled slightly, "It's all right, Jesse. Have you seen my flat? All the stuff that I bought on Monday has been ruined. There's nothing left. And he wrote on my wall. 'You WILL Be Mine'… no sorry 'Soon, You WILL Be Mine.' And he left me a gift, beautifully wrapped. You know, I don't think I can take any more of this." She put her head in her hands. "Ooh, I just wish I knew who it was. I can't fight an invisible enemy."
"Look, I came to see you first, now I want to go and see what he's done. Will you come with me, Detective?"
"I will if you start calling me Rae again, I feel you're cross with me when you call me Detective."
Jan smiled, "I'm not cross, I'm trying to keep professional with somebody that I would actually like to be friends with."
"Oh," Rae sounded genuinely surprised. "I'll let you off then." She got off the sofa and she and Jan left the room together. Jesse tried to follow, but Steve put out his hand and stopped his friend.
"Let them be, Jess, she'll be fine with Jan."
As they walked across the hallway Rae could feel herself getting tenser. You can do this. Just keep walking. She didn't want to go back in the apartment, but she knew she had to. You have to live here, so just do it. Nobody beats you but yourself. She took a deep breath and walked back into the room. She stood there and looked at the devastation. The officers were still working, but Rae took no notice of them.
"Rae, I am so sorry this had to happen to you. You have got to be so careful now; this guy is full of rage for you. I think you need to move into a hotel or a safe house for a while."
"No, I'll stay with Jesse tonight and then tomorrow I'll think about it. I can't do it tonight. What should I do about this present; do you want me to open it? I know what it is."
"How do you know that without opening it?"
"Because it says on it 'a girl's best friend. It's a diamond, in one form or another."
"Yes, open it, carefully, so that we can save the paper and the tag." Jan handed Rae a pair of gloves, which she pulled on and then picked up the box.
Rae looked at her hands. They were shaking. "I think you had better do it. I might tear the paper." She handed it to Jan and watched as she undid the wrapping. Jan let out a little gasp as she opened the box inside. She turned it to face Rae and she could see a beautiful solitaire diamond ring nestled on the velvet interior.
"My, God, that must have cost a fortune."
"There's no jewellers name on this box, maybe he got it from a pawn shop. I'll get somebody on it first thing in the morning. But I would guess that he now thinks that you and he are engaged."
Rae turned from her and walked into the bedroom. It was the first time she had actually gone into the room. She crouched down, and Jan saw her pick up something. Rae looked at it and dropped it back on the floor.
"What is it…? Rae?" There was no response; she didn't think that Rae had even heard her. "Detective!" Jan knelt down on the floor, Rae was staring downwards. She put her hand out to pick up what she was looking at. "Can I see?" Rae passed it over. It was the photo of Jesse and Rae she had got just that morning. Jesse's face had been cut out completely. "Come on, Rae, I don't think we're going to gain anything more by staying in here."
Wednesday The key copying went without a hitch. I hid in the parking lot this morning and watched as they both went off to work. In fact by eleven there was nobody in the building at all, except me. Her apartment was completely tidy when I got there, all the furniture she had chosen with him. Food so that she could cook him meals. I soon sorted that out. And on her nightstand there was a picture of the two of them together. I got rid of him in the photo and tomorrow I'll get rid of him from her life. There was a picture of her children too, smiling at her all the way from London. Let them stay there; they have no place in our life together. She will realise now that we are a couple. I left my gift to her on the kitchen counter. A beautiful ring, for my beautiful woman.
Rae and Jan walked back to Jesse's apartment and tapped on the door. Steve opened it and they went inside. Jesse took one look at Rae and moved to her side. "Rae, sweetie what is it? What did you find?" Jan handed over the picture, which was now in a plastic bag. Jesse's face paled as he saw what had happened to the photo. He passed it onto Steve.
"I guess that means I'm next, huh?"
"The gift had a diamond ring in it, Jesse." Rae's head was swimming with all that had happened.
"My, God." Jesse's voice was no more than a whisper.
"He will consider himself engaged to Rae now. Which puts you at even more risk, Jesse." Jan looked serious. This was giving her the creeps and she dealt with this type of thing all the time.
"I'll get a guard outside the door right away." Steve picked up his cell phone. Mark walked over to where Rae was standing.
"Rae, look at me. Rae." Rae turned toward her friend. Her face was haunted.
"I'm scared, Mark, not for me, but for Jesse. Take him to your place, maybe he'll be safer there."
"No way, Mark," Jesse protested. "He knows where the beach house is, he attacked Steve there. Besides I'm not leaving her here on her own, we're in this together!"
"No, Jesse, he's already put Steve and Alex in the hospital, if he hurts you I don't know what I'll do. Please, Jesse, go with Mark and Steve."
"I think you'll be better off together tonight. There'll be a guard on the door. I don't think that he'll go after Steve again, or Mark, but if Jesse's with them then they could be in danger." It was Jan who spoke, the air of authority that she had in her voice stopped the argument dead.
"Ok, Jan, this is your field after all, I'm inclined to defer to you on this." Steve turned to Jesse and Rae. "I want you to keep your cell phone on all night. Anything, and I mean anything at all; you call 911, and alert your guard. Then you ring me. What shift are you on tomorrow, Jesse?"
"I'm off tomorrow, I'll stay in all day. I'm not stupid, Steve, I'll watch my back."
"Rae, I want you to ring me when you wake up in the morning, whatever has happened during the night."
"I will, go on, you had better get home, or neither of us will be in a fit state to write our end of case reports tomorrow."
Mark walked over to her and gave her a hug, "You be careful, sweetie, remember everything that Steve told you."
"I will, Mark, thank you for coming over. I hope you haven't put yourself in any danger."
"I doubt it, I think I'm too old to be a threat."
Rae smiled and turned to Steve. "Thanks, partner, I really needed you here tonight." She moved over to where he was standing and they hugged. Steve looked down at her; he was extremely worried about her safety.
"I'll see you in the morning about nine. I'll bring dad with me, you bring Jesse with you, that way we'll all be together and we can go through everything that we've got and see what we can come up with. Sleep tight." He kissed her on the cheek and then as Mark walked over towards the door he joined him. They were about to open it when there was a knock from outside.
"Excuse me, Sir, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be here tonight." It was Martin Robertson who spoke.
"Haven't you been on duty almost all day?" Steve looked at the young officer, who did look a little tired.
"Yes, Sir, but they were short on manpower so I offered to cover this."
"Well, make sure you do a proper job. Good night."
"Good night, Lieutenant."
Steve and Mark took their leave, and Jan followed them out.
Suddenly the room was silent, Rae and Jesse sat looking at each other. "Let's go to bed, Jesse. I doubt if either of us will sleep, but at least we can snuggle up together and wait for the morning to come.
They wandered into the bedroom. Rae got onto the bed fully clothed and Jesse did the same. She put her gun on the nightstand and then she turned and faced him. "When this is all over, I think we could do with a couple of days away on our own. What do you say?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." He smiled at her and drew her into his arms. Rae closed her eyes and once again took comfort in being with him, and although she had thought she wouldn't be able too, she was soon drifting off to sleep.
Wednesday Oh, the activity at the apartment this evening. I thought she would never get home, but they solved their murder case today, would you believe it? The one night she should have been home on time she was late. I thought she would have got the message when she saw what I had done to her home, but no, she just clung on to the cop and the doctor, as if they have any place in her life now. She'll see tomorrow that I am the only one who can give her what she deserves. Tomorrow will be my day at last.
