April 2nd
Harry thought things were going well. Cases were being solved so the old magic was back just like that. Good. That meant it was back to normal. He hadn't heard any yelling or bickering between them, which was also good. Although there was a distance that he wasn't used to as well. He supposed that was to be expected. He was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of the telephone. He answered it and frowned "Right. I'll get someone over there right away." He wrote down the address and the name of the victim. He swore quietly. There was no sending Tom and Cassie on this one.
"Patterson, Clark." He said and waited for the detectives to walk over. "This one is delicate. Try to handle it with more than your usual diplomacy. Don't talk to the press don't talk around the press. Don't even breathe in the general direction of someone you think may have a third cousin once removed that writes for their high school newspaper." Patrick Galloway. As if things couldn't get more complicated.
He walked over to Tom and Cassie's desks. "How about lunch, I'm buying."
"I would love to Harry but I have lunch plans with Maura. She's going to be out of town for a few days and is leaving tonight. How about dinner this week, you and Frannie?"
"I'd like that. I'll talk to Frannie and let you know when is good."
"Where's she going?" Cassie asked casually.
"New Orleans. She's restoring a painting there. I'm going to head over there for the weekend but that's a few days off."
"Is that what she does for a living?" Harry asked.
Tom nodded "Yeah. She has a master's in Art history. " He saw the door open and smiled, "Speak of the devil." He said.
Maura returned his smile and approached the three of them. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She said.
"Not at all," Tom said as he rose to put an arm around her. "You remember Cassie," He said and the women nodded and said hello politely. "And this is Captain Harry Lipschitz."
Maura smiled and offered her hand. "Tom has told me so much about you." She said.
Harry shook her hand. "It's like pulling hen's teeth to get him to talk about you." He said and he saw that she caught his actual meaning and smiled. "You two have a good time. Just don't forget I need that report on the Harrison case before you go home." The wife's lover had turned out to be the guilty party.
"I'll get it done right after lunch," Tom promised and led the way back out to the parking lot.
Cassie watched them go then looked over to Harry. "I'll go to lunch with you." She said.
They had less grand plans for lunch than Tom and his girlfriend. They went out to the food trucks parked in the parking lot to get their food. They sat down at their usual table and she sighed.
"I don't like it, Harry." She said. "I don't like it at all."
"Unfortunately we don't have a say in the love lives of our friends and loved ones. He's not going to make the same mistake he did with Virginia."
"No, this is a brand new mistake. But you're right. I don't have a say. He made that plain. So what was the case that has you worried about the press?"
"Probably nothing. Patrick Galloway was found dead by his wife. We won't know anything until there's an autopsy. For all I know it was a heart attack. But there's been enough publicity regarding the Galloway brothers and the department. We don't need more."
"Do you really think it was a heart attack?"
"My gut says no."
"I trust your gut over most people's evidence, Harry."
"Well, you and Tom can't be anywhere near that case. Am I understood?"
"Absolutely." She said. "I don't want to get Tom into trouble just because I'm curious." Didn't mean she couldn't ask the other detectives questions on her own time. Right? As long as she didn't involve Tom.
Tom drove Maura to the airport that night at 6 pm. They'd had an early dinner at her home. She had made lasagna and insisted that he take the leftovers home with him. They had grown closer over the short period since they'd reconnected. It was dizzying. Tom hadn't proposed yet. She certainly hadn't said yes to the unasked question, but they were having conversations as if they had. They talked about children, where they'd like to take their honeymoon, whether she thought she'd just take his name or hyphenate their surnames.
Just as it was understood even if not completely admitted that they would be married one day, it was also understood that he would come to meet her for the weekend in New Orleans. Mostly because he didn't want to be away from her for two weeks without seeing her. He had even started going to mass every Sunday just to spend more time with her. He hadn't attended church regularly since he'd been a teenager.
After dropping her off he drove back to his tiny apartment. Soon he'd be able to move back to at least the neighborhood of his old apartment. Then the last vestige of the nightmare he'd been living would be gone.
He parked his car and went inside. He frowned seeing someone seated in his easy chair, The man was in his 60s now and his features had changed somewhat with age, but the eyes hadn't changed at all. Tom stepped the rest of the way in and closed his door.
"Generally it's polite to wait to be invited into someone's home." He said, choosing not to be intimidated by this man. Not outwardly anyway. "How are you, Mr. Palmeri?"
He shrugged "I can't complain. You look fit. I assume you're at least physically doing well. In other ways-" He indicated their surroundings "Not so well."
"That's changing soon. Can I interest you in a glass of scotch?"
Tony nodded "That would be nice." He said.
Tom put the leftovers in his refrigerator, then took the bottle out of the cupboard above the refrigerator and took down two highball glasses, and filled them half full. "So to what do I owe this surprise visit." He took the glasses into the sitting area of his studio apartment and handed one of the glasses to Antony. He then sat down in the second chair.
"You're involved with my daughter." He said simply, then took a drink of the scotch. It wasn't bad.
"Yes, sir, I am," Tom said leaning back in his seat.
"I don't suppose there is something I could do to encourage you to break things off with her. You can't possibly enjoy living in a place like this. I can give you enough money to easily move out of this… pit. I could relocate you anywhere you like, preferably out of state, in style."
"I'm not for sale, Mr. Palmeri. Not even to you." He took a drink of his scotch.
Tony laughed a little, he tilted his head, studying Tom. "I don't know if I should hand you your head for being that insolent, or if I should be glad I don't intimidate you."
"It's only impressive when you're actually trying to be intimidating, which you're not. " He said "Is that why you're here? To offer me money to stop seeing Maura?"
"It's something I do with most of her lovers when it looks like it's getting serious." He said. "I wouldn't want her with a man who would take a bribe like that. So you've earned a brownie point."
" I love Maura. I think I have since the day I first met her." He said.
"You were 12. It wasn't love." Tony said and shook his head. "The two of you have no idea what love is, or how difficult it's going to be for a cop with my daughter. They'll be watching you like a hawk because of who she is."
"They're going to be doing that anyway because I slipped out of their grasp and they don't like that. Maura and I will be fine. If it makes it so I can't be a cop then I'll go private sector. I'm not going anywhere."
"That has always been the problem with you, Ryan. You're not going anywhere. You were never going anywhere. There is no future for her with you."
"You're welcome to your opinion. But the only opinion that matters where this relationship is concerned is Maura's." Tom locked gazes with the man. "I may not be able to take care of her financially to your satisfaction. But I will take care of her in every other way."
"Well, at least you haven't brought her back here. To This."
"I'm not proud of where I'm living. As I said that will be changing soon. And no I will not ask her for money to do it. I've been trying to get her to let me pay her back for the legal barracuda she hired for me."
"If I know my daughter she'll never let that happen. She's a good girl. She gives everything she's got when she cares about someone. Which is what worries me. She's easy to take advantage of."
"I have no intention of doing that. Not now, not ever."
"That's good because if I ever find out that you are," he smiled "You'll find out just how intimidating I can be." He finished his drink. "Thanks for the scotch. Not bad." He got up and walked toward the door. "You have a good night. I'll tell your dad hello, I truly enjoy his restaurant." He let himself out.
He shook his head and then gave the apartment the once over. He didn't trust Tony Palmeri any further than he could throw a mac truck. He was surprised that he found nothing new or interesting in his place. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and turned on the television.
"This just in. Another body was found in Emerson Park today. Marsha Reynolds, age 28 was reported missing three days previous by her husband Arlo Reynolds. Police are withholding details at this time, but we have it on good authority that there have been three other murders of this type within the last 6 weeks."
He picked up the phone and called Cassie. "Hey turn on the news, Channel 5."
"Okay." She said and did as he asked. The commentator repeated themselves.
"Those other two cases that were on your desk. They fit that description don't they."
"Yeah, they do. This is going to give Harry an ulcer." She said.
"Breathing gives Harry an ulcer." He countered. "Let's make sure there's a match before we call him with the bad news."
"Right. I'll meet you there." She said. She smiled when she hung up. Not because there was another murder, but because he'd called her, even if it was about work. Things were looking up.
Half an hour later they were in the morgue. Dr. Noriko Weinstein shook her head "Don't you two ever go home?"
"We went home," Cassie said "But then we turned on the news."
"That was your mistake," Noriko said. "I don't see that you are assigned to this case though."
"We're not yet. But the details leaked to the press sound like two of our cases and we wanted to find out if the MO is the same. We know the general description is the same and both of them were found in parks." Cassie said "I didn't make the connection before because one was found at a water park, and the other was found in a skate park. That was where the similarities ended. "
Tom opened up the file they had and showed Noriko their copy of the coroner's report from the previous two cases.
She looked them over and frowned. "I haven't done an extensive autopsy. Just a preliminary exam when I was cleaning the body. There are things I have sent to forensics of course. On the surface, there are many similarities but I won't know for certain until I have done a full autopsy."
"Any idea when that will happen?" Tom asked.
"Tomorrow morning. Unlike you, I have a life at home that I would like to get to, I am already two hours into overtime."
Tom looked at Cassie "Do you want to call Harry or shall I."
April 3rd
Harry looked over the coroner's report the following morning. "We are not, I repeat not, going to be calling this a serial killer."
"Oh, of course not. Even if that's what it is." Tom said.
"We don't know that this is a serial killer. All we know is that three women were all shot and left in public parks." Harry said. "We don't know this is the same guy."
"We should check with the other precincts…if they have similar killings they may have found things we haven't," Cassie said.
"Cold cases too. Serial killers-" Tom stopped as Harry gave him a warning look. "This … kind of… killer doesn't usually start with their kills so close together. They ramp up."
"Right. So let's get to work. Chop Chop. Guess you'll be canceling your weekend trip." Harry said.
"Why?" Tom asked. "It's not like you can get overtime approved without calling it a serial killer." He said looking at Harry. "Which means normal days off whether we want them or not."
"Fine. One more death like this and we'll call it a serial killer. If it happens before Friday New Orleans will have to wait. Until then get back to work." He said, "Now, children, now."
They left Harry's office quickly.
"Let's see what we can find out about this latest victim." Cassie said, "Maybe we can find more similarities."
Tom nodded. "Good idea. We should go see the husband. Work out from there."
Arlo Reynolds answered the door of his two-story lower middle-class home. His eyes were red and swollen, and his complexion was leading toward gray.
"Mr. Reynolds?" Tom asked.
"Yes."
"I'm Detective Ryan and this is Detective St. John. Can we come in ?"
Arlo nodded and led them into the house. Tom closed the door as they entered and they followed him into the living room.
"Ahm… have a seat." He said quietly. "Do you have any word on who did this to Marsha?" he asked.
"No, I'm sorry," Tom said. "We need to know more about your wife. Her schedule places she liked to go…"
"Are you saying this is Marsha's fault?"
"No, not at all," Tom said gently. "Whoever did this would have likely encountered her in her everyday routine. Knowing everything we can about your wife will help us find her killer.
Arlo was on the verge of tears as he spoke. "She is-" He choked "W-was a kindergarten teacher. Baker Elementary. She ahm… would leave the house at 6:00 every morning so she could go jogging before work. She was convinced that she'd put on too much weight after the baby last year." He said.
"Do you know where she would run?" Cassie asked.
"Lake Trail." He said. He looked up as a child began to cry. "Excuse me." He got up and went up the stairs. He came back down a few minutes later with a baby in his arms. The little girl looked to be almost a year old. He sat back down on the sofa, holding the child close. "I don't know how I'm going to do this alone."
They made the usual condolence statements. They had no answers for him. Only questions and Tom felt terrible for pressing on with those questions, but he knew it wouldn't be any easier for Mr. Reynolds if they came back another time. Sometimes it was best to just rip off the metaphorical band-aid. "Can you tell us what she did after work?"
"Ahm… three days a week she went to the gym for two hours then she'd come home. " He gave the name of the gym. She would come straight home the other two days. Saturday was her shopping day, she'd go with her mother, J-Judith Holtz. I know they did grocery shopping at Petersen's market but I couldn't tell you anywhere else. You'll have to ask her" He said as he rocked the baby in his arms, more to comfort himself than the child.
Cassie asked for her contact information and he gave it.
"Sunday we would go to church, morning and evening service. The First Baptist Church, the one near Holly-Oak Mall." His tone was becoming blander as he talked.
"Is there someone we could call to come to stay with you for a bit?" Cassie asked, hating to leave the man alone. He didn't look well at all. He was clearly in shock. "Maybe your pastor?" She asked and he nodded.
"I-I don't know the number." He said and the tears began again.
"That's okay, I'll find it. Do you have a phone book?"
"I-in the kitchen."
"Okay, I will be right back." She promised and got up to go into the kitchen, while Tom redirected the conversation to the little girl, whose name he discovered was Emily.
Cassie found the phone book easily and looked for the number of the Baptist church and called. "Hello, this is Detective St. John. Can I speak with the Pastor?"
"May I ask what this is regarding?" She asked.
"Arlo Reynolds." She said.
"Please hold."
Cassie fidgeted while waiting, pacing in the small kitchen. She looked at the refrigerator magnets and receipts attached. There was one for her favorite bakery where she always picked up her cheesecake. She thought about going there to pick up something for Tom. She felt bad about how she'd handled some things over the past few months.
"Detective St. John? I'm Pastor Conrad. How can I help you?" A man's voice came over the phone.
"Hello, My Partner and I are at the Reynolds home. Mr. Reynolds is having a rough time and I'm not comfortable leaving him here alone. Is it possible that you could come to be with him for a while?"
"Of course. Thank you for calling me, Detective. I will be there in a few minutes."
She returned to the living room "He'll be here shortly." She said. They stayed until the Baptist minister arrived, not feeling comfortable leaving the man alone. On the way to the car, she said "Do you get the feeling there is something more going on here?"
"The man is shattered, Cassie. Compared to some of the people we see, as sad as it is, it's refreshing at the same time. Do you think he killed his wife?" Tom asked.
"No." She said "Not that, but there is guilt involved in that somewhere."
"A man likes to believe that they can protect the woman they love." He said. "He likes to think he'd do whatever was necessary no matter what it costs to do that and Arlo Reynolds couldn't do that. So of course he feels guilty."
"Not every man is you, Tom. Besides not every woman wants to be protected like that." She said getting into the car.
"Just because I want to be a protector doesn't mean that a woman can't protect herself. One does not equate to the other."
"Doesn't it usually mean that they'd look for women that needed protecting so they could live that fantasy of being the big badass guardian?"
"I married you didn't I?" He said.
"As I said, Not every man is you." She said as he started the car. "Let's go see her mother."
Tom looked at the address they'd taken down and drove toward a slightly more affluent neighborhood.
"Mrs. Judith Holtz" Cassie said as she looked at her notes.
"Okay, let's go see what she can tell us that Reynolds couldn't," Tom said. "If they got together every weekend then they were close."
"That's the theory anyway," Cassie said.
"Would you go shopping every weekend with your mother?"
"Point taken." She said and got out of the car.
Judith Holtz was a woman in her early sixties. She carried herself like a woman who had once been a great beauty, even though those days had passed. "I don't know what I can do to help you, Detective." She said ignoring Cassie entirely. Something that pissed Cassie off and made Tom completely uncomfortable. "But I will do all that I can."
"We just need to know anything you can tell us about your daughter, the people she knew, anyone that made her uncomfortable," Cassie said.
Judith glanced at Cassandra then back to Tom. " If there was anyone that made her uncomfortable she never told me about them. But that was how she was. She never had a bad word to say about anyone to anyone. Not even that no good husband of hers."
"What do you mean… about Mr. Reynolds I mean," Cassie asked, pleased that Tom was intentionally making Mrs. Holtz deal with Cassie's presence.
"Arlo, believe it or not, used to be an investment banker. He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar but his employers thought that it would cost them more money in lost clients and thus revenue if it got out than the amount he had stolen so they didn't press charges. Of course, he's been blackballed now. He can't find work and hasn't for the last 3 years. So they had to sell the house, and the cars and rent a house in that neighborhood and buy a car off of Craig's list so that she could get to work and support them both, even when she was pregnant. She got two weeks off after she delivered Emily and then it was right back to work. But I suppose on the bright side she didn't have to hire a baby sitter while she was teaching other people's children their ABCs." She said bitterly "And now he's going to be raising my grandchild while living on welfare. If he can manage to even get that."
Tom shifted uncomfortably. There but by the grace of god and all that.
"Do you know any of her friends?" Cassie asked, "Anyone she was close to?" No one never said anything negative about anyone. Not possible. She could buy almost never, but not never. People got angry when their lives were turned upside down and they lashed out, they vented. If she wasn't venting to her mother, then she was venting to someone else.
"I don't know about anyone she might have been friendly with at work. Her friends from before Arlo got caught had abandoned her completely. Afraid of guilt by association I suppose. I do know that she was still friends with Maria Savio. They were in school together. I don't have her contact information. I don't even know if she's gotten married. I'm sorry I can't be more help."
"It's alright," Tom said and handed her his card, figuring she'd be more likely to call him than Cassie. "If you think of anything else, give us a call."
Judith shook his hand and as an afterthought Cassie's. "I hope you find who did this, detective. I wish I could blame it on Arlo, but the truth of the matter is the man is too weak to have done anything like this."
Once outside, and in the car Cassie shook her head "That is one angry woman. I don't think she was hitting on you, I think she was sizing you up to see if you'd fit in her oven there Hansel." She said.
Tom laughed "I think you might be right. Let's get back to the precinct and see if Marnie can pull up anything on Maria Savio."
"Now she is hitting on you," Cassie said and laughed.
"You don't think it's funny when someone grabs at your ass."
"Because it's not." She said.
"Then why is it funny when someone grabs mine?"
"Because it's yours." She said laughing again.
Harry heard a familiar voice in the squad room and left his office quickly. "Rita? I thought that was your voice." He said moving across the room quickly to hug her. "Is this Sam?" He asked as he knelt to talk to the four-year-old. "Hey, kiddo."
"Sam, this is Uncle Harry. Remember you talked to him and Aunt Frannie on the phone."
The little boy nodded.
"Did you know you look just like your Dad… with your mother's eyes?" He looked up at Rita. "He's going to be a heartbreaker." He said as he straightened up.
"He already is. All the little girls at the preschool chase him around the playground. How are ya, Harry?"
"I'm great. You two are coming to dinner. I won't take no for an answer." He said.
"I think maybe we should ask Frannie about that." She said laughing
"Are you kidding me? If I don't bring you home with me I will be sleeping in the dog house for a week."
"Harry, You don't have a dog house," Rita said laughing.
"Frannie would buy one just so she could make me sleep in it," Harry said.
"Well, we can't have that, huh, Sam." She said. The little boy shook his head.
"So what brings you back to the east coast?" He asked.
"It was time, you know, for a visit." She said, "And Sam is old enough to take to Chris's grave."
"Would you like Frannie and me to go with you?"
"Yeah, I would," Rita said with a sad smile.
The doors opened and Tom and Cassie entered the precinct "I'm going to be black and blue come morning." He said.
"She likes you." Cassie teased grinning from ear to ear.
"See if I stop the next guy that tries to grab your ass." He said.
"You are incapable of not stopping a guy from grabbing my ass."
"Yeah, well, that's not the point," Tom said. He started to sit down at his desk, then stood back up.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Rita, you remember Sgt Ryan and Sgt St. John."
"I do. Working together again I see."
"No one else would put up with them," Harry said.
Rita laughed. She remembered when she and Chris had been Harry's favorite problem children. She could see that Tom and Cassie were keeping Harry on his toes in their place.
"How are you, Lt. Lance?" Tom asked.
"I'm doing well. And call me Rita. I don't work here anymore."
"Are you back in Palm Beach for good or a visit?"
"For a visit." She said.
"So what have you two found today?" Harry asked.
"Arlo Reynolds had been embezzling from his former employers but they didn't press charges," Tom said "He's been out of work for three years, living on his wife's salary as a kindergarten teacher. His mother-in-law would love to flay him alive and roll him in salt. The victim ran every morning, worked out three times a week, and spent every Saturday with her mother. Who swears she never said a negative word about anyone ever."
"Which of course is bullshit," Cassie said. "No one is that much of a Pollyanna. But the mother says she didn't talk about any friends she had either. The only one she could remember was a childhood friend that she thinks was still involved in her life. She only knew her by the name she had in school. So we asked Marnie to see what she could find out. If she finds anything we'll talk to her tomorrow. As well as the school and the gym to see if there was anyone suspicious or overly attentive."
"We're waiting on the background checks from the other two cases," Tom said. "In the meantime, I'm going to call it a day. I've got an appointment to look at a new apartment."
"Want me to come with you?" Cassie asked.
"No, I've got it handled." He said. "See you tomorrow, Cassie."
Cassie sighed as he left.
"Give him time, Cassie," Harry said. "This time last month he wouldn't give you the time of day."
Two hours later Tom put a plate of leftover lasagna in the microwave and took out his cell phone to call Maura.
"Hello." She said.
"Hey, it's me."
"Well, hello, Me. How was your day?" She asked taking a seat on the bed in her hotel room.
"Full of intense people. Including a woman I work with, well, work in the same building with anyway." He took a bottle of beer out of the refrigerator and opened it. "I swear every time I go in to ask her to look something up for us she grabs at my ass."
"Well, you do have an exceptional ass. So while I don't blame her for admiring, touching is just not acceptable."
Tom laughed. "I'd tell her that my girlfriend doesn't approve but I'm pretty sure she'd tell me I don't need any woman but her. She's… different. Cassie finds it hilarious." He said and the microwave beeped. He took the plate out and quickly set it on the counter. He sucked on a slightly scorched finger. "In other news, I put in an application for a new apartment tonight."
"Yeah? Do you like it or is it just that it's a step or two up from where you are currently?"
"I like it." He said "It's in my old neighborhood so I won't worry about whether or not you come over. If I get it I'll even give you a key."
"A key? We're at the exchanging keys stage? I like that." She said. "I can't wait to see you this weekend. I just left yesterday and it feels like it's been a week."
"Me too." He said, "I got home from the airport last night and I found your father in my living room."
"Are you serious?" She asked, "I'm going to strangle him."
"He tried to bribe me not to see you anymore. I told him no."
"Wow, he's ahead of schedule. Usually, he waits until I've been seeing a guy for 6 months or so."
"I guess he thinks I'm special or something," Tom said shaking his head.
"I know I do."
