Home Is Where the Heart Is
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction, written, and hopefully read, strictly for enjoyment. The main characters of Mark, Steve, Amanda, and Jesse, as well as Alex, Cheryl, CJ, Dion, Captain Newman and Chief Masters and any others that you recognise are from the series Diagnosis Murder, and as such are the property of CBS/Viacom. All new characters, especially Detective Reagan Yeager, her family, Jo/Texas Walters, Martin Robertson, Officer Campbell and Doctor Wil Collins are mine.
This story carries on from The Long Walk Home, which is on the R page. I finally managed to write a story which is a 13! As always I had the help of my two wonderful beta readers who encouraged me, gave me a little push in the right direction when I wandered and were right there when I needed them. Ladies, as always I thank you from the bottom of my heart, this wouldn't have been as enjoyable without you.
This story is complete. I won't be able to post daily, like I used to due to work commitments, but I will post regularly two or three times a week.
Prologue
The rain beat down on the forest trail, turning the paved paths a dark grey and the borders, beds and natural walkways a muddy brown. Through the high grass at the back of part of a wilderness trail the sound of flies could be heard. Unhindered by the inclement weather, because of the overhanging trees, they laid their eggs and continued their life cycle.
The unseeing eyes didn't blink as they were touched, and the atrophied hands were unable to brush away the intruders. As the forces of nature hastened her decay the young woman's body just lay waiting for justice to be served.
Chapter One – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Murder Scene.
Matthew ran his finger around the collar of the shirt he was wearing. It was Dominic's, not something he would normally wear, but they had gotten mixed up somehow today, and now he was wearing a suit.
The music in the nightclub was loud, and made his head throb. He hoped that Dominic would show up real soon so that he could go, retreat back to where he felt safest, more in control. Picking up his soda Matt looked round the room, there were so many pretty girls here, dark haired girls, fair haired girls, black girls, white girls, Asian and Hispanic girls, and, as usual, not one of them even knew he was alive.
"Uhh." It was all that Matt could do to stop himself making more noise as he felt a shudder run through him and suddenly Dominic was there, he put the drink down and indicated for the waiter to come over. "Hi, I'd like a dry white wine please, and could you get rid of this?" Dominic pushed the glass of soda away from him, ran his fingers through his short, highlighted fair hair and straightened his tie back up. It was the last time he would let Matthew wear his suit. His Armani suit at that, but somehow he hadn't been able to get away tonight, to get out on time, but now he was here and, he had to admit, this club was jumping.
Once he had paid for his drink Dominic made his way towards the heart of the club, he hadn't been here before, it was called Reds, and everything that had anything to do with the business of entertaining its clients was, well, red. The table he sat at was small and circular. There were two red metal chairs one of which he was using, the other was still pushed under so as not to cause an obstruction. The seat Dominic was sitting on was round; the back of the chair heart shaped, with ornate romantic imagery cut into it, and the other seat, where, he hoped, a young lady would join him very soon, was exactly the same. Putting his drink down onto the red, wire mesh table, which had a silver coloured bud vase on it containing a single red rose, Dominic began to scan the area, looking at the young women dancing or standing chatting. A few times girls realised that they were being looked at and, if their eyes met his, they usually smiled or, if they were very brazen, waved.
After about five minutes he saw her, young, not more than twenty two or three, at a guess, blonde, staggeringly beautiful and dressed to kill. There was nothing trashy about her, the skirt was short black leather, but it didn't have any lace or bits hanging from it and, he was delighted to note, there were no studs. Her legs were long, slim and encased in black tights which seemed to sparkle. Her shoes were red and strappy, high and, to him, impossible to walk in, but she was gyrating in time to the music and seemed to have no problem. She was also wearing a red top, and Dominic wondered whether it was designed to fit with the location where she was spending her evening. There was very little left to the imagination, but nothing was on show. She had full breasts but they were covered with the red slinky material, which, to his mind, made them even more enticing than if they were visible. One of her arms, the left, was completely bare, but the right one was in a long red sleeve which went to her wrist where it was covered with diamante, or something glittery.
Jenna felt the unmistakable feeling of someone's eyes on her, and looked round. She couldn't believe that she was actually wearing the top and skirt that her cousin had chosen for her, but she had to admit, she'd sure turned some heads tonight. And now a good looking guy in a really classy suit was definitely checking her out.
'Jenna, you are twenty-one years old, you haven't had a boyfriend since you were nineteen and that law student Jason had his paws all over you. You need to get a life. Wear this, and I promise you, girl, you won't be going home alone tonight.' Alice had held up the skirt and top and Jenna's eyes had nearly popped out of her head.
She had done as she was told and, Jenna had to admit, Alice had been right, she'd never been so noticed. Uh oh, he was coming over. Jenna straightened herself up, put a smile on her lips and waited for, tonight at least, her destiny.
The car was also red, everything about the evening seemed to be that colour. Dominic and Jenna had enjoyed each other's company for the two or three hours that they'd been together. They had danced to fast and slow songs, sat and talked and shared a bottle of very nice red wine and Jenna had been so glad she'd taken her cousin's advice.
Dominic had taken Jenna's directions down in a black notebook for later, and now he was driving along Burbank Boulevard towards his apartment block. They weren't in any hurry, even though it was after one in the morning, and both of them had jobs that they would need to be at by nine. Jenna leant back against the blanket over the seat, then she moved her hand, placed it tentatively on Dominic's thigh, and he turned slightly and smiled at her.
The apartment had been a strange mix of the classy and the, well, just plain weird, but Jenna had found herself responding to Dominic as he had given her some more wine, and then begun to kiss her. She had felt his hand as it traced delicate patterns down her left arm, and she shivered under his touch. His other hand began to run through her hair, which she had left long, and it skimmed her shoulders as his fingers made her tresses move.
She had known that they would end up in the bedroom, and she had been right, gently and carefully Dominic had removed her clothes and folded them neatly on the chair next to the bed. Jenna had laid back and watched as the handsome man in front of her removed his suit, shirt and tie, and once again he folded the clothes neatly.
Jenna had thought that they would just have sex, but Dominic made love to her, slowly and as tenderly as she had ever experienced, and when it was over she lay with her head on his shoulder sighed and then spoke, "That was wonderful, but I need to go home before I go to work," as she did so the man beside her seemed to transform.
She wanted to scream, to cry out, try to get someone to come and save her but nothing seemed to work any more. She didn't understand what had happened to Dominic, but he seemed to have changed, almost totally. Where there had been a suave, handsome and totally charming gentleman there was now an awkward, bossy, demanding oaf who wouldn't let her speak, and held a knife to her throat.
"Get in the car!" The voice was low and urgent, nothing like the kind soft voice he had used before.
"Dominic, what have I done?"
"Don't call me that!" the voice snapped back. "It's not my name."
Jenna disappeared into silence. She didn't understand and was more terrified than she had ever been in her life. She sat in the car, and pulled the blanket that was over the back of the seat around her naked form.
The engine roared into life, and drew into the almost non-existent traffic. They drove back the way they had travelled before until a vacant parking lot, which he had spotted before, came into view. He screeched onto the grass covered area, slammed on his brakes and then turned to his companion. "So, do you want me now?" Jenna shook her head, not having the ability to speak, or even whimper. "Get out of the car!" She sat there, however hard she tried Jenna couldn't get her legs to move, stop her heart from beating so loudly that she was sure that Dominic must be able to hear it, and then suddenly her voice came back to her and she spoke in a rush.
"What did I do? Wasn't it good enough for you? I can do it again, right here, if you want me to, but please, please, don't hurt me." The tears came now, and ran unheeded down her cheeks. "Please, Dominic, I'll stay with you, I won't go to work today, let me know what you want me to do."
He had walked round the car by now and pulled open her door; he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of the car. "Shut up!" As she was sent running across the grassy wasteland she felt a burning in her back, she screamed and her knees gave way beneath her.
"Please, Dominic, please, listen to me, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Her voice was mixed in with deep, desperate sobs, as she spoke and then she screamed out in anguish as she felt a burning pain slice through the sole of one of her feet, the all encompassing agony of it, meaning that she had no idea which one it was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Jo, don't you do that to me!" Steve grasped at empty air as his wife laughed and darted away from him. Then she stopped, put the most serious expression she could find on her face, and began to speak.
"Why, Sir, I have no idea what you mean." The last word was distorted by a giggle, and she moved away again, all the time doing what it was that drove her husband mad.
The happy couple were in the garden of their Beverly Hills home, and for once the place was deserted apart from them, but even if everybody had been home they would still have been playing about, laughing and joking, because the atmosphere of the house was as relaxed and comfortable as it had ever been.
Jo let her thoughts wander for a moment and Steve took his chance, he grabbed her around the waist, picked her up and spun her round.
"Ooooh, no, Steve, put me down!" Jo felt her feet leave the ground, and even though her husband's strong arms were around her, she didn't like it. The urgency in her voice got through and Steve gently placed her back in front of him, then he turned her round and began to kiss her hungrily.
When they both broke for air Steve looked into her beautiful dark eyes, and reached up to stroke her hair. "Oh, God, Honey, I am gonna miss you so much."
"Shhh, we have another three or four days before I have to go, an' I'll send the plane back so you can come down any time you want."
Steve plonked himself on the grass, pulling Jo down with him. "I wish you would take Michael with you … what? I thought you would like to have his company."
"Well, I would, but can you imagine livin' in a house with two butlers? There would be bedlam, at least, if not murder. No, thank you, as much as I love him, you can keep him here. Besides, that way, I know the house will still be standin' when I come back." Jo laughed, as she once again began doing the action that for some reason made Steve really, really angry, uncomfortable, uneasy, she wasn't really sure what. It had begun as an accident, something she didn't even realise she did, but now, if she wanted to make a point she did it as often as she could, and it always worked.
"And you are doing that wagging thing again," suddenly Steve saw the glint in her eye and realisation dawned, "on purpose, you are doing it on purpose, come here." He leant into her and began to tickle her, and in a few seconds Jo was helplessly laughing and rolling on the ground.
"No … stop … I … I promise … no more," Jo couldn't speak, the tears were on her cheeks now, and she was having trouble catching her breath. Steve gave her one more tickle and then moved his hands away. For a minute Jo couldn't say anything, but gradually her laughing stopped and her breathing eased. "Oh, I hate that! Why do we laugh when it's somethin' so horrible?"
Steve shook his head and then took her right hand in his own. "Well, it's a funny thing, but I think that every time a certain Texan lady waggles her finger at me, tickling will ensue!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Watch me." Steve grinned, and then as Jo waggled her right index finger just slightly he grabbed at her again.
"Ok … Ok, you win!" Jo stopped just for a moment and Steve let go of her. "Why does it get you all … I don't know, unnecessary, I guess."
"I have no idea, it's alright most of the time, when you type with it, or eat, or even when you touch me, but when you wag it at me, I just feel … urghhh." Steve shuddered, and Jo had to laugh again at her big strong husband. She held her hand out and looked at the finger in question. It looked just the same as all the others, but she and Steve, and all her friends, knew that it wasn't real. She painted the long nail to match the rest, but it would never grow, hopefully would never break, if she rested her fingers on Steve's hand she could only feel him with four of them, and there was no denying it, if she waggled it she turned him to jello.
Jo had lost her finger when she had been kidnapped by a cop who signed himself S. Todd and he had chopped her finger off with a small guillotine. The prosthetic digit that she'd had fitted was wonderful, it looked so real, it even had the half moon on the nail, and she could use it to do almost everything that the lost finger had done, but to Steve, when she used it to admonish him or to make a point it just spooked him out.
Steve lay back on the grass, put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. They didn't spend an awful lot of time in the garden, and it was nice to be able to do so. Jo always organised all the plants and bulbs herself, but she had a gardener who came in once a week to keep everything in order. The air was silent apart from the sound of the water from a fountain which was just around a bend in the green springy path. The lawned area was in front of where the fountain stood, and behind that was an arched gateway that led to a low boxed-hedge garden which had flowers inside borders of the green bush planted in intricate patterns across a large rectangular area.
Jo sat up, her arms around her knees and watched the man who had changed her life. She'd had a difficult childhood, losing her parents when she had been five years old, and she had been brought up by her paternal grandparents, who had loved her brother David and herself very much, but still now she longed to be able to have chats with her mom, or to see Steve and her daddy together, maybe going to a ball game, or riding the range back in Texas. When her grandpapa and then her grandmamma had died Jo found herself alone, it wasn't something she liked, but she'd had a feeling that it might be a permanent thing.
People dreamt about having the type of money she had, but they didn't realize it wasn't a blessing, but a curse. Sure it was nice not to have to worry about pensions, or whether they could afford a new car, or a new anything, but it had serious down sides too. Always, in the back of her mind, when she lived in Texas, had been the possibility that new acquaintances weren't interested in her, but in what she could give them. That hadn't been the case in Los Angeles, and when she had begun going out with Steve she hadn't mentioned her money at all.
Steve moved slightly and stretched his long legs out crossing them at the ankles. Jo smiled and watched as his chest rose and fell and then turned her attention out towards her garden. The house as well as the grounds had always meant a great deal to her, but now, with Steve and Daniel living here along with Michael it had become a family home, and she loved it even more. As if by magic, as she thought of him, her foster son came jogging down the path towards them. She stood up quickly and put her finger to her lips, and the boy stopped moving and looked down at his dad, who was now fast asleep on the grass.
"How was school?" Jo whispered as she steered him away from Steve so the sound of their conversation wouldn't disturb him.
"Um, it was good, thanks." Daniel looked a little distracted, and Jo put her hand on his shoulder.
"Wanna talk about it?" Jo looked at the boy with concern in her eyes.
Without a word Daniel took a letter out of his bag and handed it to her. She read through it and then keeping her voice low looked at him. "Another trip?"
Daniel had been on two school trips already since he had changed schools, and now he had details of another one. "I don't have to go, I know I've used up my allowance and more over the past month, I can miss this one."
"Where's it to?" The sleepy voice came from behind them on the grass, and Daniel's face lit up in a smile.
"San Francisco, to the Academy of Sciences Museum. It's for two days over spring break next year."
"Can we talk about it later?" The voice was still sleepy, and Daniel laughed.
"Sure, I guess I can let you finish your afternoon nap. I know how you need the extra sleep at your age." Daniel had picked up his backpack and rushed back to the house before Steve had got to his feet, let out a roar and raced after him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Jesse, I don't understand you. Before Anneya was born you wouldn't let me out of your sight, and now you don't bat an eye when I tell you I am going to go to the Chief's sister's house and might be there for a couple of days. What is the matter with you?" Rae reached out to Jesse as she spoke.
"Rae, it makes no difference to me what you do, just let me know when you're going and when you're gonna get back." Jesse moved away from the contact that he knew she wanted to make and walked towards the kitchen. He was thirsty and needed a drink.
Rae sat down on the sofa and ran her fingers through her hair. Something was wrong with Jesse, but she had no idea what. He had been through a terrible ordeal and was still on medical leave from Community General Hospital for a little while longer, but if she kept quiet and didn't mention her job or her day, he was fine.
"Rae, Honey, do you want a drink?" Jesse's voice floated out through the air as if no words had been spoken in anger, and with a sigh Rae knew that once again, as far as Jesse was concerned, there was no problem, nothing was wrong, and if she wanted a peaceful afternoon before she went to work, which she did, then she would have to go along with it.
"Yes, please, anything cold would be lovely." Rae picked up the folder she had brought home from the station planning to move to the dining room and work in there. The Chief's only sister had been brutally murdered in the elevator of one of the major downtown banks, and he had specifically requested her involvement in the case. In fact he had asked her to head the enquiry and so she now had a mountain of paperwork, a headache that had lasted six weeks, and a far closer working relationship with her boss that she had ever thought possible.
Cheryl had taken the call on the case to start with, but she had been more than happy to hand the whole thing over to her friend. Although Cheryl admitted that the Chief of Police did a good job she didn't like him, and so the chance to pass on working closely with him had been gratefully accepted.
Rae had spent a long time going over the bank records of Elizabeth Masters, and the woman seemed to be just the type of person who wouldn't get herself murdered. The possibility had to be investigated that she was killed because of who her brother was, rather than who she was, and so Rae had found herself preparing to look into the past life of John Masters as well.
Elizabeth had lived in Santa Barbara, and Rae had gone up to her house once already to look through the contents, but now the Chief had decided that he would sell her beautiful Mediterranean style home, and so he was going to spend a few days clearing his sister's possessions out first. Because nothing had been found so far to give them even a vague clue as to why she had been killed, John Masters had asked Rae to accompany him, and go through everything as well, in the hope of finding something incriminating.
This was the information that Rae had told her husband, only to find that she could probably have packed, left, carried out her assignment and returned without him actually batting an eyelid. As she sat there contemplating the changes in her husband she heard herself being called from the playroom and with a smile got to her feet and headed towards the sound of her daughter's voice.
"Mommy, Mommy, Neya cwy." Eliana was pointing to the younger child, who at just over a year old was almost the same size as her three year old sister. She was sitting, a pile of bricks at her feet, sobbing.
"Come here, Sweetie, tell Mummy what's wrong." The little girl buried her face into her mother's neck and carried on crying. One of the reasons for the tears soon became abundantly obvious and Rae moved over to the changing table and pulled a clean diaper and some wipes down from the shelf. "Did you knock her tower over, Eliana?" Rae spoke over her shoulder as she worked.
"No, Mommy…" There was a pause, "I'm a good girl."
"Mmm, I'm sure you are." Rae put the revoltingly dirty article in the diaper disposer by her foot and then placed Anneya back on the floor, a finger grasped tightly in each of the child's hands. Slowly, putting one tentative foot in front of the other the little girl made her way back towards the pile of blocks in the playpen. She could walk unaided, but much preferred it if either her mommy, or even better her daddy would hold her hands and help her across whatever room she happened to be in. The little girl was a blue eyed, dark blonde haired beauty, and every time she looked at Anneya, Rae could see Jesse staring back at her. Eliana on the other hand had Rae's colouring, mousy brown curls, dark brown eyes, and a dark complexion. There was Romany blood somewhere back in Rae's past, and it had come out in Eliana just as it had in her other daughter Mara, who lived in England. Mara had, since the day she was born, looked like she had just come back from a Caribbean holiday, and Eliana was the same. Although Rae put sun cream on both children before they even walked to the car, she never worried that her elder daughter would burn; her skin just wasn't like that.
Rae's wandering thoughts had brought her and her daughter to the playpen and now Anneya was sitting back inside it rebuilding her tower. She only had five bricks, and she could easily stack four of them up. It was the fifth one that caused all the trouble, and she had yet to achieve that final storey, not knowing that when she did her mother would add another brick to her pile. Rae sat on the carpet and crossed her legs and Eliana came and sat in the middle of them. Rae began to absent mindedly plait the curls and the little girl sat in a trance and enjoyed the feeling.
It was another half an hour, after Rae had read two stories, plaited and unplaited hair, built a tower only to have it knocked down over and over again to the delightful sound of childish laughter, that she realised that Jesse hadn't brought in her drink. Disengaging herself from her eldest daughter's grasping hands she went out into the hallway and down towards the morning room. Jesse was sitting there looking out onto the garden, and he didn't move until she was standing right next to him. "Jesse, Honey, are you all right?"
"What? Oh, Rae, yeah, I'm fine, I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet. Would you like a drink?" Jesse got to his feet.
"That would be lovely, if you wouldn't mind."
"Of course not. Jesse reached out and almost touched her and then with a smile left the room, and Rae watched his retreating back, knowing that he was in serious trouble.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The station house was quiet when Rae and Steve arrived, almost together, just after six. They were both on the graveyard shift for one more night and then they would have a couple of days to get their internal clocks back to normal working conditions before they began a shift of days. Or at least Steve would, Rae was heading out with the Chief after her days off.
Rae went over to the coffee machine and got her partner a drink, then she made herself an herbal tea and took them both back over to where their desks were situated just outside the Captain's office.
"So, what do we have?" Rae put the steaming cup of coffee down and waited for Steve to speak.
"Not a lot." Steve passed over the notebook that Cheryl had left on his desk. She had been working the opposite set of hours with Sam Yip, and leaving a record of what they had done each day for them to see. Sometimes the nights were quiet, and because of the wonders of the internet the officers working that shift had a chance to do some research for the other cops in their division.
Rae scanned the page, and saw that Cheryl needed some research done on the availability of information on the internet on how to get work as a maid or a nanny and also in a store. Rae put her initials next to that, and hoped she would get the chance to work on it. There were a couple of sets of phone numbers that Cheryl wanted as well, and so Rae grudgingly put her name to one of those as well. "You can get the phones tonight, I'll do two of these you do one, ok?"
Steve just smiled, "Yeah, no problem." He was in such a good mood that if Rae had insisted he did all three he would probably have agreed.
"You sounded like you were having fun this afternoon." Rae perched on the edge of his desk and took a sip of her tea.
"Pardon?" Steve looked a little confused for a moment.
"I sat in the breakfast room with the children having a drink and I could hear you and Texas laughing and having a good time."
"Oh, yeah, we did." For a moment Steve was in his back yard once more, and the memory was a very pleasant one.
Rae made her way back to her own desk, and gradually as the world outside darkened around them they began to concentrate on the tasks left by Cheryl as well as various things they needed to look up for their own cases. For the next couple of hours they didn't speak to each other, but made notes, checked and double checked things and then, almost as if it had been planned, they leant back in their seats at the same time, looked at each other and laughed.
"Do you want anything to eat?" Steve could feel his stomach growling, and he checked his watch. It was just after eight thirty, and the best deli in the area closed at nine.
"Yes, please. Jesse was supposed to cook and he didn't so I'm starving. Just a tossed salad with French dressing, would be nice." Rae tried not to bring the picture of her husband up into her mind. There were a lot of things happening in her house right now, and none of them resulted in the sounds of laughter she had heard from Steve's garden earlier in the day.
"Ok, I'll be back in a little while." Steve got up and headed for the stairs. He disappeared out of the door and Rae found her mind travelling back towards her husband and the problems she knew he was having.
Jesse was due back into work on Monday. His arm was progressing as his doctors had hoped, and although it was still quite obvious where the skin grafts had been put it was clear that they would merge in quite well in the end. The infection which had left him so weak had also been eradicated, so physically he was doing fine, but mentally, well, Rae knew things were very wrong there.
Rae had just begun to try to work out why he was behaving as he was when the phone in front of her began to ring. Reaching out her hand Rae took in a deep breath and brought herself back to the present.
"Detective Yeager." Although she called herself Reagan Travis everywhere else, Rae had never changed her name for work. "Hold on, and I'll take it down as you speak … and you're sure of this, you said she was distressed, how distressed?" Rae listened as the dispatch operator repeated details given to her by a black and white crew who had called in for a homicide unit. "Look, do you have a number for her…? Thanks, I'll call her, make an appointment to go see her and maybe get the facts again right now."
Rae punched in the number and waited to hear the voice at the other end of the line. "This is Detective Yeager, LAPD." For a few moments she just listened, but finally she knew she needed to intervene. "Ok, Ma'am, just slow down, take a deep breath, and then, when you're ready, tell me again what you have found." Rae tried to keep her voice soft and low, just as she had heard Jesse, Mark and Alex do when treating patients, usually her. The woman on the other end of the line was upset and her words were coming in unintelligible clumps but gradually she began to make some sense.
By the time Rae had finished taking down all the details her partner was back with the food she knew she would be waiting a long while for. Finally putting down the phone Rae let out another sigh and looked up at the tall man in front of her.
"Ok, give. You know, I almost bought something hot and then realised I was tempting fate. Good job, huh?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll tell you in the car."
"Where are we going?" Steve spoke to his partner's back as they made their way down the stairs.
"Not far, it's a piece of waste land off the boulevard."
They exited through the double doors together and Rae heard the click as Steve's car was unlocked automatically. She slid into the passenger seat, grabbed the emergency light from the floor and clonked it onto the roof, then she fastened her seat belt as Steve drew out of the parking lot.
The journey was hindered by some heavy traffic and as they sat in a line of stationary cars Rae began to let Steve know what she had.
"Ok, I had the witness from hell on the phone. But this is what I managed to get out of her. It is a piece of waste ground, a bit overgrown, it's been derelict forever, she said, and she goes there to walk her dog." Rae saw Steve stiffen a little, and a smile played on her lips. She might have the biggest, hunkiest partner in the precinct, but he still didn't like dogs. He had mentioned once the trouble he'd had with a small, yappy thing while investigating the death of a mime, so she decided to skip over the fact that the dog was an Alsatian, German Shepherd, Steve would call it a German Shepherd, and carried on talking.
"She let the mutt off the leash and it sniffed around for a while and then it began to whimper and cry. She, Mrs Rothschild, went over to see what the fuss was about and she found a body."
"I see. Did she give you any other information … Oh come on, the car in front is moving, you are allowed to follow him!" Steve watched as the vehicle directly in front of them just sat there as all the ones before him and around him moved along the road a way. "See this light? It's not advertising ice cream!"
"So turn it on, move out and cut through, or calm down and give your ulcer a chance to form in peace." Rae watched as Steve just turned slightly and looked at her, and then she decided that it would probably be better if she carried on talking. "The body is a woman, and all I could get out of Mrs Rothschild was no clothes and a lot of blood."
"Oh, for Pete's sake," Steve yelled. "What's the matter with you?" It was not unheard of for tired drivers to fall asleep at the wheel in stop and go traffic only to have other vehicles drive around them. In fact, sometimes when the roads were particularly jammed up at rush hour, people would sleep until they ran out of gas, only to be woken when the engine stopped. As the gap between the car ahead of him and the one ahead of it lengthened, Steve got out of the car grumbling and went to see what was wrong with the other driver. A minute or two later, he came back and told Rae. "We've got a body, still warm and unless we both missed foul play happening right in front of us I would say it has to be natural causes. Call it in. Request another unit to take over for us here so we can get on to our original call."
For a moment Rae thought he was kidding her, but then she saw the grim look on his face and realised that they had better do something. She put the call through to dispatch, climbed out of the car, moved round to the trunk and began to get organised.
The orange vests they had to wear seemed initially to attract motorists like moths to a flame, and Rae spent the next five minutes sending them back to their own vehicles. While she was doing that Steve put up the flares, and police tape necessary to isolate the car and its now dead driver.
It was about fifteen to twenty minutes, neither of them was exactly sure, before the faint sound of sirens could be heard, and as they gradually got louder and louder the black and white responding to the call came into view. The car pulled up alongside Steve's Crown Victoria and two young cops got out.
After leaving instructions with them, Steve and Rae got back into the car and headed for their initial destination, wondering how long it would be before the road was clear and the rest of the drivers could continue with their journeys. The remainder of the trip was made in silence, apart from the sound of the siren and the flash of the light getting brighter as the world got darker. Steve had smiled sheepishly as he had pulled out of the hold up, and she had laughed, but after that they had just concentrated on getting to where they were going as quickly as possible.
Steve looked around, his flashlight creating arcs through the black night. "Oh, great, it's dark, we're on unlit waste ground, there could be half a dozen bodies in here and we wouldn't be any the wiser .... What?"
"Don't even joke about things like that!" Rae had looked horrified when Steve spoke.
"Sorry." Steve took one more look around and then turned to his partner once more. "Rae get on to the station, get some back up out, with lights, and get whoever's on the desk to get in touch with the coroner's office so they can see the scene while it's still fresh. I want to know if she was killed here or elsewhere, and I don't want this all trampled down." Steve was still standing on the sidewalk, and Rae hadn't moved from the side of the car. She leant in through the window, picked up the radio mic and began her task.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jo, Daniel and Michael, had, much to the surprise of all of them, spent a very enjoyable evening playing dominoes. Jo and Daniel had been delighted that they had managed to persuade Michael to join them, and it had made for a much more enjoyable time. When there were only two players, it was obvious to each of them what pieces the opponent had, but with a third it was much better. Michael, being Michael though, had disappeared after five games and returned with some snacks and munchies for the rest of the evening, and by the time the three of them were ready to go to bed they were all feeling extremely content with each other and themselves.
As he got to the bottom of the stairs, Daniel turned and faced his mom. "You know I really am sorry about that trip."
"Honey, I read the letter, and you are on the list of children to go because you earnt your spot, there is no way we will stop you from goin', but you might find your chore list is a little longer for the next few weekends!"
"Not the pool! I'll even clean windows without complaining if you keep me away from the pool."
"Mmm, you not complain, that I would love to see, now go to bed, an', Daniel?"
"Yeah?"
"Tonight was fun, thank you."
Daniel leant over and kissed Jo on the cheek and let himself be pulled into her arms. As he did so he spoke quietly to her. "And you're ok, really ok?"
Jo moved back and gently took his face into her hands. "Yes, I'm really ok. An' a lot of that is thanks to you. Now, bed, or you won't be able to get up in the mornin'."
Daniel smiled, waved a hand to Michael, who was removing the dishes from the morning room, and then turned and went up the stairs. His music came on, but ten minutes after that it was off, and Jo knew he was in bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Both Steve and Rae had been surprised to see that it was Amanda who came out to look at the body. She didn't normally work nights because of the boys. "Hey, guys, I had a feeling it might be you." She smiled at her friends, and stood next to them on the sidewalk as the last of the arc lights were put up and then the entire area was flooded with a yellow glow.
"I guess you drew the short straw, huh?" Rae looked at Amanda as she pulled on her gloves.
"Actually, I volunteered. Ron is at the house tonight, but he has been doing long shifts and so he put the boys to bed and then went to sleep himself. I figured if I worked tonight I could spend tomorrow with him. I don't need as much beauty sleep as he does!"
The three of them looked at the area where the body had been found. At present there was very little to indicate where it actually was, and that pleased them all. Mrs. Rothschild had been visited by a pair of uniformed officers, and Rae and Steve had arranged to go and see her in the morning, first thing, before they signed off.
"Well, it looks like the scene is pretty undisturbed. I would like to keep it that way." As Steve spoke there was a sudden smell of burning, a fizz and all the specially placed lights went out and the entire area changed from being flooded with a welcome and helpful glow to total darkness. "What the hell just happened?" Steve's voice as it called out was anything but friendly.
"Sorry, Lieutenant, The whole thing blew, but I'm working on it."
"Well, hurry up!" For a moment Steve considered the situation and then spoke again. "Nobody moves, and I mean nobody." There was total silence and then a small voice called out.
"Lieutenant, I have my flashlight, hold on." A circle of light appeared and Steve watched as it snaked its way towards him.
"Once you've found me shine it so I can make my way to my car."
"Yes, Sir."
"Rae, Amanda, you stay here, don't move, I'll be back." With that Steve carefully walked off, like an actor making his way to the middle of the stage for a soliloquy, towards his car. As they were told to the two women stood in silence until the beam from a flashlight lit up the area. "Amanda, I'll go first, you follow me, walking where I walk, and then Rae, you come last. Anything that either of you see, point it out and I'll get it highlighted." Steve gave his orders in a quiet, calm, but authoritative tone and the two women just nodded their heads. Rae was considering putting herself forward for the promotion boards that were coming up, but she knew that even if she was successful she would always defer to Steve. His experience and dependability were second to none.
As Steve swung his flashlight round in an arc something glistened, and both Amanda and Rae called out at the same moment.
"There."
"I see something."
Steve stopped and slowly swung the light again. As he did so the beam caught the item for a second time and as it was nearer to her, and she was already wearing gloves Amanda crouched down and carefully pointed at a small object. "It's the snap fastener from a pair of jeans. How do you want to mark it?"
"Um." Steve thought for a moment, and then he saw a smile cross Rae's face and her hands disappear into her jacket.
"I brought these in because I'd run out, but we can use them here." Rae had a pack of purple post it notes. They were narrow and had transparent sticky bits. She used them to mark places in text or bank statements and the amount of those she had looked at lately she was going through packets of the things.
"Great, stick one next to that then." Steve waited, his flashlight pointing where Rae needed to see, and then once she had done as she was told they moved on. Nothing else was found until they began to smell the easily recognisable, slightly metallic odour of blood.
"Oh, God, she wasn't kidding was she?" Rae couldn't help but speak out; the body was just as the woman had described it. Naked and there was an extraordinary amount of blood. The grass in front of them was red and Rae knew it could probably still be sticky. The ground was firm underfoot, and for a moment Rae turned away and carefully pointed her own flashlight, that Steve had brought with him, at the ground so that she could see how dry it was.
There were cracks zigging across the entire area she had lit up, and Rae thought that some of the blood would have soaked into the soil. A lot of the grasses were dead or dying, and they seemed to be stained red, whereas the green new shoots were not absorbing anything. In fact, in the more sheltered areas, close to the body, the blood had formed globules as if it were spring rain on their fronds and not anything more sinister.
Amanda was looking at the body with an experienced eye, and what she saw caused her pain. The blood, most of it dried, was everywhere, or almost everywhere, except where it should be, and that was inside the skin of what looked like quite a young woman. If she had to guess, probably in her early twenties. Her hair was long, blonde and saturated red, but it was almost impossible to see where the blood was from, there was so much of it over almost every part of the woman's anatomy. With a heavy sigh she began to speak, only to stop again as the flash from a camera went off next to her.
"Oh!" Rae couldn't help the involuntary gasp that escaped her. "Sorry." She looked away shamefaced for a moment giving herself a mental telling off at the same time. For goodness sake, it's been years, pull yourself together.
"I'll have a good look at her, but there's nothing I can do tonight. She's been dead for a while I would say, I don't know how she died, and I will probably have to clean her off completely before I can make a decision about that."
"Do you have any idea how long ago she was killed?" Steve knew what the answer was going to be, but even so, he still had to ask.
"No, Steve, for a while is all I'll say, but I will know by morning. I do know that it was violent, I would hazard a guess at stab wounds, because there is way too much blood for just one gunshot, unless it severed an artery. And I would say that, unless all this was done after she died, she was killed here. I didn't see any blood on the way to the murder site, not on the sidewalk or on the grass…"
"Lieutenant?" A voice cut through the darkness, interrupting Amanda and causing all three of them and the photographer who was still taking pictures, to turn towards the noise and saw a face lit up like a grotesque mask in the beam of a young officer's torch.
"Wherever you are stay still, I'll come to you." Steve called back towards where the sound had come from as the face disappeared into the darkness once more and then began playing his flashlight beam over the area again. As he began to move the figure of a uniformed cop came into his beam, he waved his hand and they knew they had the right guy. "Ok. Hold on." Steve lowered the light to the ground and looked at the area in front of his feet. Most of the grass was standing tall, and didn't look like it had been walked on in a long time, if ever and carefully he began to make his way to the young man.
Steve looked at the badge on his shirt, "Ok, Jenkins, what have you got?"
"Tracks, Sir. I haven't got to them yet, but my light picked them out." This time two beams travelled in the direction that the cop pointed and Steve could see that a vehicle of some kind had pulled onto the derelict lot and most probably stayed there while murder was committed. The grass was bent down but still green, there were no new shoots growing up straight through it, and Steve would bet his badge on the fact that the tracks had been made in the last twenty-four hours or so.