Chapter 7
Jeanne Ellen leaned against the building and watched Aziza work. She had her legs crossed at the feet and was looking super cool wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night.
"How can you see with those sunglasses on?" Stephanie asked wishing she looked half as cool as Jeanne Ellen. A dead body meant a killer had been here and maybe was still here. That shot Stephanie's comfort level all to hell.
"The real question," Jeanne Ellen said, "Is how I'd be able to see without these glasses on. Ron retrofitted my prescription sunglasses so that they're night vision with zoom capability. Here," she took the glasses off and handed them to Stephanie. Stephanie put them on and looked back at Aziza, only to find herself with the sort of detailed view she might not have had if she'd been standing next to Aziza.
"Holy Shit," she said staring at the incision in the victim's neck. Stephanie slipped the glasses off and her hand shook as she handed them back to Jeanne Ellen.
"I need to see if they pull the same calling card off this victim," Jeanne Ellen slipped the glasses back on and leaned back against the building. She watched for a few moments and then stood up straight as though she'd gone into alert mode.
"It's there?" Stephanie asked thrown by the sudden movement. Jeanne Ellen smiled and pulled device out of her pocket.
"No, my PDA went off," she scanned the information for a moment before whooping happily.
"What is it?" Stephanie asked.
"We've got a suspect," She turned the PDA so that Stephanie could see the picture on the screen.
"He looks so young," she said softly.
"He is young, but he's truly insane. We're going to have to be very careful if we want to reel him in," Jeanne Ellen started typing rapidly into her PDA. "I'm asking Sarah to hi-jack the security cameras in this area and to send me the feed on the PDA. We can't be sure that he's still around but I've got a feeling..." she trailed off.
"So we should keep an eye out for him and let Joe know..." Stephanie began.
"No, we should keep an eye out and stick to the plan. If he sees Joe he's going to run. We don't want him running away," Jeanne Ellen explained.
"What is the plan? I'm pretty sure I wasn't here when we discussed a plan," Stephanie asked, suddenly testy. They were talking about her life here! Jeanne Ellen stopped typing and stared at her for a moment.
"It's probably best if you don't know," she said finally.
"But..." Stephanie began. Jeanne Ellen stopped her.
"You're never for one moment going to be in real danger, I can tell you that," Jeanne Ellen promised.
"How can you know that? You don't know what he's going to do." Stephanie asked, getting increasingly more agitated. For God's sakes, she wasn't some sacrificial lamb! Jeanne Ellen looked up from the PDA again and looked Stephanie straight in the eye.
"I don't know him and I can't speak for him but I do know me," Jeanne Ellen said before slipping the sunglasses on and leaning back against the building.
Joe knelt next to Aziza. He could tell that she was trying hard to keep it in, but her hands had been trembling so much she'd barely gotten the gloves on.
"Old friend," Khari said by way of explanation. Joe felt for Aziza. He genuinely liked her and remembered what it had been like for him when confronted with such a brutal death of a loved one. Joe wrapped an arm around Aziza's shoulder.
"Take as long as you need," he whispered into her ear. She nodded. Joe squeezed her shoulder and then stood.
"She didn't have to do this," he said to Khari in a low voice.
"I told her that we should call someone else but she insisted that she wanted to make sure that Akilah was treated with the dignity and respect she deserves. She didn't want her treated like just another body in a serial killing case," Khari said. He'd clearly tried his best to talk Aziza out of coming to the scene.
"You'll stick around?" Joe asked. Khari stood up to his full height, an impressive 6 feet and 6 inches.
"I'll be here as long as she needs me," Khari answered a bit defensively. Joe wondered if the two of them had finally gotten their act together and stopped dancing around their attraction. If they had he was happy for them. Aziza and Khari would be good for each other.
"Good. I'm going to check on the people being questioned," Joe said. There was a moment of hesitation in Khari's expression. He clearly wanted to go with Joe but held himself back.
"Let me know what you find out?" he asked finally. Joe nodded.
"Of course," he said. Khari kneeled next to Aziza and Joe turned to walk away when he spotted her.
"Shit!" he swore. It couldn't be her...what was she doing here? Khari jumped up ready to strike.
"What?" he said looking around and clearly not seeing a threat.
"Jeanne Ellen," Joe said coldly. He gestured to the tall brunette leaning against the red brick hospital wall. Khari shrugged.
"So?" he asked, clearly not seeing the significance. Joe could not remember ever having been more irritated...and that was saying something.
"She's supposed to be protecting Stephanie! Where's Stephanie while she's checking out the scene?" Joe asked pushing a hand through his dark hair.
"What are you talking about, man?" Khari asked. "Isn't that Stephanie with her?" Joe looked slightly to the right. If he'd been a weaker man he'd have been out cold. What the hell was Stephanie doing here? Jeanne Ellen thought that this was a good idea? He couldn't imagine what she was playing at and immediately changed his plan to make finding out a priority.
Adam Holmes had been moving slowly along the edge of the crowd. He knew that he should leave but he couldn't take his eyes off his sable haired beauty. She seemed very distressed. She must see the red light of sin too. Happiness soared. He and the dark haired woman were truly soulmates. He started to leave again but saw Stephanie Plum's cop kneel down to take the shaking woman in his arms. Adam's rage pushed him toward the duo. How dare the cop put his hands on her! She was marked for a higher purpose and he could not let some dirty minded cop put his grubby hands on her. Just as he reached the edge of the crowd the cop stood and started talking to the tall black man. Clearly the pure angel had repelled his advances.
The dark haired woman would love only him. He closed his eyes. They would have lots of babies with dark hair like hers and light eyes like his. They would live in his grandmother's house and his angel would bake cookies and raise their children to be the future leaders of God's Army.
The cop stormed toward Adam and panic caused him to shrink into the crowd. Stephanie Plum's husband stormed past the crowd to the hospital, where he stopped and was yelling at someone. Adam couldn't hear what was being said. He slipped through the crowd until he could see the cop and his companion clearly. God was surely smiling on him. The cop was yelling at Stephanie Plum. Truly it would be over tonight and the reward would follow.
Aziza kneeled over her old friend. What would she tell Akilah's mother? Her son? This was wrong. Akilah was so young. She had her whole life ahead of her. Aziza took a deep breath to steady herself and then went to work. Akilah's murder was a perfect match for the others but it couldn't be written off as part of a serial killing until that tiny little bead was found. Aziza was very careful not to look at Akilah's face as she probed the incision. She could not contaminate the crime scene with her tears. It only took a moment to find the bead embedded in uncut tissue near the spine. There was something different about this one.
"He didn't rush this one," she said softly. "He rushed the others but there was no sense of urgency here. He's more confident now."
"Which makes it more important that we find him now," Khari said. His voice startled Aziza. She had forgotten that he was there.
"Yes," she said nervously. She'd expected things to be easier now that they'd set things straight but if anything she was more nervous. Khari held the bag for her and she inserted the rosary bead.
"Joe and I, we'll work together and get this guy," Khari said. Aziza believed him. It wasn't that she didn't. It was just that this was Akilah. The Akilah with whom she'd had tea parties and talked boys and smoked cigarettes in the girl's restroom at school. The Akilah she'd cried with when she found out that she was pregnant and celebrated with when she was accepted to nursing school. They had been lifelong friends and now one of them had died. Aziza couldn't stay. The grief was overwhelming. She stood.
"I'm done here. Let's get this bead to Joe," she said. She turned to one of the officers. "The forensic guys can finish the scene and then send me the body." The man nodded.
"I'll take you home," Khari promised. "You could use a bubble bath and..." He stopped clearly not knowing what to say and followed her silently.
He wasn't close enough to help her when she was grabbed from behind and held at knifepoint.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Joe said. His jaw was locked and his stance tense. Stephanie couldn't say anything. She'd never seen Joe so angry. Jeanne Ellen stepped forward.
"And you! We had a deal!" he said, his voice eerily calm as he turned on Jeanne Ellen. Joe was a brave man. Normally Stephanie would bet he could take anyone but she wasn't sure he could take Jeanne Ellen Burrows.
"I'm keeping my end of the deal," Jeanne Ellen said calmly. "Your wife is perfectly safe. I never said that I'd keep her locked in a tower, Joe."
"But I trusted you," Joe said softly.
"Because you know me so well?" Jeanne Ellen countered. "You trust me because you know my work and my work has yet to come into question. Do what you have to do and leave Stephanie with me. You brought her to me because you couldn't have complete focus on your job and offer her the security the she needs. You do your job. I have this covered."
"You're the one bringing attention to us right now," Stephanie added looking around nervously and scanning every face to see if she recognized the one from the picture.
"Dammit Cupcake!" Joe said. His voice was even but his worry was clear. "I can't take this. I can't take the chance that you'll be lucky yet again! The longer you're out here the more likely something is to happen. Go home. Go back to Jeanne Ellen's! Go anywhere but here. You can't be here, Steph!" She looked away feeling a bit guilty. Aziza was walking toward them. Stephanie averted her gaze to the crowd and stared straight into a familiar face.
"Oh my God," she said softly. Joe was talking again but she didn't register a word that he said. Someone must have said something to him because the noise abruptly stopped and Stephanie shook herself out of the shocked silence.
"It's him," she said softly before repeating the words in a scream. The young man jumped into action running straight for Stephanie, a long and very ugly looking knife in his hand. Jeanne Ellen jumped in front of Stephanie blocking her view. Joe yelled for police assistance. All Stephanie could see was the back of Jeanne Ellen's leather jacket and then suddenly everyone went silent.
"I'll kill her!" a male voice yelled, "I'll slice her throat. No one come any nearer!" Stephanie peered around Jeanne Ellen's side to see the killer with Aziza in a grip across the chest with the knife to her throat. Stephanie glanced at Khari who was clearly fighting the need to pounce. Stephanie turned her attention back to Aziza and the killer.
"What do you want?" Joe asked, his voice tight. The young man smiled.
"Funny you should ask because you're the person who can give me what I want," he said. "What I want is Stephanie Plum. Give her to me and this woman can walk away unharmed. You have one hour." The killer moved one step to the right and he and Aziza disappeared completely.