Chapter 8

Bobby stood quietly in the back of the crowd, his sunglasses and knitted cap keeping him as low key as a man of his size could be. Fortunately, many of the hockey players in attendance were as big as Bobby. He was virtually unnoticed in the crowd. The snow was sparkling white against the rolling hills of the graveyard, and only the topmost half of the headstones was visible. 6 inches of snow sat on top of the grave markers, making them appear to have pushed up out of the ground, taking the snow with them.

Tired as he was, he was fully alert. He scanned the crowd and mentally catalogued every familiar face. Both teams were there in full, the Rangers and the Whales, as well as all their coaches. And at the gravesite, in front of the casket, stood Michelle Garner, Tammy Thornton, and a very cold little Danielle. Once the crowd began to disperse, the child was whisked away to the warmth of a car by what looked to be her grandmother.

His keen eye caught the moment, a split second, really, when the two women held hands.

"That was interesting," said a familiar voice behind him.

Without looking at her, he replied, "Yes it was."

"I have coffee in the car," she said. "I'm at the end of the line." Alex walked away, but Bobby continued to observe the women until they slowly walked to the front most car in line.

Silently, as if not to wake the dead, the cars slowly began to pull away, snaking around the path that went through the graveyard. Bobby turned and walked through the deep snow towards the car, and Alex.

He was out of breath when he climbed in, and his cheeks and nose were red. He closed the door and snatched the coffee cup into his hands and just held it between his palms, his cold fingers folded around it.

Alex drove the car in silence while her partner warmed back up. By the time they hit the city streets, he had shed his gloves and hat, and unbuttoned his coat. "Hung over?" she asked casually.

He gave her a grin. "No." After another sip of the coffee, he spoke again. "You're up early."

"No reason for you to pay for a cab. I knew where you'd be."

"Thanks."

She graced him with a smile.

"Eames… uh, Alex," his voice was gentle, but his body started to move with the nervous energy she was so familiar with. "Last night was… was great."

She grinned at him, her features full of youth and beauty. "Yeah, it was, wasn't it?"

"Uh, I don't know… I don't know where we… how we…"

"One day at a time, Bobby. We take it one day at a time."

"Michelle Garner has a history of failed relationships," Bobby said. He scrawled the timeline on the whiteboard, this one devoted entirely to her. "In high school, she dropped out and ran away with a boy. Two years later, she was picked up for prostitution and her mother moved her back to New Jersey to straighten out."

It's a good thing he's telling me this while he's writing, Alex mused. His handwriting is terrible. She smiled, amused with herself.

"Her mom said 8 months was all she lasted and then she moved into an apartment in the Bronx with a new boyfriend. This one lasted three months." Bobby paused so his writing could catch up with his words. "Moved back home again, finished her GED, enrolled in junior college, and within 6 months she was gone again. Her mother said she had a new boyfriend, and they were living in some kind of house with six or eight other college kids." He turned to Alex. "A coed mix."

"After that, Michelle drifted to Connecticut. She dropped out of college, but managed to find a job. Then she started following the Whales. She's been in and out of jobs for years, averaging about 4 months at each. The only constant in her life since then has been hockey. According to my sources, she's dated or had a fling with almost every player on the team, since 1999."

Alex groaned. "What a gem," she murmured. "What does this all add up to, Bobby? You think she did it?"

He flopped into a chair across from her, nodding his head vigorously. "She's unstable, has been for years, which is indicative of some form of psychosis. Given her history, I think she's psychotic with progressive intimacy disorder."

"A sex addict."

"A sex addict, who has serious problems with rejection." He went back through the timeline. "Boyfriend number one? Went to the ER more than once. She abused him."

"Boyfriend 2? Was involved in a house fire shortly after the breakup."

"The coed group… that was different, but I can name at least three roommates that had hospital visits during Michelle's occupancy there." Bobby twirled the marker in his fingers. "It just goes on and on."

"So she killed Mack because he cheated on her."

"Worse than that, he rejected her."

"But they had sex the night he died."

"I thought of that, too." He leaned forward and the marker dangled from the fingers of his left hand. "Filipek wasn't completely honest with us."

"All right Bobby, you're giving me a migraine. Get to the point."

He stopped for a moment, wondering if she really did have a headache. After a pause to consider it, he rejected the thought and continued. "We know that Michelle had abused boyfriend number one. What if she continued to abuse men? What if she was abusing Mack?"

"He sure as hell wouldn't want anyone to find out about it, especially on the Rangers." She looked up at Bobby. "But you think he told Filipek."

Bobby nodded.

"But you said guys don't have conversations like that!"

"Not conversations, no… but he may have let it slip. Or Filipek may have noticed something. I didn't say guys are idiots."

She laughed at his joke. "Okay, so… she's bullying Mack into staying in the relationship with her?"

"Until she met Tammy."

Alex rubbed her temples. "You think Michelle's bi."

"I think she and Tammy are lovers. And Mack's death would benefit them both."

"You think Tammy was an accomplice."