Dangerous Passage (Southern Crimes Book #1): A Novel (2 page)

A
very paused at the corner of the tree-lined street that faced the crime scene, feeling a heightened sense of urgency. Both experience and instinct told her the murderer would strike again, but after canvassing dozens of homes and businesses located near the scene, they’d ended up with only a handful of vague possibilities to follow up on, none of which seemed promising. Which meant, for the moment, they were no closer to finding out the identity of their Jane Doe . . . or her killer.

Avery reached up to wipe away the sweat that had beaded on the back of her neck. The curious crowd had long since scattered after losing interest in the yellow police tape that fluttered in the early-afternoon breeze. To Avery, though, nothing could make her forget the young girl who now lay in the morgue. This couldn’t end up as another unsolved case.

Stepping over an upturned piece of concrete in the sidewalk, she hurried to catch up with her partner, Mitch Robertson. At six foot four, Mitch hovered over most of the officers in their department. Avery, at five foot eight, felt almost petite next to him. She’d learned to trust Mitch with her life—something she’d had to rely on more times than she cared to remember. Risk came with the job, and Mitch had proven to be one of several
men in her life who would do anything for her. Like her father, who still tried to treat her like a princess.

And now there was Jackson.

A smile tugged at her lips as she followed Mitch up the driveway of the next house on the block. Jackson’s entrance into her life had been as unexpected as the white potted orchids thriving on the veranda despite the hot Atlanta summer.

Her mother and sister had convinced her to finally try dating again, but in the three years since becoming a widow she’d gone on fewer dates than she could count on one hand. Agreeing to go out with Jackson hadn’t been easy. Dinner and a movie had simply been a way to prove to her mother that her heart was mending. Which in a way was true. While she still missed Ethan fiercely, time had begun to heal the immense hole his death had left. What she hadn’t expected was agreeing to a second and then third date with Jackson. Or that her heart would actually flutter at the thought of seeing him again.

“Avery?”

She stopped in the middle of the driveway and looked up at Mitch, his expression clear that it wasn’t the first time he’d tried to get her attention. “I’m sorry. My mind is—”

“A thousand miles away? I can tell.”

Talking to Mitch about Jackson was out of the question. Which left room for only one thing. “This case has me rattled.”

Jackson aside, it was the truth. Maybe he’d simply become the distraction she needed at the moment. They started walking again toward the porch, giving her time to shove aside any lingering romantic daydreams and start acting like the leader of her team again.

Mitch stepped onto the porch. “Hits a little too close to home?”

There might not be an excuse for her lack of focus, but at least she knew Mitch understood. Keeping the streets safe for her daughter was part of the motivation behind what she did.

“I can’t help thinking, what if we were searching for Tess’s killer? What if I didn’t know where she was? What if I found out she was lying on a cold morgue slab, tagged as Jane Doe?”

“This isn’t Tess, Avery.”

She tried to shake off the chill that slid up her spine despite the afternoon heat. He was right. They weren’t after Tess’s killer. Tess was safe at school. She forced herself back to the present. On duty in the middle of an investigation wasn’t the time to be worrying about her daughter . . . or fantasizing about Jackson, for that matter. She shifted her gaze back to the porch, the scent from a fresh coat of paint still hanging in the air. It was time to pull herself together.

She blew out a sharp breath and rang the front doorbell.

The door opened an inch a moment later, its metal security chain still in place.

Mitch held up his badge and identified them. “Afternoon, ma’am. We need to ask you a few questions about an incident that happened this morning in your neighborhood.”

The woman peered over the rim of her glasses at the badge. “You say you’re detectives?”

She had to be at least eighty. Avery groaned inwardly. The woman probably couldn’t see across the room, let alone across the street on a dark night.

Mitch nodded. “Can we speak with you for a moment, Mrs. . . .”

“Waters. Evelyn Waters.” She shut the door, unlatched the chain, then opened it again. “A woman my age living alone can’t be too careful, you know. And I’d invite you in, but my grandson’s been doing some repairs on the house, including having the carpets cleaned, and they’re still a bit damp.”

“No need to worry about that, ma’am.” Avery caught the hint of loneliness in the woman’s voice. She breathed in the smell of a roast as it overpowered the acrid scent of the paint and
cleaning supplies. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she’d missed lunch. “We need to ask you about a young woman who was murdered next to the bar last night. We’re talking to your neighbors to find out if anyone saw something.”

“Murdered?” Fear flickered in her eyes.

“Yes ma’am.”

“I saw the commotion and the police cars this morning and wondered what had happened.” Mrs. Waters tugged on the waist of her flowered dress, her brow furrowed. “When that bar went in five years ago on the corner, I told Harry it would come to no good. I couldn’t begin to count how many times the police have shown up at that address. Not a lick of good, I tell you. The neighborhood’s gone down ever since.”

“Did you see anything last night?” Avery tried to redirect the woman’s train of thought. “A strange car? Anything out of the ordinary?”

“I didn’t see anything, but I know of someone who might have.”

Avery glanced at Mitch. “Who would that be?”

“There’s a homeless man who walks these streets at night.”

“You saw him last night?”

“Last night and most every night. I have arthritis, you know, and have trouble sleeping. Which is why I see him most nights. He comes up the street this way, rummages in the trash cans if it’s trash day, always carrying a backpack. After that, I can’t see where he goes.”

Avery flipped open her notebook and jotted down the woman’s information. “What time?”

“I usually see him around four or so. Never later than four thirty.”

“And last night?”

“The clock by my bed read four ten when I got up, so a few minutes after that, I’d say.”

“And you have no idea where he might go?”

“I used to tell Harry—”

“Who’s Harry?” Mitch cut in.

“My late husband, bless his soul. He died from cancer of the bone earlier this year.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am.” The sooner they gathered the information, the sooner they could follow up on this lead, but the woman’s words curbed Avery’s impatience. The look of loneliness had resurfaced.

“Harry used to say that you could almost set the clock by Mr. Nomad. That’s what we call him. I think he’s been walking that same route for—I don’t know—ten, eleven months. I figure he heads south to the park.”

Which would put him at the crime scene around four fifteen. Their victim would have already been dead, but there was a chance he saw something. “Can you describe the man?”

“Describe him?”

“Any information you can tell us will help, ma’am.”

“I suppose he’s several inches taller than me, but thin.” She patted her thick midsection. “Dark hair and a beard, I think.”

“What about his clothes?”

“He wears this long, brown trench coat. Like Columbo. Even in the summer. My husband, bless his soul, loved that show and used to watch every rerun before he died. That and
Bonanza
. You young people probably don’t remember back that far, but he loved Michael Landon. I used to tell him that too much television would turn his brain to mush, but it helped him pass the time.”

“Anything else you can remember that might help us be able to track him down?” Keeping the woman’s thoughts focused was almost as difficult as finding witnesses in today’s murder.

“I’ve only seen him at night, you understand, and except for that streetlight, he wasn’t much more than a shadow. But I’m sure about the beard.”

A moment later, Avery handed the woman a card and asked
her to call if she saw the man again, then headed back to the car with Mitch.

“So what do you think?” he asked.

“That we just received the best lead we’ve had all morning.”

Which meant they needed to compare notes with the rest of the team, strategize, and find Mr. Nomad.

Her phone rang, and she pulled it from her pocket. It was Jackson.

Avery turned away from her partner and pressed the phone against her ear. “I hadn’t expected to hear from you so soon.”

“Do you have a second?”

“Yes. Go ahead. We’re just about finished canvassing the neighborhood.”

“And we’ve finished the autopsy.”

“Any information like estimated time of death?”

They’d have to wait on forensic testing before Jackson filed his final autopsy report, but there was still information that could be gleaned from the external and internal exams. And she’d take anything she could get at this point.

“I’m putting the time of death between two and four.”

“Good. What else?”

“If you have time to come by, I have something I need to show you in person.”

“I’m on my way.” Avery flipped her phone shut and shoved it back into her pocket. “I need to drop you off at the station, then head over to the ME’s office.”

“And the rest of the team?”

“Compare notes with Carlos and Tory to see if there are any other leads from their canvassing to follow up on, then start tracking down this homeless guy. Another stakeout . . . another canvassing of the neighborhood . . . do whatever it takes to find him. He’s the closest thing we’ve got to a witness. Did they find out who owns the car that was left in the alley?”

“Tory just sent me a text.” Mitch glanced at his phone. “Car belongs to a Paul Adams. She’s tracking him down now.”

“Good.” Avery climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car.

Mitch snapped on his seatbelt. “So how is he?”

She pressed her foot against the brake. “How is who?”

“Jackson Bryant. You can stop pretending. I’ve caught that daydreamy look in your eyes whenever the two of you are in the same room. Or on the phone together.”

Avery frowned. “It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”

After a quick glance in the rearview mirror, she started for the station. She could always opt for leaving him on the street to find his own way back. “We’ve gone out. Twice. It’s not like we’re dating or anything.”

“Sounds to me like you’re dating.”

Avery felt her face flush. So much for professionalism and hiding her emotions. On the other hand, if Mitch had any downfall, it was his lack of commitment with women.

“I could always bring up your dating habits.”

“Don’t flip this conversation back on me.”

“When’s the last time you had a second date? You carry around that little black book of yours like it’s some—”

“I’d be careful before you start profiling me like one of your murder suspects, because I actually might surprise you. I asked Kayleigh to marry me this weekend.”

Avery braked too hard at a stop sign, then caught her partner’s grin. “You’re serious? You asked her to marry you?”

“We even settled on a Valentine’s Day wedding.”

“Wow. Congratulations! Though I have to admit, I expected her to be just another name added to your little black book.” Avery glanced at him before crossing the intersection. “You did burn your little black book, didn’t you?”

“Apparently some of your unsolicited advice got through to me, though I believe it was your mother who told me—”

“My mother.” Avery read the digital clock on the dash. Two thirty-five. She’d never called her mother. “I’m sorry. I was supposed to meet her for lunch.”

“Why do I have a feeling she doesn’t deal well with being stood up?”

“You clearly know my mother.”

Trying to explain to her mother why she hadn’t been there to help make the final decision between jumbo shrimp or bacon and tomato tartlets for her father’s retirement party would be useless.

Avery pulled into the parking lot of the police station. The dull headache that started earlier this morning in her temples had spread to the base of her neck. Between mothering, her career, family, church, and dating . . . something was going to have to give.

J
ackson finished jotting down the rest of his notes for his official report while his tech began cleaning up the autopsy room. Avery had been right. Some cases managed to become far too personal. After eight years of working in autopsy, he would have thought that his scientific interest would keep him coming to work every day. Sometimes it wasn’t enough. Some cases ended up eating at him for days, making him question why he was in this line of work.

And like their last Jane Doe case, this one might very well prove to be another one of them.

For now, his motivation would have to come from the realization that anything he discovered could help break the case and bring their Jane Doe’s murderer to justice. So far, though, he had little to report beyond time and cause of death. Now came the perpetual wait for fingerprints to be run against the system, fluids tested, and lab work results gathered. And so far nothing he’d found could help identify the body lying in his morgue.

Except the photo.

He stepped out of the windowless autopsy room and into the sunshine filtering through the narrow corridor, trying to shake the ever-present feeling of death that hung in the air. The half-dozen spider plants hanging strategically throughout the room
helped remove some of the toxins the dead bodies brought with them, but even the green foliage couldn’t completely erase the vinegary odor of formalin or the other foul smells he had to work with every day.

He looked up as Avery stepped into the building at the other end of the long hallway, making him thankful he’d taken the time to exchange his stained lab jacket for a clean one. There wasn’t much he could do about the lingering smell of antibacterial cleaner until he could take a long, hot shower.

She traversed the hallway with no sign that she was bothered by the subtle odors drifting through from the autopsy room. Except for certain cases, he hardly noticed the smells anymore. But that didn’t hold true with most people. He was still surprised he’d managed to land a third date. He rarely got this far in the dating game. The combination of discovering he lived with his grandfather—who had been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s—and knowing what he did for a living inevitably ended up scaring off most women.

Avery was proving to be different.

She stopped in front of him, two large drinks in her hands and a tired smile marking her features. “Hey, thanks for calling me.”

“Any excuse for some time in the company of a certain woman.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, you know.”

“That’s what I was hoping.” He paused for a moment, taking in her blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and full lips. He hadn’t been looking for a relationship when they’d first met a couple months ago, but a string of cases kept throwing them together. Finally, he’d admitted to himself that he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

“I brought you a surprise.” She held up one of the drinks and handed it to him. “Vanilla coke with a dash of lime.”

“Just how I like it. No wonder they made you detective. You’ve got an eye for detail.”

Her nose scrunched when she smiled. “Funny.”

He took a sip of the drink, then glanced out the window. “Want to go for a walk? I’ve got a few minutes until my next autopsy, and besides this caffeine boost, I could use some fresh air.”

“I’d like that.”

Her smile tugged harder at his heart. Oh yeah. He was in serious trouble. She followed him outside into the sunlight that caught the red highlights in her hair, toward one of the iron benches outside the building. It might still be summer in Atlanta, but after four hours in an enclosed room, he didn’t mind the humid air at all.

He took another long sip of the icy drink, hoping for a round of small talk before they delved into business. “Has your day gotten any better?”

Avery’s smile faded. “After hours of canvassing the neighborhood, we ended up with a homeless man who roams the streets at night. At this point, he’s not a suspect, but I am hoping he saw something.”

“No one else saw anything?”

“Someone will turn up eventually, but time isn’t on our side in this case. I need to know who she is before our killer strikes again.”

He caught the worry in her eyes. If this was the work of a serial killer, the count was already up to two bodies—two that they knew of. Neither of them wanted another victim on their hands.

“There’s still a chance this was simply an isolated case and not a serial killer. This Jane Doe was killed with a blunt instrument to the side of her head. It’s a different MO from your last victim, who was stabbed, then dumped.”

“True, but the two cases are still close enough in my mind that I can’t overlook the connection at this point. Between the
location, race, and age of the victims—and especially the tattoo—there are simply too many similarities.”

She looked up at him, her fingers wrapped tightly around her drink, expression somber. “What if I don’t catch this one and justice isn’t carried out? What if this happens again to another girl?”

“Sometimes finding out the truth takes time, but you’ll find it.”

“I’m sorry.” She leaned back against the bench and rattled the ice in her cup. “I’m really not usually like this. We’re not even twelve hours into things, and I’m treating it like a cold case with no leads in sight. But I just can’t stop playing out worst-case scenarios. I need more than justice. I need this man stopped, so another mother doesn’t have to suffer the heartache of losing a child.”

Jackson watched her expression darken and all the pieces snapped into place. Four months ago, Avery’s brother, Michael, had been killed in the line of duty, leaving Avery to watch firsthand how the loss of a child had changed her mother.

“We might not be able to save them all, Avery, but we can do everything in our power to find whoever did this and stop him from ever hurting anyone again.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “Or we could always think about starting our own fast-food chain and start flipping burgers together. No dead bodies, no elusive killers . . .”

As corny as his idea was, it worked. Avery laughed and leaned toward him, smelling like a bouquet of fresh flowers—a far cry from his autopsy room.

“I think I might like that.”

Jackson looked out across the manicured lawns and began to relax for the first time all day. Atlanta might not be Houston, but he loved how the city seemed to rise out of the forest, its neighborhoods dotted with small parks and green landscape. On days like today, he needed the diversion of God’s handiwork
to settle his spirit. Adding Avery to the picture made things even better.

She was worth making time for, but finding that time to spend together the past few weeks had become far more complicated than he’d wished. Between their jobs, Tess, his grandfather, and her family, there always seemed to be something urgent pressing. And he was pretty sure she felt the same tugs on her time.

She pulled on a loose strand of her hair, a habit of hers he’d noticed. He wished he could read her mind, because his heart was pretty much already taken. All he could do at this point was hope she felt the same way.

He glanced at his watch, immediately regretting the gesture. “I’m sorry. I was hoping to prolong things, not cut it short, but I guess I should catch you up with what I found and get back to work.”

“I’d like that better too, but you’re right. And I’ve still got a mountain of work to do before heading off to Tess’s swim tryouts.” He caught the flicker of regret in her eyes. “Initial findings? You said you had something for me.”

“Hopefully the lab will come up with something more solid, because overall I don’t have much for you yet. You know the drill, it will take a few days minimum to get the results back on all of the tests we’re running.” No matter what his personal feelings were for her, there was only so much he could do to rush the results. “There were signs of sexual relations, though I don’t think she was raped. There was no bruising.”

“And the DNA.”

“We’ll get a match as soon as we can.”

Avery shook her head. “So she has consensual relations, then the guy hits her over the head and kills her?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Maybe not, but we’re missing something. If it’s not a serial
killer, what are we looking at? Sex trade, prostitution, jealous lover, robbery . . .”

“I do have something else. I’m not sure how it will help at this point, but it is the most promising.”

“What is it?”

Jackson reached into the front pocket on his lab jacket and pulled out the black-and-white photo he’d slipped in an evidence bag and handed it to her. “It’s one and a half by two inches, and looks like it was cut from a photo booth strip, like the one you’d find at a mall.”

“You found this on her person? We checked all of her pockets.”

“We found a small, concealed pocket sewn into the lining of her clothes. It would have been easy for your people to miss at the crime scene. They’re running the fingerprints we found on it right now, but it might only lead us back to her.”

Avery fingered the photo. Two Asian girls smiled shyly at the camera, both wearing white traditional Vietnamese dresses. The one on the left was their Jane Doe. The second girl’s face was half hidden behind a cone-shaped hat. Smiling. Happy. “Why conceal the photo? Why not just carry it in a purse?”

“That is a question I can’t answer.”

“Was there anything else in the pocket?”

“No, but there could have been.”

“What do you mean?”

“The stitching around the edges had been ripped, as if someone had taken something out.”

“During the attack?”

“Or maybe after she was dead. I don’t know.”

Avery stood, her mind clearly sorting through the information she’d just been given.

“You’ll need to sign for the photo. I’ll make sure that your team receives the rest of the evidence once we are finished processing it.”

She started back beside him, toward the offices. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. By the way, are we still on for tonight? I know this was supposed to be your day off, but if you’d rather go out another time . . .”

He waited for her answer, hoping she was still up for it. He looked forward to seeing her again outside of work when they could talk about something besides murder investigations and autopsy reports.

“No, tonight should still be fine. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Good. Me too.” His phone buzzed. “Hang on.” He quickly read through the text message. “It’s from the lab. There were two sets of fingerprints on the photo.”

Avery turned to face him. “Whose?”

“Our Jane Doe’s and James Philips’s—a man convicted for assault eighteen months ago.”