"I said sit down, Dale."
Dale sat and crossed his arms again.
"How's the anger management going, Dale?" Ram asked softly. "Know it was a few years back since you had to take the course. You still working on containing it?"
"You've got to be shitting me," Dale said through clenched teeth.
"There were no more complaints so I guess you got it under control then, huh? That was the last of it? Just that one instance of roughing up that girl?"
Dale remained steadfastly silent, his eyes trained on Ram.
"No one else? Nobody piss you off enough for you to leave bruises on?"
"It was a long time ago, Patel. Let it go."
"Heard she moved away a couple years back after marrying that Donovan kid. That set you off, Dale? Seeing your girl with another fellow?"
Dale sighed loudly and looked out the window. Ram gave him a few seconds before he heard Dale sigh again and begin to speak.
"The only reason I got rough with Laurie was because I caught her trying to key my fucking car. She was pissed because I broke it off with her so I could spend time with Sara. I tugged her away from the car maybe harder than I had to and left a few bruises but I never fucking 'roughed her up'. Her dad, who was the general manager at Meer's, is the one who involved the goddamn police. Luckily, my dad was able to calm everything down and I got to spend some hours in anger management instead of fucking dangling from the end of a rope, which is what her old man wanted." Dale stopped and looked at Ram. "What can I say? It was new money versus old money. Old fucking money won."
Ram held Dale's gaze for a few moments. "Okay, then. You get the info to me this afternoon and I'll have one of the guys check it out."
"Are we done now?"
"Yeah, Dale we're done."
Dale was just about out the interrogation room door when Ram called his name.
"You know I'm just doing my job, Buddy, right? No hard feelings?"
Dale stared hard at the Police Chief before shaking his head in disbelief. He then turned and silently made his way out of the station, giving Ram the one-finger salute over his shoulder.
Ram shook his head. Juvenile move but deserved, nonetheless.
Chapter Fourteen
He was just making his way back to his office when Lester, who was working dispatch this week, came running into the bullpen. "They've found another body," Lester announced loudly to the room at large. Every person in the room froze for a second before the scrape of hastily emptied chairs and the thuds of boots hurrying out of the room was heard.
Ram ran to his office and grabbed his jacket before he ran to catch up with Tim and Jeff. "I want you two to take point on this. Go in with lights and siren and get there as fast as you can. We need to secure the area and make sure no one, and I mean no one, fucks up the scene."
Ram's unmarked car was right behind Dale's as they pulled into the parking lot. Ram was glad to see that the back portion, the portion with the reserved parking spaces and the dumpster had already been cordoned off with the bright yellow police tape.
"What the fuck, Patel," Dale yelled as he exited his sleek, black, new model Corvette and crossed the distance between their two vehicles.
"Hold up, Dale," Ram cautioned in a soft voice. He glanced around and only saw a handful of people that were making their way towards the crime scene tape. "We found another body."
"Another body? Here?" Dale stopped dead in his tracks as he glanced towards the area behind the tape. "You know who it is?"
"Hoping you'll be able to help with that."
Ram turned away as Jeff came up to them. "Called the morgue. Said they'd be here ASAP. Vic positioned same as the others and with the same marks. Getting the photographs now but still not much to go on."
"Shit," Ram said softly. "Well, no help for it. C'mon Dale, let's see if you know this one."
They slowly made their way to the back of the club where the dumpsters were located. They had been moved back from their regular place close to the far wall in order for the detectives to have some room to work. Blessedly someone had covered the body with a couple of aprons to hide it from the small crowd of spectators that were beginning to increase as the minutes wore on.
Ram carefully guided a shaky Dale towards the covered body before flipping the material off her face. Ram could feel Dale's body begin to tremble and after a quick glance, he hastily dragged Dale beyond the edges of the immediate vicinity just in time for him to lose the contents of his stomach. He handed the co-owner, who's complexion was now a definite shade of pea-green, his handkerchief. When it seemed that most of the sickness had passed, Ram asked softly, "You know her, Buddy?"
"Yeah, I do," Dale said equally as softly. He tried squeezing his eyes shut to stop seeing her gray face with her colorless lips. "One of the newer girls. Her name was Carla. Carla Nelson, I think."
Tim walked slowly towards their little group. "Chief? Found these in her back pockets." Ram and Dale stared at the driver's license and debit card held by the corners in Tim's large hands. There was a money clip, carefully securing a wad of cash poking beneath the bank card.
"Holy fuck," Dale mumbled before turning away again to throw up.
"God, help us," Ram murmured as he closed his eyes and lifted his face straight up into the warmth of the morning sunshine. As if he misread the name on the pieces of ID, he glanced at them again. Nothing had changed, though. It was still her.
"You want me to inform the family, Chief?" Tim said knowing this was going to be bad. Very bad.
"No," Ram replied. He cleared his throat before continuing. "It's something her dad will expect to hear from me."
Tim handed the small items to Ram who continued to stare at the driver's license.
Renee Jamison had been found.
*.*.*.*.*
The eyes followed the cops as they crawled over, in and around this latest trophy. They followed the movements and flashes as the incompetents captured on film all the effects of the handiwork that had been done.
The face that surrounded the eyes was calm, knowing that even if the eyes were spotted, law enforcement wouldn't be able to recognize either the face or the body covered as they were by large sunglasses, a hat and the padding of the thick jacket. The eyes were just another set in the crowd lurking behind the yellow tape, tape used to keep the riff-raff out as they performed their oh-so-important jobs.
The mouth lifted in a self-satisfied smile. Nothing had been left behind, no clues to track or follow. The brain that had conceived the idea, the way of getting back at those silly girls, was so much smarter that the dumb asses wearing the badges.
The eyes turned away to watch one of the owners of the club spew his cookies into the dirty snow that edged the parking lot.
No guts, no glory.
And it was obvious that he had no guts if he lost it over a dead body.
Tiring of the minutiae of the investigation that was just getting started, the killer's feet began to move and carry the eyes away. There were still more trophies to claim and planning was needed to ensure the cops stayed as confused and unenlightened as they were at this moment.
They had no idea that a genius was on the loose.
*.*.*.*.*
I woke to the sound of a phone ringing and felt the heat of his body warming my front. As sleep fled, I recognized the smell of Jake, that woodsy man aroma, the smell that was one of the contributing factors that had come to mean safety to me.
I heard Jake's soft muttered, "Yo" as he answered the phone. I squeezed his waist to let him know I was awake and he turned onto his back to gather me against his side. "Uh huh. Sure." I heard but didn't pay any attention to as I burrowed my way underneath his arm and nuzzled my head into my special place, that warm spot where his chest muscle met his neck.
"Meet you there at ten," I heard him say before he disconnected.
"Trouble?" I asked softly, my voice still rough from sleep.
"Hope not, pretty girl," Jake replied turning his body towards me and moving a hand to my hip to pull me even closer. I got a sweet kiss before I heard his rumble, "What's on for today?"
"Uhm, Pam's sister said she'd be emptying the apartment today and I've--well, I've really gotta study, Jake. Have some tests that are coming up and I haven't actually been paying a lot of attention in class lately." Although from the way Jake's mouth and hands were moving I was pretty sure that he wasn't paying much attention to what I was saying either.
"Why's that?" I heard him mumble somewhere around the bottom of my neck as my focus was diverted to the gentle movements of his hands on my breasts, his rough thumbs flicking my nipples.
"Why's what?" I managed to say on a breathy moan as my thighs captured one of his thighs and my hips began to thrust, sliding my mound against its firmness. I loved how all my pink parts 'talked' to one another--for instance, how if my nipples were at attention due to Jake's ministrations, that my clit sat up and asked for its own attention.
"Why you haven't been paying attention in class," he explained his lips moving to my now uncovered breasts to mimic the former movement of his fingers which had moved south and were now cupping and squeezing my ass.
"In class?" I repeated as I felt one of his hands reach around, moving between us to cup me, pressing up and providing the most delicious pressure against my pussy. I moaned and pressed even harder against his hand.
"You payin' attention, Darlin'?" Jake asked, all movements stopped as he pulled his head back to look at me.
"Ah…hmm? Say, what?" I asked, confused at the sudden stop to all the glorious touches I had been receiving.
Jake lowered his head towards mine, scowling fiercely until his eyes actually caught my gaze. I'll give it to him, he tried. He really did. But soon he was laughing to the point of tears and I couldn't help but to laugh with him even though I wasn't quite sure what we were laughing about.
Jake's laugh was loud, infectious and for the moment I didn't care what we were laughing at, I was just caught up in the fact that I was laughing with my man.
In my bed.
Naked.
His hands on me, making me feel desired, wanted,
hot
.
"Oh, sweet Darlin'," Jake rumbled when he was finally able to speak. "You had no clue what we were talking about, did ya?"
"I, uh…well, no, not exactly," I admitted still trying to control my own mirth. "Was it important?"
Jake shook his head and smiled before cuddling me back into my own special spot against his chest.
I waited a couple of beats before I bravely asked, "You want me to listen to what you say or feel what you do? 'Cause I don't think I can do both at the same time."
As soon as the last word was out of my mouth, Jake collapsed into laughter once again rocking me back and forth in his mirth. I honestly didn't know what he found so funny. I was being honest.
"I was being honest, baby."
"I know, Cait," he finally said when he was able to get a grip on his humor. "Cute as hell, though."
Cute? I was going for sultry, sexy or seductive and he was calling me
cute
?