Temperature Rising (6 page)

“I don’t know. Maybe she wanted to find out what we knew, maybe to get a thrill, like an arsonist watching his own fire.”

“You’re stretching it, pal.”

“You’re the one stretching it getting involved with someone from a case. You’ve never done that before.”

The genuine concern in Jonesy’s voice tempered the anger rising in Mac. He hated the discord between them. They always played devil’s advocate off each other, but this was different — this involved Laken. And something in Mac cried out she was special to him, even though he was just getting to know her.

“Hayes and Mikey ran a check on her.”

Jonesy’s comment pulled Mac out the reverie he’d slipped into. He wanted to object to them running a check, but he’d originally planned on doing one himself. “What’d they find?”

“She came back clean, I mean totally clean. The woman hasn’t even had a ticket in her life. How can you live here and not get a ticket? How can you live anywhere and not get a ticket? She’s just too squeaky clean. They think we should bring her in… I agree.”

The satisfaction Mac was feeling switched to sickness at Jonesy’s last comment. “You want to bring her in to interrogate her because she’s squeaky clean.”

“I think we’d better think about it. You’d better think about, and you’d better think about canceling your date with her, or you’re going to end up with a big conflict of interest.”

Mac stared at his partner feeling like his world had shattered, much like it had when he’d woken up in the hospital.

****

“I can call you when he gets in, Laken,” Kathy suggested for the third time.

Laken shook her head. “I’m afraid that he’ll just sneak in and say he doesn’t want to be disturbed. I want my questions answered.” She’d been waiting outside Stewart Hoster’s office for nearly forty minutes.

There was a sympathetic look on the secretary’s face, and she didn’t try to suggest it wouldn’t happen. Both women knew the man would do just that. Laken pulled out another set of specs she needed to go over and started checking it. Another five minutes passed before Hoster came through the door, dressed in his normal pristine suit with the handkerchief, which matched his tie, sticking out of the pocket. He had Laken by five inches in height and fifty pounds in weight but Laken stood up right in his path.

“What are you doing here? You should be at work,” Hoster snapped, obviously not pleased to see her.

“I have been working, but I need to talk to you.”

“Well, I’m busy now. It’ll have to wait.” He went to move around her.

Laken stepped in his way again, too annoyed at the way she was being treated to worry about how her boss felt. “I need to talk to you, now. I won’t to be put off any longer.”

A glint of what might be fury crossed the man’s face. “Oh, all right, I’ll give you five minutes.” He turned into his office, leaving her to follow.

Hoster moved around his desk and dropped into his leather chair. “Now, what is it?”

“I want to know why I was left out of the meeting on Thursday.”

“You were sick,” he said simply and made a motion as if waving her away.

“I wasn’t sick when you told me the time of the meeting.”

“You must’ve written it wrong.”

“No, I didn’t.” Laken stepped forward, placing her hands on the desk, leaning forward in challenge. “You told me that time several times. And I checked to make certain it wasn’t rescheduled. You told me the wrong time. And you did it on purpose.”

“What are you so upset about? Your plans got presented. I did it myself. So what’s the problem? If they’re chosen, you will get the bonus. So quit worrying about it and get back to work.” He waved his hand as if dismissing her.

“But why did you leave me out of the meeting?”

“You were sick. You shouldn’t have been there. Now get back to work, unless you want to be fired,” Hoster barked out, red-faced.

Laken couldn’t believe what he’d said:
fired
. She almost opened her mouth to say she didn’t care. She just wanted an answer, but at the last second she caught herself. She couldn’t afford to lose her job, at least not until she made some decisions. Besides, it wouldn’t look good for her to be fired. Holding her anger in, she stormed out of the office.

Hours later, Laken still fumed. She couldn’t believe it; he wouldn’t give her an answer why, and then he had actually threatened to fire her. She stared at the blueprint she was going over, not really seeing it. What was going on in her life?

The phone rang behind her. She automatically turned to grab it. “I wanted to give you a heads up,” Kathy’s voice said hurriedly. “The police are on the way back to see you.” The line went dead in her ear.

Police. Mac was here. A surge of pleasure went through her. Life was not totally bad. She smiled and turned. Her smile faded and she started to rethink her last thought when she caught the grim look on his face and the sternness on his partner’s.

“Miss Williams…” It was his partner that spoke first. Mac sent him a glare but let him continue. “We’d like to ask you some questions.”

“Laken, is there somewhere we can speak privately?” Mac added quietly.

She turned her attention fully to him, trying to see the man with whom she’d spent the weekend at the library, ball game, and zoo. A cold exterior covered him like a shield. This was the man who handled the darker side of life. Unable to get words out, she nodded, leading them down the hall to the conference room. Fortunately, it was empty.

“What is it?” Laken couldn’t keep back the question any longer. Fear flooded over her. “Did he kill again?”

“No,” Mac said gently. “We need you to go over everything you told us the other day again.”

“Okay.” Her discomfort rose at the tone in his voice.

“We’d like to record it if you don’t mind.” Detective Jones stepped forward, pulling a tape recorder from his pocket, putting it on the table then motioning her to the chair in front of it. Her legs trembled as she stepped to the chair, and dropped into it.

“You don’t have to do this, Laken.” Mac spoke from where he stood just inside the door. She looked back at him and he continued. “You can also have an attorney present if you’d like.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, ma’am,” Jones answered, but she didn’t look at him.

“Mac?”

“No,” he let out, but she could tell he didn’t like his answer. She didn’t think he was lying though.

“Okay.” She waited while they got settled and Detective Jones said the date and her name into the recorder then announced that she declined wanting an attorney present. Then he asked her to repeat what she had told them on Friday and went over several things repeatedly. The whole time Mac sat stoically to the side.

Finally, after going through it again, Laken couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s enough. You don’t believe me. Why are you doing this?” She turned on Mac. “Say something, Mac.”

He raised his head when she cried out his name and reached out to turn off the recorder. “It’s better I don’t.”

“Why?”

He glanced toward the other man and glared. “Because it could compromise the case.”

“I don’t understand. How could it affect the case? I’m not—” She froze. “—but, you said I wasn’t a suspect, that I was too short for the angle of the knife.”

He grimaced at her comment.

“You believe.” Laken felt tears pool in her eyes but refused to let them fall. “You think I killed her.”

He stood so fast the chair fell over behind him. “No.”

Using all the control she had, she rose, head held high. “No, you just believe I’m a liar.” She turned to Detective Jones. “You think I’m guilty. You just can’t figure out how to pin it on me. We’re done here. I need to get back to work.”

“Laken.” Mac reached to take her hand.

She jerked back, pain crushing down on her. “No, don’t come near me again.” She swung away from the table.

“Laken, I don’t believe you’re lying.”

She paused with her hand on the door handle. “Funny, I believe you are. Good-bye, Mac.” She left the men in the room. Instead of going back to her cubby to work, she kept going down the hall to the ladies’ room. Since she and Kathy were the only females on that floor she had it to herself, and she let the tears flow.

****

Mac watched her go, aching to follow her as he yearned to hold her for the last hour.

“Mac.”

He turned on Jones, wanting to plow his fist into his partner. “Don’t say anything,” he snarled.

“Let it go.”

“I did let it go.” The image of Laken burned in his mind in stark clarity, a picture of pain and betrayal. “And I’m beginning to feel just what I let go.”

“Come on, man, get serious.”

Mac looked to the man who had been his best friend for four years. “I’m totally serious. And you know what? After just sitting here, and doing nothing while I let you grill her, I deserve to lose her.”

He too left his partner to follow him. He wasn’t surprised not to see her at her work area when he looked. Resigned, he left.

He started calling her cell phone when he got to his car. She didn’t answer. At the station, he called again. It clicked off on him. The next time he called it went directly to voice mail. She’d turned off her cell phone.

****

Laken was miserable; her emotions swung between hurt and anger with each minute. How in just a couple days had Spencer MacDaniels come to mean so much to her? She fought back a wave of tears. The arrogant jerk, she didn’t need him. She stomped her way up the stairs. She’d just reached her apartment when the door across the hall opened.

“Oh, Laken. I thought I heard someone out here but wasn’t sure it was you. You usually move around so quietly.”

Laken plastered a smile on her face and turned to the woman. Mrs. Simmons was a nice, old, busybody who dyed her hair an unfortunate shade of orange and was always coming up with reasons to visit. Laken would have enjoyed her visits more if she just wasn’t so pushy.

“How are you tonight, Mrs. Simmons?” she asked, not wanting to start a conversation but knowing it was the fastest way to escape.

“Oh, just wonderful, dear, my nephew is here to visit. Howard, you know. You promised the next time he was in town you’d go out with him.”

Laken groaned inwardly. This couldn’t be happening now. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Simmons, but I had a really miserable day at work. I don’t think I’d be very good company tonight.”

“Nonsense, a night out is just what you need.”

“It really isn’t a good time.”

“Pish posh.” The woman waved her hand. “Now, dear, I’ve told Howard all about you. He’s anxious to meet you. He’s at a meeting now but will be back about six-thirty. I thought that by seven should give him time to get ready.”

“I should stay home. You know I was sick last week.”

“He’s planning on picking you up then,” the woman continued as if Laken hadn’t said anything. Laken resigned herself to go out. At least she could get it over with, and the woman wouldn’t be forever after her. And who knew? Maybe Howard would be as wonderful as Mrs. Simmons made him out to be, and she could forget about an infuriating broad-shouldered detective.

****

On the way home from work, Mac stopped at the pharmacy. One of the clerks from the night of the murder was there. Mac introduced himself and showed his badge. “I was wondering if you might be able to remember a couple of customers that were in here last Wednesday.”

“I help a lot of people,” the man said. “But you say Wednesday, that’s the night it rained so hard.”

“Yes,” Mac confirmed, feeling a surge of hope.

“We weren’t too busy. People stayed in because of the rain.” The man was obviously thinking back.

“I’m interested in two women. Both about five-eight with light brown hair. The first one was sick.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember her. She was real sick. It was amazing she could even stand up. I wondered if I shouldn’t call an ambulance she looked so bad. Nothing happened to her, did it? I’ve seen her around. She’s usually nice and friendly. She said she was going right home to bed. That she’d be fine.”

“No, she’s fine. The other woman that I’m wondering about was in here at the same time.”

The man thought a minute. “Oh yeah, the promotion girl.”

“Promotion?”

“Yeah, she was bragging how she’d just got a big promotion, won out big over everyone else. She was going to plan a celebration for the weekend, but just had to tell someone right then.”

“You don’t happen to have her name do you?”

The man looked hesitant.

“It could be important,” Mac stressed.

“Well, I remember she bought some things using her credit card.”

“Great, I don’t want to get you into any trouble, but could you just check and see if her name was Andrea Chambers by chance.”

“I guess that would be okay, just to confirm it.” He went to the office and came back a few minutes later. “That’s the name all right. Does that help?”

“Yes, it does, thank you. One other thing… Do you happen to remember a man in here at that same time? He was wearing a dark raincoat.”

“Yeah, a black one, with a hat pulled down low. I remember him. I kept an eye on him. I was afraid he might be going to rob the place, after drugs and cash.”

“Can you describe him?”

“Not more than what you just said. He kept his face turned away so I never got a look at his face. That was one of the reasons I thought he might be going to rob us. He didn’t buy anything and I was real relieved when he left, believe me.”

“When was that, before or after the women?”

“Oh man, I’m not sure. I think it was after one of them, but I don’t know.”

“What about video surveillance?” Mac motioned to the camera fixed to the ceiling.

“It runs for a week then is recycled. You’d have to talk to the owner.”

“Can you get me the number? I need the tape from that night.”

The man nodded and a second later handed him the number. Mac walked out of the pharmacy with the video in hand and only one thing on his mind. And that was seeing Laken again. Since his car was parked halfway there, he didn’t bother with it. He took the stairs to her apartment and knocked. When there was no answer, he knocked again. By the third time he knocked, he was getting annoyed.