The Flamel Legacy

“I wish Matt was here,” Dara sighed.

“He is…in his own way.”

“It’s not the same. It’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair, Darlene.”

“I know, I’m sorry…you know that better than anyone. But, my girls need a father.”

They watched summer pick up a handful of sand in her tiny hand and drop it. She giggled gleefully as she watched it fall.

“All of my girls.”

“Daddy, Daddy!” little Ava called, “look at Ryah’s handstand!”

“Shh, Ava. Don’t disturb your father!” Dar called after her.

I fought the urge to grimace as I lifted my still-stiff and sore arm to wave at my daughter’s smiling face. It was amazing how long it took for a shoulder wound to heal. At least the bandaging was getting less obtrusive with each passing week. My arm was out of the sling and I was finally able to wear my jacket over the bandages.

Ava giggled and waved to me as she turned and ran back towards her sister. She wrapped her arms around her sister and toppled her over into the soft sand. They laughed and giggled as they righted themselves. I sighed and pulled my gaze from them and out to the ocean.

It had been four and a half months since the showdown with Max. It hardly seemed like a day had passed. I had made the decision as I pulled my gun and fired on my sister that though I could shoot to kill, I wouldn’t. So, I shot and hit her in her side. The force of the bullet caused her to stumble back and into the wall. She hit her head on the drywall and passed out. For her, the bullet passed straight through and didn’t hit anything vital.

When I had hit the button on my phone when Max surprised me…it was the button for the speaker phone. Maureen had transferred the call to the Captain. Cap listened and recorded her confession and had sent Adam and backup down to our house. I was right about Max’s aim. She was fast, but sloppy. She had been trying to kill me, but she didn’t…I still get chills when I think about it. For the most part, I’m numb. I’m too dumbfounded by the whole thing some days to even comprehend what happened. My sister, my twin…tried to kill me.

It all goes back to that one day…that one horrible day. The day that everything in our lives derailed…the fire. It was our birthday, all three of us. We were smiling and laughing…so happy to be celebrating again. I looked away from my sisters and towards my mother, laughing…smiling…so full of life and happiness. I turned back and saw it…flames. Not just from the candle…the cake. The cake began to char and smolder before I knew it…the table had caught as well. The fire spread so fast, I was frozen and powerless to stop it. My mother reacted and grabbed me. I was closest to her. She grabbed me and pulled me away from the flames. What had once been a distant memory soon became concrete in my mind. A young, teenaged Mortimer Goth had been at our party. He had grabbed Maxine by the waist and pulled her away from the growing flames. I looked back, it had been Madge’s cake that had caught. Mortimer’s girlfriend at the time, Bella, had tried to save Madge. She had tried to do the noble and brave thing…she was rewarded with suffering. The flames sprung up and caught on Madge’s clothes. She had been wearing something gauzy and it burned quickly. As Bella tried to grab Madge who was frozen and burning, her own clothes caught fire. My mother was screaming, trying to save her last baby…but they were holding her back. Everyone was screaming and yelling…but the only screams I’ll remember completely were my sister’s.

I closed my eyes against the memories. Maxine had never been the same. I think she came so close to death that it just changer her for the worst. Because Mortimer had saved her and not his girlfriend who died…Maxine became obsessed with him. She believed that they were destined to be together. Their love was meant to be and she would do nothing to give him up. At first, Mortimer found great comfort in the arms of my sister…so much so that they even had a child together. Mortimer’s father, Gunther was furious about it. He threatened to disown Mortimer and ruin Maxine’s budding career as a police officer if they got married and revealed that he was the father of her baby. Mortimer dropped her and without her career she’d have nothing left. What Gunther didn’t count on though, was that this event was the thing to push her over the edge.

She had spent enough time around Mortimer and his family to know how deep their snobbery ran. A family that rich and wealthy? They’d never look the help in the eye. So when Mortimer saw a woman come in in Elena’s outfit…he thought he was just seeing his little toy walk in. He was on his way to Holly’s, so he didn’t need her then…so he didn’t look her in the eye. She wasn’t worthy of looking at. If he had just looked, just been a better person…all of this could have been prevented. And Mortimer? He was released of course. Though when it came time for his father’s will be executed he had a nice little surprise of his own. His father had changed his will just before he died. He left a quarter of his estate to charity. That wasn’t the biggest of surprises though. He put another chunk of it, about three million, into a trust for Summer and in his will he acknowledged that she was his Granddaughter. The remaining money was given to Elena, because of her tender care of him. She’s using the money to bring over her family from Spain and buy a big house for all of them. I asked her if she had her eye on Goth Manor, but she said it held too many hard memories. She’s also suing Mortimer for the psychological damage and blackmail. She said she’ll use the money awarded to her to give to a charity for abused women.

So, Max survived her wounds and her confession was taped. She was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, intent, stalking, and threatening with death. Because of her background, her career, the judge went harder on her than he would have on a typical perp. She was sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences, plus fifty years. She’ll never get out of prison. Mortimer had given up his parental rights of Summer, so, Dara and I adopted her as one of our own. She deserves a better life than what she’s been given.

I opened my eyes to see Dara staring at me, watching me. I know I had been distant lately. I wasn’t being a father to my girls or a husband to my wife. Part of me was so filled with fear and anxiety over the whole thing that I just wanted to crawl up into a ball and hope that it all went away.

“Hey, Dar?” I called, “can you help me up? I want to take a walk.”

I could see the shock on her face. How long had it been since I had spoken? She ran to me and dropped to her knees by my side. She cupped my face and smiled at me.

“Welcome back, Matt,” she whispered, kissing my cheek.

She helped me up and I walked across the sand towards my mother and the girls. My mother ran her hand over my good arm and smiled at me. Ryah and Ava danced happily around me. A warning ‘tut’ from their mother kept them from coming too close. She was worried about them knocking into me and causing me to fall and tear my wound open. Dar and I walked together along the beach, her hand around my waist and holding me steady. My hand on her elbow, holding on as best I could.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately, Dar.”

“That’s okay, Matt. You’ve needed time to heal. What happened to you was really horrific. To think Max was capable….”

“Don’t think about it Dar, you’ll go insane if you do. Look at what happened to her,” I could bring myself to say her name aloud, “look at me. I’m a shadow of myself.”

She turned to face me, “you’ve found your way back, Matt. I can see it in your eyes, they’re not as empty as they’ve been. You’ll come back more, your heart just has to heal. As for me, I know you’ll pull me away from the ledge. That’s the difference between us and Max. She had no one there to pull her back…but I have you.”

“I hope you’ll be able to wear your tux with all of those bandages on your arm,” she said with small smile.

“My tux, why?”

“For Adam and Maureen’s wedding, of course,” she winked at me.

I smiled as she left me alone to my thoughts on the beach. So, my partner had finally decided to take the plunge. I was happy for him and for Maureen. They deserved a little happiness. We all deserved a little happiness after this ordeal. I was finally going to let myself feel a little of it.

Madge, Maxine…I love you both, but I’m moving on with my life.

“Hey, little brother….”

“Matt? Matt! Are you there, Matt?”

I whirled around as I heard my sister’s voice. When I looked at her it was like seeing her for the first time. Her smile was strained on her face, as though someone had stuck hooks into her mouth and was lifting the corners of her lips like a marionette. Why hadn’t I seen it before? She was not a well woman. She was…not my sister. I hit a button on my phone and put it down on the desk.

“H-hey Max.”

“Anything exciting happen?” she asked with a smile.

I swallowed and tried to calm my hammering heart.

“Yeah, we got some results back from the lab.”

Her smiled faltered ever so slightly, but she put it back on her face. It was brighter and more strained than ever. Right then, I thank every God I could think of that my family was safe out of harm’s way. I’d hoped maybe Maureen had heard Max’s voice in the background…maybe she’d raise the alarm. Maybe Adam would come by to check on me? I turned a little away from her, trying to act casual as I popped the button on my holster. Thank God I hadn’t changed yet…but still, neither had Max. She was a faster draw than me, that much I knew. However, she was a worse aim. Still, any shot at all would be more than I wanted.

“Results, Matt?”

“Yeah…on the envelope….”

“Envelope?” she asked, “what envelope?”

Her eyes gleamed dangerously and my fingers found the handle on my gun. I didn’t draw, but I wanted to be ready.

“Elena gave us an envelope she found in Mortimer’s room. In it was a love letter…calling Mortimer ‘my dear tender heart’ and asking him to meet the sender in their special place.”

She looked away, her eyes glassy and wistful. I wondered briefly where their special place was. Was it somewhere I too had been? Why was it so special to them?

“So?” she demanded, still looking away.

“Max…” I started as my fingers brushed further up the handle of my gun, “why?”

“Stop!” she snarled, “just stop right there, little brother. Take your hand away from your weapon. You’re such a good little cop, Matt. You’ve always been better than me. But, that’s just because I had my eyes on the more important prize.”

I forced myself to remain calm. I tried to imagine my sister as any other perp walking the street. I tried…but I couldn’t. She wasn’t a perp…this was my sister. My last sister. I couldn’t imagine calling myself a singleton after this.

“Whoa, Max…let’s take it easy. Put the gun down.”

She laughed cruelly, “you think that psychobabble mumbo jumbo bullshit is going to work on me? I had the same training as you, Matt. Now, I’m going to kill you…they’ll realize that the real killer is still at large and let my Mortimer go.”

As she was speaking I saw something glinting on her hand. It made my heart sink, it was another nail in the coffin of Max’s life.

“The ring, Max?”

Her eyes slid down to her hand and smiled when she saw it.

“Do you like it, Matt? Mort gave it to me. We’re getting married you know? That’s why you have to let him out of jail…because we’re getting married. You put him in jail and ruined my wedding!”

“Oh, I see. I didn’t get an invitation to this wedding…am I not invited?”

I had to keep her talking. As long as she was talking she wasn’t going to shoot me. I had to think fast, there had to be a way out of this. I lowered my hand a fraction of an inch…she didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh, the whole town will be there. Everyone will come from miles around to celebrate our union. They’ll be so happy because its finally happened. You know…some people wouldn’t let us be together,” her eyes darkened, “some people were too fucking weak to stand up to their father. Sometimes a lady has to take matters into her own hands. Right, Matt?”

I lowered my hands a tin bit more, “you mean, Gunther?”

“Yes, Stupid. Of course Gunther. You know, he had the brass balls to blackmail me! I showed him though. He was feeling so sad and sick,” her voice took on a sardonic tone, “when he saw Elena walk into the room, he reached for her. He yearned for her comfort and instead…he found me.”

She laughed heartily, cruelly. It made a chill go down my spine. What happened to my sister?

“He cried out for help as I placed my hand over his mouth. He was too weak to fight back. Ha! Too weak to fight me, I had finally won. So, I stuck the needle in his arm…it was full of air. You know what happens when the human body is injected with air?”

I lowered my hands a little more, “its an air embolism…it’s fatal.”

“You bet your ass it is!” she laughed again, as though she had just heard the funniest joke ever told, “he dies and I go home…secure in the knowledge that we’ll be married by the end of the week.”

A little lower, my hands were now at my belt line.

“And Holly?”

Her eyes darkened again, “that bitch. She thinks that she can take him from me? Bullshit! He’s mine. I have a child by him, God damn it! She had to go. She was lying in our bed…our bed, Matt! The very bed that Summer had been conceived in. She was wearing that slut getup. She wanted to know what I was doing there? I showed her what I was doing there. I picked up the champagne bottle and cracked her in the skull with it. I was so angry I wasn’t even thinking.”

I had to fight the urge to let out a shocked laugh. In all of this insanity that was the moment she said she wasn’t thinking. My hands were below my belt and my fingers were slowly reaching for my gun.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

It was the moment of truth, now or never. As fast as I could, I reached for my gun. My hands gripped the rough handle and I flung it out of its holster. I pointed it at my sister. I hated myself, but I had to do it. I had to take her down. For the sake of the law, for the sake of justice and for the safety of my family. I thought of little Summer’s face…all of my family. If my life was in danger, I had been trained to shoot to kill. Could I really kill my sister?

Yes, I could. As I pointed it at my sister I squeezed the trigger. There were two deafening bangs.

“Christ, Matt! You better tell me why there’s a death threat in our daughter’s dollhouse!”

Dara had grabbed me as soon as I finished reading the note and pulled me upstairs. My mother was downstairs trying to comfort the girls. My wife was furious, and rightly so. I felt absolutely sick at the thought of a murder being in my house…touching my children’s things. I wanted to throw up.

“We arrested Mortimer Goth today, Dar. His prints were the only prints on a weapon found at the scene. He was alone in the house with the victim…there’s no other explanation. Somehow, though…we were wrong. I will fix this…I promise.”

She lowered her hands to her sides and sighed, “I know you will. I just…can’t help but think about what would have happened if the girls had been playing with the house when that sicko came in here?”

“Don’t think about it, Dar. You’ll go insane if you do. Take the girls and Mom and get out of town, okay? Go to your mother’s for now.”

“What about Max?”

“Please, no matter how deranged a killer might be he wouldn’t dare mess with her.”

She gave a little laugh in spite of herself, then looked extremely guilty about it. I pulled her to me and kissed her flushing cheeks. I held her close to my body and whispered in her ear:

“I won’t rest until I find him, Dar. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

She nodded resolutely and went downstairs to tell the girls and my mother about their upcoming trip. I rubbed the back of my neck and willed for the waves and waves of nausea to subside. I steeled myself and pulled out my phone. I dialed my partner’s number. He answered after three rings.

“Yo! What’s up Matt?”

“Adam? Look…Mortimer’s innocent.”

“WHAT? You can’t be serious.”

“The real killer left a note in the girl’s doll house. In their doll house, Adam.”

“Jesus! Are they okay?”

“Yeah. Look; Dar, the girls and my mom are all getting out of here. Have you gotten anything? No threats at all?”

“Nah, man. Whoever this is, they’re real focused on you.”

We spoke for a moment more, Adam said he’d notify the chief and come by to pick up the note to analyze it. He mentioned something about having to buy Maureen a pair of emerald earrings to run this through. I was glad that he was coming so that I could focus on my family. It’s a funny thing really, law enforcement partners, they may not be related but Adam was like my long-lost brother. I don’t know what I’d do without him. I hung up and headed out into the hallway towards the girls’ room.

The little doll house was sitting out in the hallway. I wasn’t sure who had placed it there, Dara or maybe Ryah. Either way, by moving it they had probably destroyed any trace evidence we had. Still, I couldn’t fault them for wanting it as far away from them as they could. I doubted they’d ever go back to playing with it, now that it had been so soiled.

I found the girls downstairs. Dara was holding them tightly. They were so upset still. I turned away and went back upstairs to my mother’s room. She had her suitcase sitting out on her bed and was shoving clothes into it. I was silent as I went to her and opened up drawers to help her pack. Neither one of us said anything to each other, I don’t think there was much to say. So I just helped her pack as best I could. I opened the bottom drawer of chest of drawers and picked up a sweater. As I pulled it away my eyes fell on a familiar white costume.

“Ugh, Mom, you still have this thing?”

She chuckled and pulled it out of the drawer. As she passed me, I caught a sudden aroma of gardenias. It was so familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. How strange. She held it up against her body then tutted and muttered something about a patch of dirt on the skirt.

“I was sure I had washed this thing before I put it away.”

A strange sense passed over me. I felt sicker, my heart was pounding harder. I didn’t know why, I couldn’t explain why. Was it a delayed effect of my adrenaline?

“Oh, honey…were you there when they arrested Mortimer Goth? Poor Max,” she said softly.

“Poor Max?”

“Yes, you know she was sweet on him when they were younger. He really helped to comfort her after the fire.”

Everything around me began to slow down. All I could hear was blood rushing in my ears and the quickening hammer of my heart in my throat.

“Matt, honey, what’s wrong? You’ve got the strangest look on your face, like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I shook my head at her and forced myself to smile, though I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. I heard Summer wail from the other room and I had an immediately terrifying thought. What if the killer had come back in the house and seen little Summer as easier prey? I fled from my mother’s room and flung open the door to find little Summer sitting on the floor. Suddenly…I looked at Summer and it was like seeing her for the first time.

I ran out of the room and pulled out my cellphone. I frantically dialed Maureen’s number. It only rang twice, but it seemed like it had taken hours.

“Forensics, this is Maureen.”

“Maureen? It’s Flamel, look I need you to take those prints and the DNA we found on the envelope and run them again.”

“Matt, I already told you. I ran those prints through every database. There wasn’t any matches.”

“Run them through the law enforcement database.”

“You’re not saying….”

“Yes, I am. I need you to do this for me, now!”

“Matt, you know if I run these I have notify Internal Affairs. They’ll have to take control of your investigation.”

It was ever cop’s nightmare to be visited by IA.

“That’s fine, just do it. Please.”

I shut the phone and threw it into my pocket before running downstairs and finding my wife.

“Dar?” I started, but the look on my face was enough. She stopped what she was doing and ran up to grab the girls. They had only just begun to pack, and Dar had to promise them both a whole wardrobe of new clothes to get them to leave. Mom too had dropped her suitcase and fled the house at hearing my wife’s panic-stricken voice. Mom had grabbed Summer and I grabbed her diaper bag and threw it into the car. I kissed Dar on the lips, deeply, roughly.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“Be careful. Don’t make me a widow before my hair turns grey.”

She looked pained before turning away and putting her foot down on the accelerator. The car whipped out of the driveway and disappeared from sight. I stood in the driveway and watched them long after their car had vanished…wishing to God that this wasn’t real. It just couldn’t be…it was all a giant mistake.

My phone ran a moment later, the caller ID told me that it was Maureen. I took a deep breath and waited for the results. I headed back inside so I could sit down to hear the results. I perched on the edge of my bed upstairs and flicked open my phone.

“Maureen?”

“Matt, I…I ran the prints,” her voice sounded strained.

“Yes?

“Oh Matt…I’m so sorry.”

“Just spit it out, Maureen…please.”

“I found a match for the prints. Matt…its Maxine.”

“Hey, little brother….”

“Holly Alto has been murdered.”

“Crime scene tape?” Adam mused as we reached the crime scene.

I glanced around Mortimer’s bedroom. It had been completely taken over with the obtrusive yellow tape. Holly’s body lay on the bed, no visible sign of blood. She looked dead much in the same way as Gunther.

“Yeah,” I heard a familiar voice quip, “Poor Mortimer wouldn’t keep away from the body.”

I turned to see my sister with her arms crossed, staring at the body. I groaned inwardly. I didn’t want to have to deal with her again. Couldn’t she just leave this case be? I felt a little bubble of anger rise in my chest as I saw my sister invade my crime scene, again.

“Max,” I started, “don’t you have any cases of your own?”

She turned and glared at me.

“Can’t help it if you two are too busy kissing up to the murderer to get here fast enough. I was in the area, heard the call come in. I was first on the scene. Face it, I’m just faster and better than you. Pretty good lookin’ corpse, eh Harker? Thinking about asking it on a date? I’m sure she won’t say no to you.”

My stomach turned over in disgust. Max wasn’t acting like a cop. She was being immature and picking a fight with my partner. Adam grunted but kept his mouth shut. I knew that sound. He was full of rage but couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything about it because Max was a fellow officer and not to mention…my sister. That little bubble of anger inside me finally burst. I rounded on her and snarled:

“You may have gotten here first, but this is my case. Like it or not, I am your superior and I am ordering you off the scene.”

“Fine!” she snarled at me before turning away in a huff. She ducked underneath the tape and was out the door.

I sighed in relief.

“Harsh, dude,” my partner finally chimed in sarcastically, “how much you want to bet we hear about this from the Captain? It’s against regulation to order the first responding officer off the scene.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, “I know. I just…I can’t focus with her here, she’s too…”

“Intense,” we both finished at the same time.

Adam chuckled a little bit, but his voice sounded strained. I could feel the discomfort radiating off of him in waves. So, I turned my attention to the body of the young Alto girl. She was lying on Mortimer’s bed, in her underwear. I too immediate notice of the thigh-high stockings and red heels. Her underwear was bright red with black lace…this was ‘va-va-voom’ underwear. It was made to be seen by another person. A quick glance to the bedside table confirmed my suspicions.

A bottle of champagne, two glasses, a mood candle and a pack of cigarettes. Holly had been expecting Mortimer to come home. She was surprising him or they were celebrating something…was it the death of his father perhaps? Adam seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me.

“Bottle of champagne…sexy lingerie…cigarettes for after, bet Holly never saw it coming.”

“Let’s bring in lover boy, let him get a good long look at his fiance. My money says that he knows more than he’s letting on.”

Adam disappeared a moment later, I heard him  speaking angrily outside. There was a quick scuffle of feet, a woman’s muffled protests. A moment later the door opened again. Adam’s face was filled with anger as he shoved Mortimer in to the room and through the police tape. It snapped and fluttered to the ground carelessly.

“Look at her!” I heard Adam grunt

Mortimer grunted as he stumbled into place. His eyes suddenly shifted down to Holly’s prone body. He made a little sound, a whimper like a whipped dog.

“You know, my partner here has a real problem with men who abuse women. I would bet a hundred bucks right now that he’d just love to get his mitts on you. What do you say, Adam? Should I go step outside right now and let you take a swing at him?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been itching to hit something since I walked in this room. To hit this scumbag though, man…that’d be a think of beauty.”

“You can’t do that!” Mortimer cried, “that’s police brutality!”

“Hmm, now let’s think about that,” I said with a sarcastic smile, “the word of our prime suspect versus two decorated officers…we’ll just say you were resisting arrest.”

Mortimer looked horrified and glanced around nervously at Adam.

“Tell me what you know and I’ll call of my partner.”

He didn’t answer at first, his lower lip trembled.

“Tell me what you know!” I snarled.

“Okay! I don’t know how it happened. I was alone all day today, Holly came over and said she wanted to surprise me. She told me to wait downstairs until she called. I waited and waited. An hour later she still hadn’t called me so I went to go check when I came upstairs she was dead. I called the police. I swear to God I don’t know how it happened! No one else was in the house!”

“Your positive no one came in the house?”

“I think the maid was still in here poking around. I don’t know. No one important came in!”

I saw Adam rolling his eyes from behind Mortimer. I shook my head in disgust.

“Get him out of here.”

Adam grabbed Mortimer by the back of the neck and pushed him out the door. I heard a female voice crying out in concern. I turned my attention back to the body, but before Adam slammed the door shut I thought I could hear the sound of Mortimer arguing with a woman. Must be his lawyer, telling him not to speak with her present.

The coroner arrived a moment later and joined me next to the body.

“Hey Flamel, missed you at the last one.”

“Hey Bonnet, what do you make of it?”

“Shame,” she whispered, “looks like the same MO as the last one.”

“Yeah?” I asked, glancing over to her.

“Mmhm,” she replied, putting on a pair of gloves, “look, there’s a puncture mark on the arm. Though, this one’s also got a contusion to the head. So it looks like she got knocked out first.”

“With what?” I asked, grabbing a pair of gloves from her box and snapping them on, “Hey Adam, get over here.”

Adam came over as Bonnet leaned over the body and tilted Holly’s head back towards us. I could see the purple swollen mass underneath the skin on her forehead. I tossed Adam the box of gloves and heard them snap into place on his hands as Bonnet continued.

“Whatever hit her was blunt. I’d say, hard and blunt…and big.”

“Hard, blunt and big,” Adam repeated.

I glanced around the room. Suddenly I saw it.

“Like a champagne bottle?” I asked.

Bonnet and Adam’s heads snapped up towards me and followed my gaze to the bottle. Adam snatched off of the bedside table and handed it to Bonnet. She held it against Holly’s skull.

“Yes, this could definitely be it. It fits the size and shape nearly perfectly. Flamel, hand me the light in my kit?”

I bent down and picked up a black light. I turned it on and held it near the bottle. It lit up…there was blood on it that had been wiped clean. I smirked and nodded. It felt like a small victory. I handed it off to a technician to swab for fingerprints.

“Hey Matt, get a load of this! Pictures of Mortimer when he was a baby. Man, what a dork.”

He tossed me the photo. I caught it and sighed at my goofy partner. I looked at the photo and had to stifle a giggle.

“You sure this isn’t a photo of his long-lost sister Moira?”

Adam laughed as I tossed the photo back to him. I was about to pull of my gloves when Bonnet called me back to the body.

I went to her side and followed her gaze down to Holly’s body.

“What is it, Erica?”

“Do you notice anything peculiar about the body?”

“Aside from…?”

Bonnet sighed at me, “men,” she muttered with an eye roll. She picked up Holly’s slowly firming hand and waved it at me, “this woman is the blue blood elite fiance right?”

“Right,” I said, wishing she would cut to the chase.

“She’s wearing a diamond necklace but look…no rock on her finger.”

“Is it possible she took it off?”

“Matt,” she said looking me dead in the eye, “I saw the rock in the paper. It was five carat pink diamond…no woman would ever take that ring off her finger unless there was a gun to her head…and even then, I’d have to hear it cock first.”

When Bonnet said she was finished up with the body and had her technicians remove Holly’s remains she that she could perform an autopsy, we were given the clear to leave. Adam and I had left together from the station. I didn’t need to go back so, he offered to drive me home. We pulled up to the darkened house. Dara and the kids had already gone to bed. It wasn’t the first time I’d come home to a dark house and every time, it just got worse.

I crept inside and slid into the covers next to my warm wife. Though she was asleep, and I was sure she’d be pissed at me, but I needed to feel her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and her pulled her body right up against mine. She murmured my name before tilting her head back towards mine. Our lips met and we kissed deeply. Kissing her this time was the same as kissing her for the first time. As we broke apart I buried my face in the nape of her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. Though she was at first half asleep, she rolled over to face me and opener her eyes just enough to see me before kissing me again. My hands found her breasts and I forced all of the bad images of the crime scene out of my head as I caressed them with my hands. I focused on my wife and her beautiful body entirely. I think she could tell that I needed her, because even though it was late and she had been asleep, she woke up and made love to me before we both drifted away into peaceful slumber.

* * *

The next morning, Adam picked me up on the way to the station. I had left my car down there, and wasn’t about to let my sister drive me – not that she was offering – she still seemed royally pissed at me. When we got to the station I headed towards our desks when Adam grabbed my sleeve and steered me towards Maureen’s office.

“Nah uh, Matt, we’re going to see what evidence my lovely lady has turned up for us.”

“Already?”

“Yep, I sent her roses and two dozen chocolate cherry cordials last night, just to be on the safe side.”

I laughed and followed him towards her office. Once inside, he called out a greeting to her. She smiled, her cheeks blushing bright scarlet. He winked and took her hand in his and brushed his lips against her knuckles. I groaned.

“Enough, enough. Maureen, please tell us you have something.”

She grinned brightly at me, “oh you guys…do I have something for you…how does a 100% match on the fingerprints found on the champagne bottle sound?”

“Sounds like heaven,” Adam said ruefully, “whose?”

She winked at him, “Mortimer Goth. Absolutely no doubt about it, his prints are the only ones on the murder weapon.”

I cheered and clapped my hands together before rushing out of the room. I was bound and determined to find the ADA so I could get an arrest warrant. I found her in the Captain’s office and broke the news. She nodded to me and pulled out her cell phone to call it in. The Captain told us to go ahead and find Mortimer, she’d have an officer bring over the warrant when it came through. I nodded and jogged back over to Maureen’s office.

* * *

We found Mortimer Goth hiding inside of his house. He didn’t look surprised to see us. Instead he rose as he saw us coming. He didn’t struggle, he didn’t fight. Instead he just held his arms behind his back. His head was hung low.

“Mortimer Goth, you are under arrest,” I began. As I spoke, Adam patted down Mortimer and pulled out his cuffs, He snapped them around Mortimer’s wrists as I continued, “you have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights as I have read them to you?”

He nodded sadly and hung his head low as we took him away. We put him back in the cop car, and tried to be careful with him. With someone as rich and as powerful as Mortimer…you had to be careful. He had access to the best lawyers in the world, he’d be able to wiggle out of anything.

When we hauled him into the station Adam took him down to booking. I heard someone call my name. I sighed and turned around to the angry face of my sister.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Matt?”

“Arresting the murderer, Max…now please, go away.”

“It was that stupid nurse, I don’t know why you can’t see that. God, Mortimer had an ironclad alibi with Holly that night.”

“Yes…and now Holly’s dead and there goes his alibi. His fingerprints were the only prints on that champagne bottle.”

Max blanched a little before huffing and turning away from me. I couldn’t imagine what her problem was. She was really starting to get on my last nerve though. She was just upset that her original guess had been incorrect. She was so competitive. Oh well, she’d get over it. I went and sat down at my desk and removed my hat. I let a sigh escape my lips. I sat up straighter as I saw the Captain coming over. She smiled at me and congratulated me on the collar. It felt good, really good to be praised by like that. I felt as though I had found justice for the victims. That feeling was worth all of the suffering the job put me through. Well, perhaps not all. I glanced over to the stack of paperwork in my inbox and sighed again as I pulled it towards me.

* * *

At five o’clock on the dot I hopped up from my desk and punched out. I was so happy to be going home early for a change. I sped the entire way home, not carrying if I got a reprimand for it. I’d finally get home and see my family. I’d kiss my wife, pat her on the behind and wrap my children up in my arms. Life would finally be wonderful again. Until the next case came along. Such is life. I pulled up the driveway and saw the girls’ bikes resting against the side of the house. I was so happy that they were already home and I wouldn’t have to wait to see them. I slammed the car door shut harder than I usually do in hopes that they’d hear me coming. I tried to hide the smile on my face as I bound up the stairs and flung open the door.

Instead of happiness and laughter and hugs and kisses…I found my twins holding each other and sobbing and my frantic wife shoving a piece of paper into my hands.

“The girls found this, it was upstairs…in their dollhouse. I swear to God Matt, this had better be a sick joke.”

**********************

“I’m the one who sent you the letter.”

The Captain and I exchanged glances and Adam excused himself from the interview room. A second later he appeared in the smaller room with us. We both exchanged worried looks. I glanced back at the Captain and saw her studying Elena.

“Gentlemen,” she said at last, “are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

We looked from the Captain to Elena. She looked distraught, but I couldn’t figure out what the Captain could see that I couldn’t. I glanced back to Adam, he was studying her like she was riddle etched on to a stone wall. The Captain sighed.

“Look at her. You said this woman is forced to dress up as a naughty nurse for her job?”

I nodded, “yeah, Cap’n.”

“Look at how she’s dressed now. Her hair is down, no makeup, no jewelery and in she’s in sweats. She has every inch of her body covered except for her hands and face. Gentlemen, you’re not dealing with a murderess, you’re dealing with a victim.”

I raked my eyes over her appearance, her face, her clothes and her mannerisms…Cap was right. Elena was the victim in this. Adam and I rushed back into the interview room and motioned for her to sit again. I sat across from her and cleared my throat. She glared at me when I did so. I could see in her eyes how much she despised me.

“Miss Velsaquez, I would like to apologize to you for my behavior. I hope you will accept these apologies and aid us in our investigation.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant Flamel, I know just how hard it was for you to apologize to a whore like me.”

I blanched, “Miss Velasquez, I am sorry-”

She held up her hand to silence me.

“I know, I apologize for that last remark. I tend to get a bit touchy about people insinuating aspects of my job beyond my control.”

Adam, impatient as always unceremoniously shifted the dialogue:

“Where did you find that letter?”

“In the Goth house,” she replied, venom dripping from her voice, “Do I have to do all of the work around here? The letter is proof that Mortimer has another woman on the side besides his fiance!”

“How do you figure?” I asked her.

She rolled her eyes, “you gentlemen have obviously never spoken to the Alto heiress. She is hardly one to use language such as ‘my dear tender heart’. Holly is a rich girl, born and bred, all she knows is ambition and cruelty. Granted, she’s a good deal more sweet-tempered than her father, but the girl is still an Alto through and through.”

I watched her carefully as she spoke. Her eyes glinted with malice when she spoke of Holly being a ‘rich girl born and bred’ and yet, they were sprinkled with pity as she mentioned cruelty towards the girl. I thought for a moment. As the ‘hired help’ Elena would have most likely been privy to all of the conversation of the house. The Altos and the Goths were blue blood elite, after all, why would they care if lesser people overheard them?

Adam nodded, “so, Morty has an affair on the side…not that uncommon with ol’ money bags, I’d gather,” he glanced to me quickly before looking back to Elena, “but what I fail to see is exactly how this relates to our case.”

Elena stiffened. I knew exactly what Adam was doing. For all the teasing and comments I make about my partner’s one-track mind I had to hand it to him…he could read women. He was an expert on the subject, it seemed. He could read a woman’s body language as I would read a magazine. Every subtle gesture, a clenched jaw, a nerve twitching in her neck, Adam could see it and knew what it meant. I could immediately from Elena’s sudden stiff body that she was hiding something else from us. There was a secret there, deep underneath her skin that she was refusing to let out. We could all imagine what it was. Captain had said it herself, this girl was a victim. Elena had all the telltale signs, but, we couldn’t go on speculation alone. We needed her to confess it to us, to give us her confidence before we could proceed. Her body language told us that she would never give it willingly.

Captain had seen it as well, because she walked in a moment later. I rose and offered my seat to my commanding officer. She accepted it. She sat down and held her head high, elegantly.

“Miss Velasquez,” she began in her smooth, practiced voice; the same voice I had heard her use when speaking to many a victim over the years,”I am Rosalyn King, the Captain of this unit.”

“Captain,” she replied curtly.

“Yes, I would like to offer you my humblest apologies over the way you have been treated so far by my officers. However, I would also like to remind you that you have handed us over a document you claim is evidence…and yet you won’t tell us why. Obviously, Miss Velasquez, you hope that this be used in our investigation. We are not mind readers, we need help – your help – if you want us to use this evidence against the murderer. Please, tell us who sent the letter.”

She sighed and hung her head in defeat, “I don’t actually know who sent the letter. I honestly don’t, but I know it wasn’t Holly. She would never use that simpering language. That is the language of a woman deep in the throes of lust and passion…Holly and Mortimer love each other in the way that rich people do. It’s all ambition. They are incapable of even feeling love. I know this because it’s my job. I am an end-of-life care nurse. I watch people as they take their final breaths and think their last thought. The company I work for only works with the high-profile families. I have seen many, many fathers and grandfathers die to know that their families are not based on love. They are all based on ambition and what can be done to further their own name. Do you know how often it is that I’m the one to hold the hand of the family patriarch as he descends into the black? For all of their money and power, they don’t eve realize until their final moments that they can’t take it with them. Then, all they wish for in the world is the unconditional love of family” she stopped and shook her head as if she were trying to clear a painful thought, “I’m sorry. I got off track.”

Captain nodded her head sagely and assured it was all right and asked her to please continue with her story.

“I want to clear my name. I did not do this. I took the Nightingale pledge when I became a nurse. I took it with all of my heart. I am being framed.”

“Who would frame you, Miss Velasquez?” Adam asked sweetly.

Again, a twitch in her jaw told us that she was hiding something. I needed to get Adam to show me how he did that.

“Am I under arrest?” she asked the Captain.

I interrupted, “you might be. Obstruction of justice carries a maximum sentence of ten years…are you a citizen, Miss Velasquez?”

She slapped her hands against the table, “all right. Enough; if I tell you, will you please leave me alone?”

The Captain nodded once quickly and assured Elena that she had her word.

“When I was a young girl, I did some very foolish things. I believed in the lies of men who wanted little more than to use me. I allowed photos to be taken of me in exchange for money. I was desperate to leave Spain and my old life so I agreed. I have felt shame for this every day of my life since then, but it is what allowed me to immigrate to this country and go to nursing school. I thought the photos had been buried, after all, my employers ran a background check on me and objected to nothing. Mortimer, however, knew exactly which pockets to line. He found the photos and threatened to go to my employer. They would fire me and I need this job. Every month after I pay rent and budget out a small amount for my groceries and bills, I send the rest of my money back home to Spain. My family relies on this money. I cannot let them go without. My Grandmother is very sick and her medicine costs so much money.”

I could see her getting choked up. She sighed and steeled herself again.

“I do what I must to survive. Life in poverty has taught me that. When Mortimer found the pictures and threatened me…he had two demands. One, my uniform change…and two…that I would provide,” she paused to swallow, “special care for him. I know it’s not really rape, but I still feel just as violated.”

I saw a single, solitary tear slip out of her eye. Quickly she wiped it away and steeled herself. She had a strong heart, I would give her that. Part of me felt infuriated at Mortimer, for taking advantage of her…for creating another victim.

She interrupted my stream of thoughts when she spoke again, “One day, when Gunther was still able to get up on his own…he walked in on Mortimer and me. I would have thought that he would immediately turn and blame me..accuse me of seducing his son for fortune. Instead, he dismissed me and had a nasty argument with his son. I couldn’t make out the words…but I could make out the tone well enough.”

She stopped speaking and I had to assume that she was finished. She looked away from all of his and I saw Adam study her. If he thought that she was hiding anything else he did not press her. It was probably for the best. She had, after all, given us so much information as it was.

“Is that everything Miss Velazquez?” Captain asked.

“No,” she whispered, “he also blackmailed me into having an abortion.”

* * *

After Cap referred Elena to victim’s services and she left us, Adam and I found ourselves alone in the interview room. I sighed heavily and leaned on the cheap wood table in front of me. I noticed Adam’s hat was sitting far back on his head and he looked mildly disheveled. I could see that I was not the only one affected by this. He rubbed his forehead and opened his mouth to speak when the door opened. At fist, my tired eyes only saw a young female officer. She seemed no more unusual or different. My eyes adjusted and I saw the scowling face of my sister.

“I just saw Elena Velsaquez talking to victim’s services. Why isn’t she locked in a cell with her right’s read?”

I frowned at my sister, remembering her insistence that she had already done all the work at the crime scene. Adam stared between the two of us before holding up his hands.

“Not my place to come between twins. I’m going to go do something less dangerous with my time…like paperwork.”

He shot me a grin before tipping his hat to Max. She rolled her eyes at him as he passed.

“What do you want, Max?” I asked, impatiently. This day had been hard on me, more than she could ever realize. Elena’s story had touched my heart. It had made me sorrowful, and now I was compromised. I wanted the killer to be Mortimer, so that she could find some justice in the world.

“I want Elena Velasquez in handcuffs!” she fumed.

“You just want the collar yourself, Max, admit it. You’ve had your eye on a Lieutenant, don’t even try to deny it.”

She glared at me, “so what if I have? Is there anything wrong with a little ambition, little brother?”

“Nothing wrong with it except when you try to make an innocent woman go down for the crime.”

“Innocent?” she cried, “I’d eat my badge if she was innocent. She was having an affair with her boss, I know.”

“How, Max?” I asked tiredly, not really in the mood for her anymore, “how do you know?”

For the first time in our conversation she dropped her gaze. I felt suddenly as though I had been released from a vice and I realized I had been holding my body stiffly. My sister was not the sort of girl to give up easily, that much I knew from growing up with her. She always seemed as though she needed to be twice as fast, twice as successful like she had to be…twice as many people. I had a great pain in my heart, but it was gone suddenly as Max lifted her hard gaze back to mine. It was gone because all I could take in at that moment was the sneer on Max’s face. It was both bitter and confident, something that my sister always seemed to wear this days.

“Woman’s intuition,” she said flatly, before turning to leave the room.

* * *

Once Max had left the room I felt so suddenly tired that all I could do was sit down  in a chair and sit for a second. The case was beginning to wear on me, but, eventually all the cases I’ve worked on have. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to be home. I wanted to walk in the door and breathe in the warm scent of home. Kiss my children’s head and feel their soft hair against my cheek. I wanted the tender, but firm and loving embrace of my wife. I longed to rest my head in her lap as I told her what I could about the case. I’d spare the worst parts of it for he though, and gloss over everything. She could never know just how bad the things were that I saw on a daily basis.

Yet, I was not home. I was down at the station, and my head suddenly filled with the thoughts of the victims. Gunther’s crumpled body, free of life after long last; Elena and the one single tear that had escaped her eyes as she told us her story. I remembered how she had steeled herself like a great Spanish rose. She reminded me of the old Queens of Spain, hard and strong, never letting the world know their sorrows. I had to find her justice. My thoughts, at long last interrupted drifted to the inevitable subject: Madge…always Madge. The scent of burning flesh and hair still stung my nostrils if I thought of it. It was the sort of smell you’d never forget. I too suddenly felt like weeping. I wouldn’t…I couldn’t…but I could still feel the itch behind my eyes.

The door to the room burst open suddenly and I saw Adam’s face filled with anxiety.

“What’s up?” I asked him, trying to pretend that he had no just walked in on my grief.

“DA just got us our search warrant, we’re to go to the Goth Manor and search it top to bottom.”

“Based on Elena’s testimony?”

He nodded, I could tell from his eyes that something was bothering him.

“Adam?”

“It’s just…why can’t we arrest Mortimer for what he did to Elena?”

I stared into his eyes. They were usually so light and free, but now they were darker and more serious. When it came to the rough side of being a cop, Adam and I dealt with the pain in opposite ways. He turned everything in his life into a joke. He flirted his time away with women, and with having fun. It seemed as though he tried to push as much levity as possible into his personal life because his professional life was so dark. I did the opposite. I relied on the warmth of my family, the love of my wife to bring me back down to Earth.

“Despite the fact that there’s no law against being a scumbag? Under the letter of the law Mortimer’s blackmail wasn’t illegal. He didn’t ask her for money or ‘goods’,” I replied with air quotes where necessary, “not to mention, Adam, I don’t need to remind you what happens to female victims in court.”

His eyes shifted from sadness to anger as I saw his fists ball up at his side. We both could remember it well. You see, our town isn’t a big town full of more than one police station. Down here, we don’t have departments we handle cases that come in as we can. One case in particular had affected Adam unlike any other. We had only been partners for a few months and we got called in to work a rape case. The girl was young, only eighteen years old. She had been raped and beaten brutally by a stranger as she was walking home from play practice.

Adam and I had interview her in her home on many occasions. Throughout it all, despite her pain she kept a strong heart. I had seen the biggest, baddest men in our town weep over less than what she endured. She had been able to positively identify her attacker in a lineup and his DNA had been found in her rape kit. I can still remember her bravery. She took the stand and testified against her own attacker, something that sadly few women do. Adam and I were there in the courtroom, watching her. Giving her encouraging smiles when we could. But, we discovered, she would not find her justice. Instead of testifying at her attacker’s trial, it became apparent that she was testifying at her own. The defense attorney asked her impertinent questions about her sexual history. They asked her about every date she went on, every boy she had kissed…every time she had ever consented to more contact. They even asked her about how she was dressed and walking and what color underwear she had been wearing. In the end, because she was a young girl who had been popular with the boys in her grade and because she had been wearing a tank top and shorts on a hot summer day…the court decided that she deserved to be raped.

Adam was still in contact with the girl, she’d be about twenty now. I always tried to ask how she was doing, but it was often a bit of a sore subject for my partner. He never liked to show that he cared very much. Like I said, he always wanted to be the goof, the flirt or the rogue. However, sweet little Amy Howard had touched his heart.

“A woman like Elena, with her past…those photos, her uniform. They’d eat her alive in court. It’s not right, but its true. All we can do for her is make sure that Mortimer goes down for the murder.”

“If he’s guilty,” Adam muttered.

“Right,” I agreed, “if.”

We opened the door and walked back in the main part of the precinct. All we had to do now was wait for the ADA to bring us the little blue papers that would allow us to search Mortimer’s house. I plopped down into my desk chair. I could hear the old cushion hiss as the air was suddenly pushed out of it under my weight. Adam’s chair creaked as he eased himself into it. I glanced over to the family portrait I had on my desk and fought the urge to bring my fingertips up to caress their faces. Instead I forced myself and my thoughts to turn away from their smiling faces. I found my cup of coffee from earlier in the day. It was cold by now, but still drinkable. I wanted the caffeine more than anything. As I curled my fingers around the handle of the mug the Captain burst into the room. Her face was grave.

“Harker, Flamel!” she called, “forget the search warrant for now. You’ve got another crime scene to check out.”

“Captain?” I asked.

“Holly Alto has been murdered.”

************************

I will be so impressed if you guys can tell me who Amy Howard is. XD

Also I feel compelled to say that Styxlady is the one who came up with the main structure of the story (which is why its so good :D) and as I’m writing it I’m adding other personal touches and few details here and there to add a little bit of pop and etc. So I’m following her notes, but straying from them a bit at the same time. XD

She really has a wonderful story planned and I’m honored that I get to write it. Also I heard that it is Umikagami’s turn after this Gen? Are you still up for doing it? Thanks in advance.

Adam hopped on my desk as I was writing a report the next day.  His sudden weight shifted my desk an inch or so and caused my pen to smear an unsightly line across the notes I was writing.

I frowned in annoyance and looked up at him.  “What?”

“Boy, aren’t we chipper, this morning,” my partner teased.  “Look what the messenger brought us.”

Adam tossed a plastic bag onto the desk, then showed me the packing envelope which had contained it.  The plain manila envelope simply said “Lts. Flamel and Harker,” and boasted no clue as to who might have sent it.  I turned my attention to what was inside the plastic bag.

It was a small pink vellum envelope, addressed simply to “My Mortimer” in a flowing, feminine script.  I raised an eyebrow and looked up at Adam.

“From Holly?”  Mortimer’s girlfriend was the first person I’d expect to write him a love letter.

Adam shrugged.  “It’s not signed.  I’ve already taken it to the lab, and got Maureen to do a rush on it for us.”

I shook my head, but couldn’t keep the smirk from my face.  “How’d you manage that?”  I asked, though I could imagine.

“I asked her to dinner first.”  Adam winked at me, and we shared a laugh.  I was happily married, but sometimes it was fun to live vicariously through my roguish partner.

“So, what’d the lab say about the letter?”

Adam’s brows furrowed as we got down to business.

“Well, our pal Mort’s fingerprints are all over both the pink envelope and the letter inside.  Not too surprising, since it’s addressed to him.  His are the only prints on the letter itself, but the envelope is a different story. In addition to Morty’s prints they found a partial thumb print on the envelope’s edge, and multiple finger prints and, the real prize: saliva on the adhesive part of the envelope.”

“So whoever sent this letter licked the glue to seal it,” I glanced from the envelope back up to my partner’s grinning face, “whoever sent this wasn’t worried about it later being used as evidence in a murder investigation. What did the letter inside it say?”

Adam scratched his head, “it just said ‘meet me in our special place’, and your guess is as good as mine on where exactly that is.”

“What about the partial print and the saliva on the envelope? Any hits yet?”

“Not yet, Maureen is running it now. She said she’d call when she had something.”

“If she gets something. Though, I’m not sure it’s really necessary.”

“How so?”

“Well,” I said, leaning back in my chair, “we have the medications list…its all pills. Then, we have a nurse forced to wear a…humiliating outfit for her job. She gets very testy when we question her about her services rendered to her patient. We have a needle mark in a vic’s arm. It’d be enough evidence to convince a judge to give us a search warrant.”

“Why do I have a feeling there’s a big ‘but’ coming?”

“But, I have a feeling I just can’t shake, Adam. So far all of the evidence points to the nurse, but I just have a feeling she’s a pawn in all of this. Did you check out her credentials?”

He nodded, “yeah, Goths hired her through a nursing service. The clients pay the service directly who then passes it on to the nurse that was hired for the job, makes a nice paper trail to follow. Goths had a direct deposit account set up, on the first of every month the same amount was withdrawn from Gunther’s accounts and paid to the service.”

“We need proof if Gunther was paying the nurse for extra services on the side.”

Adam looked away from me and into the distance for a moment. His brow was furrowed in concentration and I knew he was just as puzzled by all this as I was. Elena seemed to have a motive, though we had no proof. We needed hard evidence against her, and the only place to get was back at the Goth Manor.

* * *

We pulled up to the Goth mansion and sat in our cruiser for a moment before going inside. A quick glance to my right told me that Adam was just as tense as I was. The Goths were the wealthiest family in town; no doubt they’d have the best lawyers at their beck and call. Adam and I would have to play this very carefully. Technically, Gunther’s room was still a crime scene which we would have unlimited access to. The rest of the house, however, was still protected by the rights of the homeowner. We couldn’t perform an unlawful search without first obtaining permission from the homeowner or a warrant from a judge. If we performed the search without cause then it wouldn’t be admissible in court and whoever it was that killed Gunther could get off scot-free. I couldn’t let that happen. As an officer of the law, I took my duty seriously.

Adam and I climbed out of our cruiser and went up the path towards the house. As we neared the sweet aroma of gardenias hit my nose. I glanced to my side to see that the Goths had bush after bush after bush of gardenias. I must have been too focused to notice the scent before. It permeated the air and I had a feeling it would linger on my clothes. There was something about gardenias that seemed so familiar to me, like a distant memory from a dream.

“Matt?”

I looked back to Adam’s questioning face and shook my head. I was letting my thoughts get away from me. Now wasn’t the time to be living in a dream world. Now was the time to stay focused and alert. We had to get into that house and, we had to get Mortimer’s permission to search the house. I joined Adam at the door as he pushed the doorbell. A moment later the younger Goth opened the door and leaned against the doorway.

“Afternoon, Officers. Have you caught the sicko who murdered my father yet?”

Adam and I exchanged glances; a little eyebrow raise from my partner told me that he was going to take point on this one. I was glad for it; with my mind so preoccupied I would have fumbled the play.

“Well sir, we’d like to ask you a few questions regarding your father and his relationships.”
Mortimer nodded slowly and gestured for us to come inside.

“Mr. Goth, what can you tell us about your father?”

He looked puzzled, “what is it that you want to know, exactly?”

“Were there any people that he, didn’t really-”

“Did your father have any enemies, Mr. Goth?” I interrupted.

In his eyes there was a sudden glimmer, a quick flash of something – a memory, perhaps – it was gone as soon as it had arrived.  It was there for only a split second, I was nearly sure I had hallucinated it.

“You don’t become the richest man in town without stepping on a few toes, I suppose. Though, how many other business men would have been able to sneak in here and use a syringe on my father?”

“What do you remember about the night of the murder?”

“I spent it at my fiancé’s house.”

“Holly Alto?”

He grinned slyly and ran a hand through his hair, “yeah. Have you seen my fiancé, gentlemen?”

“Only in passing,” I replied, trying to keep a neutral tone in my voice.

It was often the case that a perp would wind up revealing more than he intended when they got started talking. If Mortimer was willing to talk about his personal details of his engagement, then perhaps he would let a few clues slip. Perhaps it was just the innate untrusting nature of being a cop, but I felt that Mortimer had a secret. Though, truth be told, everyone and every family has their secrets. Look at me, I never even told my own partner about…I shook myself. Focus! I owed it to Gunther, he may have been a crotchety old bastard, but he was still a victim. Every victim deserves justice. I tuned back into Mortimer, and hoped that my partner had been paying better attention than me.

“-Let’s just say, the call telling me about my father interrupted us during our raucous love-making. I’m sure if you question any of the neighbors they can attest to that,” he smirked again.

“What about before you went to Miss Alto’s residence?” I asked while Adam scribbled some notes in his notebook.

Mortimer exhaled slowly, the air in his mouth made his cheeks puff; I could see the effort to remember his face.

“My father called me into his room to discuss something-”

Adam looked up from his writing and interrupted Mortimer, “something personal?”

“Investments, Lieutenant, nothing scandalous or juicy I assure you. As I was leaving, my father got into a coughing fit and I passed Elena walking in to care for him. Then I left to go to Holly’s place. We had dinner at the Bistro, you can ask Laurent, and he’ll show you the reservation list. If I may be so bold, officers, why is that you are here questioning me when my father was killed with a medical device…and he was alone with a person with medical knowledge?”

Adam opened his mouth to answer as his phone rang. He nodded to me before rising form his chair and stepping away to answer the phone. I could hear him answer it as I sat staring at Mortimer. I watched him, studied him. It had also been my experience as a cop, that people all had tells. When a person has something to hide, they’ll often over compensate in their stories or their actions. Mortimer had told his story casually enough, though him insisting that the call had interrupted his love-making with his fiancé was a little more information than was needed. It made me suspicious. Though there was the possibility that Mortimer was simply the playboy type. He wanted to show other men his sexual conquests. Still, there was something slimy about him, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. I had to allow myself the possibility that I had been doing this too long. Perhaps I had grown too distrustful of my fellow human.

“Matt, that was Maureen. She’s got something for us.”

* * *

“Afternoon Lieutenant Flamel,” Maureen called as I walked into her office. When she caught sight of Adam her voice softened and filled with breath, “Harker.”

He winked at her, which caused her to giggle like a little girl. I held my hands to get them to stop.

“Okay, okay, children. Let’s leave the flirting and all until we’re off the clock.”

Maureen cleared her throat and was straight back to business while my partner muttered ‘spoilsport’ under his breath at me.

“I got a hit on your partial thumb print, luckily it had enough markers on it to positively identify its owner.”

“You are so brilliant,” Adam said with a flirty grin.

Maureen giggled and I rolled my eyes inwardly.

“So who is it?” I asked pointedly, trying to get the lovebirds to focus.

Maureen shook her head, “It belongs to Elena Velasquez. Her company had her fingerprinted before she could work for them.”

“What about the saliva and the other prints?”

“The other prints aren’t Elena’s and they’re not Mortimer’s, but we don’t have anything on who they belong to and as for the saliva, we know one thing. The saliva belongs to a female but other than that we don’t have any ID on who it could be, but I have a few more databases to try before I give up completely.”

“Thanks Maureen, you’ve been a big help.”

I grabbed Adam by the shoulder and hauled him out of the room. He waved at Maureen and made the sign for ‘call me’ at her. I swear, sometimes it seemed like he only had one thing on his mind.

“So, what do you want to bet that the ‘naughty nurse’ was after the old guy’s money?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Adam said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Let’s find out why Gunther’s nurse was sending love letters to her Mortimer.”

* * *

Two beat cops picked up Elena at her house and brought her down to the station. Had she not been shown to be concealing evidence from us, we would have just gone to her house. But no, she had known about this letter and not told us anything. This, along with all the other damning evidence made her the prime suspect. All we needed now was the proof. With any luck, my bad cop and Adam’s good cop routine would get a confession out of her. Our Captain stood with us in the room behind the two-way mirror.

“Do you think you’ll be able to crack her?”

“I think so, Cap’n” Adam said, his eyes not leaving Elena.

“Good, make sure you do. We have no concrete evidence against her, so we can’t arrest her. She’s technically free to leave at any time, so make sure she parks her butt in that chair and tells you the whole story,” Captain King said with a sharp edge of warning in her voice.

“Will do, Cap.”

Adam and I nodded to each other. Since I was playing the bad cop, I was to go in first. We had decided to make Adam the ‘good cop’ because of his flirtatious nature. He could perhaps flatter Elena into a trap. Besides, I had been the one to insinuate that she was a prostitute before; no doubt she’d had my guts more than Adam. I stood outside the door for a moment, letting myself get into the part. Whenever I needed to get into the ‘bad cop’ mood I always thought about the things that made me the angriest. I thought about every perp that had gotten off scot-free. I thought about the kids who had once teased my daughter, Ava, about her freckles. I thought of my niece, growing up without a father. I let the anger fill me before pulling open the door and slamming it shut behind me. I glared at her as I entered. Her eyes were wild with fear. I stomped up to the table she was sitting at and slammed the envelope down in front of her.

“Did you think we wouldn’t find out, Elena? Did you think you could keep your dirty little secret from us? Women like you make me sick.”

She began to protest, but as she started to speak I slammed my hand down on the table. She jumped back and began to tremble with fear.

“You better tell us why you did it, Elena. Why did you kill your boss? Was it so you could get him out of the way, marry his son and have that nice, juicy inheritance?”

As I began to accuse her of plotting to kill Gunther, Adam walked in.

“Whoa there, cowboy. Why don’t you go get some coffee or something, huh?” I nodded to him and shot a final glare at Elena before I left the room, “make it decaff,” I heard Adam call to me.

Once I left the room I went into the little room behind the two-way mirror with the Captain and watched Adam at work. Elena was still trembling, and Adam sat down in front of her and sighed.

“He’s a beast, isn’t he? I heard what he was saying to you, I think he’s got it all wrong.”
She looked up at Adam suddenly. Hope began to flood her features; it looked as though she was starting to trust him.

“I think you’re innocent, that it’s all a misunderstanding. So what if you and Mortimer were having an affair on the side. I bet he told you he’d leave his fiancé for you.”

Elena’s face suddenly grew dark. The Captain and I exchanged glances, Adam had a made a wrong move. Instead of comforting Elena, he had offended her. We had both read the situation wrong, but the question was: how?

“I was not having an affair with Mortimer, you idiot,” she rose and walked over to the two-way mirror, “both of you. I’m the one who sent you the letter.”

****************************************

Styxlady wrote the beginning of this chapter. I (Toast, if you didn’t notice) offered to take over the Flamels for her. So now I’ll be writing it. I hope you all enjoyed it. 🙂

It was the dream again, and I knew it, but just like always I couldn’t make myself wake up—no matter how much I wanted to.  And soon, I was once again pulled into it completely, forgetting the knowledge that it was only a dream.

I could smell the smoke from the candles as I leaned forward to blow them out.  The wax was already melting onto the cake’s frosting.  I opened my eyes, having made my birthday wish, and smiled at my mom.  That’s when I noticed something was wrong.  The smoke smell was too strong.  Suddenly, several voices began crying out in fear, and I heard a girl screaming.  I watched in dazed disbelief as the flames licked up the kitchen wall, from the candles of another cake–my sister’s cake.  And then, as dreams do, time sped up and everything intensified.  I saw her burning and screaming, screaming and burning, burning—

I gasped awake to the harsh jangle of my cell phone ringing.  It took me a few seconds to orient myself, and separate the dream from reality.  As my wife, Dara, groaned sleepily in the bed next to me, I used the bottom of my t-shirt to wipe my sweaty face and then grabbed the phone from my night stand and pushed the “talk” button.

“What’s up, Adam?” I asked.  My voice was thick and raspy from having been asleep.  “And it better be something important, this time.  I am not coming to the bar just to see the latest pair of legs you’ve set your sights on.”  My fingers idly massaged my temples.  Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was 1:10 in the morning.

“Is that Adam?” Dara asked, irritated.  “Tell him I’m going to kill him the next time I see him.”

Adam was talking over her, and I struggled to make my sluggish brain understand both of them at the same time.  “Yeah, man, I got that last time, when you cussed me out for ten minutes for giving you a call at eleven.  Seriously, who goes to bed before midnight?”

I started to answer “someone who has twin daughters who demand his attention” (Ryah, especially, was often up multiple times in the night with “night terrors.”  I could relate.), but my partner hurried on before I could interject.

“But this time I’m calling on business. Chief wants us to head over to the Goth mansion.  Apparently old Gunther’s finally kicked the bucket.”

***

Dara was slightly less pissed when I told her Adam had called because of work, but she still grumpily pulled the blankets back over her head after I gave her a quick kiss goodbye.  I love my wife, but if she doesn’t get her beauty sleep…watch out.   

Twenty minutes later, my partner and I pulled the cruiser up the long drive of the Goth mansion.  We were suprised, however, to see another cruiser had beaten us there.

“Aren’t we the only ones on call tonight, Matt?” Adam asked me as we walked to the door. “As far as I know,” I replied, confused.

Before we even had time to knock, a figure became visible through the glass double-doors, and the woman staring up at us was none other than my sister.

She pushed the door open for us.  “Hey, little brother.  Late to the party, I see,” Max said, smirking.  Max had joined the force at the same time I had, and she busted my butt whenever she got the chance.  She had always been that way towards me, but even more so after…

But I was here to work, not to let my mind wander down painful paths.  I had enough of that in my dreams.

“‘Little brother?'” Adam whispered to me.  “Aren’t you two twins?”

I nodded.  That’s what I’d always told him, anyway.  It was close enough to the truth. “Technically, she’s 10 minutes older,” I whispered back, then addressed my sister.  “Max, what are you doing here?  You’re not on duty tonight.”

“I heard the call come over the scanner.  Couldn’t sleep.” She said the last part with a bitter twist to her mouth, and I understood all too well.  We’d been sharing the same nightmare for the past ten years.  “Anyway,” she continued, “you should thank me.   I got your job done for you.”

I raised an eyebrow as she led us upstairs.

***

“Seems pretty obvious to me,” Adam said.  “The dude was older than dirt.  He’s been sick for years.  He finally kicked the bucket.  End of story.”  He’d just finished examining the body, after I’d done the same. 

There were no signs of a struggle or a forced entry.  It seemed Gunther had indeed died peacefully in his sleep.  Except…

“Ah, that’s where you’d be wrong, Harker,” Max spoke up.  She looked at me and narrowed her eyes.  “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary, Matt?”

“There was a needle mark on his arm, but his nurse’s chart doesn’t mention any any intraveinous medications.  They’re all just pills.”

“So what does that prove?” Adam questioned.

“Try to keep up, Harker,” Max sneered.  “Someone injected something into the guy that wasn’t supposed to be there.  It means he was murdered.”

***

Although I personally thought Max was jumping to conclusions–a fresh needle mark could have multiple explanations other than murder–I headed downstairs to interview Gunther’s nurse, Elena Velasquez.  Adam followed behind.

As we passed through the kitchen, I saw Gunther’s son, Mortimer, being comforted by his fiance, Holly Alto.  According to Max, who’d already questioned him, Mortimer had been with his Holly at her house that evening, and had only been informed of his father’s death as he arrived home soon after Max had gotten there to investigate.

Elena Velasquez sat in one of the living room’s armchairs.  Max’s partner, Justine Keaton, had been talking to her (and keeping an eye on her, I was sure, to be certain she didn’t go anywhere).

I wasn’t sure what to think of Miss Velasquez.  The first thing that caught my eye, not surprisingly, was her “uniform.”  The thing looked more like some kind of sleazy costume than a real nurse’s uniform.  Adam must have been thinking along the same lines.  He whispered to me as we entered the living room: “Holy hell, Matt, that is one smokin’ nurse!  All of a sudden, I’m feeling a bit ill.  Think she’ll take care of me?” 

“Shut up, Adam,” I whispered back, and rolled my eyes.

“Hey, you know what her outfit reminds me of?  That Halloween party we had at the precinct our first year, remember?  You invited your mom, and she showed up in that same kinda sexy nurse’s uniform.  God, I couldn’t take my eyes off her–”

“Shut up, Adam!”

Of course I remembered that party.  I’d never been allowed to live it down.  Mom had still been grieving, and had been drinking a little too much of the spiked punch.  She’d wound up dancing seductively on the desks in her naughty nurse outfit.  I’d had to drag her home before something really embarrassing happened. 

My cheeks were red just thinking about the incident, but they turned even redder as I approached Gunther’s nurse.  That outfit did nothing to hide her ample…er, attributes.  I glanced at Adam, and almost thought his eyes were going to protrude out of their sockets.  Clearing my throat, I addressed her politely.

“Ahem, Miss Velasquez, my name is Leiutenant Matthew Flamel.  It seems you were the one to report your employer’s death.  Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”  Her voice was meek, and she did not look me in the eye as she spoke.  I could tell she was used to working for the rich.  They never liked it when “the help” looked them in the eye.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

She sighed, and spoke a little less meekly this time as her frustration mounted. “I’ve already told your Mrs. Keaton.  Can’t I please go home now?  It’s late.”

She was a pleasure to look at, and to listen to.  Her voice held a slight Spanish accent, and I found myself urgently conjuring up images of my wife to keep my thoughts in line.

“I just need to take an official statement, for the record,” I said soothingly.  “After that, we’ll be done.  I promise.”

She rubbed her eyes with her fingers for a moment, and then nodded.  “Okay.  Mr. Goth had already gone to bed.  I’d given him his evening medicine–”

I read off the pills listed on the chart and asked if those were the medications she was referring to.  She confirmed it.

“Anyway, I came down to read until my shift was over, then went up to check on him before I left to go home.  When I entered his room, I could tell something wasn’t right.  I checked for a pulse, and couldn’t find one.  That’s when I called it in.”

“I see.  Miss Velasquez, was Gunther taking any medication not listed on his chart?  Something intraveinous, maybe?”

She looked confused.  “No.  Only what is on the chart is what he was taking.”

“I see.  Was anyone else in the house besides the two of you this evening?”

“No.”  Her answer was short and curt.  She wanted to be done and go home.  Or was she hiding something?

“Did Mr. Goth require you to dress that way?”

At that, her back stiffened.  “This is the uniform I am required to wear, yes.”  She said.  She wasn’t looking at me, but past me.  Her jaw was as stiff as her back. 

“Miss Velasquez,” I pushed, a sudden idea forming in my mind, “did Gunther ever force you to provide…other services to him?”

I had pushed to far, it seemed.  Her eyes were blazing as she looked directly into mine.  “I am not a whore, Leiutenant.  Can I go now?”  Hot anger shone on the surface of those brown eyes, but I thought I saw something else underneath.  Shame?  Fear?  I wasn’t sure.

“Yes, ma’am.  We have your information in case we need to get in touch with you again.”

***

“You let her go?!”  Max was incredulous.  “But it’s obvious she did it!  She had the motive, the means, and the opportunity, Matt.”

“Maybe so, but we couldn’t prove any of that, now could we?  There’s definitely more going on than she’s saying, but I had no other choice than to let her go tonight.”

I had let Harker take my cruiser back to his place, and had ridden home with Max in hers.  Max berated me all the way home, but as soon as we got there, she stomped up to her room and stopped just short of slamming the door.  It was still early in the morning, and Mom, Dara, and the kids were likely still asleep, including Max’s own daughter, Summer.

Max had never told us who Summer’s father was, and I had never seen Max with any guy.  It was something that drove me crazy.  Why wasn’t her father helping to raise her?  Did he not want to be in her life?  It was hard to imagine that.  Summer was a ray of sunshine, even with her dark hair.

That thought made me smile as I thought of my own two daughters.  Ava with her mom’s freckles and Ryah with my brown hair.  Even though they were as different as could be, they still did everything together.  Like Madge and I used to.

My thoughts turned back to my old familiar nightmare–the nightmare that was actually a memory, and I frowned as the pain began to rise into my chest again.

God Madge, I still miss you so much.