Sundays Are for Murder Page 8

  “You believe him?” she asked as they approached her vehicle.

  Nick didn’t have to think about it. He’d formed an opinion during the questioning.

  “Yeah, I do.” Then, because he knew she wanted reasons, he added, “Pullman really looks broken up about the girl’s murder.”

  After deactivating the security alarm, Charley opened the white Honda’s door and got in behind the wheel. “Could just be acting.”

  After getting in on the passenger side, Nick buckled up. “I don’t think so.”

  Instead of starting the car, she turned to him, curious. The beginning of a working relationship was like a dance with a stranger. You had to feel him out, make sure you didn’t wind up with flat, crushed feet. “And you base this on what, gut instinct?”

  Nick shrugged. “For lack of a better word, yes.”

  Key in the ignition, Charley started the car. She kept her profile to him so he wouldn’t notice her amused smile. “How often has your gut been right?”

  “More than not.” He shifted in his seat as she peeled out. The woman had an Indianapolis 500 complex, but he was determined not to show her that her driving rattled him. “Besides, aren’t we operating under the assumption that the girl was murdered by the Sunday Killer?”

  She glanced in her rearview mirror. Traffic was almost nonexistent. Just the way she liked it. She opened up a little more. “Just ruling out a copycat murder.”

  “I thought the tiny cross on her forehead did that,” he reminded her.

  For the most part, he was right. But she liked to cover all contingencies, just in case. “Just crossing my ts and dotting my is.”

  He knew law-enforcement agents who needed only a hint before they ran with something. She was more meticulous than he would have thought.

  “You always so thorough?”

  “Always,” she answered with finality. “If you want a case that’ll stand up in court, you have to make sure you don’t leave anything for the other side to pick up on.”

  “Makes sense,” Nick allowed. “So we’re back to looking for the Sunday Killer.”

  “Yeah.” And she wanted the man so bad she could taste it. She realized that she was holding on to the wheel with enough strength that her knuckles were turning white. With effort, she forced herself to relax her grip. “Let’s hope forensics has come up with something for us. Fibers, hairs, something.”

  The people in the crime-scene-investigation department had taken an incredible number of items from the scene. Undoubtedly, most would lead them to a dead end.

  Nick glanced at her rigid profile. The case meant a lot to her. Considering her connection, he didn’t wonder. “You feeling lucky?”

  Charley stared straight ahead as she drove. She hadn’t felt lucky in a long, long time. “No.”

  “Me, neither.” He sank back in his seat, crossing his arms before him. He figured whatever luck he had was being used up right now, as he sat here, watching the scenery whiz by. So far, the woman hadn’t crashed them. “Let’s hope anyway.”

  NATASHYA KOVAL WAS bent over her work when they entered the lab twenty minutes later. She glanced in their direction, then smiled.

  “Found a hair.” She held up a hand, forestalling any comment from either of them. “Before you get all excited, it’s a cat hair.”

  Nick thought back to their examination of the apartment. “The victim didn’t have any cats.”

  Another piece of the puzzle, Charley thought, however minor. She was grateful. “Which means that the killer does.”

  “Or has friends that do,” Nick said.

  But Charley shook her head. “I don’t see this person as having friends.”

  They had differing opinions on the profile, Nick surmised. “Maybe our boy’s not a weirdo twenty-four/seven,” he countered. “Ted Bundy was thought to be a friendly guy. And the guy who confessed to being the BTK killer had a prominent place in society. Was even the president of his church group. This guy doesn’t have to be the type to sit and talk to his wallpaper, working himself up until he’s ready to kill again. Besides, until just lately, it’s been a long time in between victims for him. In the meantime, the guy has had to earn a living in order to eat, has had to interact with people—”

  “Just because he works with people doesn’t mean he has to be friends with them,” she pointed out. “And most people don’t bring their cats to work.”

  Nick wasn’t ready to let the point drop. “Ever hear of transfer, Special Agent?”

  She sighed. This wasn’t getting them anywhere; it was only serving to amuse the lab tech. “I’ll keep an open mind.”

  “Nice to hear,” Nick commented.

  They had begun to leave when Natashya called after him. “By the way, Special Agent Brannigan.” Nick turned around, waiting. “Hank wanted me to tell you something if I saw you.”

  “I’ll just—”

  Before he had a chance to cut her off and say he’d swing by Garcia’s station, Natashya gave him the message, in front of Charley. Exactly what he hadn’t wanted.

  “He said the report on the rabbit is ready. And that you might be interested to know that the rabbit was pregnant.”

  The enigmatic message caught Charley’s attention immediately. Just as he knew it would. She stopped and glared at her new partner. “You get a rabbit into trouble, Special Agent Brannigan?”

  Instead of laughing her question off, he shrugged carelessly as he continued walking out the door. “In a manner of speaking, I guess I probably did.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  HE WAS STRIDING ahead of her. Charley quickened her pace, caught him by the arm and refused to let go until he turned to her.

  “Okay, you’re not going anywhere until you explain that one,” Charley informed him tersely. Her question to him about the rabbit’s plight had been a joke. His response apparently hadn’t been.

  Nick didn’t want to discuss it. He wished the technician had kept his mouth shut.

  “Just something I need to look into.”

  “Regarding the case?”

  Nick stretched the truth. And credibility. “Possibly.”

  “And possibly not,” Charley concluded. The way she said it let Nick know on which side of “not” she thought it stood.

  He had too much on his mind to play games. “Look, Special Agent Dow, if you want to put me on report with A.D. Kelly—”

  Charley stared at him, puzzled. “Why would I want to do that?”

  Nick threw up his hands. Depending on policy enforcement here, she had the ammunition to get another partner. “For abusing the facilities.”

  Her expression told him that she didn’t quite see it that way, nor did she want to play it like that.

  “I just heard a ‘possibly,’” she informed him lightly. “That’s good enough for me—if you tell me just how a pregnant rabbit figures in your life.”

  Not wanting the conversation to carry throughout the entire floor, Nick ducked into an alcove. Charley went right along with him. “That’s what I was trying to find out.”

  The alcove, she realized, was just a fraction too small. And she was standing more than a fraction too close to Brannigan. She moved back as far as she could, creating a whisper of a space between them. She found the need for air urgent and immediate.

  “I need a little more information than that,” she told him. “Did you find one on your doorstep?”

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes widened at the response. “I was just kidding.” Charley turned the situation over in her head. “You’re new to the neighborhood, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.” He gave the answer guardedly, not knowing where she was headed with this.

  “Maybe the rabbit was intended for someone else. The tenant who lived in the apartment before you,” Charley suggested. “Or maybe someone got their apartments mixed up.”

  “Could be,” he allowed in a voice that said he didn’t really buy into either theory.

  Charley was quick to pick
up his tone. “But you don’t think so.”

  Nick had never cared for being questioned, second-guessed or probed. “Trying to get into my head, Special Agent Dow?”

  “Wouldn’t have to, if you volunteered a little.”

  Nick shrugged, looking over her head. Hoping she’d get the message without his having to tell her to butt out. “Nothing to volunteer yet.”

  To his surprise, she caught him by the lapels and forced him to look at her. “Partners are supposed to have each other’s backs, Brannigan. I can’t cover your back if I don’t know what to expect.”

  She had beautiful eyes, he thought suddenly. Eyes that went right through a man, clear to his spine.

  Nick mentally pulled himself back. Those weren’t the kind of reactions a man had about his partner. Not if he intended to remain part of a successful team. “It’s just a hunch.”

  She released his lapels but made no effort to step out of his way. If he wanted to get out of the alcove, he was going to have to physically move her. Or give her an answer she accepted.

  “What kind of a hunch?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe I’m being paranoid.” It was meant to get her to back away.

  It failed. Charley rolled along with the comment. “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”

  She wasn’t going to back off until she had what she wanted, he thought in exasperation. “It’s a long story, Special Agent Dow.”

  Charley smiled sweetly. “Fine, I love long stories. We’re due for a lunch break. You can entertain me.”

  He gave her a long, significant look. One that went along the length of her before it returned to rest on her eyes. “Telling stories is not the way I usually entertain a lady.”

  It took Charley a second to recover, and do it without swallowing. Not that she could. Her mouth had suddenly turned bone-dry. She was aware that the terms of their future partnership depended on her not showing her reaction. She liked to think that when the chips were down she could bluff her way out of anything.

  “Think of it as broadening your repertoire,” she instructed flippantly.

  With reluctance, he agreed to give her at least a partial explanation over lunch. After he got the report.

  NICK STOPPED BY the lab to get the report from Hank. Not that there was much to add to what he’d already been told. The rabbit had been pregnant when it died.

  But that was enough. It told Nick everything he needed to know.

  He muttered his thanks and left. There was no point in saying anything about the fact that Garcia was less tight-lipped than he would have liked. At least he’d gotten to the rabbit quickly.

  “You okay?” Charley asked when he came out of the glass-enclosed lab.

  “Let’s go eat,” Nick said.

  The fact that he didn’t answer the question was not lost on Charley.

  SHE TOOK HIM to a nearby taco restaurant, one she frequented. When it came to placing his order, Nick told her to pick for him, then added that he’d never had anything on the menu so he was going to have to trust her. She’d looked at him as if he’d just admitted to hopping the ten-fifteen shuttle from Mars, then ordered two beef-and-cheese burritos.

  “I can’t believe you’ve never had a burrito,” she said when they received their order several minutes later.

  “Missed that in my education,” he responded.

  Charley waited until he’d taken a second bite, then asked, “Well, what do you think?”

  He enjoyed it. As far as fast food went, this was preferable to a hot dog. “It’s a theme and variation on a crepe.”

  As good an assessment as any, Charley thought. She also estimated that she’d given him enough time to frame the answer she was waiting for. Unwrapping her own burrito, she looked at him before digging in. “Okay, so much for the gourmet portion of our program. You were going to entertain me with a story.”

  Nick regretted not lying to her. He wasn’t comfortable with lies, but he wasn’t exactly comfortable with the truth in this case, either. It wasn’t that he felt guilty. He couldn’t have played his hand any other way. But he did have regrets about how things had ended up.

  He shrugged and gave it one more try. “Not much to tell.”

  The hell there wasn’t, she thought. “It went from a long story to a summary? All right, give me whatever you want to give me. But give me something.” Their eyes met and she added, “We’re partners.”

  “Right, the bonding thing,” he muttered, taking another bite. He slid the paper that was wrapped around the burrito down further. “Can’t we just make a slit in our thumbs and mingle our blood?”

  He wasn’t wiggling out of it that easily. This was something that was eating away at him, and might have some maniac camping out on Brannigan’s doorstep. She needed to know what she was up against if she was going to be there for him.

  “Talk,” Charley ordered. Her expression grew serious. “Are you in some kind of trouble, Brannigan?” She headed him off, in case he was going to offer a flippant remark. “And before you staunchly deny it, most people don’t open their door to find dead rabbits lying on their doorstep, not unless there’s something else going on in their lives.”

  He frowned, lowering his eyes to his meal. “It’s personal.”

  “So am I. Stop stalling, Brannigan,” she insisted. This wasn’t something she was going to back away from. It was in her nature to get involved. Not to merely test the waters but to jump in with both feet. For better or worse, the man was her partner and if that was going to work, trust had to be involved. He had to give her his. And then maybe she’d give him hers.

  The slightest hint of humor surfaced around his mouth. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a pushy broad, Special Agent Dow?”

  Her mouth curved. “Part of my charm. Talk,” she repeated.

  He took a long breath, then finally said, “There was this woman back in D.C.”

  When he paused, she pushed. If she had to crawl down his throat with forceps to get this story out, one piece at a time, she was determined to get it. “Yes?”

  “Her name was Linda.” He tried not to remember her face. Tried not to remember anything at all. He just wanted this behind him, although he was beginning to doubt that it ever would be. “Linda Dixon.” He studied the paper cup that held his soda. “She was a little intense, but we had a good time. At first.”

  “And then?” Charley prodded.

  “And then she began closing in on me. Talking about marriage, kids, rocking chairs side by side on the porch—”

  Guaranteed to send most men running for the hills, Charley thought. “All the things a man wants to hear.”

  “Maybe,” he countered, surprising her. “From the right person.”

  She looked at him with interest. The man was deeper than she thought. It wasn’t hard to make the next guess. “But she wasn’t the right person.”

  “No, she wasn’t. When she got too intense, I tried to break it off. That’s when she really got weird on me, threatening to kill herself if I left.” Nick took a breath, retiring what was left of his burrito. He’d lost his appetite. “Turned out she was pregnant.”

  Charley sat perfectly still. “What did you do?” she asked quietly.

  He sighed. “I didn’t marry her, which was what she wanted.”

  Nick checked to see if there was any condemnation in Charley’s eyes. Women tended to stick together in his experience, even when they didn’t know each other. Something about a sisterhood.

  The look on Charley’s face encouraged him to continue. “I offered to help support the baby, pay her hospital bills, that kind of thing.” He tried to ignore the helpless feeling his words stirred up.

  “What did she say?”

  “A lot of things. Hysterical mostly. I thought she’d calm down eventually.” Which was stupid of him, given Linda’s nature. He should have seen it coming, but he didn’t. He never thought Linda would go through with it. Never thought Linda would kill he
rself. The only women he really knew thoroughly were his mother and his sister. Neither one of them would have killed themselves. They would have persevered.

  “But she didn’t,” Charley guessed.

  “No, she didn’t.” He took a breath. “She killed herself. She left a note, saying it was my fault. That if I couldn’t love her, she was better off dead.”

  Her compassion was immediate. Nick wasn’t just reciting something that had happened in his past. This had affected him a great deal, and continued to. She was tempted to cover his hand with hers. But there were boundaries to respect, so she refrained.

  “You know it’s not your fault,” she said firmly.

  “Yeah, I know.” But there was little conviction in his voice.

  She pushed the conversation forward, not wanting him to dwell on what couldn’t be changed. “Do you have any idea who might have left that rabbit?”

  “She had an older brother. Sean. He said a few things, made a few threats. But that’s all I thought they were. Threats brought out by grief. I didn’t think he’d track me down cross-country.” Nick shrugged, dismissing the whole thing because there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. “If it’s him.”

  She studied him for a moment. “Do you have anyone else in your past who would send you a dead pregnant rabbit?”

  He laughed drily. “No.”

  Charley paused, trying to gauge how he would receive her next suggestion. “Maybe you should file a report with—”

  “No,” he said adamantly. If this was Sean, he wanted to give the man every opportunity to back off. Sean had already suffered enough. “He’s just blowing off steam.”

  “And if he’s not?”

  “Then I’ll handle it,” he told her curtly.

  Her eyes met his. She didn’t agree with his decision, but it was his call to make. “Make sure you do. I wouldn’t want to have to get another new partner so soon. The department might think I’m jinxed,” she quipped.