Chain Reaction (4 page)

‘Lucy, come on. I didn’t want Connelly to think we had anything more than a professional relationship when we worked in the field. You grabbed on to that because you were looking for a reason to be angry. What gives?’

‘Right. Never your fault, is it, Jake?’

‘Lucy, that’s not fair and you know it.’

‘What I know, Jake, is that you and your good buddy—’ Lucinda cut herself off when the waitress approached with their platters.

They mumbled their thanks to her and then stared down at their plates. Both of them picked up forks and dropped them. Simultaneously, they said one another’s name.

‘Go ahead, Lucy. What were you going to say?’

‘I’m sorry, Jake.’

‘Sorry about what, Lucy? What’s the problem?’

Lucinda sighed and lowered her head. ‘I wasn’t really paying attention to how I was acting today. I was denying the problem. I was refusing to accept the power that this day still has over me.’

‘What power? What are you talking about?’

‘What day is it, Jake?’

‘Sunday,’ he said, furrowing his brow as he answered.

‘Oh, please, Jake. The date.’

‘May fifth.’

‘Yes, and why is that significant?’

‘Uh,’ Jake stalled, casting his eyes around the room as if he’d find the clues on the wall. ‘Oh, yes. Cinco de Mayo. Is that it?’

‘Aw, geez, Jake. Why would Cinco de Mayo be significant to me? I’m not Hispanic and I’m not from Texas. I thought you would have remembered.’

‘Oh, Lucy, please. Give me a break.’

Lucinda sighed even more deeply. ‘Today is the anniversary of my mother’s murder.’

‘Oh. You’re right. I should have remembered. I’m sorry.’

‘No, no,’ Lucinda shook her head and stared down at her plate. ‘That’s crazy talk. This is all on me, Jake. I always think: this year, it’s not going to bother me. This year, I won’t let it affect me. Then I shut down my self-awareness, go off the rails and get ticked that everyone around me doesn’t get it. I do this every year and every year I tell myself not to repeat it the next year. But here I go again. The calendar changes and I started reacting like some crazed Pavlov dog. I’m sorry I put you through this. I’d say it won’t happen again but I seem powerless to stop it.’

Jake reached across the table and laid a hand on Lucinda’s. ‘Don’t worry about it. If we’re together for fifty more years – a hundred more years – and every year you act out on this one day, I can handle it. It was a traumatic experience to be present when your father shot your mother and it doesn’t surprise me that this day still casts a dark shadow over your life. I will promise you, though, that I will never let this day arrive again without being there for you – I will never let the date leave my mind again.’

Lucinda kept her head down. She loved him for what he was saying. She appreciated the sentiments he expressed. Still, she felt guilty for the weakness in her character that put him in this position. She was ashamed of her inability to get past that one moment in her life.

‘Lucy. Look at me, Lucy. Please.’

She raised her head, revealing the track of tears down one side of her face. ‘I’m sorry, Jake.’

‘You do not need to apologize to me for being human, Lucy. C’mon, force a little smile on to the face I love.’

She made a funny face at him and they both broke into quiet laughter. ‘Our food is getting cold, Jake.’

They both picked at their plates and exchanged a smile before throwing themselves wholeheartedly into devouring the comforting meat loaf and mashed potatoes before they grew cold.

I
t was daybreak on Monday morning before the techs finished gathering evidence. Lucinda, Jake, Marguerite and Connelly were the last four remaining in the building. Outside, they checked to make sure guards were in place at each entrance and around the perimeter. They were grateful to see that the police department’s public information officer had arrived on the scene to handle any situations arising from students who came to the school that morning, ignorant of the previous day’s news.

At home, Lucinda talked to her cat Chester as she headed into the shower. He followed behind her, making plaintive responses. When she turned on the water, he raced out of the room looking for satisfaction elsewhere. When she finished and left the bathroom, Lucinda slid her palm across Jake’s as he passed her on his way to clean up. She tossed her towel on the end of the bed and slid under the sheets. Just as she dropped her head to the pillow, hoping to get a few hours of sleep, her cell phone rang. She groaned and hit the answer button. ‘Pierce,’ she said.

‘Lieutenant Pierce, this is Jumbo Butler in Missing Persons.’

Lucinda thought,
Why now? Why me?
But she said, ‘Hey, Jumbo. I’ve been up all night and I really need to get some sleep. Will this keep for three or four hours?’

‘I don’t need you to do anything right now. I just want to update you on a development that might have a bearing on the explosion at the high school.’

Lucinda swung her legs out of the bed and pressed the phone closer to her ear. ‘You’ve got a lead?’

‘Maybe. We’ve had two reports of missing high school students—’

‘Either one a male with brown hair, blue eyes?’

‘Both of them but—’

‘We have a body at the high school.’

‘Yes, Lieutenant, I know. If you’ll let me finish—’

‘Yeah, sorry, Jumbo,’ Lucinda said, wondering if he’d ever get to the point.

‘I got the dental records for both of them and a forensic odontologist is on his way here right now to examine the body in the morgue and compare it with the X-rays. Doc Sam wasn’t sure if there was enough of the jaw intact to make a comparison so I also obtained DNA samples from both sets of parents and sent them down to forensics.’

‘Wow. You’ve been busy.’

‘Go ahead and catch some sleep while you can; it’ll be a couple of hours before we have the dental comparison results and longer for the DNA. I’ll keep an eye on the progress. Just call me when you wake up.’

‘You get an ID, Jumbo, you call me. I’ll keep the phone on and right beside me. I won’t care if you wake me up.’

‘You got it, Lieutenant.’

‘Who was that?’ Jake asked as he emerged from the shower.

‘Jumbo from Missing Persons. You remember him from the dementia case a couple of years ago, right?’

‘Short, round guy?’

‘Yes,’ she said and summarized the reason for his call.

‘Best thing we can do while we wait is get some sleep,’ Jake said.

‘Don’t know if I can sleep now, Jake.’

‘You’ve gotta try, Lucy.’

Lucinda sighed, laid her head on the pillow and was gone. She awoke with a start and looked at the clock. Ten twenty-seven. ‘Jake, wake up, it’s been more than three hours and Jumbo hasn’t called.’

‘Maybe we just didn’t hear the phone ring.’

Before he finished the sentence, Lucinda had punched in Jumbo’s number and put the cell to her ear. As soon as she heard the answering click, Lucinda said, ‘You didn’t call.’

‘Lieutenant Pierce?’

‘Yes. You didn’t call.’

‘I didn’t have anything definite.’

‘Special Agent in Charge Lovett is here. I’m going to put you on speaker.’

‘Oh. Well …’

‘The agent’s cool, Jumbo. You remember him, right? He’s not gonna step on us. What do you have?’

‘The forensic odontologist said that if we knew with certainty that the body in the high school was one of the two missing students, then he could make a determination of which one it was since he was able to eliminate one of them. But the jaw and teeth were so damaged from the explosion that he could not identify the victim definitively.’

Lucinda sighed. ‘What about the DNA?’

‘Beth Ann Coynes is working on that – she made it a priority first thing this morning and she’s doing a rush analysis to get preliminary results.’

‘Audrey is not interfering?’

‘No. Dr Ringo is pushing her harder than anyone to get results as soon as possible.’

‘That doesn’t sound like Audrey. She always seems to follow a “first in, first out” priority system.’

Jumbo chuckled. ‘This time’s a bit different. Her authority has been brought under question.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Some guy named Connelly from the ATF has been demanding the DNA samples and ordering her to stop the testing immediately.’

‘You’re kidding me?’

‘No, he wants to take everything up to an FBI lab – even showed up in person demanding it. Dr Ringo ran him out.’

‘I know Audrey has a forceful personality, but I sure can’t imagine Connelly being intimidated by her.’

Jumbo laughed. ‘That’s where it gets really rich, Lieutenant. According to Beth Ann, Dr Ringo chased him out with a beaker that she claimed was filled with hydrochloric acid. Said if he didn’t get out, she’d splash it in his face.’

‘Ohmigod! She threatened him with acid?’

‘No.’ Jumbo paused to laugh again. ‘The beaker was filled with tap water. But Connelly has filed a complaint. Dr Ringo put the lab on lockdown. The powers that be are deciding whether a SWAT team is needed to breach the entrance.’

By this time, Jake was out of bed and pulling on his clothes. ‘Hey, Jumbo, this is Agent Lovett. I’m heading out the door. I’ll corner Connelly and see if I can de-escalate the situation.’

‘I’ll see if I can talk some sense into Audrey,’ Lucinda said.

‘Great. You’ll keep me posted?’

‘Sure will,’ they said in unison.

They barreled past the neglected Chester and headed off to slay their respective dragons.

O
n the way to his office, Jake flipped open his phone, turned it on and saw eight voicemail messages – all but one of them from Connelly. Without listening to the backlog, he called the ATF agent. ‘I’ll be in my office in ten minutes or less. Meet me there.’

‘I’ve got a situation here, Lovett.’

‘I know all about your situation, Connelly. My office. Nine minutes.’

‘I can’t walk away from this, Lovett. I’ve got to get this resolved now.’

‘Do you want me as an ally or an obstacle?’

‘You won’t stand in my way, Lovett.’

‘When you single-handedly went into that lab to confiscate samples for the FBI forensic lab, you went over my head. My office. Eight minutes.’ Jake disconnected before Connelly could respond. His phone buzzed at him. He checked the readout, saw Connelly’s name and ignored it.

He wasn’t sure Connelly would show up, but when he pulled into the FBI parking lot, there he was, standing by the elevator, fists on hips and an intense scowl on his face. As Jake approached, Connelly barked, ‘Now, you see here, Lovett. You have no right—’

Jake pressed the elevator button and said, ‘My office, Connelly.’

‘Right here,’ Connelly said, thrusting an index finger toward the ground. ‘Right now.’

The elevator doors opened and Jake stepped inside. ‘You coming?’

Connelly glared at him. As the doors began to shut, he threw an arm through the opening, pushed back the doors and stepped inside. Pointing a finger at Jake, he said, ‘You have no authority over me, Lovett. None.’

‘I know that, Connelly. But you’re out of line.’

‘That woman threatened—’

‘My office, Connelly. Not here. Not now. End of discussion until we are there.’

Connelly glared at Jake again. Jake turned his head away and stared at the wall, refusing to be baited.

Jake walked out of the elevator and through the small lobby, smiling and greeting the receptionist on his way. When he reached the office, he turned and saw Connelly following him, fists clenched at his sides.

‘Shut the door, please,’ Jake said as he stepped behind his desk and took a seat.

Connelly loomed over Jake’s desk. ‘You are out of line.’

‘Let’s stop the macho posturing right now. There is no one here to observe. No one can overhear our conversation. Let’s just get down to it. OK?’

‘That woman—’

‘Dr Ringo?’ Jake asked.

‘Whatever.’

‘I just want to make sure I know which woman we are talking about.’

‘The red-headed bitch.’

‘That does narrow it down considerably. Still—’

‘Dr Ringo. Yes. Dr Ringo. The bitch threatened to throw acid in my face.’

‘Yes, but it was an idle threat. There was nothing but tap water in that beaker, as I am sure you know by now,’ Jake said.

‘I didn’t know that at the time. I was in fear for my life,’ Connelly shouted.

‘So, why didn’t you shoot her?’

A dumbfounded Connelly stared at Jake with a stupid and astonished look on his face. ‘You can’t be serious?’

‘If a law enforcement officer is in genuine fear for his life, he is within his rights—’

‘Cut the crap, Lovett. It was a figure of speech. I knew hydrochloric acid wouldn’t kill me.’

‘Good to know you do have some scientific background,’ Jake said and allowed a patronizing smile to slither across his face.

‘Lovett, you know she committed a criminal offense when she threatened me. I want her arrested and charged.’

‘And how do you propose to execute that action?’

‘SWAT team. They can force their way into the lab.’

‘Really? You think force is an appropriate response to use on someone who threatened to throw a beaker of water in your face?’

‘I figured a show of force would be all that was needed to pressure her into surrender.’

Jake laughed. ‘You don’t know Dr Ringo very well, do you?’

‘No. I just had the unpleasant misfortune of meeting her today.’

‘There is nothing she likes more than a good fight. She spends every spare moment looking to pick one with somebody – anybody. If you do even the smallest damage to her lab, she’ll sue your ass from here to China and make the ATF look like a bunch of bumbling, power-happy buffoons. And she has friends in high places. Her uncle is a federal judge. How does that scenario play into your future career plans?’

Connelly blanched. ‘I didn’t know about her uncle. But, Lovett, we cannot trust those hicks to run the tests we need. They could ruin our case in the courtroom.’

‘That’s where you’re wrong, Connelly. Dr Ringo never lets anyone go into the courtroom without getting the results verified in an independent lab. She has a network of university-based labs across the country ready to test her accuracy at no charge, in the name of research.’