Mystery's Choice (Vengeance Of The Fallen Book 1) (26 page)

“Ballard.”

“Just calling to check up on you, I got one of my vibes.” Mary Kate was delighted to hear partner on the other end of the line.

“I scared myself earlier, you probably just sensed it.” Mary Kate turned off the television, she would much rather talk to her partner and best friend.

“How?”

“I thought I heard someone in the guest room and I went all commando, and there was nobody there.” Mary Kate admitted sheepishly.

“Are you sure no one was there?” Felicity said in her stern voice.

“Yes, mom. I am sure no one was there.”

“Just be careful.”

“I will.”

“Wear the talisman I gave you at all times, even when you shower. It should offer you some protection.”

“I will.” Mary Kate couldn’t stifle her yawn. “I think I am going to turn in.”

“Okay, sleep well, my little friend.” Felicity said with a smile in her voice.

“You too, my big friend.” Mary Kate laughed as she hung up.

She took her dishes into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher, turned out all the lights and went to bed.

Several hours later, she was awakened by something. Instinctively she reached for the gun under the pillow and slowly sat up, scanning the room for an intruder. Seeing nothing she got up and quietly approached her door. The smell of rotting flesh filled her nostrils and she stopped just before she opened the door. She turned and ran for her bed, just as the door burst open and a half-rotted demon with oozing sores lumbered into her room. She held tightly to the talisman around her neck and prayed fervently the protective circle Felicity had put under the bed would be enough. The demon snarled at her and she could smell the flesh hanging in its razor sharp teeth. It threw itself against the barrier again and again, getting angrier each time it didn’t give. It fixed its pussy eyes on her and sneered.

“Take this as a warning. Get out while you can. Next time you won’t be so lucky.” He was gone, just as magically as he appeared.

Mary Kate sat in the middle of her bed trying not to gag from the stench and trying not to shake so badly her teeth rattled. She took a couple of breaths and tensed, someone or something was in the living room. She just put her head down and began praying again.

“Mary Kate!” Felicity’s voice came down the hall to wrap itself around her.

“I am in here. I’m okay.” Mary Kate said shakily.

“Are you sure?” Felicity asked from the door.

“Yeah it was a warning and he couldn’t get through the barrier you put up.”

Felicity put her arms around her friend and squeezed, this had been way too close for comfort. “I want you to go and stay with your sister in Phoenix until this over.”

“I am not cutting tail and running at the first little message from the enemy.”

“They might kill you next time, MK. We can’t take chances, I can protect myself, and you can’t. Not in this case.”

“Felic….”

“I will call her if you won’t. I want you on a plane tomorrow.”

Sighing, Mary Kate picked up the phone and called her sister, who wholeheartedly agreed with her partner. “I will just go in and get my stuff in the morning and I will be on the next flight out.” She hung up the phone in full pout. “Who is going to look after you?”

“I will be fine. I will be even better when you are gone and safe.”

“Okay” Mary Kate rested her head on her folded knees.

“Scoot over, I am not leaving you in here alone.”

Mary Kate just shook her head and scooted over, Felicity turned out the light. Mary Kate smiled as she heard her friend’s breathing settle into sleep.

The next morning after a tearful goodbye with her partner, Mary Kate packed a few things and took the suitcase and put it in the car, she locked up and headed for the station to make her Lieutenant have a fit. He was not going to take the news she was leaving well.

17

Sam Jeffries sat at his desk and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He frowned when he noticed his watch, it was eight o’clock and Naomi hadn’t checked in yet. Which wasn’t like the ever dependable, always on time, Naomi. Yawning, he picked up the phone and dialed her cell. The message kicked on and he hung up. Sam decided he was worried. He stood up and grabbed his keys and coat and started to the door. It opened as he approached it, and Mary Kate stepped into the room. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked like she hadn’t been sleeping.

“Hey, Mary Kate. If you are looking for Naomi she isn’t in yet. In fact, I was on my way to check on her.”

Mary Kate went and sat in the nearest chair. That was when he noticed she was carrying a box full of her things from her locker.

“What happened?’

“I was attacked last night and Felicity thought it would be best if I quit and moved to Phoenix where my sister is. She says I’m not safe and she can’t protect me. I talked with my sister last night and she agrees. My plane leaves in two hours.”  She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes and nose again. “My lieutenant didn’t take it well. But I can’t blame him.”  She stood up again. “It was nice working with you, Sam. You and Naomi be careful.”  She stuck out a tiny hand, which he shook and then she went out the double doors. Sam shook his head and went to check on his partner.

As he drove, Sam began to think about what Mary Kate had said about being attacked and he began to worry about Naomi. Naomi would have called, if she were okay. Sam pulled up in front of her house and he noticed her car was in the driveway. His fingers trembled on the door handle as he got out of the car. He knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

“Sam.”  Herb adjusted his tie and stepped back to let him in.

Sam walked in, nervously rubbing his hands on his jeans. “Naomi here?”

“No. She came home and packed a few things and said she needed to get away for the weekend.”  He poured cat food into the dish and popped a bottle in the baby’s mouth. “I’m surprised she didn’t call you. But she was distracted. She said she couldn’t take waiting for the next body to show up. She went to see her mother in Miami.”  Herb slipped his feet into a pair of loafers and buttered toast.

“Yeah.”  Sam stepped out of the way as a teenager dashed past him.

“Hi, Uncle Sam,” she said as she gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.

“Hi, Gwen. She probably forgot to call me. She’ll probably call when she gets settled.”

“Yeah. Like I said she was distracted.”  Herb put on his coat and scooped up the baby.” Gwen don’t forget to pick up the baby this afternoon.” He juggled the squirming infant and his briefcase as he tried to open the door.

Sam opened it for him.

“Well, see you later, Sam.”  He sprinted to his car.

“Bye, Herb.”

Herb put the baby in her infant seat and got in his car. “Bye, Gwen,” he yelled out of the window as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Bye, Dad. Bye, Uncle Sam.” She yelled from her car as she turned up the rock already blaring out of her car and peeled off down the street.

Sam stood there, shaking his head as he watched them drive away. He walked back to his car and tried to convince himself his partner was okay. Failing, he got in his car and drove away.

When Sam walked into work on Monday morning, Naomi had made coffee and was sitting at her desk cleaning her revolver. She hadn’t called him over the weekend, but Herb had heard from her twice. She didn’t look up when he took off his coat and walked over to get a cup of coffee.

“Hey, Naomi. Was your weekend relaxing?”  Sam sat down at his desk and began to go through the messages left on his desk by the weekend desk sergeant. He shook his head; the last of his sources hadn’t heard anything about these people. He was out of options.

“Naomi?”  He asked again when she still didn’t answer.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about the fact the deadline on this case is Friday and we still have nothing.”  She put her weapon back together. “My weekend was nice, it was good to see Mom.”

“Did Herb and Gwen manage to take care of themselves and the baby, without completely trashing the place.”

“They did a hasty clean up before I got back yesterday. I don’t want to think about what it looked like before.”

Sam’s cell went off and so did Naomi’s, they looked at each other and they answered their phones.

“Shit!”  Sam shoved out of his chair and went to get his hat and coat.

“My guess is we’ll get there, watch while they bag up another teenage girl, no one will have seen anything, and CSI will find no trace evidence which will help in any way.”  Naomi got her coat off the back of her chair and followed Sam out the doors.

When they arrived at the scene they had to fight their way through the media. Naomi yelled at the uniforms to clear the scene, to set up a perimeter and not let anyone through it who didn’t have a badge. She stalked over to the body. The coroner’s assistants were bagging her up. Naomi stopped them and started yelling about procedure, and stupidity. Sam watched as she turned and just stood there staring at the body. As he walked over to her, he didn’t see the smile on her face. She looked up at him, her brown eyes full of anger.

“See? What did I tell you?  This is a waste of time.”  She stomped away.

“Go ahead and bag her boys, sorry about that. We are both on edge.” He told the CAs who were still staring at Naomi’s retreating back.

“No problem, Sarge. This one is getting to everyone.”  The nearest one said as he went back to zip up the bag, he waited for his partner and they lifted her into the coroner’s wagon and drove away.

Sam asked the officers if anyone had seen anything. No one had. The girl was just like the other five: naked, smiling, and reeking of urine. He gave himself a minute to deal with his own anger and he went and got in the car. Naomi didn’t say anything to him; she just continued to stare out the window.

“You okay?”  Sam sighed as more snow fell from the sky.

“Peachy.”  She didn’t turn.

They drove back to the station in silence. As soon as Sam stopped the car, Naomi got out and went inside. Sam quietly followed her. She stomped over to her desk, gathered a few papers on the case, and stomped back towards the door.

“Where are you going?”  Sam was finally starting to lose his temper.

“I can’t be here, I’ll work on the case at home. If something comes to me I’ll call you.”

“What the hell is going on with you? You take off for the weekend without telling me or even calling me while you were gone. You’re distracted when we’re here and you bit the CAs’ heads off for doing their job. Now you just decide to go home and work. I repeat. What the hell is going on with you?”

“I wasn’t aware I had to report my every move to you. I need some space from this station and from you and your gloomy face!”  Naomi was red she was so angry.

“You don’t have to report your every move, but I was worried about you. You haven’t been late once since we’ve been partnered!  I do have the right to worry about you after seven years as partners!”

People were gathering to stare at the battle. He saw money change hands and knew bets were being placed on whether or not Naomi slugged him or he kissed her. Sam fought for calm. She walked back to his desk and took some of his notes on the case.

“What the hell are you doing, Calabrese?”  Sam grabbed her wrist.

“Let go of me!”  Naomi glared at him.

“Not until you tell me where the hell you think you are going with my notes!”

“For the last time, Jeffries!  Let go of my arm!”

“Not until you give me back my notes!”

Sam gagged as pain spread through his groin. By the time he had caught his breath enough to look up she was gone and the crowd was roaring with laughter.

“Had to happen some time. Known you guys for seven years and you’ve never even had a tiff. It wasn’t natural.” The desk sergeant clapped Sam on the back and went out laughing.

“Jeffries, my office, now!”  Lieutenant Kessler bellowed.

Sam limped into his supervisor’s office. He shut the door behind him and gingerly sat down in the nearest chair.

“So, you want to tell me what that was all about?”

“Just the tension of this case. They found another girl this morning. I guess that was the last straw for Naomi. She’ll work at home for the rest of the day and she’ll come by tonight with some homemade lasagna and we’ll be fine.”

“The commissioner in his infinite wisdom gave us a two-week extension because of the new body. He will still not give us a task force. I would switch out your team for another if I had another team qualified to work it. With Forrest dead and Ballard gone, there is no one else. Do you think Naomi can handle this?”

“Yes. Why doesn’t the commissioner want to give the case to the Feds?”

The lieutenant shook his head. “He’s worried about that shaking the public’s confidence in the police. I told him more and more dead bodies and no arrests was doing that all on its own.”

“What did he say to that?” Sam adjusted his still aching private parts, wincing slightly at the contact.

“You want some ice for that?”  The lieutenant tried not to laugh.

“No.”  Sam couldn’t help it, he laughed.

“She did tell you to let go, twice.”  The lieutenant started to laugh.

“Yeah. I know her well enough to have taken her seriously. I kind of had it coming.”  Sam said through laughter.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”  The lieutenant said.

“We’ve got the dead girl’s identity.”  The head of CSI stuck his head in the door to tell Sam.

“Thanks.”  Sam took the piece of paper with the parents address and stood.

“You okay flying solo, today, Jeffries?”

“Sure Lieutenant.”

Okay.”

Sam pushed passed the CSI and headed out of the double doors.

Naomi Calabrese sat on her bed and wondered. Wondered how come she hadn’t noticed a part of her had been missing. She couldn’t imagine life without the coven. And today, seeing the body, had excited her so much she had barely been able to hide it.

She hoped Sam would die well. She chuckled at the thought as she loaded her revolver. Sam Jeffries was the ultimate macho cop. He would die without batting an eye or raising a hand to beg for his life. As for her other task, she hoped they would beg.

Naomi strolled across the room and flung open the door. She walked down the hall and into the nursery. Naomi looked with disgust at the small, helpless form sleeping nestled in the white eyelet comforter. She smiled as inspiration struck and holstered her revolver. She fingered the eyelet pillow the baby’s head had slid off of while she dreamed. Naomi caressed the infant’s angelic face, with a mother’s fingers and lowered the pillow over the sleeping face. She swallowed chuckles of glee as the futile struggles ceased. The cat was swishing frantically between her legs, agitated by the sounds coming from the crib. Naomi kicked it away and then she walked over to it. When it cautiously came to her, she placed her hands on either side of the furry head and twisted. Naomi placed the corpse next to the baby. Satisfied with the tableau they made, she walked over to the door and smiled as she thought of what was next.

Closing the door behind her, she walked down the hall to her daughter’s room. The girl sat in the middle of the floor, doing her homework. Naomi hid a smile as the girl jumped at her presence. This was going to be fun!