A Santini's Heart (The Santinis Book 10) (17 page)

Jesus
.

“Looks like a cigarette lighter from a car.”

“Yes. Bastard really hurt her. This isn’t just about power. This is more about pain, and getting off on it. He should not be allowed in public.”

Her voice wavered at the end, and he knew what it cost her.

“We’ll get him, Elle.”

She nodded, but said nothing else as he stood and looked over the crowd. It was early, but there was always some kind of hum in the early morning there—especially on a Monday. Hell, that’s probably why the sick fuck had left her there on that particular day. More coverage, with a frenzy that would last for the entire week.

He saw one of the detectives taking pictures, and he wandered over to him.

“Did you get the crowd?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But I was going to take a few more because it is really gaining attention.”

He pulled out his card and gave it to him. “Could you make sure you get those to me as soon as possible?”

“With pleasure,” he said, grim determination filling his voice.

Del paused, then the detective said, “I knew her. We went to the same school, a few years apart. A real sweetheart. Always had a smile for everyone.”

Del nodded. That was the thing about Hawaii. Everyone had about six degrees of separation, or less. Either they knew Grace, or they knew someone who knew her. Her disappearance had been the focal point of the Hawaiian news shows since she had disappeared. And now, their focus would be on a killer.

The crowd was growing by the second, and he knew it would only be minutes before the news crews showed up. As if on queue, they appeared, screaming to a halt. He saw Jin Phillips, one very irritating newswoman, jump out of the van. Damn, the woman got on his nerves. She stood by, waiting for her crew before she attacked. And it would be an attack. The woman didn’t know how to deal with news any other way.

Del looked away from her and up the canal toward Diamond Head. The scent of plumeria hit him, and he realized he was standing by a bush filled with them. It was usually something he liked to smell, but now, he knew he would always associate it with Grace Singh and her last night on earth.

The sun was just starting to peek over the crater. The brilliant streaks of orange and yellow lightened the sky. Even after a year, the beauty of it still stunned him. Del didn’t think he would ever get used to the sight.

He looked back at the scene as Drew helped Elle put Grace Singh in a body bag, then lift her up onto the gurney. The buzz of the crowd was growing, and he could already hear Jin asking annoying questions.

Just another day in paradise.

B
UY
THE BOOK

* * *

E
lle Middleton jackknifed
in her bed, her heart beating against her chest, as she gulped in huge breaths of air. She could smell the dank basement where she had been trapped, the body odor of the bastard who had kept her there. Sweat dribbled between her breasts. She looked around her bedroom, and realized she was in her house in Hawaii. Safe.

It was dark in the room, so she knew it was well before she needed to be up. Going back to sleep was out of the question though. She had learned a long time ago, there would be nothing but nightmares for the rest of the night.

Scrubbing her face, Elle wished she could do the same thing with her memories. Even now, her pulse was elevated, her breathing erratic. The metallic taste in her mouth was from memory. She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. There was no use laying in bed, so she slipped out of her bed. Raising her hands over her head, she stretched, trying to work out the kinks in her back.

She didn’t seem to be getting any better. She had been having these dreams for the last few months. Since they had found Jin.

Elle had known it would be a problem. When she had insisted on going, no matter if they had found Jin alive or not, the situation was bound to bring back the memories. The attack had happened almost a decade earlier, halfway around the world, but it didn’t matter. The last six months had been hard on her. Each night she fought her insomnia; because she knew there was a chance she’d end up in a nightmare. Still, she didn’t regret it, and she would do it again given the chance. She wished she’d had a previous survivor present when she’d been found.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, she grabbed her mobile and headed to the kitchen. She had help if she needed it. People she could call, and meds that she knew would dull the memories…at least for today. But, she had a job to do, and if she kept putting one foot in front of the other, she would be able to make it through the day. Maybe.

Yawning, she made her way through her tiny kitchen to the coffee machine. Before moving to Hawaii, she had always preferred a cup of tea in the morning. Less than two years, and she was an addict of the smooth Kona coffee that was served everywhere—even at McDonald’s. With a flip of the switch, she started brewing her drug of choice. She yawned again just as her mobile went off. Without looking, she knew from the ringtone it was work.

“Dr. Middleton.”

“Hey, Elle, it’s Dennis,” he said, his voice quivering a little.

Dennis Chin was a no nonsense ME for the HPD Medical Examiner’s office, with nerves as strong as steel. It was completely out of character for the senior supervisor. Her worries about the nightmares immediately dissolved, and her mind focused on the job at hand.

“Morning, Dennis. Is there something wrong?”

“Well, not really, but I was wondering if you could handle a case for me? I’m at the hospital with my wife, and she’s in labor. Mike is down with the flu.”

She smiled. “No worries, Dennis.”

He sighed, the worry and fatigue easy to hear in his voice. “I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

“First of all, it is part of the job, and it doesn’t really matter. I was up. Please don’t be sorry. I got your back, as you like to say.”

“Great. At least it is up in your neck of the woods. The Wiki Mart right by Schofield. There was a burglary.”

“Oh, damn, and I stop in there all the time.” She sighed. One thing about living and working on Oahu, there was a high chance she would come in contact with people in real life who ended up on her table. When she had worked in London, there was an anonymity to it that shielded her. There was always a slim chance an acquaintance would be part of an investigation, but the odds of that happening on the small island of Oahu were much higher.

She pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the current job—calming the expectant father. “Don’t worry about it. I have this, Dennis. Good luck, Daddy.”

There was a moment of silence, then he laughed. “Thanks.”

She clicked off the mobile just as her coffee finished brewing. She had wanted to watch the sun rise over the Pacific. It was something that soothed her after a night like she’d had. It was one of the reasons she had bought the seriously tiny house just a block away from the beach. When the nightmares had started again, Elle had developed the habit of watching the sun rise every day. It soothed the terrors that had crept back into her conscious the last few months.

But that was not happening today. She had a dead body to process. Fate had always been a bitch to her.

With cup in hand, she headed to her bedroom. She could make it there in under thirty minutes this time of day, and still be able to get into the office just in time to miss rush hour.

I
t took
her less than twenty-five minutes to get to the Wiki Mart. It was still early—even by military standards—so she hadn’t hit any traffic on her way to the scene. Two HPD cars were still sitting out in front of the store. Thanks to the time of day, there wasn’t a crowd. She would really hate for the neighborhood to see this. If she worked fast, they could get him out of there before many of them did.

After grabbing her bag, she slipped out of her car. She set the bag on her car, retrieved a pair of gloves, then grabbed it up again and headed to the door of the store.

When she stepped in, her mind went back to the first day she had walked in, and the smile that Joe Alana had offered—always offered, in fact. With a sigh, she pushed those thoughts away and concentrated on the job in front of her.

“Hey, Elle,” Rome Carino said. Tall, lanky, but still solid, the HPD detective worked hand-in-hand with Task Force Hawaii as their liaison with the department. Even at this time in the morning, he was dressed in a suit; although, he’d finally stopped wearing ties all of the time.

“Howzit, Rome?”

“Could be better. Hate when stuff like this happens.”

She nodded. “I called and was told they sent a bus to pick up the body.”

“Good deal.”

Drawing in a deep breath, she pushed everything out of her mind, and set about her task. Joe was laying behind counter. She squatted beside the body. It was easy to see what killed him, one gunshot wound to the chest.

She retrieved her tools and got to work. After checking the liver temperature, she figured that he had been dead for at least six hours.

“So, I take it was the gunshot wound?” Rome asked from behind her.

She nodded. “Although, official COD will not be determined until I do the autopsy. Has anyone found a bullet?”

“No one was allowed to touch the victim until you showed.”

She smiled. “You are a good guy, Rome. Want to help me roll him?”

Rome stepped over the body, then they rolled him.

“No bullet.”

“I’ll find it during the autopsy, and have Charity test it. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Rome nodded, as they laid the body back down. “Thanks. I take it the victim is going back to your lab?”

She looked up at him. “Yes, if you are okay with that?”

“No problem, sistah.”

She smiled and stood to face him. “I’m going to go in and prep for the postmortem.”

“And I have video to look at. I know that Joe had a good system for such a small place.”

“Good, because this guy needs to be caught. No one, and I mean not even the Yakuza, messed with Joe. This was a safety zone no matter what. Whoever did this, did it without thought.”

“Yeah, we’re thinking it was a robbery gone bad, maybe a junkie. I’m sure we’ll find prints too, but the video proof will be more helpful.”

She nodded and started out of the shop when she ran into Mike Charles, Dennis’s morgue assistant.

“Howzit, Mike?” She asked, looking up at him. She was a tall woman, but Mike was a massive man, with a little Polynesian in his blood. His usual smile had been replaced by a grim expression.

“Early morning.”

“Any word on the baby?”

He shook his head, as a small smile curled his lips. “Not yet. Doc is kind of a mess.”

She nodded. “Make sure you get it to my lab.”

“Doc told me. See you in a few.”

She watched him go to the back of his vehicle, then shook herself back awake. More coffee was definitely in order if she was going to make it through the day.

She’d skipped breakfast, and the morning was slipping away from her fast. Again. It wasn’t done on purpose. She just got so busy. First, the autopsy on Mr. Alana. Then, a sixteen-year-old on vacation from the mainland drowned in high surf. With half the HPD ME staff out, thanks to the flu, she hadn’t had time to think about eating.

She slid the drawer that held the teenager into the wall and sighed. Her back ached, her head pounded, and worse, she felt as if she could eat three plates of shrimp from Geovanni’s Shrimp Truck. She was definitely going to treat herself this week.

“So, all we have is this bullet,” Drew Franklin said. She glanced at her assistant with a frown.

“That’s more than we sometimes have,” she said, taking the evidence bag from him.

“They are analyzing the security camera. I bet we will only need the bullet to tie the shooter to the weapon.”

Drew nodded. A local boy, he was one of the many people who had known Mr. Alana. Over a quarter million people lived on Oahu at any one time, but people who had lived there all their lives all seemed to know each other, or knew of each other in some way. Drew always said there was three-to-four degrees of separation between each local on the island.

“I’ll get this down to Charity,” he said. Charity Edwards was their forensics tech, and if anyone could find a lead on the bullet, she could. The former Georgia resident had a reputation as being one of the top ten techs in the country.

“Don’t forget to take the other swabs and fingerprints as well. There might have been more than just one person.”

“You got it. You know Charity will find something.”

Elle nodded absentmindedly, her mind already drifting. Her lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on her.

“Elle?”

She blinked and realized Drew was still there.

“Sorry. Need anything else from me?” She yawned. “Oh, pardon me. I don’t think I have ever been this tired, even during my residency.”

Drew nodded. “You should take the rest of the day off.”

“I have to talk to Carino about my findings, then I might just do that.”

“You work too hard.”

She offered him a smile. “You should talk. You work as many hours as I do, and you help your folks out at the restaurant every now and then.”

Drew wasn’t just a local boy; he was part of a legendary family who ran a well-known restaurant on the island. While he had always wanted to play with dead bodies, his words not hers, his family had insisted he at least learn the ropes of the business. She would often find him working behind the counter or cooking in the kitchen on his day off.

As she watched him head off to Charity’s lab, she walked over to wash her hands. She would call Rome instead of going over. It was the best way to do it. If she went over to HPD, she would get pulled into some meeting or other. She just didn’t have the patience. It was one of the reasons that when she had her choice to go with HPD or Task Force Hawaii, she had jumped at the chance to work with the TFH.

Elle was drying her hands, when her door opened. Of course, Rome would come to find her.

“Well?”

“As you thought. Shot to the chest. He wouldn’t have made it to Tripler or Queen’s.”

“From what I hear, there was no reason. Joe gave all of his money to the man.”

Senseless. “Charity has the bullet. She’ll run it through the system, and maybe we can give you a name with the face you most likely have now.”

“Thanks a lot. Just between you and me, I wish you worked over at HPD.”

She smiled as she pulled off her overlay scrub and tossed it into the hamper.

“No thanks. Too much drama over there. We have it easy over here.”

“Yeah, like catching a psychopathic serial killer.”

Six months earlier, TFH had been on the search for a serial killer, but what they found out in the end was that a couple of sadistic bastards were working together to abduct, torture, rape, then kill their victims. In the process, they had almost lost one of their own.