Had a Great Fall (An Olivia Thompson Mystery) (2 page)

It was a beautiful fall day in Chicago. The sun was shining brightly despite a brisk chill from a breeze coming off the lake. Nate took his time approaching the crime scene, reluctant to leave behind the normalcy of the morning. Once he saw the dead body, normal would be in the past.

“Tucker!” A lanky guy in a poorly tailored suit waved an arm in the air.

Vince Monroe had been Nate’s partner for a few months. They were a bit of an odd couple, but somehow they made it work. In recent weeks, Nate had actually come to think of Vince as a friend.

Nate flashed his badge as he ducked under the crime scene tape. He spotted familiar faces from the local news outlets. He also noticed a few green-looking rookie cops.

“What do we got?” Nate asked his partner, snapping on a pair of latex gloves.

“Don’t you have an apology for me?” Vince asked with a hint of annoyance.

Nate sighed. “I’m sorry I’m a little late.”

“You were with Olivia, weren’t you?” he said knowingly.

“Yes. Now can we get to work?” Nate didn’t approve of talking about personal things while working a homicide. “Tell me about the scene.”

Vince fumbled with the knot in his tie. “Deceased female, approximately 20-years-old. Numerous injuries and cause of death is undetermined.”

Nate was getting tired of the phrase “deceased female.” He had been investigating too many murders like this lately. “Any chance this is one of the missing girls?”

Over the last two weeks, four different college students had gone missing. One from Randolph University, one from East Lake University, and two from North Chicago University. Since Nate typically didn’t get called in until a corpse was found, he had mostly been observing the missing persons cases from afar.

“It’s possible. She fits the description of one of them.” Vince ran a hand over his buzz cut. “At least, I think she does. But it’s going to be hard to ID this victim.”

“That doesn’t sound promising.” Nate cut into the alley, quickly surveying the area. It was a pretty good place to dump a body- isolated and dark. Even with the sun shining brightly, the tall buildings on either side kept things mostly in the shadows. It took Nate a few seconds to even spot the body.

“The men working on the roof spotted her,” Vince explained, looking up. “They thought it was a joke at first. Like someone had put a mannequin or something down here to mess with them.”

Nate stopped several feet away from the body, studying the area immediately surrounding it. He didn’t see a single drop of blood.

It was hard to look at the body. The girl had been left completely naked, her body twisted at a strange angle. She had bruises and old cuts all over her body as well as strangulation marks around her neck.

“She’s been dead for a while,” Nate said. “Rigor has come and gone. Lividity is inconsistent with how the body is positioned.”

“She was dumped here,” Vince said, simplifying Nate’s words. “Whoever did this, he didn’t have any respect for his victim. He just left her out in the open like this.”

Nate was the experienced partner and he knew that it was too early to start making assumptions about the killer. Things weren’t always what they seemed. “He may have left her like this hoping that she would be found quickly.”

Using a small flashlight that he always carried with him, Nate examined the victim’s face. Her eyes were open and bloodshot. The petechial hemorrhaging further supported that the cause of death was strangulation, but Nate would leave that determination to the coroner.

“We’ll never get a facial ID,” Nate said. Skin on her cheeks and jaws was swollen and purple. Parts of it also appeared to have been peeled away, revealing muscle and bone underneath.

Nate moved his assessment down the body, finding it equally disturbing. Bones had been broken, skin burned and sliced. The poor girl had been tortured prior to death.

“What’s wrong with her fingers?” Vince asked, staying a few feet behind Nate.

“They’ve been burned.” Nate had only seen this once before, while investigating a murder that was connected to the Mob. “So we can’t run her prints.”

Vince let out a low whistle. “We are dealing with a special brand of evil this time.”

“We were due for a twisted case since we just had a whole three weeks without any evil.” Nate stood and took a deep breath. Whatever had happened to this girl, she had suffered before her death. “We are going to find this sick bastard. I am going to make sure he pays for what he did to this girl.”

After examining the body, Nate needed a break. His mind could only handle so much awfulness at one time. While the coroner’s team removed the body, Nate went back to his car and leaned against the hood. Instinctively, he reached for his phone.

Olivia answered on the second ring.

“Miss me already?” she asked without saying hello.

Despite everything, Nate found himself smiling. “More than you know.”

“What’s up?” Her voice faded briefly. “Sorry. I just got out of the shower and my towel slipped.”

“You’re killing me, Thompson.” His attempt at teasing banter felt strained and Olivia noticed.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

He knew better than to share the gory details of his day with her. His job wasn’t exactly good conversation material, especially not when his girlfriend had recently been on the receiving end of a similar evil.

“It’s been a rough morning,” he said vaguely. “I just really wanted to hear your voice.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine. We’ll talk when I get home.” He smiled at how easily that phrase left his mouth. Technically, he still had his own place. But neither of them liked to spend their evenings apart.

Olivia hesitated as she said, “I have to be somewhere tonight, remember?”

It took Nate a second to recall her plans. “Dinner with friends. I remember.”

“Nate, I can cancel. If you need me to be available, I can-”

“No, don’t cancel,” Nate cut her off. “You should meet up with your friends. Really. I needed to pay a visit to my place anyway to check mail and grab some clothes.”

“You’ll still come over later, right?” She sounded anxious.

“Of course.” Nate saw that Vince was waving at him. “I’ve gotta run, Liv.”

“Okay.” Olivia sighed. “Love you, Nater.”

“Love you more.” He hung up in a hurry, before he had a chance to take back everything he said and beg her not to go out with her friends. He really wanted to see her, but it would be completely selfish of him to demand it. Besides, it would probably be good for them to both get a little space.

Vince gave him a sly smile. “How’s Olivia?”

“How could you possibly know I was talking to her?” Nate asked, exasperated.

“Because of the swoony look on your face the whole time you were on the phone.” Vince punched his arm. “You are whipped.”

Nate chose to ignore him. “We need to get to work. Let’s start with the building maintenance guys.”

After hours of interviewing the men, plus residents of the surrounding buildings, they had no useful information. No one had seen anything. If they were going to get any actual leads, they needed to find out the girl’s identity.

“You aren’t going to lose your lunch in there, are you?” Nate asked his partner as they exited the elevator that lead to the morgue. “Because these are new shoes, and I would really like to keep them vomit-free.”

“That happened one time, Tucker. Months ago.” Vince glared at him.

“One time is one time too many to get vomited on.” Nate held open the door marked with bold letters. “You ready for this?”

Vince kept his head up as he entered the room. The coroner, an old friend of Nate’s, barely glanced at them.

“You’re just in time,” he said. Leonard Griffin had been on the job for over twenty years. He was grumpy and jaded, and he was never phased by anything he saw on his table. He also happened to be pretty damn good at his job. “I’ve just removed the stomach contents.”

“Splendid,” Vince grumbled, cautiously eyeing the scale.

Leonard turned to Nate. “He’s not going to upchuck in my room, is he? Because if he does, I’m making you clean it up.”

“He’ll be fine,” Nate said, hoping it was true. “Tell us everything you’ve learned so far, Leo.”

“No prints and no teeth,” he said, handing Nate a clipboard with his notes. “I did find something that might be useful in IDing the victim. She had a pretty unique tattoo on her ankle.”

“Roman numerals?” Nate wasn’t sure why that was considered unique.

Leonard turned back to his scale of innards. “The number thirteen. One of the missing college girls supposedly had the same tattoo on her ankle.”

“Okay, I’m intrigued.” Nate walked past the dissected body and went straight to her feet. She did, indeed, have a tattoo. He took out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures. “Got a cause of death yet?”

As per usual, Leonard’s notes were nearly illegible. He would type them up later before making them official. Nate was too impatient to wait for the official report.

“Strangulation, if I had to guess.” Leonard grabbed the chart back from Nate and made a note. “But this girl survived some pretty terrible things first. Her stomach was nearly empty and she probably hadn’t eaten more than a few bites in the last week. Numerous broken bones. An infection setting in from the open wounds.”

“She was tortured?” Vince asked, still standing over by the door.

“I’ll put it this way.” Leonard glanced at the body.  “Death was a blessing for her.”

Those words were still in Nate’s head hours later. After returning to the station to let the team working on the missing persons cases know about the tattooed body, he finally went home. Once the family had been notified and they officially identified the body, he would need to speak with them. But for now, there was nothing more he could do.

Nate had only spent a handful of hours in his apartment in the last few weeks. It no longer felt like home to him. It was empty and stark- a textbook bachelor pad. The only truly redeeming quality was the whiskey stash he had built up over the years. He was busy pouring a glass when his phone rang.

“You’re supposed to be out with your friends,” he said immediately.

“Hi to you, too,” Olivia said. “I was just getting ready to leave, but I wanted to make sure you are doing okay.”

“I’m fine. Just another day at work.” Nate did his best not to betray how he was really feeling. These kind of days at work always stayed with him, but that didn’t mean he had to bother Olivia with it. “Where are you going for dinner?”

“Some Chinese place.” Her voice had gone very quiet.

“Sounds good.” Nate took a big swallow of whiskey. “Maybe I’ll order some Chinese myself.”

Olivia giggled. “Maybe you should just open your door.”

Nate froze with his glass halfway to his lips. “What did you do, Liv?”

“Open your door,” she repeated.

He wasn’t going to wait to be told again. In less than ten seconds, he pulled the door wide open.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, unable to hold back a smile.

Olivia held up a bag of Chinese takeout. She was dressed for a fancy night out and looked irresistible. “I was halfway to dinner, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I’m pretty sure you were lying and today was incredibly shitty. Knowing you, I’m not going to get you to talk about it. But I figured I can at least distract you.”

“Mission accomplished.” Nate stepped back to let her in. He took the food from her and set it on the hall table before helping her out of her coat. “You look amazing, Liv.”

“You look sad,” she said bluntly, reaching for the whiskey that he still clutched in his hand. She took a long sip. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t want to do any talking,” he said meaningfully.

Olivia set the glass next to the forgotten food and put both hands on his chest. “No talking,” she agreed, looking up at him seductively. “But you better find a different way to keep my mouth occupied.”

“Challenge accepted.” Nate lifted her in one smooth move, her long legs wrapping around him as he carried her to the bedroom. Once there, he lowered her back to the floor. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“You saved me,” she said simply. “I’ve been yours ever since.”

Nate brushed his fingers along her jawline. “You’ve got it all wrong, love. You’re the one that saved me.”

Olivia had made up her mind after talking to Nate in the morning that she wasn’t going to dinner with her friends. For one thing, she didn’t even really like the women she was supposed to see. For another, she could tell from the tightness in Nate’s voice that he needed her.

When he opened the door for her later that night, she knew she had made the right decision. His eyes were tired and bloodshot, his body tense. But his smile was still the same Nate smile, the one that made her heart race. She knew right away that they wouldn’t be eating Chinese food.

A couple of hours later, they lay tangled in Nate’s bed. Olivia had settled comfortably on top of him, enjoying the feeling of his skin beneath her. She traced a finger over an old scar that ran from his ribs down to his hip.

“You never told me how you got this scar,” she said suspiciously. Olivia thought she knew just about everything about Nate, but somehow that injury had never come up. “It looks like it was pretty bad. What happened?”

“It’s nothing compared to your scar,” he said, dodging her question. To further distract her, he ran a hand from her back around to the scar.

“Nice try, Tucker,” she said, swatting his hand away. “You didn’t answer my question.”

He sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. Then let’s talk about your day instead.” Olivia wasn’t above being difficult to get what she wanted. For all the good things in their relationship, she hated that Nate still kept a lot of things to himself.

“I really don’t want to talk about that.” He lifted a strand of her hair and twisted it around his finger. “Can’t we just enjoy each other’s naked company for once?”

Olivia kissed his stubbled cheek. “I always enjoy your naked company.”

“I could use a drink,” he said suddenly. “You?”

“Yeah, okay.” She tried not to look offended as he gently rolled her away.

“I’ll be right back.” Nate stopped to pull on a pair of boxers.

Olivia waited for at least ten minutes for him to return before she gave up and pulled on one of his t-shirts. She shuffled to the living room where she found Nate staring blankly out the window.

He didn’t even notice her until she handed him a glass of whiskey.

“Liv.” He looked at her in surprise. “I’m sorry. I forgot…”

“It’s okay.” She stood close enough to him that their arms brushed. The view from Nate’s apartment was pretty incredible. She could understand how he would get distracted by it. “The city looks so beautiful from up here.”

Nate didn’t say anything. He took a long drink, keeping his gaze straight ahead. “I’ve never told you about my father.”

“No.” Olivia was hesitant to say anything. She was afraid that Nate would change his mind about whatever he was about to tell her.

“Norman was an asshole.” Nate took another drink. “He wasn’t abusive, not like people think. I mean, he didn’t hit me all the time or anything like that. But he was a prick. He liked to push people around. Occasionally, when he was really mad, he might strike out.”

Olivia wasn’t sure what to do. She stood as still as possible.

“When I was twelve, I was helping him tear down this old fence in the back yard. It was rusted and falling over and Norm was determined to tear it down as quickly as possible. One of the poles was deeper than the others and I couldn’t loosen it on my own. That pissed off Norm. He shoved me out of the way and I lost my footing. I fell against a sharp piece of the fence and it sliced right into me.” Nate looked over at Olivia, like he had just remembered she was there. “That’s how I got the scar.”

It made sense. Nate never talked about his father. Olivia had met his mother on a number of occasions in college, but his father had died while he was still in high school. She had always assumed he didn’t talk about him because of his early death. It had never occurred to her that Nate didn’t talk about him because he hated him.

“Thank you,” she said, leaning into him until he put an arm around her.

“For what?” he said quizzically.

She ran her fingers over the scar again, this time wishing she could erase it. “For being you,” she said.

“Really?” He chuckled uncertainly.

“With a prick like that for a father, you could’ve turned out just like him. But you didn’t. You’re the best human being I know, and I’m grateful for that. Thank you for not being like him.” She kissed his cheek and backed away. “I’m going back to bed. I suggest you come keep me warm.”

Nate stopped her. “Hey.”

“Yeah?” She tilted her head, wondering at the look on his face.

“I am who I am because of you. You make me want to be a better man.” He smiled. “And you make me want to join you in that bed and never leave.”

She smiled. “Prove it, Tucker.”

Olivia was the one to leave the bed first. After a few hours of restless sleep, and a few more hours of amazing sex, she snuck out of bed to catch the morning news. Nate hadn’t been willing to talk about the murder he was investigating, but she was pretty sure the news would fill her in on the pertinent details.

Since Rosie’s murder, Olivia had paid attention to every suspicious death of a female. She was always looking for any possible connection to her sister. She didn’t have to wait long. Channel 5 had the news at the top of the hour.

“The victim of an apparent homicide in Lakeview has been identified as 20-year-old Melanie Grant.” The newscaster spoke as casually as if she was announcing the weather. “Grant’s body was found naked in an alley by the maintenance crew of a nearby high-rise. The police have not confirmed the cause of death, but Miss Grant was reported missing by her college roommate over three weeks ago. She was the first in a series of college women to be reported missing.”

Olivia was riveted to the screen, fixated by the pictures of the missing girls. All of them looked so young and innocent.

“You shouldn’t be watching this.” Nate had entered the room so quietly that Olivia jumped at the sound of his voice.

“You didn’t tell me she was one of the missing girls.” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest to fight off a sudden chill.

He perched next to her on the couch, keeping a few inches between them. “I wanted to protect you from the truth.”

“What is the truth?” she asked, noticing that his eyes still looked tired despite several hours of sleep. Whatever he had seen yesterday continued to haunt him.

“My job isn’t exactly good bedroom talk,” he said. “You’ve already been through enough bad shit, Liv. You don’t need to know about the horrors I see every day.”

She reached over and put a hand on his knee. “I need you to know that you can tell me things, Nate. I’m not fragile. I won’t break. Sometimes it’s okay if I’m the one you lean on instead of it always being the other way around. You used to come to me with this stuff, before things changed.”

Nate had often relied on Olivia’s expertise to solve the murders that landed on his desk. It wasn’t until recently, when they started becoming more than just friends, that he had started to keep the grisly details away from her.

“It was easier back then.” Nate took her hand. “You were never in any danger. But after I saw you in that house, tied up and covered with bruises… I just want to protect you from that part of my life.”

“You’re adorable.” Olivia couldn’t stay annoyed at him when he was being so sweet. “But I really can handle it. I mean, I was shot and I’m still fine.”

She neglected to mention the nightmares she had every night.

“Exactly, Liv.” He looked urgently into her eyes. “You were shot. You could have died.”

“Four girls have gone missing, Nate. One of them is dead.” She returned his urgent stare. “Like it or not, this is the stuff I understand. Monsters are my specialty. It’s too late for Melanie, but I might be able to help those other girls.”

Nate stared back, waiting for her to back down. When she didn’t waiver, he said, “I need to go get ready for work. I’ll drive you home on my way into the station.”

“I can grab a cab,” Olivia said.

“No, you can’t. I’m going to drive you there so you can change and then you’re coming with me to the station.” Nate squeezed her hand and then let go. “There’s still a few hours before your first class. That should be enough time for us to review what we know so far about the murder and abductions.”

Olivia was surprised. She hadn’t expected Nate to cave so quickly. It wasn’t until they were entering the station that she stopped thinking he was going to change his mind.

It was early enough that they were two of the only people in the station aside from the officers working the overnight shift.

“Wow. Look at all that clutter on your desk,” Olivia joked, plopping into Nate’s desk chair. It had been a few months since the last time she had visited him at work, but she had no problem making herself at home.

“You’re funny,” Nate said, grabbing Vince’s chair and wheeling it next to her.

Olivia had initially thought that Nate’s desk was empty, save for a computer and a stack of files. But she had missed one personal touch next to the monitor- a framed picture.

Olivia remembered someone snapping the photo a few months earlier when she had met up with Nate and his police buddies at a nearby bar. They hadn’t been dating at the time, but no one would be able to tell by looking at the picture. It had captured them candidly smiling at each other, completely enthralled by the mere presence of each other. Olivia decided that she loved the picture.

“I’m desk-worthy!” she said, putting a hand over her heart. “Man, this is starting to get official.”

“Shut up,” he said, ducking his head to hide the flush of his cheeks. “We are here to work, Thompson.”

She decided to let it drop. They had serious things to discuss.

While Nate logged into his computer, Olivia helped herself to the case file. She knew from experience that it was best to skip the autopsy photos. That was one part of Nate’s job that she would never get used to.

“You won’t find much in there,” Nate said, clicking away. “Leo is finishing up the official report and we haven’t interviewed friends and family yet.”

“Okay… What are we doing here then?” she asked.

Nate finished clicking. “Here are the electronic records on the missing girls. Start reading. I’ll get us some coffee.”

Olivia pulled herself closer to the computer and started reading. After just a minute, she realized that she needed to make notes. Because Nate was so freakishly neat with his desk, she had to open a drawer to look for a pen and paper. The first drawer she opened stopped her short.

Rosie’s file.

She had almost forgotten that she had told Nate to get the official police file. It was so tempting, just the thought of the information that Olivia might find inside. Over the years she had built up a personal file on her sister, but she had never seen the official case file. Nate had given her summaries of the information, but he had never showed it to her. It was probably for her own good. There would be things inside that she would never be able to forget if she saw them.

Olivia had to tell herself that several times before she was able to shut the drawer. She noticed a pen and notepad on Vince’s desk and reached over to the take them.
Focus on the task at hand
, she said to herself.

“Coffee, babe.” Nate placed a mug in front of her, catching her by surprise.

“Babe?” she shot back without looking away from the screen. Nate knew that she hated that pet name.

His hand squeezed her shoulder. “Sorry. Coffee, darling. Better?”

“None of these girls look the same,” she said, perplexed. “It doesn’t seem like the abductor was targeting a certain physical appearance. All they really have in common is being female and in college.”

“You’re supposed to be helping, Liv. I already knew that.” He perched on the edge of the desk, his long legs stretched before him. “They had one other thing in common. They were all very pretty.”

Olivia nodded. She had noticed that, too. “Maybe that is the motive, too. He could have something against attractive women.”

“Jealousy? Or lust?” Nate looked down at her notes. “Hedonist?”

“Hedonistic killers can be motivated by lust. If sex is the primary motive, the fantasy is a huge part of the killing. The killer gets sexual gratification from the torture of the victims. It makes sense if the killer strangled Melanie with his hands.” Olivia frowned. “If this guy is a hedonist, that also explains the decrease in the times between the abductions, and the fact that he took two girls this last time.”

Nate tapped his foot rhythmically against the linoleum floor. “You don’t sound convinced. What are the other options?”

“He could be power-motivated. He needs to exert control over the victim. It’s possible he was abused as a child and now feels inadequate as an adult. The sexual assault isn’t about lust, but rather about dominating the victim.” Olivia had quickly checked Nate’s notes to confirm that Melanie had been assaulted.

“How many different types of sickos are there in the world?” Nate wondered rhetorically.

“Too many.” Olivia turned back to the computer. “Of course, there’s also the possibility that this isn’t a lone offender. He could have an accomplice.”