“Fuck you.” Tad pulled his shorts back up.
“No thanks. You know me. I don’t go that way.” He chuckled and sipped his drink, not bothering to offer Tad a glass. He could fix his own, and he knew it. It wasn’t the first time he’d been to the place.
“You saw the report, right? They say that girl was killed with the fucking Zodiac tattooed on her back. She was carved up and—”
“It’s not the same,” Bay said. “And the next time you call me up and—”
“Listen, I know her. Knew her.” Tad was pale.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, so you see why I’m flipping out?” Tad asked.
“Stop acting guilty, or are you just paranoid high again? Still using?”
“No more than you do, probably.”
“Ah, but the difference is, I’m in control. I don’t use like a fucking junkie, and I can take it or leave it. What about you? Have you learned to leave it?”
Tad curled his lip, and Bay smiled. “Must be nice always being in control,” Tad said.
“It is. So, as I said, stop freaking out and acting like you sliced up that woman. If the cops come sniffing around, you simply tell them you didn’t know her.”
“Easier said than done. Do you know who is on the fucking case, or did you miss that, too? Darek fucking Blake. He’s going to know this is similar.”
“And he’s not going to do anything to incriminate himself, either. You leave this to me. But I gotta ask. Did you have anything to do with this chick’s death? Did you fuck her the same night? Did you share a fucking bump or a cab? Anything I should know about?”
“No, I fucked her months ago, and I got her into the loop with a few of the good customers. We did a couple swap once with this married couple shortly after. She was bi, and into it. It was easy cash for us both.” Tad shrugged on his shirt and made busy with the buttons. “How do you know Blake won’t fucking trip out on us and throw us all under the bus? He’s bound to have some fucking connection.”
“He’s no better off than the rest of us,” Bay said. “Worse even. He’s got his eggs scrambled from his old man dying. He’s been medicated since what happened, and from what I hear, he’s so repressed that he’s not even sure anything happened back at Camp Victory.”
“That’s hard to believe.” Tad cringed, and Bay stared through him.
“Even if he does, he’s a married man. He’s got a lot to lose, and he’s not going to jeopardize his chances at the FBI over some dead and bleeding whore.”
“What about the others? Have you heard from any of them?”
“I heard from Logan. Lane’s moved back to New Orleans. The others are scattered to the winds, but you know me, I keep in touch.” He downed the last swig of his drink and slammed the glass down on the table. Not only did he keep in touch, he kept in control.
7
Darek
The traffic in the office had died down with the other officers finally heading out into the field. The morning had been uneventful, but that all changed when Agent McNamara showed up looking good enough to cheat. Eat. He pounded the word into his brain. He wasn’t a cheater, but he could appreciate how fine she looked in her knee-length pencil skirt and a purple blouse that his wife would call plum. Colors weren’t colors. Red was rose, orange was tangerine, and even blue was ocean or sky.
He tried not to notice the plum-colored blouse and how far the neckline dipped. Or how long and toned her legs were. She didn’t have the knees of a tomboy.
“Hey, Darek. You’re looking handsome this morning.” She gave him a wink as he approached and smiled when he raked his hand through his hair. She had to be kidding. “We’re going down to see the medical examiner. Are you ready?” She took one last sip of her coffee and dumped it in the trash.
“I’m ready. You seem chipper this morning.”
“I had a good night,” she said. “How about yourself?”
“It was okay.” As okay as his morning, which wasn’t as interesting as he’d have wished. He tried not to be so turned on by her, but she was so sexy, he couldn’t help but want her. He blamed Megan for not putting out. It had been a while since he had gotten a decent nut, and he regretted not making better use of his time in the shower.
He and Megan used to be like two wild animals. She would dress up and role play. They’d gone through their phases of public sex, kinky sex, and any other nasty little turn on he could imagine. But now, it was like all the fun was gone. He missed the days of casual fucking, fucking on a whim, fucking just because he had the time and nothing better to do. Back when she seemed to want him.
“And you’re ready to go?” She pressed.
“Oh, yeah. I’m ready.” He got up, feeling a bit silly for being zoned out, and knew he had to keep his head in the game. The last thing he needed was for McNamara to see him spaced out or having a spell. She didn’t seem like a tattletale, but he was certain she’d mention it to her boss.
They went down to the medical examiner’s office and found Dr. Cobb wrist deep inside a man’s chest while one of his assistants observed. Another woman was at a desk across the room busy on a computer. “Sorry about this,” He said as he went about feeling around inside the cavity like he was digging for change in a couch cushion. Darek turned his head as the corpse’s penis jiggled. He didn’t want to see that. It didn’t seem to bother Lizzy at all.
“We’re here to talk to you about Alicia David,” she said.
Dr. Cobb finished what he was doing and walked over to a sink where he stripped off his gloves and then washed his hands. Then he gloved up again and passed out gloves and masks. Both detectives put on their gloves, and while Darek opted to use the mask, Lizzy left hers down.
The man opened the cold chamber and slid out the center drawer where the girl was lying with a sheet covering her face. He pulled the sheet back and called his assistant over so the two of them could turn the body. The task went much smoother than Darek expected, and soon enough, they were staring at the victim’s back, which had turned an ugly shade of blue and brown.
“The tattoo was newer for sure,” Dr. Cobb said. “There were still some signs of scabbing in even the oldest parts. The breakdown is listed in detail.” He gestured to the table next to us, and Lizzy took the folder and thumbed through it. “I normally don’t go over tattoos so much, but since you said it was important to the case, I did as you asked. The arrow-shaped symbol, being Sagittarius, was the last one she was given. The entire outline of the wheel and this symbol here—which resembles a seven but is actually Capricorn—was done first. All the others were done in one long session, approximately two weeks before this one. I’d say this was three sessions; three meetings.”