Killer Love

As I make my way back to the car, I call Angel.

“How is it going?” she asks cheerfully.

“Just another day at the office. I should be home early tomorrow.”

“I miss you.”

I lower my voice even though no one is around. “Are you alone?”

“No, my sister is going to sleep with me tonight. So no phone sex. Don’t get me worked up either, otherwise I won’t be able to go to sleep.”

That’s disappointing. I stop by my car. “You should get a good night’s sleep then because tomorrow I’ll need to work off this extra energy.”

“I can already sense the dangerous turn this conversation could take so I’m hanging up on you now,” she says but I can hear the smile and the anticipation in her voice.

I end up back at the shore earlier than I had anticipated. The wife’s body attracted a couple of wild dogs and Detective Lee called me in.

“This is a mess,” I remark. The dogs have done a number on the body.

“Yeah. The rookie is going to quit at this point. I told him we hardly ever get cases like this. By the way, did you hear we got an ID on the body parts from yesterday?”

“Already?” It’s my turn to be surprised.

“Yeah, it was the gym teacher from two counties over who just got out of the halfway house. He had a gold crown and we were able to track him down that way.”

“That’s impressive.” And a bit alarming. I thought the identity would be hidden for a while. Dental records take a few weeks to process.

“It was dumb luck. Garcia was at the dentist for another case and got to gossiping with the office girls about how the pedo gym coach hadn’t been seen for a couple of days.”

“What was he doing all the way over here?” The gym teacher who had spent ten years spying on little girls, who only got a suspended sentence and six months of probation in a halfway house, lived and hunted in his town and hadn’t ever come here.

“That’s a good question. We don’t have any idea. Forensics is working on it now although I don’t think they’re pushing themselves. There are other cases to spend their time on. Do we really care about who offed the pedo? It was probably one of the dads.”

I don’t say anything, just pop a piece of chewing gum into my mouth. Lee takes one for himself. “I know you don’t believe in treating criminals differently. That all bodies deserve the same respect, but some of these assholes…” Lee trails off.

“Deserve it?”

“Yeah, precisely. Some of them deserve it.”

Chapter Six

Angel

“Tell me you’re going to eat more than those cookies for dinner,” I ask Judge Barns as she opens the lid to the container of cookies I brought in for her. She smells them before closing the lid.

“I have a date so I’ll save these for after.”

“A date. You have a date and you’re just now mentioning this?” We had lunch together earlier. I understand that we were in court all day but she could have mentioned this date during our lunch.

“I thought you were leaving early?” she reminds me. I’ve been excited all day to see Lucas. I know he was only gone one night but I hate when he is away. The only good thing that ever comes out of it is that I get to catch up with my sister. Before Lucas it was always Gina and me. I lived with her before he came along and swept me right off my feet. Lucas is a man that always knows what he wants. Our dating was short and our wedding rather fast. Not that I am complaining. I enjoyed every second of him sweeping me off my feet. He still does it. Our honeymoon stage does not look to be coming to an end anytime soon. “Isn’t your doc waiting for you?”

“Expect a full interrogation in the morning.” I grab my bag from off the chair in front of her desk. “At least tell me who it is.”

“You don’t know him.” Mary’s phone buzzes across her desk. She picks it up. Her eyes go wide as her mouth falls open.

“What?” I drop my bag back down.

“They found Richard Washington’s wife’s body.”

“Oh my God,” I whisper in shock.

“Of course, he’s nowhere to be found.” It takes me a minute to process what she’s saying.

“They can’t charge him with murder again.” He was already found not guilty.

“They could dig something else up.” Her brows furrow together and I know she’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking. “Maybe.” It’s doubtful though. If they did maybe he’d be charged and they could put him behind bars for the rest of his life like he should’ve been to begin with.

“They have to find him first anyways.” He’s probably long gone. He has the money. It sickens me to think about him somewhere on some island. His escape plan for if they ever did find his wife’s remains.