Hush

Eric was right. They didn’t have anything, despite the fact it was a grisly crime scene that had all the hallmarks of a crime of passion—those were usually the sloppiest and easiest to solve. It was in a pretty public place as well, but they hadn’t managed to catch a single break. The murder took place in a shitty but well-trafficked neighborhood, and in an alley that didn’t offer much shelter or privacy.

The killing itself wasn’t quick. There were defensive wounds on the doctor’s hands, so there was most likely a struggle. Yet they had found no DNA. No one walking by, no CCTV cameras. Maddox’s gut told him that the murder was one of opportunity, but the victim wasn’t robbed. The man’s twenty-thousand-dollar watch had been on his wrist when discovered. This had been personal.

It would surprise a lot of people to know just how much luck factored into homicide.

He knew all too well just how powerful luck, or lack of it, could be to a victim.

Maddox learned that when Ri didn’t turn up at school the day after he finally made her his girlfriend. He learned that ten years later, when he found out just how unlucky she was to be biking home that night, alone, with no one there to stop it.

But, with crimes of passion, there was a connection. Random murders were nowhere near as common as the media liked to tell the general public. It was easier to accept the thought of a deranged man with a broken past murdering you for no other reason than because he was evil. It was much easier than thinking your husband might snap and stab you to death because you were fucking your personal trainer.

Bob’s wife was fucking her personal trainer. But both of them had alibis. They were across the country, in a hotel in California, with security cameras at the hotel confirming their presence.

Maddox and Eric had done a deep dive of the doctor’s relationships. He was widely respected and well liked, if a little arrogant, but nothing that would make someone want to butcher him like a pig.

He had no record, except some parking tickets paid promptly and one speeding ticket, also paid promptly. The solicitation charge in the eighties had never actually been put on his record.

His financials were impressive, matched up with the car, the house, and the twenty-thousand-dollar watch that remained on his wrist after he was murdered. There were some large charges that had been leaving the family account and going to a private corporation, but those stopped months ago, and it was probably nothing. Though Maddox made a mental note to look into that further because it was the only remotely curious thing about the man.

Nothing was adding up. Maddox was missing something.

“There’s never nothing,” Maddox told his partner, not looking up from the initial report.

Eric clapped him on the shoulder. “No,” he agreed. “There is always something, somewhere. But we’re human, and we miss shit. Either we’ll find it eventually, or we won’t. Staring at that report is gonna do nothin’ but give you a migraine and waste your night.” Eric paused. “And I think you have better things to do with your night.”

Maddox looked up because of the knowing behind his partner’s tone.

“What do you think I have to do that’s better than solving the murder of a prominent doctor, with a wife, albeit an unfaithful one, and a daughter?” Maddox challenged him with more hostility in his tone than needed.

He hadn’t been sleeping because he was frustrated. With not just this case, but with Orion’s. All of the women had spoken of men coming and going, having “regulars,” making it sound like more of a business than anything.

Which it was. The two gatekeepers were drug addicted lowlifes. They lived mostly in squalor, but the basement underneath the house was sprawling and spotless. They had found out the original builder of the house had been paranoid about the cold war and nuclear fallout, so he had built an entire second house underneath the small, two-bedroom one.

The Cold War never happened though, and what was meant to save a family damned many girls.

He was failing this doctor’s family and he was failing Orion. And, on top of it all, he was falling in love with the damaged, broken woman who was nothing like the girl he had kissed ten years ago. That night he’d seen her in person two fucking months ago haunted him. He saw something inside of her, something that scared the shit out of him. Something that intrigued him, because it awoke something dark inside him too.

Eric did not react to Maddox’s anger. He was used to him being a miserable bastard. Eric continued on even keel no matter what was going on. It was working wonders for April, who was finally getting her life together. Maddox wondered what Orion had to do with that.