Fatal Jealousy: Black Widows #1

Chapter Five

Audrey placed the case folders on the table in the case room. She was glad they didn't have to work a case that past weekend, but she also wished there wasn't a case waiting for them that bright early morning. She sat down as the rest of the team trickled into the room, all with their own weekend story to tell, before they turned on the huge screen and their good moods destroyed for the duration of the case. Carson was the last to walk in. Unlike him, he sat down quietly, his attention completely commanded by his blackberry.
"Aren't you going to tell us how your weekend was?" Paloma was curious about the change. Although secretive, he was usually the loud one every morning before the case, soaking up the joy before finding out what the case was about.
After a few seconds of punching in letters on his phone he looked up at the team with a smile on his face, "Did someone say something?"
"Are you texting?" Audrey shrieked, "Can anyone else see him texting or have I finally lost my mind?"
"He is texting," Richard shook his head laughing, "I thought that wasn't your style Carson?"
Before he could answer, his phone beeped. He looked down to read his message and laughed before he typed up a response.
Doran's brows shot up, "Did he just giggle?"
Gwen's interest got spiked, "Who are you texting?" When he didn't answer nor raise his head to acknowledge she'd spoken, she reached out to grab the phone. He pulled away, holding the phone securely away from her.
"What's up?"
"You don't text, and you don't give anyone's messages that much attention, not even your own mother's." Gwen answered, with an insincere smile on her face.
Audrey was excited, half jumping on her chair, "You met a girl didn't you?"
"We met at a bar I was trying out for the first time..."
Kevin laughed, "What, you were running away from all your old girlfriends?"
"Very funny. We spent the weekend together." When his friends got the look on their faces like they'd heard the story before, he was glad to shock them, "In public. We haven't slept together yet."
"You should take her to that salsa bar," Audrey suggested.
Carson smiled at the memory of that night, "I did, on Saturday."
"And you are telling us you didn't sleep with her?" Gwen asked.
"Nope."
Audrey's face dropped even more. "So how long is this game going to last?" She knew it was only a matter of time before he'd grow bored chasing her.
"I'll let you know once she tells me." For the first time ever, he wasn't taking the lead. He liked, probably because it was Ellie.
Gwen tapped him on his forearm, "Does this have the potential of being serious?" She asked, more for her sake than his.
"Yes, no, maybe, I don't know. But the status quo hasn't changed," he said, more to her than the rest of the group.
"I hope it does," Audrey said, before she turned on the screen. The second she did, all their good moods were destroyed. "Three girls, all seventeen years old, of Orange County were abducted from their homes in the middle of the night while they were asleep. They were found a week later still clothed in their pajamas, but all presented signs of sexual assault, with deep lacerations over their bodies and facial disfigurement."
"Were the killings all done in the same way?" Carson looked carefully at each picture, his demeanor hard and cold. It was like holding his breath under water as he struggled to distance himself emotionally from the victims.
He hated it when the victims were just kids.
"Yes," Audrey answered drily keeping her gaze away from the screen. She found reading the case details more bearable than looking at the pictures.
"They all seem to be from different racial backgrounds," Doran added.
"Preppy schools, applications and admissions to some of the top, not to mention, expensive universities," Paloma offered.
"Any of them have scholarships?" Kevin asked.
"No, all funded by their parents."
"Look at the way the unknown subject disfigured their faces. He or she knew these girls. There was nothing random about this." Richard added.
"They all use to go to the same high school before two of them transferred in the senior year," There was an audible crack in Audrey's voice. Seven years on the job and she still couldn't get use to it.
Carson put his hand tenderly on her shoulder, "Right after he dumps the body, he picks up a new victim. The last victim was found yesterday, has someone been reported missing?"
"This morning, Nicole Joseph's mother went to wake her up and she wasn't in bed."
"It's amazing parents aren't sitting at their daughters' windows with shot guns, I would," Doran said, disappearing in the moment for a second, "Have they started processing the last victim's room?"
"No. They are waiting for us."
"Let's go," Richard getting up, "Audrey, tell the Orange County police we'll be there in an hour."
She nodded, turning off the screen with slight relief. She turned to Carson before he disappeared out the door. "Does your new girl know about your job, the kind of people you chase down on a daily basis?"
"We've talked about her mostly, nothing much about me."
"If you like her, don't," Audrey swallowed the bitter lump in her throat, "tell her you are a plumber or an insurance agent."
"Why?"
"You seem to really like her and I want this to work out for you, but I don't think she'll want to hold her breathe every time you leave to find psychopaths who do this," she held the case file up.
"Richard's wife seems to be doing just fine."
"When was the last time he invited us to his house for a barbecue?" Carson didn't have to do the math, it had been over a year since he last saw Richard's wife. "Exactly, I think she's getting tired of holding her breathe."
****
Ellie stared at the color filled canvas in her office, still smiling to herself. She was glad her classes were over for the day, because in her state of mind she wouldn't be able to pay attention to a single student.
"Earth to Ellie," Kris, her best friend, waved her hand in Ellie's face, "Hey are you in a coma?"
"Will you stop that," Ellie laughed, pulling Kris's hands away, "What do you want?"
"Details," she chirped excitedly, "Who's the new guy and how good is he in bed?"
"Kris!"
"That answers my question," she teased, braiding her long brown hair over her shoulder, "Is it anyone I know?"
"No. He was a blind date, and Ellsa set us up."
Her face creased in horror, "Oh no. Dump him before he turns you into a snobbish robot!"
Still stuck in her day dream of Dale, "Relax, he's more our type than hers. He said he doesn't know her but, guys lie all the time."
"What's his name?"
"Dale Carson," she purred out.
"He sound's white?"
"Actually his dad is Scottish and his mom is black." She danced around her office like a giddy school girl, "He's arrogant, very sure of himself and he has this mystery about him."
"Ahh!" Kris screeched excitedly, "he sounds so hot!"
"He is," she exhaled loudly, "That body was made for sin!" She closed her eyes and swayed her hips, back in his arms. "He salsas like a Mexican heart throb in a romantic telenovella!"
"And yet," she smacked Ellie on the back of her head, "You still haven't slept with him! Your stupid policy of three weeks is going to send him running Ellie."
"It's not stupid, and I doubt he'll go anywhere. This is like a game to him and from the little I know about him, he seems the type who loves to win." She leapt at her phone when the message tone went off.
"You're texting!" Kris screeched giddily again.
Ellie felt her heart drop once she read his message. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole! *Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Ellie, you know better!*
"He's going away on business. He doesn't know when he'll be back."
Kris moved to Ellie and held her in a bear hug, "He's blowing you off already? I'm so sorry. Think of this as a good thing. If Ellsa set you up, he had potential of being an asshole."
Ellie wanted to hold on to some kind of hope. She really liked this guy and she really didn't want him to turn out to be an asshole. Her phone beeped again. She read the message and smiled, "The arrogant ass."