Polymath

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The plates weren't up for examination until tomorrow, so I lay on the Jefferson's couch with my head on Hancock's lap, Jules on the L-seat. We were watching last years prerecorded Shark Week on Discovery.

"So, Ford," Hancock whispered so only I could hear. He was playing with my hair, pulling out random curls and letting them bounce back into my face. He had been a little tired and unaware of things since he had given up alcohol, and surprised me when he said, "I saw that boy."

I shifted so I could look at his face. "What boy?"

"That dark haired boy you were working with yesterday. Is he the one you were talking about, who was being 'kinda flirty, actually'?"

"Oh, yeah. That's Caster."

"I saw him grab your hand. Doesn't he know you're not available?"

My attention was focused on the television but out of the corner of my eye I saw Jules raise his eyebrows. "I pulled away."

Hancock lifted me so I was sitting up. "But does he know you're not available?"

"No. I haven't told him anything about my private life. Most of our conversations are work based."

"Don't let him take advantage of you, okay? I'm not going to stand for that."

I placed my hand on top of his. "He's just a friend. He wouldn't do that and I wouldn't let him."

Hancock slipped his fingers through mine and gave me a miniscule smile. Jules fake gagged in the corner. "Y'all are gross."

"You've never had a girlfriend, J, you don't know what it's like," Hancock spat back, his eyes still on the television. To me, he said, "So, what'd you find in Paisley's house?"

I explained to him what the purpose was about all her cars, and how my bag was in my office. "I think all those license plates were all from cars that were owned by the people Paisley killed."

"How'd you jump to that conclusion?" Jules asked, leaning on his elbows.

"Did I tell y'all about Callie?"

"No," they replied at the same time.

"Paisley was one of her frequent clients, I guess, and she threatened Callie because Callie made it on the team and she didn't. I found this letter Callie wrote in the file cabinet and we thought it could be a good bye note or a suicide note because they found Callie's body on the ground the next morning."

"Wait," Hancock stopped me. "You think Paisley killed Callie?"

I nodded. "I do. And one of those cars she owns is Callie's."

Jules blew air between his teeth and sat back against the couch. "How many plates did you find?"

"Nine," I said, looking down towards my feet. "That means she possibly killed nine people."

"Okay, but has anyone ever checked the security cameras outside?" I asked, absolutely fed up at the resilience Aaron was holding with me. Greene and Caster hadn't arrived at the station yet, so I was alone with Aaron and a few other officers I didn't have an interest in meeting.

"We did, three years ago," he told me, pacing back and forth in front of my desk. "But the camera quality was bad and it was hard to see, so we gave up."