Posted by rache on December 17, 2008 at 19:33:59:
Tina Vasquez - Texas Ranger (Part 5)
"Vasquez," the ranger answered her phone just as she was locking the evidence kit in the trunk of her car.
"Hi Tina, it's Prescott," the forensic psychologist said. "Anything new on your missing girl?"
"Jeffrey, hey," Tina sighed, closing the trunk. "Nothing yet. What have you got?"
"Nothing much, I'm afraid," the man replied with an apologetic shrug. "I went through some models, but we don't have much of a profile on her. That makes it tough to predict."
"Yeah," Tina agreed, walking back towards the college administration building.
"It's interesting though that the girl was missing before the memorial service," Prescott said. "That doesn't really fit with what we've got on her."
"You think she'd want to be there?"
"Yeah. In these kinds of circumstance, suicides generally tend to be premeditated," the man explained. "It's not an impulsive act, it's carefully considered and there's a logic to it."
"A logic for the girl," Tina said, knowing all too well that logic was a subjective term.
"Well, yes, but it isn't an irrational act. That's what I'm saying, there's a procedure leading up to the event."
"Like the phone call to the sister…"
"Exactly," Prescott agreed. "The phone call, setting affairs in order. She'd probably want to prepare herself physically. Buying new clothes, for example, is common. She would think of it as going away, moving to another place where she could be with the person she loves."
"But you're saying Lisa should have waited until after Barbara's funeral?" Vasquez asked, pausing outside the building.
"More than likely, yeah," Prescott said. "She'd want to spend as much time with Barbara as she could and once the time was up, that's when she'd need to take the next step."
"As much time as she could, huh?" Tina frowned, trying to remember something Emily had said over lunch. "What if…"
"What's that?"
"You were saying this morning that the girl would want a special place," Tina said slowly, her thoughts coming together like a jigsaw puzzle.
"Right, that's the other red flag we have here. She's missing and if she really killed herself…"
"She shouldn't be," Tina nodded. "What if the special place was with Barbara?"
"What do you mean?" Prescott asked.
"If she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Barbara and…" Tina looked across the parking lot. "So far as she was concerned the rest of her life was forever, so…"
"Where was the deceased?"
"Uh…A funeral home," Tina said, reaching into her purse for her notebook. "I think, they kept the body…"
"A funeral home would work," Prescott agreed. "A morgue would probably repel the girl, but in a comfortable setting…"
"Yeah," Tina nodded. "The body was released to McKinnen Funeral Home Saturday evening. So presumably, what? Sunday afternoon, night, uh…Monday…The girl could have gone there anytime and…"
"Sure," Prescott said. "It would better explain why she wasn't at the grave service. But if Lisa killed herself at the funeral home…"
"It still leaves us with no body," Tina sighed and that was the real issue. Without a body there was nothing. No suicide, no murder, and most importantly perhaps, there was no closure for the girl's family and friends.
Vasquez didn't have any answers yet, she knew, just another possibility that didn't really make a lot of sense. What motive could anyone have to murder Lisa Thomas? She hadn't witnessed or even suspected anything in the death of Barbara, her phone call to Emily made that clear. If she'd killed herself, why would it be covered up? To protect someone, obviously, but who and from what?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"I'm sorry, Detective. Dr. Moore has left for the day," Laura said with an apologetic lift of her hands.
"Did you tell him I was coming back?" Tina asked the secretary, glancing at her watch and it was just after two in the afternoon.
"I told him, yes ma'am. On his way out," the woman nodded. "You can come back Monday morning and…"
"Right. On his way out," Tina took a deep breath. "Who was he meeting with?"
"Excuse me?"
"Dr. Moore," Tina said. "He was in a meeting when I was here earlier. Who was he talking to?"
"Oh, I'm not sure I'm at liberty to discuss Dr. Moore's private…" Laura frowned.
"Yes you are," Tina offered the woman a reassuring smile. "Just a name, that's all."
"Um," Laura reminded herself that this was a Texas Ranger who was asking. "He was meeting with Coach Riles and Dr. Peterson."
"Floyd Peterson?" Tina asked. "The coroner?"
"Yes," Laura nodded. "Dr. Moore…He's not in trouble, is he?"
"No," Tina shook her head. "I don't think so, but I do need to speak with him. Did he say where he was going?"
"No," Laura shook her head. "He didn't say anything, really."
"Okay. May I?" Tina picked up a pen from a holder on the secretary's desk and wrote her phone number on a yellow sticky. "Here's my phone number, if Dr. Moore should return this afternoon. I'd appreciate a phone call, okay?"
"Alright," Laura agreed.
"Where would I find Coach Riles?" Tina wondered. "As long as I'm here…"
"Oh. His office is beneath the gymnasium, near the old football field," Laura said. "Out the east doors and to the left, just look for the gym. You can't miss it."
"Say," Tina paused on her way out of the office. "I was told that Dr. Moore made the funeral arrangements for Barbara Welch…You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you?"
"Why yes," Laura cleared her throat. "I, um…helped. There was no funeral though, just a memorial service."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Barbara was, uh…she was cremated, so…" Laura shrugged. "The service was there at Mckinnen's."
"Cremated," Tina frowned slightly. "Who made that decision?"
"Dr. Moore," Laura said. "After talking with some of the board members, I believe. Why? Is it important?"
"I don't know," Vasquez pursed her lips. "I was told that Barbara's personal effects were released to Dr. Moore. Do you know where they are?"
"In his office, I believe," Laura shrugged. "There wasn't much. Her clothes and purse, that's about all."
"Could I take a look?"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Coach Riles was working in his spartan office when Tina knocked on the
open door. He looked up and felt his gut tighten and then flare
painfully. He hid his grimace well and reached into his desk without
thinking, removing a bottle of Milk of Magnesia and swallowing half of
it.
"Coach Riles?" Tina asked, reaching into her purse.
"Yeah," the man nodded, relaxing as the fire in his belly slowly died down. "Goddamn ulcer. Who are you?"
"Detective Vasquez, Texas Rangers." Tina held up her badge and noted that Riles didn't seem surprised. "I'd like to talk to you about Barbara Welch."
"Welch," Riles waved his hand and Tina walked into his office. "Too bad about her."
"Did you know her well?" Vasquez wondered, taking a folding metal chair opposite the coach's desk.
"Well enough," Riles shrugged. He was a large man, robust and approaching fifty. He had a hard face, red and deeply lined from a lot of years squinting into the hot Texas sun.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Tina asked. "Before the accident."
"Um, that morning," Riles said. "We had a…budget meeting with Moore in his office."
"Budget meeting? For the athletic department, you mean?"
"Yeah," Riles nodded. "After the meeting, I didn't really see her again until, uh…Saturday morning. You know."
"Right," Vasquez nodded. "You have a key to the pool facilities, is that right?"
"Me?" Riles shrugged. "Of course I do. Why?"
"I'm just wondering," Tina smiled and crossed her legs. "Did you have your key with you Friday night?"
"Uh…" Riles licked his lips. "I think I left my keys here, in my desk. I don't really remember."
"Your keys to the pool and…"
"The facilities," Riles nodded. "What's this all about?"
"What time did you leave the campus on Friday?" Tina ignored his question.
"After football practice," Riles said. "About, oh…six o'clock maybe."
"But you didn't lock up?"
"What? Uh…" Riles frowned, trying to understand what she was asking and why. "Some of the players were going to work out, so…"
"Okay," Tina nodded. "So the key to the pool was in your desk and some players were working out…Where's that? A weight room?"
"Weight room, yeah," Riles shrugged. "Just down the hall there."
"That way?" Tina looked over her shoulder at the open door. "Who were the players?"
"I don't…" Riles shook his head. "I have forty three boys on the squad, I'm not sure who was staying."
"But someone was?" Tina raised her eyebrows and Riles nodded reluctantly.
"Look, if you're thinking one of my players might have had something to do with Barbara…"
"Why would I think that?" Tina tilted her head. "It was an accident, right?"
"Yeah," Riles nodded. "That's what it was, so these questions…"
"I'm just getting all the facts," Tina shrugged. "Was Barbara seeing anyone? Did she, uh…have anything going on with one of your players?"
"Welch?" Riles almost smiled but caught himself. "She played for the other team, Detective."
"The other team?"
"A lesbian, you know?" Riles shook his head. "She was a real dyke."
"I see," Tina said slowly. "Did that bother you?"
"It didn't keep me up at night," Riles said. "Kind of a waste though. She was a good looking woman."
"Right," Tina looked at the man and Riles didn't look away. "How about your players?"
"My boys? What about ‘em?"
"How did they feel about a good looking woman who played for the other team?" Tina asked him. "Any resentment or jealousy…"
"No," Riles shook his head. "If you're thinking someone on my football team might have given the woman a little push…"
"Where were you Friday night, Coach?"
"I was with my wife," Riles stared at the woman. "I was home all night."
"Okay," Vasquez nodded. "And your keys were here…Do you know the penalty for obstruction of justice?"
"What?" Riles swallowed hard.
"It's ten years," Tina said. "Conspiracy can get you more. A lot more."
"I think you'd better leave," Riles said slowly.
"Sure," Tina nodded. "I think I have all the information I need now."
Tina stood up slowly, replacing her notepad in her purse as she walked towards the door.
"Oh, one more thing, Coach…" she turned around. "What were you talking to Floyd Peterson about this afternoon?"
"What?" Riles paled noticeably.
"In Dr. Moore's office," Tina said. "The three of you had a meeting. What was that about…the budget?"
Riles didn't say anything and Tina turned after a long count of ten to leave the man's office, taking a left. Some twenty feet down the hall she found the weight room. It was empty for the moment and Tina turned around to leave. She'd only wanted to see it and there was something very wrong with Coach Riles. That had been obvious to the Ranger from the moment she'd sat down. He might have an alibi for Friday night, but it was a sure bet that at least one of his players didn't.
Like most crimes involving rape and murder, this had been an inside job, as Mahoney liked to say. It was far more common for the victim of a sex crime to know her assailant than it was to be attacked by a stranger. Of course a lot of people knew Barbara, but Riles saw her everyday, him and his players. The means was the Jacuzzi, the motive…Tina wasn't sure, but money was always a good one. College money? The department budget? It didn't seem likely but people had died over far less in Tina's experience. It felt right and Tina had good instincts, so she decided to pin that one on Riles too, just for the moment.
Opportunity? That was an easy one. Barbara's keys had been found in her purse, locked inside the pool. The doors couldn't be locked closed without a key, so whoever had killed Barbara had his own key. Riles had been lying about leaving his keys in his desk, that had been plain. The man never went anywhere without his keys, Tina thought. Yeah, Riles was a good tree to shake and something would fall out of it. He might not have killed Barbara, but he knew it wasn't an accident and he probably knew a lot more than that.
It felt good to have a real suspect list. Riles, Fiddler, Peterson…and Moore? Tina frowned at that, recalling Helen's good opinion of the man. Fiddler's secretary had shown the original files to the college president before faxing them to Austin. If Moore was involved, wouldn't he have tried to dissuade Helen? If he wasn't involved, why was he meeting with Riles and Peterson? Why was the man avoiding her if he wanted a Ranger investigating Barbara's death?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Moore wasn't at his residence, a large house in the small section of
the campus set aside for faculty housing. An older Hispanic woman, the
man's housekeeper apparently, answered the door and she was nervous
when Tina identified herself as a police officer. Probably an illegal,
Vasquez thought, and no real help at all except to confirm that Dr.
Moore had been home on the night Barbara had died. Although she had no
idea where he might have gone, Tina hadn't really expected to find him
there and she moved on, finding Barbara Welch's small house nearby. She
used the keys she'd gotten from the dead woman's purse to open the door.
This was just a matter of routine really and Tina walked through the quiet house slowly, taking visual notes and disturbing very little. She knew the Sheriff's Department had been through the place already and Fiddler would have removed anything obviously relating to either Barbara's death or Lisa's disappearance. But anything less than obvious might have escaped the sheriff's attention.
"Hmmm…" Tina picked up a plastic shopping bag and found a receipt inside, a small computer printed invoice from one of the local fashion stores dated Monday morning.
"A new dress?" Tina said to herself and she found the tags that had been cut off on the bedroom dresser. A size four and Lisa had spent eight-nine dollars on it, plus tax. A new dress for Barbara's memorial service, Tina wondered, or because the girl was going away? It fit in nicely with Prescott's analysis.
A quick look through the dresser and twin nightstands produced little of interest and more than anything else, Tina was hoping for a note. That seemed unlikely though, given Lisa's phone call to her sister, but still. People did like to leave something tangible behind to explain why.
Tina found it when she discovered a digital camera in the bedroom closet. She turned it on, viewing the images on the tiny LCD while she sat on the made-up bed. The entire house was clean and neat, except for the tags on the dresser and the plastic bag she'd found. Tina imagined that Lisa had spent much of Sunday making their home beautiful one last time and that seemed incredibly sad.
"Lisa," Tina sighed, finding the last picture in the camera's memory.
It was a photograph of Lisa and taken in that same bedroom, the one she'd shared with Barbara. From the look of it, the camera had been placed on the dresser and Lisa had used the timer delay function. The girl was wearing a cheerful dress, sky blue with white lace and a floral pattern in gold like her hair. She resembled Emily, but they were different as well. Lisa was beautiful and very young, looking into the camera with frail blue eyes and a soft smile playing at the corners of her mouth. There was a serenity there, an acceptance on her face that was unmistakable.
Lisa was saying goodbye to her sister.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Nah, baby. I can't tonight," Mike was rubbing his girlfriend's back through her sweater.
"But you promised," Susan pouted. "Everyone's gonna be there."
"Yeah, but something came up," the young man shrugged and let his hand go higher, beneath the pretty coed's thick black hair.
"I can make something come up too," Susan said softly, licking her lips as she moved her hand from Mike's thigh to the lump in his jeans.
"Don't start, baby…hmmm…" Mike massaged the girl's neck and she was fine as hell, he thought. One of the hottest girls on campus and Susan was always eager for his cock, at least she was when she wanted something from him, and that made her a whore in Mike's opinion.
"We don't have to stay at the party," Susan sighed, working her fingers around the vague outline of Mike's stiffening penis. "We can go to my place later. My roommate went back to Houston for the weekend."
"The whole weekend?" Mike shifted and looked around the campus, but nobody was paying the two students much mind. They were sitting off the commons, on the grass beneath a large oak tree.
"Uh-huh," Susan sighed, giving the handsome boy her dark eyes and turning slightly so she could reach for his zipper with her other hand.
"Be careful, Suzy," Mike grinned at his girlfriend as she unzipped him slowly. "You're gonna get a reputation."
"You don't want me to suck it?" Susan giggled, pulling Mike's semi-hard cock free. She glanced around, but not because she was nervous. "I hope someone sees us," she whispered. "I like it."
"Oh, baby! I like it too," Mike pushed her head down to his lap and sighed as he felt the pretty girl's mouth open for his cock. Susan was good at sucking cock, very good and Mike's swollen prick wasn't overly large in any case. She took most of him easily, wrapping her moist lips around the shaft and sucking noisily.
"Umph hmph!" Susan moaned, stifling a small laugh as she began working her tongue around the boy's smooth cockhead.
"Shhh…Just suck it, Suzy," Mike urged the girl softly. "What a fuckin' slut!"
"Mmmph?" Susan rolled her eyes at that, but she didn't stop sucking. The quarterback of the college football team only had one girlfriend and she was it, if that meant sucking his cock in broad daylight and being called a slut while she did it? So be it. Everybody was going to be at the mixer that evening and it would be embarrassing if she had to go alone.
"Are you…gonna take…me?" Susan breathed after several minutes of sucking Mike's cock the best she knew how.
"Don't stop!" Mike frowned, trying to push her back down, but Susan wanted an answer. Stupid bitch.
"Take me to the party and I'll keep going," Susan said, licking her lips and squeezing the boy's swollen cock in her fist. "You can cum in my mouth."
"I told you, Suzy…" Mike sighed with frustration as much as apology. "I have to do something."
"Then I guess you can jerk off all weekend," Susan said, letting Mike's cock go.
"Susan! You can't stop now." Mike stared at her but the girl was already starting to stand up. "Tomorrow night, I promise."
"I want to go tonight, Mike! What kind of girlfriend am I?" Susan frowned at him, watching the boy stroke his cock slowly while he sat there. "Everybody will wonder if you're not with me!"
"You're an awesome girlfriend! Come on," Mike smiled at her hopefully. "Don't be mad. Tomorrow night we can do whatever you want."
"I have to go," Susan sighed. "Call me if you change your mind. Maybe I'll be home."
"Susan! Aw fuck!" Mike scowled and then realized he was jerking off in the middle of campus and grimaced as he forced his still hard cock back into his pants.
She was gonna be a sorry girlfriend pretty soon, Mike thought to himself. What a bitch. If she wasn't so completely fuckable, he'd have dropped Susan a long time ago. She was a total slut though. The girl would do anything anywhere so long as Mike kept her on his arm and introduced her as his girlfriend. Stupid cheerleader bimbo. Susan was like all the rest, good for fucking and not much else.
Yeah, Mike decided as he stood up slowly, next time they went out he was going to get her fucked up and then fucked. A nice little gang bang out in the desert. See how much the slut liked that. And after half the football team had her, he'd dump the whore. Start a little argument in the middle of the college commons, in front of a thousand kids. He'd accuse her of being a slut and a whore and begging his team to pull a train on her hot little ass. Everybody would know, Mike would make sure of that. It wouldn't kill her, but she'd wish she was dead by the time he was done. Susan was that kind of girl, desperate to be popular and envied and all that shit.
"Mike! Hey son, I need to talk with you," Coach Riles was walking towards him and the young man smiled.
Maybe that new truck the boosters had promised him had come in finally. Between the eager girls and the enthusiastic fans, it was pretty damn good playing Texas football, Mike had long since decided. All the attention made the young quarterback feel like he was king of the world and he put Susan out of his head as he walked over to see what his coach wanted.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Can I help
you find something?" Wanda Person asked the attractive blonde, frowning
at the words as soon as she spoke them. They sounded so common and
boring and not at all like the what the girl wanted to say.
"Hi," Emily smiled, thinking the salesgirl must have graduated high school about ten minutes ago. "Uh…Wanda. I'm just looking."
"Okay," Wanda bit her bottom lip and she'd actually felt a small shock of excitement until she realized Emily had only read her name off the tag she wore on her starched white blouse.
Being a young lesbian in West Abilene wasn't a lot of fun. Wanda figured she was about as far in the closet as a woman could be and at eighteen the girl wondered if she wasn't cursed by her sexual preference. It sure seemed like it, especially when she saw another girl she was attracted to, like this one. It wasn't just the woman's beauty, it was her east Texas accent and the way she moved, just a little different than the local girls did. Wanda noticed things like that, the little things, and she only wished she knew how to approach a woman like that.
Emily had just spent two hours at the local beauty salon, not for any real reason except she had the whole afternoon and nothing to do but wait for Tina. To make herself attractive for Tina, Emily reminded herself happily as she browsed the lingerie store. Her mind was never far from Lisa, and Emily's fears tugged at her heart like a stone, but it didn't change the fact that she was in love, real love for the very first time. The circumstances were unfair and gave Emily a sense of guilt, but life does go on, for better or worse, and the woman was determined not to mourn her sister until she had no other choice.
"We, uh…We're having a little sale," Wanda offered after five minutes of watching the blonde's deliberate browsing.
"Oh?" Emily smiled at the girl and Wanda was pretty enough. A little too much makeup maybe, but the girl's auburn hair was nice, long and wavy around her open face and soft hazel eyes. Emily couldn't help but see the interest in them and it surprised her because it was so apparent.
"Yeah," Wanda nodded quickly, nervously, and stepped around the counter. "The red tag items are twenty percent off."
"Okay," Emily smiled and the girl blushed slightly. "Thank you."
"Sure," Wanda cleared her throat and now she was stuck standing there with nothing to do. She bit her bottom lip.
"I'm looking for something green," Emily said, only because she'd been through what Wanda was feeling and understood it all too well.
"Green?" Wanda blinked as the woman's blue eyes found hers. "Um, like a night gown or…"
"Something sexy," Emily tilted her head. "A little…naughty, you know?"
"Oh," Wanda looked away and her cheeks were pink. She could all too easily imagine the blonde in something naughty, something green and sexy and…
"Like a camisole maybe?" Emily asked, thinking the girl was a little too self-conscious to be selling lingerie. "Do you have anything like that?"
"Yeah." Wanda looked around as if she was lost for a second. "Over here. I don't think they're on sale though."
"That's okay," Emily shrugged, following the salesgirl and noting the way Wanda's round butt moved beneath her beige skirt. If it weren't for Tina, Emily might have made a little pass at the girl, but she was more than content to look and be amused by young Wanda's obvious fluster.
"Uh, here…" Wanda held out her hand, gesturing towards a selection of camisole and tap pants on cushioned hangers.
"Oh, these are nice," Emily decided, going through the rack and pausing at a set in emerald green. "Hmmm…Do you think I could try this on?"
"Oh! Yeah," Wanda nodded quickly. "Um, but you have to leave your, uh…panties…on."
"Okay," Emily laughed lightly as the girl could barely get the words out. She wondered if Wanda was like that with all of her customers or if it was something specific about Emily herself that was tying the girl's tongue in knots.
Wanda frowned as she watched Emily disappeared into a changing booth, pulling the curtain closed behind her. Why was she acting so silly? It wasn't the first time though. Wanda had struggled through high school not to make a fool of herself in front of her female friends and classmates. It wasn't that the girl didn't have any self-control, or that she was obsessed with having sex or anything. Wanda was just easily excited and nervous in the presence of someone she found attractive, and by the time she was eighteen that was just about any girl she had an opportunity to talk to.
Knowing what her problem was didn't make the girl feel any better though. Wanda waited outside the changing booth, feeling like a sixteen year old with too many hormones, but unable to do anything else. The store didn't do a whole lot of business anyway and some of the locals thought that opening a store specializing in underwear was kind of silly, considering the size and mentality of West Abilene. So Wanda really had nothing better to do than wait for Emily, half-hoping and half-dreading the adolescent fantasy that the woman would ask her into the changing booth for a little help with her lingerie.
"I like it," Emily said about ten minutes later, exiting the booth fully dressed and holding the sexy lingerie on its hanger.
"Good," Wanda smiled, trying to hide her disappointment at not getting just a little peek at the woman while she'd changed clothes.
"Well…" Emily glanced around. "I guess this is all I need. Can you ring it up for me?"
"What? Oh! Yeah, sorry…" Wanda apologized. "Cash or charge, um…"
"Cash," Emily nodded, handing the hanger to Wanda and following the girl to the register.
"Okay," Wanda kicked herself, wondering why she couldn't at least try to have a real conversation with the woman, but she couldn't think of anything to say.
"It's hard isn't it?" Emily said softly, drawing Wanda's big hazel eyes up from her cash register.
"Um what?" Wanda blinked at the blonde woman.
"It's okay," Emily offered the girl a reassuring smile. "I know what its like. Do you have a…friend?"
"A friend?" Wanda was suddenly frightened and her cheeks burned as she realized what the woman meant, what this attractive blonde knew about her.
"Someone special?" Emily asked gently.
She'd been through it herself as a teenager and then with Lisa, and Emily remembered how hard her little sister's first crush on another girl had been. Like the world was ending because the girl couldn't possibly love Lisa back. Where was her sister now, Emily wondered and then pushed the thought away as she focused on the salesgirl in front of her. It must be really tough in a town like this and life was so unfair sometimes.
"No," Wanda swallowed hard.
"You'll meet someone," Emily promised her, knowing in her heart it was true and hoping Wanda had the patience for it.
"Are you, um…"
"Yeah," Emily nodded. "How old are you?"
"Eighteen," Wanda replied and her heart was going fast. "I've never, oh…never mind…"
"What?" Emily asked, watching as the girl blushed and looked away.
"I just never met anyone else, you know?" Wanda looked up then, searching Emily's face. "Sometimes I think, uh…there is nobody else."
"Like you?" Emily asked. "You're not alone; there are a lot of girls out there."
"I hope so," Wanda sighed and then giggled nervously. "I mean…"
"Yeah," Emily laughed lightly. "I know. You're a pretty girl, it just takes time. At least you have a cool job, right?"
Wanda smiled, looking down as she rang up the woman's purchase. She wasn't sure if she really felt any better or not, but she felt something different. She was pretty. The blonde, who was beautiful by anyone's standards, had told her so. Maybe she was hitting on her, Wanda thought and that was a split second of panic. But no, the tone of the woman's voice, the look in her eye, it was friendly, even sympathetic, but not like she was interested.
"Yeah," Wanda made a little face. "It's pretty cool sometimes. How did you know about me?" the girl asked as she folded the lingerie into a cardboard box. "Is it really, you know, obvious?"
"Hmmm…" Emily smiled. "Kinda, yeah, but that's okay. Next time some girl might be in here shopping for you."
"For me?" Wanda blinked and then laughed, rolling her soft hazel eyes and wishing desperately that were true.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Peters," the man said and Tina smiled at the sound of his voice, as if
he was impatient with the interruption and that was always a good sign.
"Hi, this is Detective Vasquez again. Busy?"
"Heh! Always. The drowning victim, right? What can I do for you this time, Detective?"
"I'm going to over-night a couple water samples to you this afternoon. Do you work weekends?"
"Uhhh…I reckon I do," the young man chuckled. "Let me guess, Jacuzzi?"
"Yeah," Tina agreed. "I want to know if they're a match with the sample from the dead woman's lungs."
"No problem," Peters replied. "I can use the overtime. Just put priority on the lab request."
"Right," Tina agreed and she was leaning on the Fed-Ex counter, filling it out while she spoke to him. "Hey, I'm putting my phone number on here too. The results go to Austin, but I'd appreciate a call once you know something."
"Sure," Peters agreed and it wasn't that often an investigator actually called him, he was rather enjoying it. Lab work wasn't bad, but being reminded that it actually meant something was pretty cool, the young technician thought.
"Great," Tina finished. "I really appreciate it."
Ten minutes later Tina was looking at her watch. It was almost four and she decided it was still early enough.
"Excuse me," she asked the woman working the counter. "Where would I find the McKinnen Funeral Home?"