Reckoning Read online

  I honestly had hoped that I—or the police detectives on the case—would have been able to locate her before having to deliver this untimely news. There was a chance that she might have been found alive, and the fact that Niki hadn’t told me if the body had been discovered had me wondering how in the world this break in the case happened in the first place.

  What I’d not been made aware of was that the discretion that I thought I had been operating under was sabotaged a day earlier. Kendyl’s parents had gone to WSB-Channel 2 and WXIA-Channel 11 and put out a sizable reward for any information, anonymous or otherwise, for information leading to their daughter’s safe recovery.

  I had been played; this had the makings of political acceleration and the timer was ticking long before Serena came to see me. Now it was simply a matter of figuring out who the players were and what were their motivations for doing so.

  Niki had become an adept player, based on the position she held. She was scant on the details; she had no choice but to be, almost to the point to where it sounded like she was trying to avoid telling me the truth. She expertly dodged every question I had in my arsenal, but she made it explicitly clear that she needed me to come down there as soon as possible to sit in on the interrogation of the suspect.

  The next shock to the system was her admission that she had seen the suspect before at one of the north side munches, and that she was sure he was a lifestyle submissive. A tip had come in from the reward hotline almost within hours of the public broadcast, and he had been named in the tip as the person who was the last to see Kendyl alive. It wasn’t hard to find him, either; as it turned out, he was an employee of the landscaping company that serviced the Ashton estate, among other prominent homes in the Atlanta area.

  Something’s not right, Law; it sounds too clean. My mind flipped; I was suspicious of everything I heard and saw from that point forward. I took the details down—such as they were—trying to keep from sounding skeptical about the whole thing. I was still convinced that Kendyl was still alive somewhere in the city, and the one burning question couldn’t escape my psyche: who in the world did they have in custody?

  I called Ramesses to apprise him of the situation, and he was as confused as I was. “So, they found him out of thin air or something? And he’s lifestyle affiliated, too? Niki couldn’t possibly be taking this seriously, could she?”

  “I know My girl, Sir, and something in her voice tipped Me off that something is really off-key. She’s not entirely sure, but there’s only one way to find out.” I couldn’t escape the possibility, not for one second. Until I heard it for myself, my bullshit meter was on tilt. “I’m heading down there now. If he’s lifestyle affiliated, we have interests to protect, too. We need to know who he is, who he knows, and more importantly, if he actually committed the crime.”

  “Yeah, we can’t have anyone in the community thinking that there’s a killer among us…at least until we have proof.” Ramesses paused for a moment, leaving dead air between us before he made his next statement. “I’ll do some more digging on the client that hired us to find her sister in the first place, see what I can turn up. Let Me know how it turns out at the precinct.”

  “So, tell me how you killed her, since that’s what you’re saying you did.”

  The person of interest, as I’d been told once I entered the precinct, was a man by the name of Jeremiah Taylor, but he was also a well-known submissive male who was involved with a lot of different events and people within the Atlanta community. The issue with him was that he’d managed to make a few enemies while in the business of kink-related event planning, including some who didn’t take too kindly to the type of services he had some of the men who were in his employ doing. The other issue was that he had a record; it wasn’t completely dirty, but it wasn’t completely clean, either.

  I picked the kink-related information up from Niki; I figured I’d get a more complete profile from Ramesses once I got back to the office. The other stuff I would be able to find out from the interrogation itself, but I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the way things were materializing. I still felt like something was amiss, but I wouldn’t be able to figure that out until I was able to witness what was taking place with the interrogation.

  I sat watching as Sharpe was in the interrogation room, already sizing him up, trying to get an idea of what angle to take before he put out the first question. The unfortunate part was he took the wrong angle from the first statement he made.

  “Look, I don’t know who managed to snitch, but obviously whoever it was, they were in the same area that I was when Kendyl took me home that night.”

  Sharpe tried to not sound too skeptical, but his voice gave him away and so did his line of questioning. “Okay, so let’s say I believe you for a moment, Mr. Taylor.”

  “Please, I hardly go by that name. Call me sirius.”

  “Like the satellite radio company, or like, ‘are you serious right now?’ ” Sharpe was stoic as he asked the question, but I found it hilarious. “I’m sure you’re serious; over the past year, I’ve been exposed to a lot within your community with the aliases and such.”

  sirius blinked a few moments like he was insulted. “Laugh all you want, detective, but that’s how we roll. We have to maintain a sense of anonymity for obvious reasons. Everybody knows what we do is still considered somewhat illegal, so, we do what we have to do to walk in both worlds. We don’t need people like you coming in and fucking things up for us professionally and personally because you simply don’t like the way we get down.”

  “And speaking of professions, how did you manage to get the sweet gig at the Ashtons’ estate? I’m sure it put you in close proximity to the victim, didn’t it?” Sharpe was on him in a flash, cutting down his “woe is me” sob story about being persecuted. “You know, seduced her with the whole, ‘come to the dark side, we have cookies,’ or some shit like that?”

  I took a moment to text Ramesses to give him the scene name that sirius gave up. Let me know if that name turns up anything.

  sirius was ready to melt down, which was exactly what Sharpe wanted him to do. I guessed he wasn’t too bright. “How dare you mock me? Just because you think you have me dead to rights for killing that ungrateful bitch doesn’t mean you have to insult my intelligence.”

  “Smug son of a bitch, ain’t he?” I quipped to Niki as we continued to observe behind the privacy glass. “I thought submissive males were supposed to be meek and mousy. Where did this dude come from?”

  Niki stifled a giggle, shaking her head at me. “Sir, i thought after everything You’d seen in the past year or so, You would have picked up on the nuances of submissives by now. You do remember tiger, right? Do You remember anything on him that sounded like he was meek and mousy?”

  She had a point, but my first impression of tiger wasn’t exactly under the best of circumstances, either. We were knee-deep in the middle of a serial rape case where he was one of the victims. It took a minute for him to come back out of his shell, but from what I was told, before the incident he was one of the more outrageous personalities in the Atlanta community.

  “Okay, you got Me, but this one seems a bit more self-righteous than most, don’t you think? Almost like he’s taking some sort of pride in what he did. That doesn’t sound right at all to me.” My analytical mind kicked in, moving past the lifestyle station and moving toward the supposed suspect. “I’m hoping Sharpe can get him to chat it up about how and where he did it, and where the body is now. Something doesn’t feel right, Niki; My gut tells Me he had something to do with what happened to her, but he doesn’t fit the profile of hard-core killer.”

  My attention was diverted when Sharpe asked the fifty-million-dollar question like he read my mind. “Okay, you haven’t exactly told me how you killed her, though. If you don’t want me to insult your intelligence, why don’t you let me know what went down, and we can talk to the DA’s office and get a little leniency on your time, perhaps?”

  sirius pa
used for a minute, trying to figure out what his next move would be. He looked toward the glass, almost like he knew there was someone observing him, and he shook his head in resignation. The façade was finally fading, giving way to a man who probably hadn’t done so much as picked up a few speeding tickets. “If I tell you where the body is, and I tell you how I did it, what will happen to me? Will I die? I don’t want to die; it was an accident, I swear.”

  I wanted to feel sorry for him, but until he actually stated what happened, I couldn’t be convinced that I needed to feel sorry for him. Niki stood next to me, nodding silently at my private musings, almost like she was coming to some of the same conclusions I was. Considering what had been placed out there for her consumption, she tapped on the glass to alert Sharpe to come out for a moment.

  Sharpe nodded at the tapping, turning his attention back to his suspect. “Before I see what my boss wants, tell us where the body is, and she’ll consider how to proceed from there.”

  sirius swallowed hard, realizing that his only bargaining chip might be his only chance at life. “I stashed her body in a car near the Emory Hospital emergency room last night. She was breathing when I took her there, but her pulse was weak and she had lost a lot of blood. I didn’t want to be accused of killing her. You have to believe me, she’s probably still there. If you hurry, you might be able to save her life.”

  Sharpe stood up from the table and headed out the door without a rebuttal. By the time he reached the observation area, Niki was on the phone with DeKalb County and I was chomping at the bit to get up out of there to see if what he was saying was actually true.

  Sharpe had the look of a man who felt like he shouldn’t be talking to sirius to begin with. He rubbed his hand over his face to try to reset his mindset before he turned to me. The question in his mind was hard and fast. “What do you think, Law? Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

  “I think someone put him up to this, that’s what I think. He couldn’t have done this; his rap sheet is muddy, but he isn’t a hardened criminal.” I didn’t want to play the “what if” game at the current moment. I was more interested in finding Kendyl and hopefully finding her alive, one way or another. “I’m convinced I know who put him up to it, too.”

  Niki ended her call, looking at us with widened eyes. “The information is solid; there was a Jane Doe that was found and brought in to the emergency room last night. There was no identification on her, but I think she might be the victim we’re looking for. Do you want to head up there and check it out? I can have one of the other detectives continue interrogating this witness while you figure out if that’s our victim.”

  She didn’t have to say another word.

  I rushed out the door and headed out of the precinct with Sharpe, hoping that the girl they found was the victim we were looking for, when I ran into someone I didn’t expect to be here under these circumstances. I wanted to remain professional, but considering I still believed he was the one who committed the crime to begin with, I didn’t hide my disdain for him. “Why are you down here, Segal? Are you preparing to make a statement for the police?”

  “Detective Law, fancy meeting you here. Actually, I’m here to give a positive identification of the suspect.” Kraven had the nerve to look like he was really there on business. I half-looked around, wondering why he wasn’t in custody or at least being escorted by officers or something. “I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear that someone had been implicated in this heinous crime.”

  The utter arrogance that covered his body language was enough to make me vomit. He was here to identify the suspect? I wanted to believe I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, but there was no escaping this and thinking it was a bad dream. I had to deal with the reality of the situation for now.

  “Wait a minute, what do you mean you’re here to identify the suspect? You weren’t the victim in this case; she can’t make that identification, and you’re not the next of kin. What bullshit are you pulling, man?”

  “I was called down here to make the ID.” Kraven tried to hide the smirk on his face, but Sharpe caught it, too. He put his hands up in a defensive posture, giving the impression that he wasn’t there to start a fight. “You might want to stop with the harassment while you’re at it, Law; I wouldn’t want to have charges pressed against you, nor would I want to have an order of protection served, either.”

  Every fiber of my being wanted to commit the act that warranted the order of protection. I wanted to break his jaw; it would keep him from running his mouth for a few weeks and I would feel a helluva lot better for it, but it wouldn’t be worth the hassle of being charged with battery and having to go to court over it. He’d play it up and make it seem like I was trying to kill him. No matter how much I felt the world would be better off for it, I had to keep my head.

  “I’m absolutely convinced you had something to do with her murder, and I’m gonna be there when you’re arrested and charged.” I needed out of his space as soon as possible or else I was going to regret it, but not before I gave a warning that let him know that I would definitely be on his ass. “You might not want to leave town, Sir. I might have some questions for you.”

  “Law, listen, we don’t have time for this. We have to see about that lead we have, remember?” Sharpe managed to get my attention and readjust my focus. “We can deal with Mr. Segal later.”

  As he pulled me toward his car, I maintained eye contact with Kraven, watching the smirk on his face and wanting to wipe it off as quickly as I could. My anger rose to the surface, but I did my best to sound as nonchalant about it as I could. “I’ll be seeing you very soon, Segal. You can bet on that.”

  “I’m looking forward to your follow-up questions, detective.” Kraven nodded as he headed inside. “Who knows, I might even be cooperative this time around and have my girlfriend serve us some tea.”

  I decided against hurling a snappy comeback to his last statement. I wanted to save that for when I watched Sharpe slap the cuffs on him personally and read him his rights. The way I figured it, that time was coming, and sooner than he thought.

  FOURTEEN

  “Yes, ma’am, we’re here about the Jane Doe you’re administering services to. We have reason to believe she was the victim of an assault, and we need to identify her, based on the picture that my associate has in his possession.”

  The nursing staff as a whole congregated around us like we were the security detail for a celebrity or something. Okay, it might have had something to do with the fact that we were dressed in suits and possessed a gait that gave the situation a heightened sense of importance, I’d admit that much. Given the seriousness of the situation, and the stress on my mind over getting this part of the case resolved as soon as humanly possible, there might have been some truth to their need to see what all the fuss was about.

  I wasn’t in the mood to worry about them gawking at me and Sharpe like we were the next big things on the menu; all I wanted was to make sure Kendyl was safe and sound. Nothing else mattered at that moment; the moments afterward, however, were an entirely different matter. My only problem was that Sharpe was on the hunt on more than a few levels, but as long as he didn’t take up too much time getting some while handling his professional duties, I could begrudge him some time to get that done.

  On the real, though, some of them had body, that’s for damn sure. If I wasn’t the reformed man that I was now, I’d be acting a severe fool up in here!

  One of the nurses, a young and tender who looked like she was fresh out of college, was the first to speak up, once she saw the picture I gave her. “Yes, officers, she’s in ICU; one of the Emory University officers discovered her body in a car last night. When we couldn’t find any identification on her, we called DeKalb. I guess they got in touch with you at that point.”

  “Could you show us where she is, Miss?” I did my best to try not to sound too overzealous, but I didn’t have time to play the small talk game right now. “She has parents that are wo
rried sick about her, and this would be news that I know they would be grateful to hear.”

  She nodded, holding her hand up to acknowledge the immediacy of the moment. “My name is Kim, and yes, I’ll be happy to take you wherever you need to go.”

  The frustrated sighs of the other nurses was comical; closed mouths never got fed, and to watch them giving the evil eye toward Kim was nothing short of shade that was born from utter desperation from the lack of choices of eligible bachelors in this city. Hell, I couldn’t blame them; Sharpe probably felt like he was at a buffet in one of the Vegas hotels, and from the looks of the women, there definitely wasn’t a bad choice to make among them.

  I saw a couple of them try to move in our direction, looking like they were going to accompany Kim in her escorting us to where Kendyl was located, but for some odd and unknown reason, they stopped in their tracks and went about their usual duties. One look from her stopped a few of them cold; I found that curious, but I was going to leave it alone for now, unless it became relevant in the near future.

  We headed up a couple of floors to the intensive care unit, and once I showed the picture to the charge nurse on the floor, she immediately recognized the picture and breathed a sigh of relief. “God, I was hoping someone would come to claim her. The poor girl; she’s been through a lot the past thirty-six hours. I can only imagine what happened to her before we brought her back to life.”

  Back to life? That bit of information was more than I could take. Now I really needed to see about her, at least know that she was recovering. “Can we see her, please, ma’am? This is a police matter, and we would at least like to know what her current condition is.”

  The nurse looked at Kim for a moment, nodding once Kim gave a nod to let her know we were legit. She sighed for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain the situation without getting too emotional. Once she composed herself, she began to recount what she’d witnessed over the past twenty-four hours. “Well, officer, she suffered massive blunt force trauma to her chest and head; we were able to stabilize her, but the doctors had to induce a coma so we could monitor her brain activity to make sure she wasn’t in a vegetative state.”