Guarding Light (21 page)

****

   She really did need to stop in the ladies' room. She quickly freshened up before tracking down Detective Rider.

   She found him in the detectives' squad room. He and Detective Anderson were deep in conversation when she approached their desks in a corner.

   They both stopped talking, acknowledging her presence with a smile and a nod. Rider's smile was weak as though it hurt him to do so.

   "Detective Rider, I wondered if I may have a moment of your time."

   He closed the folder on his desk and turned off his computer. "Sure, I was just going to go get some coffee."

   He stood and indicated with a wave of his hand that Catlyn should preceed him into the break room.

   They were alone in the room. Making a quick cup for himself after Catlyn turned one down. He sat and said in a sad voice. "You want to know about Tawny?"

   "Yes. I am sorry to bring up painful memories but I really need to know about the case."

   He sighed. "There really isn't anything more I can say other than what is already in the case file. Tawny and I were newly engaged. She was dating me and some other guy. I told her I was in love with her and she needed to make a decision because I was not going to stand around why she waffled between me and this other guy. She asked me if she could just have a few more dates with the other guy."

   Rider stared into his coffee cup as though the answers to the universe were in the dark depths. "And, like the love-sick chump I was, I said yes. She dated him a few more times and then after a month of waiting she came to me and told me that she made her decision. That she loved me and knew that I was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. We made love for the first time that night." Tears came to Rider's eyes. "She was a virgin. I remember how thrilled I was. I felt that she really loved me because although she dated the other guy she saved herself for me. The next day I bought her ring at the jewelers in the Newburgh Mall." Rider got a far off look. "And then just three days later my world ended." He bowed his head and wiped tears. "While I was volunteering a 16 hour shift of overtime for a buddy that wanted to spend time with his pregnant wife, my fiancée was being brutally raped and murdered."

   Catlyn listened to his words, analyzing them. "You were a cop back then?"

   He nodded, taking a sip of coffee. "Fresh out of the academy, full of piss and vinegar, I knew I was going to save the world." His gave a rough laugh dripping with sarcasm. "Yeah, right, I couldn't even save my fiancée."

   Sympathizing with Rider, she gently cupped his free hand. "I am so sorry for your loss." He looked into her eyes and then quickly away. "It hurts to look at you. She would have been about your age if she lived."

   Catlyn didn't know what to say to that so she just squeezed his hand before releasing it. "You've never gotten married detective?"

   He shook his head. "I was meant to be Tawny's husband. I won't marry."

   Catlyn was dismayed at his conviction. "I am sure one day you will meet someone. It will happen when you least expect it." She gave him a small smile. "Trust me, I know. I didn't think I would ever be in a relationship. But then wham!"

Rider scrutinized her, "The Chief?"

   Smiling shyly she said, "Mmm, yes the Chief." She blushed at her girlish tone.

   Rider laughed, looking younger and not so sad. "It's about time he found his lady. He deserves it. He's a pretty cool chief to have. He's not some power-hungry prick."

   She nodded. "He's always been one of the good guys."

   Rider laughed. "I want to apologize for skipping out at the bar and grill last night. I saw your face and I couldn't stay in that confined space. I just want you to know that it won't happen again. I got your back. Something like last night will NOT happen again."

   She frowned, recalling that only Detective Anderson had responded when the mugger had attacked her. "No problem. I was covered."

   "That is why I felt ok leaving you. But, I want you to know it won't happen again." At his emphatic insistence, Catlyn smiled and thanked him.

   She stood to leave, but at the door she turned with one more question. "One last thing, the other guy Tawny was dating, was he white?"

   Rider nodded. "How did you know that?"

   She shook her head and thanked the detective again. She hurriedly made her way back to Jack's office. She was brought up short by Tasha. "The Chief is in a meeting. You will have to wait or come back."

   Rolling her eyes she asked with a saccharine sweet voice. "Can you direct me to the cold case archives?"

   Tasha stood and said barely under her breath. "I'll direct you alright." Then affixing a smile just as false as Catlyn's on her face she said aloud, "Right this way." Tasha grabbed an access card from a lock box in her desk before leading the way out of the office to the bank of elevators.

   "Here." She handed Catlyn the access card. "Take this elevator to LL2, make a right off the elevator car and follow that hall to the end and make a left, you'll see the double doors for the archives."

   Tasha turned to head back to her office before Catlyn could thank her. Catlyn wasn't sure why Tasha was giving her the 'treatment' but she didn't have time to figure it out now.

   She quickly made her way to the archives. When she used her access card to enter the key-padded doors another security measure was in place. Immediately inside the doors was a desk with an employee seated behind it working on a computer. When she saw Catlyn she looked up with a friendly smile.

   "Let me guess, FBI, Special Agent Lyte?"

   Catlyn nodded her affirmation. "That is correct."

   The perky woman smiled broadly. "Your colleagues are already knee deep in a cold case. They asked me to direct you to them."

   The tiny red-head stood and waved a hand towards an archway. "Right this way, please."

   Catlyn followed her deep into the center of the mazelike shelves and aisles. She found her colleagues seated at a table with two boxes of evidence. They each had a piece of information or evidence.

   Catlyn thanked the employee and greeted her co-workers. "Hey, find anything?"

   Sanchez looked up. "Nothing new, it reads just like the others. Except, I don't think Tawny was the original target. Although, I believe she was the first victim our UNSUB used as a replacement for the original target."

   "Why do you say that?" Catlyn asked, reaching for a pad with 'lead detective notes' scrawled across the front. She sat, in the only chair left, opening to the first page.

   "Well, because she was blitz attacked, she fought from the very second she encountered this guy. She wouldn't have done that if she knew him. And he wouldn't have blitzed her if he knew her. He would have charmed her to a dark place."

   "Good point." Catlyn agreed as she started to read the lead detective notes from many years ago.

   Sharonda added her piece. "I agree that she didn't know him. I think she triggered him though, not sure how. Her finance was black."

   Catlyn looked up at that and said, "Detective Rider tells me that Tawny was torn between him and another man and asked Rider if she could date the other guy for a little bit before she chose. Guess what race the other guy was?"

   "Unbelievable! This case is a lot older than 18 months." Sharonda added frustratingly.

   "And the reason our preliminary search didn't yield any matching M.O.s is because we only went back 15 years, this case is 18 years old and I imagine whatever caused our UNSUB to break from reality is an even older trauma. Also, why was he dormant for so many years? Something triggered him all those years ago with Tawny and something triggered this string of murders now." Catlyn slammed down the notes she was reading, unclipping her cell from her waist she dialed a familiar number.

   The other three stopped what they were doing, watching Catlyn curiously. "Who are you calling?" Sanchez asked the question they all wanted to know.

   Catlyn held up a finger as her call was connected. Standing, she walked a few paces away from the table. "Hey, Mackenzie, I got something for you. It's nothing too big but it's the Slasher case in Newburgh, NY." Catlyn smiled, ignoring her co-workers emphatic shakes of their heads. "Yes, I need any information on seemingly matching cases as old as 50 years old." Catlyn listened and then laughed. "Yeah, I know but when I thought of the challenge I thought immediately of you." Catlyn gave one more laugh and then hung up and turned to face her frowning friends.

   "Cat, why in the hell would you call that whack-job onto our case?" Sanchez shook his head.

   Catlyn took immediate offense to Sanchez's description of S.S.A Mackenzie. "You are only calling her a whack-job because she turned you down for a date."

   Sanchez stood up and faced off with Catlyn. "I am calling her a whack-job because she jumped off a balcony…"

   "To catch and save a child who was thrown from the balcony above hers. They landed safely in a pool."

   "She took on five white supremacist members in a brutal showdown solo."

   "To find the location of 4 missing young black girls' bodies and save two others."

   "She stepped in front of a bank robber's knife, getting stabbed, losing crazy amounts of blood and almost died."

   "To save the pregnant woman who the knife was meant for and even though she had a critical wound she still took down the robber before passing out."

   "She almost got ganged raped by bikers and is currently riding a desk because her immediate supervisor doesn't think she is ready for the field."

   "Well she wasn't raped and she helped shutdown a major drug trafficking ring. And, who said anything about the field? I asked her to find a cold case using the FBI databases. They're more extensive than anything they have here. And we are too busy trying to catch a killer to wade through that kind of paperwork."

   Sanchez seemed at a loss. Giving Catlyn one last shake of his head before sitting back down. "It's still a bad idea to bring the 'Robot' in on this."

   Sharonda and Jabaria both winced at yet another nick-name used for Mackenzie.

   Catlyn looked down on her partner, not liking what she saw for the first time. "Whack-job, Robot, Ice-in-her-veins, oh, and my personal favorite Death Wish, you guys have no business calling her those stupid names. She is a highly decorated agent and deserves our utmost respect."

   Sanchez loudly slammed down an evidence log and looked up at Catlyn. "She is also a highly reprimanded agent and you know damn well she isn't going to stick to her desk now. The minute, no, the second she finds something even remotely possibly connected to our case, she will be here in Newburgh."

   Sanchez glanced at his watch, finishing with sarcasm. "I give it 24 hours and she'll be here with her nose in our case, putting herself in danger." Sanchez stood and started to walk away but angrily turned back towards Catlyn. "Did you even think for two seconds that S.S.A. Mackenzie is also an unbelievably good match to the Slasher's victims?"

   "I'm sorry, Sanchez, I didn't think." Catlyn was contrite

   Sanchez gave her another disappointed shake of his head, turned and left, giving the parting shot, "That's right, you didn't think and neither does she when it comes to her own safety."

   The three remaining agents all looked at one another. Jabaria was the first to speak. "He's upset right now. He really likes Supervisory Special Agent Mackenzie."

   Sighing, Catlyn took the seat Sanchez vacated. "I know. He has asked her out on a date about a million times and Mackenzie has said no."

   Sharonda piped up, "She has said no to everyone who has asked her out, even the women who asked."

   Catlyn's eyebrows rose. "You think Agent Mackenzie is gay?"

   Sharonda shook her head. "I've never thought about it as it isn't my business. I've just noticed that she turned down all comers, regardless of race, creed, color or gender."

   "Maybe she doesn't believe in dating in the work place." Jabaria suggested.

   Catlyn shrugged. "It doesn't matter her sexual orientation. She is one of the best damn agents I have ever seen. She has a closed case ratio most agents dream about. She has a perfect score in Hogan's Alley. I mean, who gets a perfect score?"

   "Yeah, she is pretty cool, even though she doesn't talk much." Jabaria smiled.

   "She talks."

   "Well maybe she talks to you Supervisory Special Agent Catlyn Lyte of the HCD. But, she definitely does not talk to probationary agents like me."

   "Nothing wrong with being quiet, you can observe more that way." Sharonda defended Mackenzie.

   "Well, I don't like upsetting Sanchez but Mackenzie will get the job done and I do believe she will get it done under 24 hours. She has been at that desk of hers for over 2 weeks. I know she is going nuts."

   "I don't mind. I am sorry S.S.A. Sanchez is pissed but I like the idea of S.S.A. Mackenzie being here."

   Catlyn smiled at Sharonda's agreement. "Thanks. I think I am going to sign the case files out and study them before I have to be at the bar and grill."

   "Do you want us to take a box?" Sharonda asked, while packing the two boxes as they were originally.

   "Yes, that would be great. I want the lead detective's notebook though."

   Catlyn signed for the case files after they were inventoried and logged as 'out'. Sharonda and Jabaria took the boxes, stating they would drop the box for Catlyn off in her apartment. They each had keys to the other's apartment. Catlyn thanked the agents and went in search of Sanchez.

   She found him in Tasha's office, laughing and smiling when she walked in, frowning as soon as he saw her.

   Sighing, she ignored her partner's attitude and handed Tasha the access card for the archives. "Thank you Tasha. Is it possible for me to see the chief now?"

   Without answering, Tasha reached over and clicked a button and spoke into her phone. "S.S.A Lyte is here to see you."

   Catlyn didn't hear Jack's reply but Tasha nodded and pointed to the door of his office. Taking that as consent she passed Sanchez.