Tainted Pictures (6 page)

           “I think it’s a pretty good possibility but we are going to need some serious evidence.  We are not getting a confession out of him easily.  Even with his temper.  He has been through a trial and jail once, never confessing to what he did.  We need to come prepared with an airtight case.”  McCraig told her, then headed back toward the interrogation room to lead their suspect out and collect the information he had written down.  

Snow stood there a bit longer, pondering what her partner had said.  She knew he was right but something still wasn’t sitting well with her with this entire case.  She couldn’t pin point it, but something was missing from the story.  

~~~~

           Kate was pushing papers and miscellaneous items into her purse at the end of a long first day back at work, leaning down with her head almost beneath her desk to reach her purse on the floor.  As she fumbled through it, she saw a streak of white that caught her eye.  She recognized it before she even looked at it fully, gingerly grabbing the edge with two fingers and sliding it out of her purse.  She must have stared at it over a hundred times by now.

           Still hidden beneath her desk, she stared at that small photograph she couldn’t seem to part with.  It was the instant kind of photograph, no bigger than her hand and her own image stared back at her from beneath the cold glare on the glossy paper.  Her attacker had taken this photograph and left it for her just moments after he hurt her.  She was barely clothed and what few remnants were left on her were torn and bloody.  Her face was unrecognizable, swollen and cut up.    

           Hints of this girl still peered back at her in the mirror even though Kate did her best to hide her behind concealer and face powder.  But would she ever really be able to hide these scars?  Physically they would heal, but internally Kate felt the lacerations ran deeper than any stitches could repair.  

           “Ready to go?” A deep voice behind Kate broke out of the silence and the grasp her memories had on her.  Startled, she jumped up from her position leaning down underneath her desk.  This resulted in her slamming the back of her head right into the bottom of her desk, creating a resounding thud that echoed in her ears as she felt like her brain was bouncing around in her skull.  

           “Lord, Kate, are you okay?”  Lenny was the owner of the voice behind her as he walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.  She was sitting up in her office chair now, rubbing her head to dull the pain.  

           “Oh gosh, yeah.  That was embarrassing.” Kate grinned as she looked up at her uncle, still rubbing her head.

           “No, it’s my fault.  I’m so light on my feet, like a young dancer in my prime.” Lenny smiled at her, joking since he was probably the weight of ten young dancers combined.  Kate burst out laughing.  She loved that her uncle was always able to make any situation better, she couldn’t be anything but joyful around him.

           “Ready for dinner?”  Lenny asked her again, pulling his coat on.  Kate stood up and did the same, picking up her purse.  The two had planned earlier to do dinner tonight since she hadn’t seen him in two weeks.  Plus Kate never turned down a free dinner from her uncle, he always took her to places way outside what she could afford.

~~~~

           Kate kissed her uncle goodbye on the cheek outside of a steakhouse right outside Chinatown in Washington, DC.  She was full and happy, having just spent several hours laughing and reminiscing with her Uncle Lenny over some delicious wine, steaks, and desserts.  The duo parted on the sidewalk and Kate headed down to the metro stop a block south of her.  

           She yawned while she went and sat on the stone benches underground between the tracks, staring at the metro screen announcing that the next train would not be arriving for another 14 minutes.  She looked around at the other people on the platform, which was only three strangers picking spots as far from one another as possible.  One young man was leaning against a column while flipping through his phone, engrossed in the mini screen and ignoring everything else around him.  She wondered if he would even notice if the train was arriving.  

           There was an older woman in a hotel maid’s uniform and orthopedic shoes who looked like life had worked her much harder than it had ever rewarded her.  A little past her was a university student sporting her collegiate sweatpants, sweatshirt, and even shoes proudly while reading a small book that she was almost done with.  Kate sighed and stared back at the screen above her head.  She was down to 7 minutes now.  

           Kate pulled her purse onto her lap and rifled through it, trying to pass the time.  She pulled out her phone and looked at her messages, realizing that she had missed a phone call.  Derrick’s name popped onto the screen with a short message.

           Missing you.

           
Short, sweet, and to the point like Derrick always was.  He knew how to melt her heart with something as small as two words.  She couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she read it and felt herself sigh.  It was nice feeling those warm and fuzzy feelings of love again and everything about picturing Derrick was very, very warm.

           Kate suddenly stood up and slipped her purse back up over her shoulder and headed towards the escalator and up, out of the metro station.  She turned down the sidewalk and headed towards Derrick’s apartment.  The thought of going home to her empty apartment was much less appealing than going to see Derrick and wrapping herself up in his thick, strong arms.  

           Home was lonely and cold, full of memories she was desperately trying to push far away.  Derrick’s apartment only had memories of laughter, kisses, and curling toes in warm, twisted sheets.  Those sheets, those arms, and that boyish grin is where she needed to be tonight.  

CHAPTER FIVE

           “Kate?”  A crackling voice broke through the receiver as Derrick held the phone up to his ear.  

           “No, this is Derrick.  She is in the shower.  Did you find something new, Detective?”  Derrick had answered Kate’s phone as soon as he saw Detective Snow’s name pop up on the screen.  

           Kate had surprised him by coming over late last night and Derrick couldn’t have been more pleased.  They had definitely not slept as much as they should have, considering that they both had to be at work this morning but it didn’t seem to matter to them during the night.  

           All that mattered to Derrick was that Kate had forgiven him and she was where she belonged- back in his life, back in his arms, and back in his bed.  Nothing further had happened between them because Kate wasn’t ready for that still.  Just the sensation of being held by him and feeling his warm protective arms around her was what she needed.

           “Oh, hello Derrick.  This is Detective Snow from the precinct.  I wanted to talk to Kate about a development in the case.  I am at her apartment but she didn’t answer the door.”  Liz Snow told him.

           “Oh, she is over at my apartment.  She won’t leave for work for at least another hour so come on by!”  Derrick told her excitedly and then recited his address to her.  He was eager to hear any good news about the case.  Derrick knew that he had failed Kate, and not just a small fail but an epic level of failure, betrayal, and abandonment.  The guilt plagued him every moment of the last two weeks and even though Kate had finally forgiven him, Derrick was nowhere near forgiving himself.

           Derrick got out of bed, pulling his boxers on from where they had been tossed off the bed and onto the floor.  He grabbed a t-shirt that was over the back of a chair and yanked it on, barely covering up his intense six-pack abs that still held their sculpted look even through the fabric.  He looked towards the bathroom door and considered if Kate would be okay with him just giving out her location to the detective.  He was pretty sure that she wanted the case solved as much as he did, so he hoped she wouldn’t be upset about it.

           He needed some fresh air and was lucky enough that his apartment had a nice balcony where he had some lounge chairs set up.  He grabbed himself some coffee out of the kitchen that had been set to automatically brew for the morning.  The weather was a bit warm as he stepped outside onto the concrete balcony and looked around him.  He loved his balcony, his own space outdoors, but the view was dismal.  If he looked to his right, there was his bedroom window and if he looked to his left, there was the kitchen window.  

           Straight ahead of him was the balcony jutting off the building across the alley from him.  No one had lived in that apartment for a while which he was glad about because they could practically reach across and touch his railing if they really wanted to, not to mention the front row view into his windows.  The last tenant who had lived there was a bunch of frat boys who were always smoking on the balcony and playing loud music into the night.  He had been really glad to get rid of that noise and that smell when they moved out a few months ago.

           Derrick sniffed the air and crunched up his eyebrows.  He smelled cigarette smoke but was wondering if he was imagining it since he had just been thinking of the previous tenants.  Derrick walked to the edge of his balcony and looked across.  The empty balcony across from him was no longer entirely empty.  In one corner was a Styrofoam cup that was overflowing with cigarettes being snuffed out in the black, tobacco water filling the cup.  One of the cigarettes on top that had clearly just been put there was still smoking, a telling thin line of gray smoke wafting up above it towards the sky.  

           Derrick squinted to look into the apartment and saw that it was still void of any furniture or signs of life.  Yet, here was freshly smoked cigarettes out on the balcony.  Derrick suddenly sucked in his breath as he flashed back to a memory from a few days ago.  He had been at Kate’s apartment and woken up, startled, with the feeling that someone was in her apartment.  When he had gotten up to investigate, he found no one but he did find a lit cigarette on the fire escape railing.  The bright orange glow in the black night warning him that his instinct had been right, someone had been outside Kate’s apartment in the middle of the night.  Is it possible that someone had done the same thing here?  

           Derrick quickly turned around and went inside, bolting the balcony door behind him and wedging a wooden stick into the side of it as well for extra security.  He felt chills running up and down his spine and he hurried back into the bedroom to find Kate.  He rushed into the bedroom and almost collided with Kate, wrapped in a towel and brushing her hair.  She looked at him, surprised.

           “Are you okay?”  She asked him, sensing something was wrong from the twisted look on his face.

           “Uh, Kate, I think...” Derrick started to say and then he saw Kate tense up.  He felt a stab of guilt hit him again, knowing that she was afraid of what he was going to say.  He knew that she was still afraid that he was going to leave and every time he opened his mouth, he knew she was waiting to hear the words she dreaded.  Derrick made a quick decision, Kate had been through enough.  She didn’t need to worry about this phantom cigarette smoker.  He wasn’t even sure that the two events were connected or if he was reading into trivial things that Kate didn’t need to worry about.

           “...no, it’s nothing bad.  I was just going to say that Detective Snow called.  She is coming over here to tell you some news in the case, it sounded good.  She should be here soon.”  Derrick told her and went to go sit on the bed.

           “Oh, that’s it?  Jeez, your face looked like you had seen a ghost or something.”  Kate sighed in relief, then continued to brush her hair and fluffing it out.  

           “Sorry, didn’t mean to do that.”  Derrick grinned at her, giving her that boyish smile that she couldn’t help but smile back at.  She turned towards him and walked over to him, straddling his lap where he sat on the edge of the bed.  She kissed him lightly first on his forehead, then on his cheeks, then on the tip of his nose, and finally reaching his lips.  He wrapped his broad arms around her back and her towel fell to her waist.  

           Their lips tangled around one another and began to heat up as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself tighter against him.  Her bare chest pressed into his t-shirt as his hands ran up and down her back, cherishing her warm and damp skin.  She flinched a moment or two when he made contact with a bruise but pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she concentrated on his firm lips pressed against hers.  

           Derrick stood up, her legs wrapping around his waist, and turned around to face the bed.  He climbed deeper into the bed laying her down on it and she relaxed onto the plush covers, smiling back at him.  He wasn’t giving her a boyish grin anymore, instead his eyes were smoldering and he was biting his lip as he attempted to slow himself down and remind himself of her limitations.  

           He kissed her lips again, then moved to her cheek, down to her jaw, below her ear, and then trailing further down her neck.  He paused in the dip of her clavicle at the base of her neck and kissed it gently.  She shivered beneath him as she felt her skin tingling with the sensation of his unshaven face scratching softly against her smooth skin.  She felt her breath quickening and her heart threatening to slip right out of her chest and it began to frighten her.  She felt Derrick kissing  her breast softly, then her stomach, and soon he was kissing her thighs.  

           Kate jolted up in the bed, panicking and forgetting where she was.  "Derrick was startled and looked up at her in confusion."  All Kate could see was her attacker biting her thigh.  The blood trickling down her legs.  The pain shooting through her limbs.  The humiliation of being invaded.  She was watching it all happen in front of her eyes, as if she were experiencing it again.