Lana woke to a faint sound of splashing water and teeth being brushed. Glancing at the clock, it read three-thirty. She rolled over and saw a shadow through the crack of the bathroom door. She noticed he tried to be quiet as he got ready for bed. She pulled the covers back for him, so all he had to do was crawl in and snuggle. Within a few seconds, she went back to sleep.
Once he turned off the light, an immediate beam glowed through the crack of the drapes.
The guys left the back porch light on, and it guided Mike to bed. The dense coolness of the room surprised him. Whenever he stayed at the beach house, he always left the bedroom door open.
With the door shut, the room didn't get much heat. He tried to make a mental note to remember to check on the vents tomorrow and make sure they were opened fully. He knew their snuggling would create enough body heat to keep them warm for one night.
As he crawled in bed, Lana moaned a sleepy sigh and asked Mike a question, "Did the computer run to town?"
"What?" He pulled back and looked at her with surprise. She was sound asleep. Someone talks in her sleep. He pulled her close and made sure he didn't touch her with his icy feet, nor did he touch her bruised forehead.
*****
It wasn't even daylight when one of the agents knocked on the bedroom door.
"What do you need?" Mike yelled without moving one muscle. He was exhausted after only a couple of hours of sleep.
His mouth was near her ear, and his voice seemed louder than normal.
"I don't want to get up," he whispered.
Joe stood at the door. "Sorry to bother you sir, I just wanted to let you know Detective Quentin is here and wants to see you."
"I'll be out in a minute." Mike pulled Lana closer and kissed her on the shoulder.
"Yes sir," answered Joe.
"As much as I want to snuggle, I've got to get busy. But, you sleep in and come out whenever you want." He sat on the edge of the bed for a few seconds then gathered enough energy to walk to the bathroom. He didn't turn on any lights until he shut the bathroom door.
She rolled over to where Mike had been sleeping and tried to doze off while snuggling with his pillow. She could smell the faint hint of his cologne.
Quent was hanging his coat in the front closet as Mike walked in the living room. "Hey Mike, I'm sorry to bother you so early, but I thought you would want to know what we found at the Borders' house and in the Explorer." Quent noticed Mike looked tired with dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. He always looked professional, but today he had on workout pants and a T-shirt. He wasn't going to the office, so he might as well be comfortable. He thought the stress was getting to Mike a little bit. After working together for several years, Quent knew he could go days without sleep.
He scanned the room and saw all the boards set up with posted pictures, timelines, and a blank spot for blood types and DNA. In the far left corner, a computer was set up with a printer.
The marshals were always prepared and ready to go.
"I hope you have good news." Mike extended his arm to persuade Quent to move to the living room to sit.
Quent reached in his shirt pocket and grabbed the notebook where he had written his notes.
He also grabbed a couple of Tums. When he stayed up all night, his stomach produced excess acid and he had to sit up to sleep. Six anti-acids tablets every morning did the trick. "We did find some hair evidence in the Explorer and at the Borders's home. We know Mrs. Borders bit the perp. The coroner found blood around her mouth and couldn't find any other source of the blood.
He also said they have been dead about a week. The crime scene investigators left the house a few minutes ago. Hopefully we'll know all the blood types within the hour."
"Lana has been here a week, do you think that's a coincident?" Mike asked.
"Maybe, but I don't think so. We need to check everyone's blood type, to rule them out or make them a suspect. And Mike, I have to be honest, the three clowns' alibis are panning out, at least so far. They were not even in this part of the country last week. They have family in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and their phone records and gas receipts prove they were there. All we're waiting for is the video from some of the gas stations they say they stopped at. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I don't think they killed Johnson either. He's been dead at least three days, and I think they were truthful when they said they stole the truck and cell phone. The cell phone number is the one that's on the internet. The only crimes they are guilty of so far are burglary, attempted rape and grand theft auto. I can assure you, the DA will not charge them on the attempted rape because Lana never entered the house. Although they admitted they were there to rape her, they never laid a hand on her."
"That doesn't surprise me, and you found Johnson?" Mike stayed busy writing notes.
"Yes, we found his body just down the road, and it looks like he leaned against a tree and died. His body is at the medical examiner now. I'll let you know the results. We know he died way after the Borders because his daughter last talked to him four days ago."
"Do you think he died of natural causes?"
"Any other time I would say yes, but with everything else going on, I think he was murdered, but I hope I'm wrong."
"It does seem too coincidental. I guess the next step is to turn the case over to the feds."
Mike was ready to hit this case head-on because there were high stakes in this crime. Although, he wanted to wait for Quent to hand the case over to him, so he didn't step on any toes. He had a strong working relationship with Quent and didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that.
"Well Mike, I can't tie the three suspects to any of these crimes, but I'll have the lab keep working on it. Give me through the morning and I'll be glad to hand it to you. I have to make sure everything is in order for my captain."
"I understand how the chain of command works. When do you think the blood type results will be finished?"
"I'm hoping within the hour or so. They've been running samples all night. I told them not to call me until they have all the samples checked. We had over two hundred, so it will take a little while. I don't want them to come in bits and pieces."
"Thanks for doing that. I guess we'll wait for those. How about I buy you a cup of coffee?"
"You're on, and then I'm heading home, it has been a long night. Maybe the results of the blood types will be in before I leave."
Mike patted Quent on the shoulder, and they walked into the kitchen. Quent would have made a top notch federal agent. He always thought three steps ahead. Most importantly he was an honest man. Many cops would have thrown the book at these three clowns and be done with it, but Quent always wanted the truth. His looks did fit the typical cop stereotype. He was extremely overweight—some might say obese. He had the military hair cut that was so short it looked like he was bald on the top of his head. Some women might find him attractive, but most probably would not. Mike commented to Quent many times that he married one of the nicest women in the county. She stood by her husband when he almost died from a staph infection a few years ago. For years, she had been strongly involved in all the police functions and fundraisers like crime stoppers. Between the two of them, they had seven children: two each from previous marriages and three together. What Mike liked best about Quent was his virtuous honesty. Mike would have been proud to have this fine cop on his team. "So Quent, how do you like your coffee?" Mike reached in the cabinet and pulled out two mugs.
"Black," answered Quent.
"That's how I like it too." He poured two mugs of steaming hot coffee and put the plate of pastries on the bar so they both could reach them.
Quent eyed the several varieties and picked the raspberry, he reckoned it was the sweetest. "I see you guys started your investigation," he said between sips of hot coffee and bites of donut.
Mike noticed powdered sugar around his mouth and handed him a paper towel; Quent took the hint and wiped his mouth. "Well, after getting your news this morning, we will be starting from scratch. We were leaning toward the three guys. But after your information, we'll have to develop more theories." Mike reached in the fridge for some French vanilla cream. It was pretty good stuff, and he wanted something sweet besides a pastry.
While blowing on his coffee Quent said, "You are not starting from scratch. You know these three aren't suspects anymore. There will be no need to waste your time on these petty criminals." When he saw the creamer, he reached his mug out.
"Eliminating them does help us, and we can thank you for that." Mike didn't want to tell this to Quent, but he would have their lab double-check all the results. It wasn't a federal law enforcement policy to do that—it was Mike's policy. The state had made errors in past cases. The feds insisted on double-checking the lab work, especially when there were three murders involved.
"That's my job, and you've helped me out plenty of times on past cases. Remember that little girl rape case several years back. You had your lab process the work three times faster than ours, and you help save another girl from being raped."
He knew that he would never forget that case. A pedophile with a life sentence escaped a mental hospital in Portland Oregon. DNA was fairly new, and the state lab required several weeks for the results to come back. Mike pulled favors at the FBI and got the results in several days. Then the FBI ran the results through the database and got a hit in a matter of minutes. They were shocked the man got all the way to Plymouth without being detected. They ran a check and found three other little girls had been raped on his route across the country. They literally captured him seconds before he abducted another child. "I was more than glad to help. I just wish all local and federal levels worked together as well as you and I."
Their conversation was interrupted by Quent's phone. He reached into his pocket for his pen and pad so he could take notes. "It's the lab, maybe it's the results. Quent speaking … yeah …
great job … thanks for putting a rush on this, I know Mike will appreciate it … keep me informed." He wrote down the information before continuing, "Well, we've got good news and bad news."
"I'm ready. What did they find?" Mike listened intently.
"The blood on Ms. Borders's mouth is male B-, and that's the good news, we've got a blood type. The lab wasn't sure they could get anything since it was a small sample and the killer poured bleach on her mouth." Mike turned pale but didn't have to ask. Quent answered Mike's questioning face. "She was already dead when he poured the bleach." They both had been in law enforcement long enough to hope the victims suffered as little abuse as possible.
Mike let out a sigh. These people were not just victims, they were his neighbors. "I think I already know the bad. It doesn't match any of the three suspects."
"That's not the only bad news."
Raymond walked in to get some coffee and knew he should listen.
Then Quent continued glancing back and forth between the two. "The sperm found on the outside wall is AB+, and all the suspects in jail are O+."
Raymond stopped in his tracks and looked at both Mike and Quent. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" For the moment, Raymond put off getting coffee. This information was far more important than a cup of coffee, even at this early hour of the morning.
Quent looked at both Mike and Raymond. "Yep, there are two different unknown suspects.
And the lab eliminated the husband. I'm guessing there were two involved with the Borders murder. If I were a betting man, I would bet the killers saw someone over here, and I'm thinking they did all this to scare you. I think you need to check out the Borders. My hunch is the killers knew them."
Mike was shocked and relieved at the same time. Maybe Quent was right, this had nothing to do with him or Lana.
Quent added, "I just can't imagine the Borders killing had anything to do with Lana, but in this job anything is possible. I'm going to head out. I'll think about it later, once my brain gets some sleep. Good luck guys. Let me know if I can help in any way." He left the number of the lab in case they needed it. He also tore off the page where he wrote down the blood types as he walked out the door.
"Raymond."
"Yes sir."
"We're not going to wait for the captain's approval. Let's quietly start the investigation. Did we send samples of the blood and sperm to Sara?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, have her start processing everything."
"Yes sir."