Secrets Of The Guilty [Nanowrimo 2019]

THIRTY

As she made her way out of the City Morgue – she flashed her visitor's badge at the waiting security guards– she pushed her hands further into her pockets bracing against the coming cold and the twitch in her palms. She needed to speak with Anderson. He'd know how to find whoever owned Gemwell docks at the time of the murders.

Eli pressed her shoulder into the frosted door, pushing it open that way as to keep her hands warm. Everything seemed cold these days and soon it would snow and get colder and colder.

Her hand gripped at the phone in her pocket. Turned off at the request of Phillip. A habit work into there long-standing dealing and occasional work appearances. Most of which didn't involve corpses on tables or grilled chicken sandwiches.

The streetlights were still on as Capital City started to come awake. A few more cars were on the streets from almost an hour ago. Early commuter traffic already started to gridlock the busy downtown.

Stepping over one of the larger subway grates, Eli pressed in a text to Anderson when the phone turned back on, then dropped the phone into her pocket. Plunging her fingers back into the receding warmth of her coat when she heard a voice behind her. 

"Elizabeth Marlow."

"Sergeant Forman. Early morning isn't it?" Eli turned, keeping her hands in her pockets, finding a pair of pretty green eyes. The Sergeant had had her jacket pulled tightly against her body. A small bump out at her hip. Feet wide apart.

"Very. It makes me wonder what you're doing."

"Sleepwalking," Eli says firmly, gesturing to her feet in a mock shrug. Forman looks as weary as Tanner did the first time she saw him after the hostage negotiations. The last time she'd seen the Sergeant though was when she was handed a packed outside city hall. "I imagine you're doing the same?"

"Something like it." Those green eyes shift behind Eli. Over her shoulder and up a little. The headlights of a car cut through the shadows cast by the City Morgue. The outlines of both Eli and Forman, are split down the centre. Half of there faces visible. A second black car pulls up to the curb after the first. Sleek and large, the suburban parks alongside them.

Pretty greens settle back on Eli, intense and focused.

The door of the suburban opens and closes. Eli cheats a glance over her shoulder. A little more unbalanced than before.

"Do I need a lawyer, Sergeant?" She asked.

"That isn't necessary." Eli turns slowly, finding the detective behind her. Wide shoulders fitted in a long coat. He looks every bit the determined detective who'd called her to the negotiations. "We need to speak with you about Judge Matthews."

"Ask me then," Eli said over her shoulder. Her anger from before taking control of her voice, making it sound loud and sharp. To her right, Sergeant Forman moves to one of the patrol cars. Not willing to take her eyes from the cars, but not willing to take the steps necessary to keep both of them in front of her.

Tanner runs a hand over his mouth, pulling at the facial hair there before the hand slips back into his pocket. The detective moves from the car walking in the split light of the headlights and street lamps so that Eli can't see his expression only a large shadow. The sharp edges of his features sharpening the closer he gets.

"The night before last we pulled a body from the river. Where were you between five and eleven p.m.?"

"Work then at my friend's apartment," Eli says easily. Nosy neighbours were good for alibis. "You already have Roberts number, call him and ask. I was at work till about ten."

"And from ten till eleven?"

"In a taxi. It was raining. I didn't want to walk." The lie wasn't a full lie, but she couldn't say anything about she really got to the apartment or that would be a whole other hole to dig her self out of. "I don't remember the number and I paid cash. I'm starting to think I need a lawyer."

"I bought the paper. I read the article about the bribery. You seem to know more than we do about a possible motivation, I only have a few questions I need answers too." He tells her. He keeps his eyes on her, watching and waiting. 

"Chloe Gibson and Delilah Barnes, I want to see the crime scene photos." She challenges. Understanding the unmarked cars and the sergeant and the timing of it all.

"Why?" He stepped forward, slowly, conversational. Hands still at his sides, loose and relaxed.

"I have information from a source I need to verified. He or she has reasons to believe the women were familiar with their killer." Eli says, cocking her head to the side before giving him a wicked smile. "Those are my terms unless you want to comment about the bump in your investigation. 'Police detective raids newspaper comes out empty-handed.' Just in time for the next news cycle."

Eli cheats a glance at his closed fists.

Tanner nods, once. The detective motions with a hand to Sergeant Forman. The car she'd walked up before getting in pulls away from the curb. Eli turns back to him slowly, finding the detective looking up the street where the unmarked car had gone.

A single car idling there. Her stomach turns thinking for a second that is could be Lucius and if it was then she was being watched by two entities instead of one. 

"Alright," He concedes, voice hard. The second car pulls away from the curb to idle in front of the suburban, as Tanner moves back to the car allowing Eli to climb into it before he closes the door after her. 

She was putting her trust in a man with only one mark against him. She's putting her self in the hands of a man who is just as driven as she is to solve this for the right reasons and if he wasn't as clean as she hoped then he'd be exposed for it on Sunday. When the paper ran the article.

A contingency plan that relied a little too heavily on chance and timing.

Where almost to the end, a few more chapters left... can anyone guess who's responsible?