Page 10 of Sinful Deception

She purses her lips, unimpressed. But that doesn’t stop her from placing her fingers on the woman’s neck as though to check for a pulse. “It’s not something that comes easily, Chief Mayet. And it’s not something everyone is open to. Nor is it a valid way to build a case and present proof to a jury. I can’t touch a body and know all of its secrets, no matter how much you wish I could. And even if it was possible, a judge is unlikely to accept my word on the standjust because.” She looks up at Archer, since she’d have to turn to see Fletch. “Her marriage was dangerous, and I think you’d be well within your rights to investigate the husband.” Then to me. “I’d like to get her to the George Stanley and open on our table. She has a story to tell.”

Satisfied, I rise again and say nothing of Archer’s chest caressing my back as I straighten out. “Let’s document and bag her. We’re not getting anything out here when we have no visible signs of harm. Whatever this is, it’s inside. I’ll call transport.” But not before I lean over the murder bag and retrieve a scalpel and thermometer. “Will you get TOD, Doctor Emeri?” I take out my phone and carefully step around Archer and the body, so I trip on neither. “I’ll call for the van.”

ARCHER

“It’s always the husband.” I wander through the bullpen at a little after five and set a file on the desk in front of a scowling Fletch. Because his phone flashes with missed calls, and his stance on ignoring them remains solid.

For now.

“Uniforms in Eugene, Oregon, grabbed our guy crossing a Walmart parking lot. He’d bought a backpack, a few days’ worth of clothes, toiletries, and a month’s supply of ramen.” I sit on the edge of his desk and fold my arms. “Guess he was preparing to hunker down somewhere quiet and hope we’d lose interest or some shit.”

“Did Delicious come back with the official cause of death yet?”

“It’s leaning toward poison.”

Stunned, he glances up. “Poison?”

“It’s not textbook since she probably should have been frothing at the mouth and bleeding from the eyes—neither of which was happening—but Mayet has sent off for labs and is deeming the case mostly closed. She’s thinking an insecticide of some sort that was administered slowly over the course of a fewmonths. Medical records have come back that Mrs. Masters has been a frequent flyer with her doctor for the last little while. Lots of small, annoying sicknesses that couldn’t be explained. They were about to progress toward a full blood workup and a specialist medical center to get to the bottom of what’s going on. I would speculate, based on his proclivity to bolt today, the husband panicked and finished the job. If the tests had been run, he would’ve gotten caught anyway. So, I guess he was going all in. Official cause of death was a failure of the kidneys, caused by toxicity. That toxicity will be confirmed with the labs. Masters ran, which kinda paints him as guilty, even if we don’t have proof yet. It also makes it easy for us to get a no-knock warrant and search his place.”

“We already got one?” He releases a tired sigh when his phone lights up again. So he reaches across and turns the device over to buy himself a moment of peace. “We’re going in tonight?”

“Nah. Paperwork’s with the judge, and seeing as how she’s dead and our killer is in custody, tomorrow will be soon enough. Lieutenant Fabian said we can split and finish this tomorrow. So,” I push off his desk and snatch his vibrating phone. His eyes scorch me where I stand, but it’s momentary and gone again when I offer the device back. “I want you to go home to your baby. Shut the world out and find yourself a little quiet.”

He scoffs. But at least he stands and circles his chair, shoving it under the desk and shrugging into his coat. “Easy for you to say. The world has never been so fuckin’ noisy.”

“And I’ve never seen you so stressed.” I clap his shoulder and hold on until his eyes come to mine. “I’ve known you a long time, Fletch. Through the good and the bad. Through Jada’s infidelity, and then after. Hell, I knew you during that period when you discovered the identity of a certain killer we don’t speak about.” I squeeze his shoulder. “This is the one that’s hitting you the most.”

“She’s crying out for me.” He pats his pockets to ensure he has everything he needs. “Her cheating on me, avoiding me, robbing my apartment, and running away… it all sucked. But I dealt with it because I didn’t have a choice. But now she’s asking for my help, and Idohave a choice. Finally, I’m in the driver’s seat again.” He exhales a shaky breath. “I’m in control again, and I feel shit about it for every minute I ignore her. I know she’s not Minka, and I know the circumstances aren’t the same. But I want you to think, for just a moment, how much it would hurt you to see your wife like this, and you do nothing to help her.”

“You’ve doneeverythingto help her.” I angle around when he’d rather look anywhere else, forcing him to meet my eyes. “You’ve almost killed yourself to save her. There’s no shame in stepping back now.”

“Like I said…” He backs away, allowing my hand to fall and his dismissal to sting somewhere deep in my heart. But at least he turns and waits for me to walk with him. “Keep reminding me. Because this is gonna get worse before it gets better. And ya know what hurts more?” He peeks over as we exit the bullpen and start toward the escalators. “She asks for Sera. Mia,” he clarifies when my brows come closer together. “Every fucking day, she wakes up and asks if today’s the day Sera will visit. I don’t even remember the last time she asked for her own mother.”

“She knows goodness when she sees it. Despite Fifi’s prickly exterior,” I chuckle, “she loves your daughter. Mia feels that, just as surely as she feels Jada’s negligence. It’s pretty black and white from where a child is sitting: one woman left her, and even when she was around, she didn’t love her the way she should have. The other woman didn’thaveto be there, but she was anyway. And fuck, but Mia felt the love.”

“And good old Dad—” he eyes the cops entering and exiting the station like bugs swarming a porch light, “—fucked that upgood and proper. Sera refuses to break her stance on this, and I honestly can’t even blame her.” He looks up to meet my gaze. “I was cruel, Arch. I was hurt, and I lashed out at someone who never deserved that. She’s right to cut ties and leave before it all gets messier.”

“I firmly believe things will work out the way they’re supposed to.” I follow him off the escalator and move toward the front doors. “I know that’s vague and unhelpful. I know it doesn’t really help anything right now, but I believe that Fifi will do what’s right for her, and you’ll do what’s right for you and Mia. If it’s meant to be, perhaps your right and her right will cross over. You both need space for now, for as long as Jada is spiraling. Space is good. But it won’t go on forever. She’ll end up in rehab, or she’ll?—”

“End up dead?” He shoves through the glass door and stops on the street outside, pinning me with a look that is both haunted and challenging. “Is that what you think is gonna happen, Arch? You think this will either be a fairytale ending with everyone happy and healthy, or a funeral?”

“I mean…” I run my fingers through my hair and sigh. “There are only two outcomes here, and you’ve handed her the tools for the first. We know her. We know how she ticks, and that she’s not always against hard work. We saw her at her best, and now we’re seeing her at her worst. It’s not insane to hope she’ll come out of this okay. For Mia’s sake.”

“Arch—”

“The alternative shouldn’t be our focus. It solves nothing and hurts you.”

“Yeah, well…” He turns away with a huff, only to spin back again and huddle into his jacket as an icy blast of wind shoots along the street. “Keep telling me I’m doing the right thing. Because you’re saying what you’re saying, but all I know is that she needs me to answer the fuckin’ phone and help her. Youlie, knowing shealwaysneeded to be tended to, even when she was healthy. Shealwaysneeded me to smooth the way. If her options now are hard work or death, thenmyoptions are to help her, or watch her die.”

“You’re doing the right thing.” I repeat it, for him and for me. “She has the number for the clinic, and it’s clear she has a phone capable of making calls. Plus, the hospital knows who the hell she is, so if she lands back in there, for whatever reason, we can set up roadblocks before they discharge her again. If they’d kept her the entire week last time, instead of releasing her while she was coming down, then she’d probably be in rehab by now. We need a redo, Fletch. One more time where she lands in the ER, then we can get her the help she needs. But until that moment comes, it’s not your responsibility to run out in the fuckin’ snow and save her. Not when you have a baby girl at home, waiting for you.”

“It’s so hard to know what to do.” He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “I’m damned, no matter what I choose.”

“Choosing yourself and Mia is not neglecting Jada. Stepping back and protecting your daughter from her toxicity is the right choice.” I drop a hand into my pocket when my phone rings with Minka’s song. But I smile at Fletch and leave my wife to hang for a minute. “You’re choosing the child who deserves the world, not the woman who can, and should, take care of herself. When it’s all said and done, you’ll be able to look your daughter in the eyes and tell her you chose right.”

“Jesus.” He scrubs a hand over his face and turns again. “Take your damn call and live your happy life.” But he glances back, a little lighter in the eyes. “You take a motivational speaking course lately?”

I chuckle and swipe to answer, but I leave my hand by my side for a minute more. “I’m speaking my truths, and you’re spiraling because Fifi won’t agree to date you.”

---