Page 6 of Once Marked
He nodded, understanding perfectly.“Just take good care of yourself, for me,” he said.
As Riley turned away, her mind was already shifting gears into investigator mode.She stepped outside, and the door closed behind her with a soft click, sealing off the comforting hum of home.
Ann Marie was sitting in her car, engine running, so Riley hurried to join her.
“Hey,” Riley greeted the younger agent, sliding into the passenger seat.She put her bag on the floor and held the box in her lap.The click of the seatbelt was a definitive sound, a seal on her commitment to the case ahead.
Sniffing the air, Ann Marie inquired, “Food?”
“Of course, and Gabriela always packs enough for a small army.”
“Good, then we won’t have to make any stops,” the young agent said, heading the car on their way.
“Ann Marie, what’s going on with Grady?”Riley asked.
“Grady...he’s retiring.Early-onset Parkinson’s,” Ann Marie disclosed, her voice tinged with sadness.
“Damn,” Riley muttered, taken aback by the news.“That’s tough.I’ve always respected him.”Pickens had been among the best; his absence would leave a void not easily filled.
“He was an incredible partner, even in the short time we worked together.We were really starting to click as partners, you know?”Ann Marie’s voice cracked slightly.
Riley reached over, placing a comforting hand on Ann Marie’s arm.“It’s hard to find that a really good connection in our line of work,” she said softly.
“Riley, I wish...”Ann Marie started, then sighed, letting the sentence hang unfinished.“Never mind.It’s not practical.”
“What?”Riley asked.
Ann Marie’s voice softened.“I wish...I mean, it sounds selfish, but I really wish we could be partners, you and me.You know, permanently.”Her admission, candid and unexpected, sounded like a confession.
Riley turned to look at Ann Marie, whose eyes remained fixed on the street ahead.
“Ann Marie,” Riley began, her voice low, touched with the warmth of shared understanding, “you’re an incredible agent.You’ll find the right partner.But my life, it’s here and now, with teaching, with my family.”She felt the pull of two worlds, the echo of adrenaline that came with fieldwork, and the gentle tug of home.“This is just a temporary assignment.”
“I know,” Ann Marie muttered, then focused on her driving.The quiet hum of the engine and the steady blur of streetlights slipping past provided a backdrop to Riley’s thoughts.She recognized a familiar twinge of excitement stirring within her.She was back in the game, and her instincts were already kicking into high gear.
The city lights began to fade into the rearview mirror as Ann Marie navigated the car onto the open highway.Riley unfolded the neat package of foil-wrapped tacos Gabriela had hastily prepared.Handing one over to Ann Marie, she watched as her colleague took a bite.
“Mmm,” Ann Marie hummed appreciatively, her eyebrows arching in surprise.“This is delicious.What’s inside?Or is it better not to know?”
Riley chuckled lightly at her comment before answering, “Shredded chicken.Gabriela cooked it for tonight’s dinner – a traditional Guatemalan stew with bell peppers and onions.But it turns out just as well when tucked into tortillas.”
She pulled out two travel mugs and opened the tops.
“Coffee, she said.“And I guarantee it’s strong enough to keep us awake for the trip.”
As they snacked in silence, Riley thought of Bill and Jilly at home, enjoying the dinner along with Gabriela.For a long moment, she wished she was back there with them, but then she turned her mind back to the case.As the car ate up the miles, she let herself sink into the embrace of that old, familiar excitement.
“Let’s see what Meredith sent me,” Riley said.She switched on the tablet to check her email, its screen casting a pale glow in the darkening car.“I know you’ve already been filled in on some of the details.”
“The case involves two women’s bodies found on the Outer Banks beaches,” Ann Marie said, as she navigated the darkening highway.“The most recent one was discovered by a jogger near Kitty Hawk at dawn today.Her name was Billie Shearer.A local hotel owner.Married, two kids.”
“Billie Shearer,” Riley repeated under her breath, letting the name settle in her mind, a placeholder for the life snuffed out too soon.
She looked at the crime scene photos, stark and unforgiving in their clarity.Billie Shearer lay in an almost peaceful repose on a lounge chair, dressed in a style reminiscent of another era.Her swimwear, a high-cut neon pink one-piece, stood out against the muted tones of the beach.
“Her attire is odd,” Riley murmured, looking closely at the swimsuit.“It’s like the killer is staging a scene from another era.”
“That’s right,” Ann Marie said.“And the swimsuit wasn’t her own.It was the same with the earlier victim, Julie Sternan.Forty-three, a high school teacher, dedicated to her students.”
