Page 34 of Bad Mother

“Sure. What is it?”

“Maybe nothing,” Kat answered.

Duces shrugged, gesturing to the counter. “Ari will ring you up.”

The transaction only took a minute, and Ari handed them the album, contained in a plastic bag with the Duces Wild logo on the front.

“Thanks, Duces,” Kat called. “Give us a ring if anything comes to you about who might have put this here.”

“Will do. And you give me a call to DJ the next police shindig. I’ll give you ten percent off.”

Kat chuckled, and they pushed the door open, Sienna glancing back inside the shop quickly before the door swung closed. He’d been there. She was sure of it. Danny Boy had been there.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The call from Ingrid about a dead body had come in right as Sienna was putting her PJs on. It was still early, but Sienna had racked up far more overtime than actual sleep since she’d been with the Reno PD and had planned to climb in bed and attempt to catch up on some much-needed rest. The call canceled those plans, and instead, Sienna had re-dressed and headed to the scene. Apparently, the location of the DOA had been phoned in by a prostitute who’d gone behind a building to service a john. The john had seen the corpse first and taken off running, leaving the woman alone in the alleyway. A solid fellow all around, it would seem.

When Sienna and Kat arrived, Ingrid was already there, along with a team of criminalists. The bright white lights highlighted the grimy, trash-strewn area, a chain-link fence separating the small courtyard from another building behind it. The space was somewhat abandoned but clearly not unused, dirty needles and yellowed condoms littering the stained asphalt.

And sitting upright in a chair in what had certainly been a darkened corner before the crime-scene LED lights had arrived was a woman—at least fifty pounds overweight if not more—wearing a pair of leggings and an oversize T-shirt, one arm hanging lank at her side, the other duct-taped to the back of the chair, chin resting on her ample breasts.

“Strangled?” Sienna asked Ingrid, snapping the rubber gloves on. Kat had stepped aside to talk to one of the criminalists, who was taking some samples off the pavement nearby.

“Yes,” Ingrid confirmed, and when she signaled the criminalist named Malinda, the young woman used her gloved hands to tilt the DOA’s head just enough so that Sienna could see the ligature marks on her neck. They appeared the same as on the victim they’d found under the overpass.

As if Ingrid had read her mind about connecting this victim to the other, she said, “No cards, but this was found clutched in her untaped hand.” She reached in one of the evidence bags nearby and took out a small black object. Sienna leaned a bit closer. “A chess piece?”

“Yup. The games continue.” Ingrid sighed, dropping the piece back in the bag.

“I don’t play chess,” Sienna said. “Which piece is that?”

“The queen.”

She glanced at the dead woman. She was wearing a wig that had slid back on her skull, revealing a dirty nylon cap. One false eyelash was only barely attached, giving the impression that a large spider was crawling up her eye. She might have been a “queen” in life, but in death... not so much. Then again, death was kind to few. Ingrid turned away as Malinda asked her a question, and Sienna walked over to Kat. “Same guy?” Kat asked.

“It has to be,” Sienna said and told her about the chess piece.

“God dammit,” Kat said. “I’m really sick of this. I’m tired as hell, and maybe that’s the point, right? To run us ragged? Have us hopping all over town so we’re too exhausted to put any real investigative effort into catching him?”

“Maybe. Or maybe he’s just thoroughly enjoying controlling all of this.” In any event, they were putting everything they had into solving this case. Even if they’d had to delegate some of the research angles to a few trusted POs and had reached out to the local college for an intern.So maybe Sienna did feel like she was eating and sleeping and breathing this case, but what else did she have going on? Part of her was grateful that she didn’t have a minute to spare to sit at home and dwell on things she didn’t care to dwell on.

She looked around one more time, then pointed at the building on the other side of the fence, in the direction the body was facing. “What business is that?” She squinted, barely able to read the name on the front through the fence.Med Plus.

“I think it’s a medical supply company, but they would have only been open during business hours.” Kat paused, squinting herself. “Plus, I can’t imagine anyone working there could have seen anything this far away.”

Sienna agreed, turning to the building that let out on the alley. She already knew from parking in front that it was an abandoned strip mall. No help there.

Kat sighed, and Sienna said, “Listen, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll finish up here. It’s going to take a while, and you meet up with the ME tomorrow.”

Kat gave her the side-eye. “Sounds like sort of a raw deal.” But she smiled. “I’ll take it, thanks.”

“Go on then and get outa here,” she said, and Kat nodded, heading to her car parked on the other side of the building where the crime scene tape had been strung up. It could be a strange thing to partner up with other law enforcement officers. In the beginning, you might know little regarding the details of their homelife and yet understand completely what sort of person they were, based on how they reacted to everyday job situations. Before she’d gotten to know Garrod on a personal level, she’d known the precise set of his mouth when they’d stood over a twelve-year-old who’d been gunned down in the street. She’d known that the softer his voice became and the heavier his accent, the angrier he was. A hundred things like that, before she even knew his favorite meal or the endearment he called his wife. Sienna hadn’t even had achance to ask Kat more questions about her personal life. She knew she wasn’t married but wasn’t certain if she was dating someone... if her parents were in Reno, or even what part of town she lived in.

Once this case slowed down in one way or another, she’d ask if Kat wanted to go to dinner so they could get to know each other better.

Sienna turned and began walking back to where Ingrid was speaking with the criminalists, taking a deep breath as she focused back on her task at hand: collecting, observing, noting, and questioning anything and everything that was still part of a fresh murder scene.

By the time Sienna was ready to head home, it was almost ten. She’d walked around with the criminalists as they’d searched corners and looked under the chair the victim had been sitting in, but they hadn’t found so much as a single page from their Danny Boy. She and Ingrid had also questioned all the potential witnesses they could and come up with zip. Of course, they had no real way to find the john who’d run off, but from what it sounded like, he was just some guy who’d stumbled upon the crime along with the prostitute he’d left behind.

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