Forty-Nine
Cummings’s body had been found next to a dumpster as if the man had been meaningless. Harvey had shown Kelly the crime scene photos, and they were fresh in her mind when she walked into Cummings’s apartment building. The images would probably stick with her for some time to come. It had less to do with the graphic nature of the scene and more to do with the fact that it resembled how she imagined finding her mother one day. Cast aside, as if forgotten. What pained Kelly almost as much as the thought of her mother being dead, was that her mother had lived with the pain of being alone. Then again, maybe she was off somewhere with her life rebuilt and had forgotten all about Kelly and her brother. She swallowed roughly at the stab of heartache the thought caused. In contrast, imagining her mother turning up dead may have been easier. Though, any time she got called out for a DB in an alley, she’d break out in a cold sweat. Her heart would race, her breathing becoming labored.
“Remember that case you mentored me on?” Kelly began as they sauntered up the front walk.
Harvey looked over at her and squinted against the sunlight. “More specifically…?”
“The one with the woman who was strangled and left for dead. She didn’t die until a couple of days later?” Kelly wished she could remember all the details.
“Pamela Moore,” Harvey rushed out. His mind was like a steel trap. “She was an Op-Ed columnist. It had looked like a home invasion gone south, but nothing was confirmed stolen.”
“Right.” The pieces were now coming back to Kelly. “And Moore wrote an article on that guy Mayfield’s family.”
“The prime suspect? That’s right,” Harvey confirmed.
“He was cleared, if I remember correctly.”
“He was.”
“And the case went cold.”
Harvey got the door to the building for Kelly. “Yep.”
While many a detective would let the cold cases eat them alive, Harvey had a way of letting them go. He had told her from the start that sometimes justice wasn’t going to be found. She wished that she could adapt his perspective. She’d certainly sleep more peacefully that way.
Harvey held a finger over the number pad for the intercom. “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me take the lead in there. Tessa’s familiar with me.”
Kelly nodded. Harvey taking the reins would put the wife more at ease, and that was what she wanted. Harvey punched in Cummings’s apartment number, and they were buzzed in.
On the way up to the apartment, Harvey said, “She was a real mess when I told her—gasping for breath, tears everywhere.”
“It’s probably the first real loss she’s had in her life,” Kelly said, feeling stupid for saying such a thing. As if experience with death made it easier to take. While accepted as the ending of a natural course of life, nothing felt natural about the way loss ripped one’s heart out.
“It was.”
Harvey knocked on the door to apartment 203.
A lanky brunette in her late twenties answered. This wouldn’t be Tessa, who Harvey described as twenty-two, blond, and petite.
“Detective Barkhouse,” Harvey said, “and Detective Marsh.”
The brunette stepped back, weariness dragging down features that would otherwise have been quite beautiful: a small, turned-up nose, a dusting of freckles, green eyes. “Tessa’s not in a good place. Please be gentle with her.” The brunette’s gaze went from Harvey to Kelly.
“We will be,” Kelly told her. “You’re a friend of Tessa’s?”
“Older sister. Name’s Linda.”
She led them into the heart of the apartment, which was a small living room. A petite blonde, who Kelly assumed was Tessa, was curled up under a blanket. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She put her feet down when Kelly and Harvey entered the room.
“Tessa, these two detectives want to talk with you,” Linda said gently.
Tessa moved the blanket aside. “Did you catch his killer?” Her attention was first on Harvey, the familiar face, but then transferred to Kelly.
“I’m Detective Kelly Marsh,” she felt the urge to say.
Tessa nodded, although it was barely perceptible that she had.
“We’re still looking into the matter,” Harvey answered Tessa’s question. “But Detective Marsh here might have a lead.”
“Oh?” Tessa looked at her with wide eyes.
“Do you recognize any of these men?” Kelly made sure that Cummings’s photo wasn’t in the array before handing over her phone.
Tessa looked at the screen and shook her head. “I don’t. Did one of them kill Ben?”
“I’m not comfortable confirming that right now.” Kelly sat on a chair so as not to tower over Tessa anymore. The next few things she had to ask wouldn’t be easy for Tessa. “I’m sure Detective Barkhouse has been through this with you, but do you know of anyone who could have done this to your husband?” Kelly thought it best to ease into the direction she wanted to go.
“Not at all.” Tessa glanced at Barkhouse.
“It’s just a few questions,” he assured her and looked at Kelly.
Harvey had filled Kelly in a bit on Cummings’s background. No criminal record, but one thing stood out from the briefing more than anything else. “Your husband was unemployed, is that correct?” Kelly asked.
“He was between jobs.” Tessa smiled, her eyes glazing over. The expression lent itself to her being swept up in a memory.
“That’s what he’d say?” Kelly prompted gently.
Tessa met Kelly’s gaze. “Yeah. He was the most positive person I’ve ever known.”
Kelly hated to broach the possibility that Tessa’s husband had been knowingly involved with a killer, and she preferred to approach things as if he was innocent and had been used by the unsub. Sometimes a direct route was the best way to go. While Cummings might not have a record, it could simply be he hadn’t been caught.
Kelly leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “The next question I have to ask won’t be easy to hear, but we’re just trying to figure out why your husband was killed.”
Tessa eventually nodded.
“Was Ben friends with any questionable people or involved in anything illegal?” Kelly asked.
Tessa drew back and gasped. “No! He was the sweetest man. He’d never do anything that broke the law.”
“Even if it meant getting his hands on some cash?” Kelly hated to apply more pressure, but she had no choice.
“Not even then,” Tessa hissed.
Kelly got to her feet and extended her card to Tessa. “Thank you for your help. If you need any—”
“I won’t be calling.” Tessa jutted out her chin. “He didn’t do anything wrong, and I hate that you’re implying otherwise.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” Kelly saw herself out of the apartment, and once she was in the hallway, she leaned up against the wall.
“You all right?” Harvey asked.
“If I had a dime for every time you’ve asked me that…” Kelly peeled herself from the wall and left the building with Harvey. “It was worth a try.”
“Guessing you didn’t hear what you wanted to in there.”
“You’d be guessing right.”
Harvey locked eyes with her. “You think one of the pictures you showed her on your phone was of her husband’s killer? The one you’re hunting with the FBI?”
“Quite positive of that fact.”
“Then all you can do is keep doing what you’re doing and catch the bastard.”
“Why does it feel like that will never happen?” she spat, frustrated at the situation, not at Harvey.
Harvey’s phone rang, and he was still talking on it as they got back to the department car they’d driven there.
She merged onto the street and was headed back to the station to drop Harvey off by the time he hung up. She looked over at him, and he was pale. “My turn,” she said. “Are you all right?”
“Well, Forensics has looked at Cummings’s phone, and it seems there was a message left for you and the FBI.”
She slowed their speed, tempted to pull over. “What did it say?”
“‘This one’s on you.’”
“Son of a bitch.” She smacked the steering wheel and gunned the gas. She had to get Harvey back to the station and meet up with Jack immediately.
“I know this goes without saying, but you better watch yourself with this one,” Harvey said, speaking like a concerned parent.
“I always watch myself,” she said, certain it came out with more heat than she’d intended.
“What can I do?”
She looked over at him. “You’re not going to like my answer.”
He sighed. “You’re taking point on the case.”
She nodded. “I have no other choice.”
“I’ll let it go this time, but just because it’s you,” Harvey teased.
“I’ll update you once the killer’s caught. You can take care of following through with Tessa Cummings, if you’d like.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Harvey’s eyes lit as if he’d smiled.
Kelly dialed Jack on speaker. “Just stay quiet, okay?” she said to Harvey while the line was ringing.
He mimed zipping his lips.
Jack answered, and Kelly blurted out, “Jack, it’s Kelly. I have news, but it’s not what you might be expecting. The wife didn’t recognize our unsub, but the killer left a message for us on Cummings’s phone. It said, ‘This one’s on you.’”
“Okay.” Jack gave her no reaction. “Meet me and the rest of the team at Cabot’s apartment. There’s news on that front, too. Roxanne Cabot is dead.”