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Mark
Mark didn’t want to do it, but his first order of business after Darby left was to visit Genova. Someone would need to inform her of Richard Pierce’s death, and he had to imagine Osage County wouldn’t be too quick to inform the deceased’s attorney.
Being alone with the woman wasn’t something he relished, but since it would be at her office, perhaps it would be a safe environment.
At least he could also find out from her exactly what had happened last night. Their conversation the night before had been abbreviated, and mostly via texts.
Before going over there, though, he reported in with Moustakas, who asked a lot of probing questions about why they were both late, and Mark ended up admitting off the record to his boss and godfather about Darby being drugged. Moustakas asked Mark to get the report from Melinda to him, and asked him to look into who could have done the deed—also off record.
As Mark drove to Genova’s office a few minutes later, he called his sister. “Do you have the results on Darby’s blood work yet?” he asked at last.
“Not quite. Probably a couple more hours.” She promised to call when she had it.
He thanked her, thought about telling her who he was about to interview, but decided against it. Instead, he expressed his appreciation and told her he loved her.
Bringing family into a case was strange.
What was stranger was talking to the only woman he’d ever had a one night stand with about the same case.
He had to wait for Genova to finish up a meeting. It was the first time he’d been to the SuperHuman Society’s headquarters, so he took a few moments to look around as he waited. It had been decorated tastefully with a slightly modern edge. Lots of aged wood and brushed steel, still life paintings and abstract cushions. Unique, but to him, it suited the mentality of most of the supers he’d ever met. He couldn’t quite explain it, but it felt right to him.
“Sorry to have kept the law waiting,” Genova said as he stood looking at a painting of a young family doing chores in clothes at least two centuries old. Genova, in contrast, was dressed in a navy skirt suit that fell several inches above her knees. “Where’s your partner?”
Mark straightened and followed her back to her office, which was more traditional with a wall lined with shelves mostly filled by leather-bound law books, and a broad desk almost as big as a bed.
“There’s been another death linked to our case. She’s at the scene.”
“And you’re not?” She waved a hand for him to sit on one of the armchairs away from the desk. Once he sat, she reclined on the couch opposite him, crossing one leg over the other, so it exposed a lot of pale thigh.
“I think you can imagine why we’re working separately,” Mark said, leveling his gaze at her.
She straightened. “I didn’t tell her anything. She figured it out.”
Mark lifted his chin. “That may be, but I’m here for several reasons.”
“And on official business, it would seem. What can I do for you? I’ve been waiting for Rick to get here so we can come in for his interview as Darby requested last night.”
“That’s part of the reason I’m here.”
Genova’s perfectly manicured lips parted. “Oh my God. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Mark raised an eyebrow. “How’d you pick up on that one?”
She winced. “When an empath is...intimate with someone, even once, a mental connection can occur. That’s why I left town after our night together, to give it a chance to dissipate. I’ve always been able to pick up on emotions, with you and others. But I can still pick up on some of your thoughts.”
“Like right now.”
She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “It was a strong thought.”
It was also something he’d wished he’d known about before he’d slept with her. Ah well, water under the bridge. “When was the last time you saw Rick?”
She sighed and glanced away. “Last night, as he was leaving the meeting. We had a short conversation about him coming in this morning. I tried to call him about an hour ago since it sounded like he’d planned on being here by eight.” She paused and looked off toward the window. “I’d asked him to stay the night at my place. Even suggested...well. That’s not important. But he and Amanda...”
“You mean Amanda O’Flannigan?”
She nodded. “Yeah. They’ve been seeing each other off and on. I guess they’ve been mostly on lately.”
“What was his mood like when he left?”
“He was tired, Mark. It had been a long day, and he had a two-hour drive back from town, and I was asking him to be in promptly first thing. He suspected he was going to be fingered for Prairie’s murder, and he wasn’t pleased about that.”
“Did Darby threaten him last night?”
“Not precisely. Threatened to arrest both of us for obstruction. Before I got over to them, I have no idea what was said.”
“What was her attitude when she was speaking with him?”
“She was angry. She’d just found out about us. And she’d slammed a double Jim Beam between leaving me and facing him.”
Mark raised an eyebrow. Darby had said she’d had the whiskey, but slammed it back? That accounted for how drunk she’d been. Normally, she was a sipper.
Genova looked down at her hands. “I didn’t tell her. I promise you that.”
Mark nodded. “She said last night that she’d figured it out. She didn’t remember this morning.”
Genova inclined her head. “Say again?”
“Someone there drugged her with ecstasy.” He paused and let that sink in. “Anyone in your crowd like to get women plastered, drug the shit out of them, and then take them for a ride?”
“No, actually. Not that I know of. A lot of us have trouble with ordinary prescription drugs. We tend to be resistant. Something with our DNA.”
“Is that something generally known among supers?”
“Known, but not studied. It varies a lot. A lot of us have to take double or triple antibiotics to get over illnesses if we even get sick. A lot of us have heightened immune systems, too.”
Mark frowned. That could account for Darby not being passed out when she stumbled into his house last night. “Does it affect alcohol intake?”
She laughed. “The night you came over? I’d already had half a bottle of red by myself. I probably out-drank you three to one. Could you tell?”
He shook his head.
“We handle our liquor well at least for the most part.” Her smile declined. “Rick...how did he die?”
Mark shook his head. “I can’t give out those details, Genova.”
She looked away. “I should call Amanda. Maybe his parents.”
“I believe she may have been the one to discover him. The locals will inform next of kin.”
“Amanda must be devastated.”
Mark waited for Genova to recover herself. “Where were you overnight?”
She sighed. “Of course, you have to ask me that. After the meeting, I went home where I stayed until I came into the office around seven.”
“What is with you and Darby being into the office so early?”
She smiled sadly. “I’m not normally, but since I expected to be in to your headquarters so early...”
Mark nodded. “Anyone verify that?”
“Since Rick went home, no. If he’d but stayed...But then you wouldn’t be here because he wouldn’t be dead, now would he?”
“Possibly not. Obviously, we don’t know the why or the who, but it’s a distinct possibility that he’d be alive.”
He wouldn’t say it, but it was also possible instead of one body in Osage County, they’d be standing over two in the city. He didn’t want to think about that.
She pressed her lips together. He could practically feel the regret and the self-recrimination flowing off her. Maybe that was due to whatever psychic link she’d inflicted on him.
He took an unconscious step back. “With everything you both spoke to us about on Wednesday, is there anyone in your investigation who would have wanted Rick dead? Who thought he knew too much? Someone linked to Prairie?”
Genova sat back, putting her hand to her mouth. Amazingly, it didn’t smear her perfect lipstick. “I don’t know. Anyone in the DSHA office who learned we were onto them? All of us were trying to be discreet, but it’s possible someone caught on.”
“Names, Genova. I need names.”
She searched the floor between them. “Rick had all that information. Because of my high profile, he wasn’t willing to hand it over.”
“Damn it.”
“He may have had it on his computer.”
“I’m sure Osage County is taking it into possession. I’ll have to see if we can get our hands on it.”
She frowned.
“Did he have an office somewhere he worked from that would have a backup?”
She shook her head, tossing her blue hair over her shoulder. “He carried his work with him. If he was at home, it was there too. That’s some of the paranoia that comes from having his best friend killed by super haters.”
Mark winced.
“Yeah.” She blew out a breath and stood. “Is there anything else? I should call...someone.”
Mark followed and stepped up close to her. Gently, he put his hands on her shoulders. “I think you need to take some time for yourself, Genny. You just lost a friend.”
She bowed her head. “Yeah, probably.”
He gave her a moment. “About what happened to Darby last night. You didn’t see anything from anyone? What can you remember?”
“Is this an official investigation?” She wiped her eyes and turned to look at him. “Because I only saw her for a little bit, and most of that, she was angry with me or Rick.”
Mark nodded slowly. “It may become an official investigation. Right now, I’m asking as her friend.”
“She’s still willing to have you as a friend?”
He shrugged. “We were arguing about that when we got the call about Rick’s murder.”
She sniffled, then crossed to her desk where she grabbed a tissue. “I don’t know when she got there last night. When she approached me, everything was fine. She introduced me to her date, and seemed a bit put off because I refused to shake his hand.”
“Why is that?”
“The same reason I left town after you and me. He’s an empath. I looked him up. A very powerful one, in fact. His touch could have overpowered my own abilities, and it’s not something you do without a lot of preparation. The only empath I touch regularly is my trainer, and that’s only after I’ve warmed up.”
“That’s the only reason she was upset at that point?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Seemed to me. We talked about the case. She insinuated she had to look closely at Rick and me, which is where our conversation began to devolve. She asked me about how often Rick and I sleep together.”
She would do that, wouldn’t she. “Let me guess,” he said. “That’s what led to her figuring us out?”
Genova clenched the tissue in her hands. “I didn’t want to tell her, really. I let it slip that you’d come by my place after Costa Rica. I still don’t know why you came by, Mark.”
He stiffened. “I’m not prepared to discuss that with you right now.”
“Darby’s pissed with both of us. You may as well share.”
“Not today,” he said firmly.
She closed the distance between them in a slow saunter. “I could take the information. It would hurt both of us, but I could do it.”
“Trust me, it’s not worth the pain. I’m sure in good time we’ll both be ready to divulge what happened.”
She came within an arm’s length and stopped. “Things are complicated now, aren’t they?”
He inhaled slowly. “Yeah, they are.”
“You know, if you and Darby can’t patch things up, I’d be more than happy to help you take out your...frustrations.” Her eyes were earnest, but the tone of her voice was half-hearted. Like it was more of a reflex than an honest proposal.
Mark reached for her. “We both know that can’t happen again, Counselor.”
She nodded, then stepped in and hugged him. Quietly, she cried against his shoulder.
He held her and let her weep, wondering if she was crying over the loss of her friend, or for herself.