Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1) (22 page)

When word got out that Avery was alive and well, the list of
visitors increased. Finley came by in the afternoon, along with Captain
O’Malley and Connelly, who waited by the door with his head low.

“Crazy bastard,” O’Malley said. “Had a whole garden in that
basement of his, on the other side of that medical room. Guy was growing every
kind of hallucinogenic plant you can imagine. Had a few contacts lying around
too, so we’re going to put a stop to that trade route immediately. Great work,
Avery.”

“Found out about the bodies, too,” Connelly chimed in. “He might
have worshipped ‘The Three Graces’ from Roman myth. They were followers of the
goddess Venus: three young girls that worshipped beauty. We think maybe that’s
why he kept them so lifelike in death. Had a bunch of drawings around the
house.”

Finley kept touching the gifts piled up on the windowsill.

“God damn,” he said, “the mayor sent you flowers? I never got
nothing from the mayor. I bet if you’d have called
me
for backup, the
mayor would have sent
me
flowers, too. Fuckin’ Ramirez,” he said. “I was
your partner.
Me
.”

O’Malley scrunched his face at Avery.

“We’ll talk about your lack of protocol when you’re ready,” he
said. “For now, rest up and get better.”

* * *

Randy Johnson came to visit Avery later that night. The spunky, short
forensics analyst had her hair poofed out into a wild afro. She wore a red
polka-dot dress and brought flowers and a newspaper. Avery had just finished
her dinner and was already exhausted.

“Hey, girl!” Randy said. “Heard you were up.”

Avery attempted a smile.

“Don’t try to talk. Don’t try to talk,” Randy insisted. “I know
you’ve had a busy day already. Just came by to make sure my girl was alive and
kicking.” Her eyes went wide. “
And gossip!
”

She sat down beside her.

“First of all, I think Dylan Connelly
definitely
has a
crush on you. No joke. He came by a few times to check on the case and twice he
asked about you. First time was like ‘Hey, have you gone to visit Black yet?’
Real casual and all. And the second time was today. He was like ‘How’s Black
doing?’ I don’t think that man has
ever
spoken to me outside of
case-related questions. Seriously!? You got yourself a boy toy if you want it.”

A disapproving frown lined Avery’s face.

“Yeah, he’s not for you,” Randy said, “but Ramirez? Now he’s
dreamy. You go and get that boy, girl. He saved your life!”

She smiled, then slowly her smile faded.

“Can we
please
talk about that lady killer?” she added. “Is
it too soon?”

Avery gave her the thumbs-up.

“Thirty-six cats,” Randy huffed in disbelief. “
Thirty-six!
Who has thirty-six cats? And three dogs? And you want to know what was even
crazier than that? They were all female. Not a single male among them. And all
those pictures on his wall in the basement? I don’t know if you remember that
but he had lots of sick pictures of all these cats and dogs and the girls he
killed, and each picture showed a different stage of their conversion into
stuffed animals, you know? All girls. Crazy white man had a little girls’ club
all his own. Connelly said it had to do with Roman mythology and Aphrodite and
all these women, but I just think the man was nuts.”

A sound escaped Avery’s lips.

She cleared her throat and focused on a single world.

“Family?”

“Did he have any relatives?” Randy asked to confirm. “Is that what
you want to know? Oh, yeah. That guy that shot himself was his uncle. I thought
you knew that. It’s all here in the paper,” she said. “Uncle hired the killer
about a year ago. Killer met all those girls at a job fair. Got to know them
when they came to the office.”

She placed the paper on Avery’s chest.

The headline read “College Killer Captured” with a picture of the
crime scene. A smaller burst read “Disgraced Attorney Turned Cop in Critical
Condition” with an article about how she left a viable crime scene to find the
actual
killer.

“You’re a hero!” Randy cheered.

It was hard for Avery to think of herself as a hero or anything
else. Her mind was too groggy to focus on anything for very long, and her body
remained in a post-paralysis shock that made movement difficult.

Hero
. That was not what she wanted. That was never what she’d wanted.
She’d just wanted to set wrongs right, to put these bastards away forever.

To make amends, she realized, for something for which she would
never be able to make amends.

Her eyes grew heavy, and as sleep fell on her, it was hard for her
to believe that she’d ever be able to walk again.

On Thursday morning, surprisingly, Avery awoke, alert and
physically capable. She could easily move her arms without the sluggish weight,
sit up on her own, and think clearly. A short conversation with the morning
nurse confirmed her throat muscles were stronger.

Events from the house were difficult to recall. She could see the
dogs, all the cats, and the strange basement walls made of wood and picture
frames. There was even a frightening image of Edwin Pesh like a spider with two
glowing eyes, hopping from one side of a room to the other. How she’d gotten
out alive? She only remembered a whisper and the face of Ramirez.

The door opened, and Avery looked up in shock. Her heart soared at
the sight: Rose came running into the room.

“Mom!” she cried and hugged her tight. “I was so worried about
you.”

Avery closed her eyes and gripped her daughter just as strongly.
Tears fell down her face, as the tight hug warmed her heart.

Avery remembered pieces of their dismal lunch, the message she’d
left her before she stupidly entered the house of a killer alone.

She’s back
, she thought.
My Rose came back to me
.

Rose eventually let her go.

“I’ve been calling everyone,” she said. “I had no idea where you
were. No one would give me any answers.
Finally
, your captain called me
back and told me you were here and awake. I came as soon as I could.”

Avery smiled, hardly able to speak through her tears.

“Mom, I was sick about the way we left things. I’m so sorry. This
whole week, all I could think about was: if Mom dies, you’ll have to live with
the way you acted for the rest of your life. I’m so sorry. It’s just…”

Tears ran down Avery’s cheek.

“It’s
my
fault,” she said. “Don’t
you
take the
blame, Rose.
I’m
the one to blame. I’m your mother, and I promise I’ll
make this right.”

They cried and held hands and in that grip, Avery felt all the
heaviness that had been draped around her neck all these years slowly lifting
away. This, she realized, was what was restoring her. More than catching any
killer could.

They talked and talked, as they had in old times, and didn’t
release each other’s hands for hours. Finally, Avery felt, it was time to live
again.

* * *

Ramirez dropped by again around noon. He appeared more relaxed in
designer jeans, a light pink button-down T-shirt, and white sneakers.

“Hey, Avery,” he said as if he belonged there. “I brought lunch,”
and he held up a picnic basket. “Hope I’m not too much of a nuisance, but my
mother always said the way to a woman’s heart is through food.”

“You trying to get to my heart?” Avery asked.

“You know, you know,” he said without meeting her gaze. “You saved
my life. You’re my partner. I saved
your
life.”

He glanced up.

Dark brown eyes sought out her innermost feelings.

“If you don’t want me to stay,” he added and opened a basket full
of fried chicken and cherries and soda, “I guess I could just go back home.”

Avery smiled.

During the difficult times in her life, she’d always sought the
company of men like Ramirez. No, she realized. Not
exactly
like him. The
other men were harder around the edges, players, more interested in one-night
stands than an actual relationship. But Ramirez, she thought, he’s sweet. And
cute. And he really does seem to care.

He’s your partner!
her mind blared.

So what? she thought with abandon. This is the
new
you, and
the new you can do whatever she wants.

“Stay,” she said with a mischievous grin. “I
love
lunch.”

Avery was released on Friday.

Ramirez picked her up and drove to her car, which was parked a
half block away from the killer’s house. As they passed, Avery gave it a long,
solemn stare.

“You all right?” Ramirez said. “This doesn’t freak you out or
anything?”

“I’m fine,” she replied.

She didn’t just feel fine. She felt better than fine.

Everything about her life now seemed different, better. She had
plans to see Rose again soon. Ramirez had come by every day to keep her
company. The cards she’d received in her hospital room had been humbling. So
many people had sent her well wishes that she realized even when she’d
felt
alone in the past three years, she’d never
been
alone.

Avery hopped out and smiled at Ramirez over the hood.

“Well,” she said, “this is my stop. Thanks for everything.”

“You headed back to the office?”

“Yeah.”

“Want me to tag along?”

“Nah,” she said. “That’s OK. Enjoy your time off. I’m sure I’ll
have to put you in another life-or-death situation soon.”

Ramirez flashed her a winning smile.

“I hope so.”

The ride back to the office was extremely emotional for Avery.
Excitement and fear swirled through her thoughts. Despite solving the case,
she’d stepped over some lines: she had ignored direct orders from her
commanding officer and left a crime scene to purse her lead with Edwin Pesh.

It’ll be fine, she thought. You got him.

In the police garage, officers gave her purposeful stares and
raised their thumbs and fists as she passed.

“Way to go, Black,” someone yelled out.

The elevator to the second floor was through the garage itself and
inside the ground level of the A1 offices. At the sight of Avery, half the
station clapped. Some officers ignored her to do their work, others had blank
expressions as if they felt forced to comply with their enthusiastic
co-workers, but for the most part, Avery reveled in the moment.

She raised a humble hand, lowered her gaze.

“Thanks.”

On the second floor, her reception was even more boisterous. For
at least a minute, all work stopped in Homicide so people could stand and clap
and nod their heads.

“Serial killers beware!” someone shouted.

“You got him, Black!”

“Good to have you back.”

Finley ran up to her, and while he was reluctant to touch or give
her too much physical praise in front of the others, he patted her
professionally on the back and pointed in her face.

“That’s my partner,” he said. “You see that? We solve crimes.
Fuckin’ killers don’t stand a chance with the Black and the Finley at her
back.”

“Back to work.” O’Malley clapped from his office door. “Black,” he
called and waved her forward. “In my office.”

Connelly watched her from his desk; gave a curt, grimaced nod to
Avery before he turned back to his desk. To Avery, it seemed like he was just
shuffling papers around to try and look busy. She kept her eyes on him. After a
few seconds—as suspected—he glanced back up. Pissed that he’d been caught, he
growled and walked away.

“Close the door,” O’Malley said. “Sit down.”

Avery closed the door and sat.

“Good to have you back,” he said with averted eyes. “How you
feeling?”

“I’m better. Thanks.”

“As I told you in the hospital, we have a few questions to tie
everything up. Let me just go through those first.”

He read something off a piece of paper.

“Why did you abandon the crime scene at Villasco’s house?”

“He wasn’t our guy,” she said.

“How could you know that?” he asked and looked at her with curious
intent. “The guy shot himself in the head. He worked at Devante. Case closed.”

Avery frowned.

“It didn’t feel right. He said something, something about family.
I can’t remember it exactly, but it was like he was covering for someone. No
minivan at the house, no room for taxidermy. He seemed lonely, lonely and
afraid. It was bugging me, I couldn’t let it go, and on the list McGonagle gave
me, I had one more lead to check.”

“How did Edwin Pesh become a suspect?”

“He lived in Watertown. It made sense that the killer lived in
either Watertown or Belmont given the direction of his car from Lederman Park
and Cambridge.”

“So on a hunch, you abandoned a crime scene, and your partner, and
you headed over to Watertown on your own.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Hold on,” he said. “Not now. First answer the question.”

“Correct,” she replied.

“What made you call Ramirez? He’s out of commission. And 911?”

“As soon as I saw the minivan, I called Dan. I realized I might
need help. The 911 call was made in the house. I was getting creeped out by all
the animals.”

“Why not call Connelly? Or Thompson? Or even Finley. All of them
were on your team.” 

Avery looked up.

“Honestly? I wasn’t sure I could trust them.”

“So you decided to trust a guy that was recovering from a stab
wound? Not a smart move, Avery. It worked out. Ramirez was smart enough to call
for backup, but I expect more from someone I just promoted to lead detective.
They’re your new teammates and you’ve got to learn how to play well on a team.”

When Avery was an attorney, it was every man for himself. Even
when she’d been assigned to other lawyers in a research group, everyone was
always trying to outdo the other so they could look good in front of the boss.
It had been a cutthroat, soulless existence, and that existence had followed
her into the A1.

“I can do better,” she said.

“Yeah, well, no one’s been very welcoming to you since you came
upstairs, I get that. And until you personally handled those West Side
Killers, you were pretty much persona non gratis downstairs too, right? Things
are different now, Avery. You just solved a really big public case.”

“Am I back on Homicide?” She asked.

O’Malley raised his brows.

“
‘Am I back on Homicide?’
Seriously?
You defied my
orders to stay away from the case. You left a crime scene. You ignored your
partners and nearly got yourself killed. Do you think you
deserve
to be
back on Homicide?”

“Yeah,” she said with a determined glint in her eyes. “I do.”

O’Malley smiled.

“How can I say no to a hero?”

He grinned wider.

“Of course you’re back!” he said. “Now get out of here. Take the
rest of the day off. Come back Monday and start the week fresh. And while
you’re basking in your current glory, do me a favor?” He ruffled around for a
few pieces of paper. “Call the mayor. Here’s his personal line. And Miles
Standish, too, the owner of Devante. I noticed both of them sent you flowers
and a card.”

He stood and saluted her, and she was touched by the gesture.

“Great work, Avery.”