Marie Force - Fatal Threat

“Good luck with that,” Freddie said.

Gonzo walked away from them to take the call.

“This is seriously effed up,” Beckett said.

“Yeah, it is, but she’d want us to focus on working the floater case, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Freddie said. Though he was still rattled and furious about the scene at the river, Sam would want them to do their jobs and not worry about her. She’d say she could take care of herself, but after what happened in that basement with Stahl and Marissa Springer, he hoped that wherever she was, it wasn’t sparking memories of that grim episode.

Gonzo’s raised voice caught Freddie’s attention. “I don’t know how long, babe,” Gonzo said. “All I know is what the agent in charge told me.” After a pause, he added, “No, they wouldn’t release him. They’re under orders to keep everyone in the safe location for the time being. He’ll be fine, Chris—of course he will. He’s with Angela, Sam and Tracy. They won’t let anything happen to him.” Gonzo sighed deeply. “Of course I don’t like it, but what am I supposed to do about it? I have no idea where the safe location is, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to get in there.” He paused. “Yes, honey, of course I will. Try not to worry. He’s with people who love him. Okay. I love you too.” After he ended the call, he sat at his desk, head in his hands.

“She’s not happy, huh?” Freddie asked.

“That’s putting it mildly. She’s hysterical.”

“Do you need to go home?”

“Nah, I can’t leave with the LT God knows where and a floater to contend with.”

“I could hold down the fort if you need to go check on her.”

“I’ll call her back in a little while to make sure she’s okay. In the meantime, since we’re both without partners for the rest of our shift, let’s go see what Lindsey has found out about our body.”

Freddie took note of the casual way Gonzo said he was without a partner. Since Detective Arnold was killed over the winter, Gonzo had been working on his own or with Freddie and Sam. The department had yet to fill the vacancy in their squad that Arnold’s death had created, which was fine with Freddie. He couldn’t conceive of anyone else sitting in Arnold’s cubicle and didn’t want to think about the day, probably in the not-too-distant future, when they’d have to accept a new person into their group.

Freddie didn’t like change, especially the kind of change that resulted from one of his closest colleagues being murdered.

“You okay?” Gonzo asked as they walked together to the morgue at the other end of the headquarters building.

“Yeah. I was just thinking about Arnold, actually.” He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by mentioning Gonzo’s late partner. Only in the last month or two had Gonzo seemed more like his old self again, after watching his partner be gunned down right next to him and slipping deep into grief in the aftermath.

“What about him?”

“Just about who they might get to fill his spot.”

“No idea.”

“I hope it doesn’t happen soon. I don’t want to see someone else in his cube.”

“Gonna happen eventually.”

“I hope eventually is in the far-off future.”

Gonzo had nothing to say to that, but then, he didn’t say much about Arnold these days. Despite his silence on the matter, Freddie knew Gonzo’s late partner was never far from his mind.

They entered the morgue, where an antiseptic scent greeted them.

“This is gonna be bad,” Gonzo said. “You ready for that?”

Freddie’s stomach turned. This was one of the worst parts of a difficult job. “As ready as I ever am.”

“What’ve you got, Doc?” Gonzo asked as they entered the sterile room where Lindsey and her deputy, Byron Tomlinson, were examining the body—or what was left of it.

Freddie choked back a wave of nausea when he got his first look at the bloated lump of flesh that had once been a human being. The only thing about the body that still looked human was a knotted, slimy clump of long hair.

“Female, approximately eighteen to twenty-five,” Lindsey replied.

“How long was she in the water?”

“I’m estimating seven to ten days.”

“Which would fit the time period that Ruby Denton has been missing,” Freddie said.

“We’ll need dental records to confirm the identity,” Lindsey said. “But one thing I can tell you is whoever she is, she was well cared for at one time in her life.”

“How can you tell?” As far as Freddie could tell, she was a lump of decomposing flesh.

“Her teeth are gorgeous. Probably had orthodontics.”

For some reason, that detail made Freddie unreasonably sad for the parents who’d soon hear their child was in the morgue.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Gonzo asked.

“I can’t be sure, but there’re possible ligature marks here.” Lindsey pointed to the neck area.

“So she might’ve been strangled.”

“It’s a theory.”

“That and the teeth are more than we had ten minutes ago,” Gonzo said. “Keep us posted on the ID.”

“Can you see about getting me Ruby’s dental records?”

Freddie’s stomach turned again at the thought of asking her parents for such a thing.

“Yeah,” Gonzo said. “We’ll take care of it.”

“What’s the plan?” Freddie asked on the walk from the morgue back to the pit.

“Let’s talk to Ruby’s parents.” Gonzo checked his watch. “And then we can call it a day.”

As they went into the pit, Detectives Jeannie McBride and Will Tyrone were returning from a call.

“What’ve you got?” Gonzo asked them.

“A double suicide,” Jeannie said.

“You’re sure that’s what it was?” Gonzo asked.

“There was a note.” Jeannie handed it over to Gonzo, and Freddie moved in for a closer look.

I’m sorry it has come to this. Our financial problems have gotten to the point where we’re going to lose the house. Please take care of our kids. They don’t deserve any of this.

“Aw, damn,” Freddie said. “How old are the kids?”

“They’re both in college,” Jeannie said. “The father’s brother is taking care of notifying them. He told us the husband lost his job two years ago, and his benefits were running out. They couldn’t pay the mortgage and the bank was going to take their house. The last time he saw his brother, they talked about him declaring bankruptcy to get out from under the mortgage. He said the brother was worried about how they’d eat and where they’d live.”

“It’s so sad,” Will added, “that they felt they had no other options.”

“How’d they do it?” Gonzo asked.

“Pills,” Jeannie said. “The empty bottles were on the bed between them. His brother told us he’d had back surgery last year, and they used the leftover narcotics to OD. They were found holding hands.”

“Take care of the paperwork,” Gonzo said, “and call it a day.”

“Where’s Sam?” Jeannie asked. “We’re supposed to go to our last dress fitting together.”

Freddie glanced at Gonzo. “Um, well, there’s been a situation.”

“What kind of situation?”

Freddie took them through the sequence of events that’d happened earlier, ending with the phone call Gonzo had received about Alex from the Secret Service.

Jeannie shook her head in disbelief. “Wait... So what you’re saying...”

“Someone has made a threat against their family, so the Secret Service has them all under protection.”

“Where?”

“We don’t know.”

“What was the threat?”

“We don’t know that either.”

“How long—”

“We don’t know anything more than what we’ve told you, Jeannie,” Gonzo said. “Believe me, I want to know how long they’re going to hold my son, and I can’t get even that much out of them.”