Natalie Dunbar - A Serial Affair

“It’s just less likely,” Reed put in.

Marina agreed. “Maybe these guys knew each other. Maybe they knew their killer, too. Then you probably know that serial killers usually choose victims that are vulnerable. I don’t see anything in the files that shows these guys as being vulnerable in any way.”

Marina left the forensics department with Reed, certain that the evidence supported their initial assumption that all three victims had the same killer. There still wasn’t enough information to determine if the killer was male or female.

By nine Reed and Marina had their notebooks and files and were getting into Reed’s unmarked car, headed for Lissa Rawlins’ place. They didn’t call first because Reed didn’t want to spook Lissa and give her a chance to run.

Apparently remembering their visit yesterday, the guard in the lobby simply nodded when he saw them. They buzzed the condo and a woman’s sleepy voice answered. Reed gave her their names and asked to be let into the condo. As Lissa buzzed them in, Marina glanced at him in surprise. Taking the small success in stride, Reed pretended not to notice.

Lissa Rawlins opened the door to her loft condo and Reed’s first look was enough to make him pause. Lissa was barely dressed in a revealing pair of red baby-doll pajamas and matching red-mink mules. Her double-D-size breasts thrust out like ripe melons. With effort, he focused on her face, made up Marilyn Monroe style. “We can wait for you to put something on,” he suggested carefully.

“I’m fine, Lieutenant Crawford,” she said, flashing him a smile right off the ad for 1-800-HotBabe. “Come on in and get comfortable.”

Reed strode into the high-ceilinged entryway, and onto a patch of the morning sunlight spilling in from the palladium windows. Marina followed close on his heels.

“This is my associate, Special Agent Marina Santos,” he added.

Barely nodding at Marina, Lissa faced Reed.

“This is about Elliot, isn’t it?”

Marina spoke from just behind Lissa. “Yes, it is.”

Lissa ignored her. “Have a seat on the couch,” Lissa told Reed. She moved ahead of him, spicing up the view with a provocative rotation of her slim hips.

Glancing back, he almost laughed at the annoyed expression on Marina’s pretty face. She hated to be ignored. Was she a little bit jealous, too? He suppressed a smile at the thought. Why should she be comfortable when just being around her kept him on edge? He hadn’t gotten over her yet, but he wasn’t going to let that or a nearly naked woman stop him from doing his job and finding the serial killer.

Reed took one side of the plush white sofa and Lissa sat with a knee beneath her, effectively taking the rest of the couch with a long leg spanning the distance between them. Marina settled for the matching chair across from them.

“I’ve been out of town,” Lissa explained, “but I knew that sooner or later someone was going to come around asking questions about Elliot. Am I a suspect?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Reed said carefully. “I’d describe you as a person of interest in the case.”

Lissa seemed to like that response. She leaned toward him.

He fed her his first question. “When was the last time you saw Elliot?”

Lissa rolled her eyes. “It’s been at least a couple of months.”

“Where did you see him?” Marina interjected.

Lissa made eye contact with Reed. “I met him at the Hartford Hotel. He was good and it was his favorite place to screw, you know. He paid the staff and they gave him his privacy. I just got tired of being second and third on his list of women. That man was doing me, little Miss Dansinger and whoever else he could get. He couldn’t keep it in his pants.”

Reed made notes in his little black notebook. “Do you know the names of any of the other women?”

Lissa shrugged. “Except for Jade, I didn’t care.”

“Some of his friends thought you were stalking him,” Marina said.

“And they’re lying asses,” Lissa countered shrilly. “Elliot asked me to meet him.”

Reed studied her, trying to look past her innocent expression to see if she had the will to kill Elliot. He knew she was lying. He held up a file. “I have a copy of a police report he filed, accusing you of stalking him.”

“That was before he realized that Jade wasn’t nearly enough woman for him,” Lissa snapped. “He came to me and begged for it, begged me to come back. It was the best sex we ever had.”

“Where have you been the past few days?” Reed asked.

“I was in Detroit, checking on my mother. I wasn’t even in town when he got killed and I can prove it. I’ve got the ticket stubs.”

Marina’s voice was cool and professional. “We’ll need to see those and we’ll also need your mother’s name, address and phone number so we can check your alibi.”

Lissa’s eyes widened momentarily, as if she was a little intimidated. “I’ll get it for you,” she promised Reed.

He went to the next question on his list. “Did you ever see Elliott with a man named Colton Edwards? Or Aubrey Russell?”

Lissa shrugged again. “I don’t know. They could have been the guys in that stupid fraternity Elliott used to belong to.”

Reed’s glance shot up from his notebook. He sensed that this was the break he and Marina had been looking for. “What was the name of his fraternity?”

Sucking her bottom lip, Lissa tilted her head. “Alpha Kappa Epsilon? I think that was it.”

Reed’s pen sped up. “Did you ever meet any of Elliot’s frat brothers?”

Pulling her knees up to her chest, Lissa put her back on the armrest. “No. He didn’t want to share me with them. Isn’t that a laugh?”

Before Reed could answer they heard the sound of a key turning in the lock. Lissa seemed to grow smaller as she lowered her legs to the floor to sit primly on the other end of the couch.

The atmosphere in the room changed drastically. The man who opened the door was built like a wrestler with a short, powerful body and pugnacious face topped with glossy black curls. “Lissa,” he said, taking in her scantily clad form, “why you sitting around guests in your underwear? What are trying to do, huh? Give the man a heart attack?”

“Relax, Tony,” she snapped. “They’re cops. They came to ask questions about Elliot.”

Tony slammed the door shut with an air of barely controlled anger. His wary gazed flicked over Reed and Marina, lingering longer over Marina’s breasts and finally her face. “You two got a warrant?”

“No.” Marina’s tone implied that it wasn’t a problem.

Tony gave off powerful waves of suppressed violence as he flicked a thumb at the door. “No warrant, then get out.”

Sizing the other man up, Reed spoke. “Tony, chill. We need to see Lissa’s airline ticket stubs and proof that she was in Detroit when Elliot Washington was killed or we’ll be taking her downtown with us.” He didn’t know how much control Tony had over himself, but he wasn’t taking any chances. His hand was close to the gun he wore strapped at his waist, just beneath his suit jacket.

Lissa scrambled to her feet. “I’ll get those stubs for you,” she said, hurrying into the back.

Tony approached Reed, his eyes sparking with aggravation. “I don’t know why you come here bothering Lissa about that bum. She was over him a long time ago.”

Marina stood. “How long have you been with Lissa?”

Tony rotated his shoulders. “About a month or so, why?”

“We need to know where you were the night before last, the night someone killed Elliot Washington. Maybe you decided to take him out of the picture.”

“No. I didn’t have to kill the bum. I already told you. She was over him,” Tony replied angrily, narrowing his eyes.