Page 56 of Tell Me Your Desires

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“This one,” Anya said unexpectedly. Photos were spread out on the table, each labeled with names in Kate’s messy handwriting.

“Hmm?” Kate was busy widening the search for more cases that could potentially be related to the cold cases.

Now that Anya was confident there were more victims out there, the net and the manpower were broader.

“Right. She’s, um…” She went to the fridge and snatched the sheet of paper from under the magnet.

“Ruby Arnold, still missing from the first case.”

Anya nodded as she continued to look through the photos. She stopped at a young man, age sixteen, with a charming smile. “Him.”

Kate returned to Anya’s side and looked closely at the picture Anya had pointed out. She squinted at the name. “Theodore ‘Teddy’ Arnold. Wait. Ruby’s brother? Are you saying you think he had something to do with his sister’s disappearance and the murders?”

Anya put the photos together and stared at Ruby and Teddy.

Something about them seemed familiar yet made her skin crawl.

“Their mother passed away from cancer a year before they entered foster care.” She read from the intake sheet that Kate had printed out, accompanying each photo, while ignoring the question.

“Apparently, their father wasn’t up to the task of taking care of them on his own, opting to spend all of his money on… prostitutes instead.”

Kate laid a hand on Anya’s shoulder. “Hey. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I just think it all makes sense now.”

Kate’s eyebrows shot up. “Mind filling me in because I’m still—” she fluttered her hands about in a chaotic way. “You’ve always been five steps ahead of, well, just about everybody. But I kind of need to be on the same page since I am the Special Agent in Charge.”

“Yeah.” Anya blinked, disengaging her mind from the theories running rampant in her head. She needed to stay focused and diligent. She needed to remember what—and who—was at stake here. “Right, okay. First, were shell casings found from Jaime’s shooting?”

“Um.”

“I know I’ve probably just given you whiplash by changing directions, but there’s a method to my madness, and I need you to trust me, Kate.”

“I do.” Kate sat back down at the table to root through her briefcase. “They did find shell casings. The fingerprints didn’t match any in the system.”

“Do you have a portable DNA analyzer with you?”

Once again, Kate searched through her briefcase and retrieved the equipment that Anya had requested. “Still trusting you here, Anya.”

“Thank you. Let’s hope that getting the fingerprints off the shell casing didn’t compromise the touch DNA.”

Kate’s eyes lit up. “That’s one piece of the puzzle put in place for me! I can do this part, but if there’s no match in the system, we’re still at square one. Foster homes don’t normally do DNA testing.”

“I know.” Anya got up and grabbed the biohazard bag she had brought home from the hospital.

Her hands trembled slightly as she opened it, but if Kate noticed, she didn’t say anything.

Inside were the bloody clothes from the night Jaime was shot.

“I always change my route home and make sure that I am not being followed. But the night Jaime was…” Anya paused and exhaled a long, slow breath.

“I know when I’m being tailed, Kate. Obviously, I knew Jaime and Max were following me, but no one else.

Max and I couldn’t figure out how they found me.

” She dug through the bloodied clothing as she spoke.

“And I know they didn’t know where I lived because they would have tried to kill Jaime much sooner. ”

“If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can do that for you.”

The compassion in Kate’s voice nearly brought Anya to tears. “I don’t…” And then she felt it. A small bump in the watch pocket of her jeans. “Do you have gloves?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Once again, Kate dug through her briefcase and found a couple of pairs of disposable nitrile gloves.

“You come prepared.” Anya smiled as she put on the gloves. She pulled out a small, round black device that was about the size of a quarter.

“A tracker.” Kate held her gloved hand out.

“First, we can use the TOUCH DNA locating device to see if there’s even anything to work with.

” She said that while pulling out a sophisticated-looking scanner that was unfamiliar to Anya.

“If there is, a dual analysis may be possible, but, Anya, I think fingerprints need to be prioritized here.”

“There are two sides to every coin, Kate. If there’s a fingerprint on one side, there’s one on the other. Use your fancy equipment there to prioritize both.”

“You’re looking for something specific, aren’t you?” Kate asked as she scanned the first side of the tracking device, turning the scanner for Anya to see. “We have touch DNA and fingerprints on side A.” She flipped the tracker over to repeat the process. “Same on side B.”

“Good. And the answer to your question is yes. If the touch DNA tells me what I think it will, I’m one step closer to knowing who’s behind all of this.”

“Okay,” Kate nodded. “I’ll swab this, then get the fingerprint. Analysis will take about ninety minutes.”

Anya took a deep, steadying breath. “That gives me enough time to research one more thing.”

Kate looked at her watch. “We’ve been working nonstop for nearly ten hours.” She eyed Anya intently. “You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t pace yourself.”

“Kate.”

“Use these ninety minutes to rest. It’s been quite a traumatic couple of days for you, Anya, and you haven’t given yourself time to…”

“To what, Kate? Grieve? Freak out? Fall apart? I don’t have time to do that!

And I’m not going to grieve for Jaime because she’s going to be okay.

If I think any other way, then I will fall apart, and if I do that, the killers will get away again.

” Anya reached over and picked up the file from her case and handed it to Kate.

“Those five beautiful women in that file are dead because of me. Jaime is in the hospital because of me. And now, those killers will be caught…because of me.”

“Okay, let’s go over it one more time.”

“Kate…”

“I’m sorry, Anya! I know you’re tired. I am, too. But what you’re asking me is more than just a simple favor. So, forgive me if I don’t want another massacre on my conscience.”

Anya pressed her ear to her shoulder, stretching her tired neck muscles on both sides.

Ten hours had turned into fifteen, with more takeout thrown in and not enough downtime.

Her eyes were dry and weary, her brain was fried, and she desperately wanted to be back with Jaime, whose condition had not changed yet.

But Kate was right. What Anya was asking of her exceeded what Kate owed her.

“You pour the tea, and I’ll go over it again.” Anya had cleaned the table of everything except what she needed to make her case to Kate. While Kate busied herself making the umpteenth pot of tea, Anya organized the evidence in chronological order.

“Your tea.” Kate placed a mug in front of Anya, then sat across from her and sipped her tea. “I’m going to have to find this stuff in New York. Either it’s the best tea I’ve ever had, or I’ve become addicted after having so much of it in such a short amount of time.”

“Probably a little of both,” Anya chuckled.

“But if you can’t find it, I’ll be sure to send you some in a care package.

Ready?” Kate saluted with her mug. “Our persons of interest are Ruby and Theodore Arnold. Mother, Margaret Arnold. Father Dr. Philip Arnold.” Anya paused as a thought crossed her mind.

“Did you know Margaret means pearl in Greek?”

Kate’s eyebrows shot up. “I, uh, no, I didn’t. Is that relevant?”

“Relevant? Probably not. Just an interesting tidbit,” Anya said, mostly to herself.

“Moving on. While we were waiting for the DNA results, I did some digging into the parents’ background.

Something wasn’t adding up for me. Merely…

seeing ‘prostitutes’ wouldn’t be grounds for losing your kids unless Philip was exposing them to things they shouldn’t be seeing, or he wasn’t taking care of them.

But they weren’t malnourished when they arrived at foster care, so there had to be something deeper going on.

It turns out that Philip was an oncologist, and after Margaret succumbed to cancer, he was consumed by guilt for being unable to save her life. ”

Anya reached for a sheet of paper and pulled it toward herself. “Our first cold case was twenty years ago in rural Connecticut in the same city where Philip was a respected doctor, Margaret was well-liked, and Ruby and Teddy were popular kids.”

“So, what happened?” Kate asked as if it were the first time she had heard this story, not the third.

Based on Anya’s past experience working with Kate, this was what Kate did when she was focused: she questioned everything until she was sure she hadn’t missed any answers.

It was a technique she often used in interviews with suspects and witnesses as well.

“Was losing Mom enough to make them all go crazy?”

Anya flinched slightly at the use of that word.

“In a sense. I refuse to play the ‘blame it on the mom’ game. Philp, Ruby, and Teddy each had their own issues before Margaret left them. Without Margaret’s guidance, however, I believe those issues were exacerbated.

Especially with how Philip handled his grief. ”

Kate sat up and leaned her elbows on the table. “Let’s get more into that. I still can’t believe you found people to talk to after twenty years who remember Philip and those kids.”

People, Anya thought with a silent chuckle. “Twenty years isn’t that long, Kate.”