Heart of Glass (Heart #1) Read online

  Tami noticed he seemed genuinely distraught. “Where’s the body?”

  “Upstairs.” The lieutenant stretched his arm forward in a ladies first type gesture.

  Tami began her ascent up the marble stairs with her boss a few paces behind. She wondered if he was looking at her ass. Probably not, she thought. Tami was always paranoid, so many of her colleagues had hit on her. Lieutenant Meyers had been her boss for five years now, and he never did or said anything that made her feel uncomfortable.

  CHAPTER 4

  When they reached Christy’s bedroom, Tami knew that it was the crime scene. Dr. Kim the county’s forensic investigator was kneeling over the body of the deceased. The crime scene photographer was standing nearby snapping pictures as Dr. Kim silently pointed at various parts of the dead girl’s body.

  Tami noted she was still wearing her bra. She hoped the girl hadn’t been raped. She hated that she thought that way. Especially because she should have first hoped that the girl had never been killed in the first place.

  The scene was bloody, but blood never bothered Tami. She had questioned why she chose this profession many times, but she was good at her job and always an overachiever. She couldn’t stay a regular police officer forever, and she decided to go out for detective. She took the exam and aced it.

  Homicide was her only option. There was no way she would work vice. She knew she would have to be the one dressed up like a prostitute. There was no way she was going to work narcotics. She hated any and everything to do with drugs. Crackhead hypes and junkie informants were not for her. The gang unit was just too hood for her. She was out of the hood and had no plans of hanging around hood gangbangers. Suburban gangs were a far cry from inner city gangs but still not a career goal for Tami.

  Homicide was right where she wanted to be. Sure there were rarely any homicides in Hinsdale, but every now and then some deranged husband would off his wife in a domestic dispute. The homicide department also covered the suicides in town. Rich guys with rich guy problems and troubled teenagers committing suicide gave her something to do. She definitely earned the good salary the taxpaying people of Hinsdale paid her. Death didn’t bother her much. She had seen it before, up close and personal when she was young, and she had built a huge brick wall to shield her from the devastation it caused.

  Dr. Kim noticed the new additions to the bedroom. “Detective Johnson, where have you been hiding?” He smiled as he looked up at her from the bloodstained hardwood floor.

  Tami returned his smile. She deeply respected Dr. Kim. “You know I only come out when there’s been a murder.” Or suicide.

  “Did you bring JT with you?” He asked.

  Some of the officers and county workers called Detective John Turner, JT. Every time she heard it, she automatically thought of Justin Timberlake.

  “Yeah, he’s here somewhere. You know he has to stop and talk to everyone on the scene. I bet he’s downstairs somewhere questioning the dog.”

  Detective Turner entered. “Hey, I heard that. You two will be happy to know that I have already ascertained that this household is pet-free.” Detective Turner grinned showing all his naturally perfect teeth. “Doctor, we don’t have to cover our feet?”

  “No, the blood is pretty concentrated in one area. Just be careful.”

  “Lieutenant, was there forced entry?” Tami asked. She was in job mode now and trying to piece together what happened to the young girl. Her brain was working as her eyes regarded the crime scene.

  “No, but it looks like the perpetrator was here waiting for the victim.”

  Tami looked down and studied the lifeless body. She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves. She placed the gloves on her hands and knelt down to join Dr. Kim.

  Detective Turner had already taken a place next to Dr. Kim. He noticed a few strands of hair alongside the body and he pointed them out with his gloved finger.

  Dr. Kim grabbed a single strand of the hair with his medical tweezers. “It looks like the victim’s hair but you can never be sure. Bag and tag everything, the first rule of forensics.”

  “Dr. Kim, you haven’t been up to visit us in some time.” Tami missed Dr. Kim’s presence around the office.

  “Detective Johnson, I grew tired of begging you to jump ship and join us in forensics, the door is always open.”

  “What about me?” Detective Turner chimed in.

  “JT everybody knows you’re just hanging out until retirement.” Dr. Kim opened a plastic forensic bag that looked a lot like a Ziploc bag. He carefully placed the strand of hair inside.

  Detective Turner smiled. “That is so true.”

  “Dr. Kim, we can’t part with Johnson. She’s one of the best and brightest we have.” Lieutenant Meyers said with a laugh. “Please stop trying to steal my detectives from me.”

  Tami couldn’t believe her boss had said that about her, especially in front of everybody. He never seemed to pay her any attention. He definitely never praised her in any way. She kind of felt invisible around him. He mostly talked to her partner. She did her job well and closed ninety-two percent of her cases, but he never gave her any special treatment or a pat on the back. Tami had to admit it made her feel good that her hard work and dedication wasn’t being overlooked and wasn’t being put on display either. Tami knew she was smart, but more than anything she wanted to fit in and be one of the boys.

  John looked at Tami, and she knew he had something of importance to say. She had picked up on his facial expressions as soon as they were paired together.

  “I talked to the first officers on the scene. They said the only thing the kid claimed he touched on the body was the shirt. He may have also touched her shoulders. He said the shirt was over her face and he picked it up and threw it down.”

  “He’s got a lot of blood on him,” Tami said her thoughts aloud. “Dr. Kim do we have a cause of death?”

  “My preliminary examination of the body suggests she died of multiple stab wounds. She was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and bled out.”

  “Can you tell if she was attacked from the front or back?” Tami asked.

  “Looks like the assailant was standing behind her and reached around, maybe a three to six-inch blade. I will have a definitive analysis later of course.”

  Detective Turner stood. “What a violent way to go. These young kids are pretty much taking over the violent crime market.”

  “Yes that’s true,” Lieutenant Meyers added, “but let’s not jump to any hasty conclusions.”

  “Oh, someone did reach the girl’s parents on their cell phones. The mother and father both work downtown. They are stuck in traffic. It’s the beginning of rush hour. Not sure how long it’s going to take them to get home.”

  Tami stood and started walking around the room. She was assessing the scene. She let her eyes investigate her surroundings. The room was neat and pretty. It was too girly for her taste, but this girl grew up different than Tami.

  This girl was privileged and had the benefit of both her parents living together in one household. Tami noticed the iPad mini on the computer desk along with an iPhone. There was a huge gold-framed poster of singer Chris Brown above her made bed. It was a queen-sized bed with a pink quilt and matching pillows, very girly and very cute.

  Tami walked closer to get a better look at the poster and realized that there were four concert tickets and an autographed picture of Chris Brown inside the frame at the bottom. The singer was kissing the deceased girl, Christy’s cheek. She appeared a little younger in the picture, but she was very pretty. She looked really happy in the picture. Tami turned back and glanced at the dead Christy. What a shame she thought. She had her whole life ahead of her, dead at seventeen.

  It was clear this family really did have wealth. Tami turned her attention back to the desk. There was a pair of earrings in the corner by a High School English book. The earrings were diamond studs maybe a karat. Tami was sure they were real. Tami knew this girl was loved. S
he probably was smart. She knew her parents would likely be devastated by the loss. Sometimes people can’t recover from the loss of a child. Then some people don’t give a shit. These people were different though. They cared about their daughter. She didn’t have to meet them to know it. There was love in this room and in this house.

  This was the part of the job she hated. She was glad that she would not have to be the one to tell them what happened to their daughter. What’s worse than this? She hoped the parents wouldn’t arrive before the coroner’s wagon got the body out of the house.

  Tami spotted something in the pink furry trashcan by the desk. She reached down into the garbage and retrieved the item with her gloved hand.

  “Hey check this out.” Everyone in the room looked over toward Tami as she waved the pale purple and white stick of a home pregnancy test in the air.

  “Don’t tell me it’s positive.” Detective Turner stated.

  Tami smelled the pregnancy test stick. “A plus, not a minus. You can still smell the urine on it. This is fresh. Do we have a motive?”

  Tami and Detective Turner peered over at Lieutenant Meyers.

  CHAPTER 5

  Jason Kramer and Brian Ziewicke raced in the front door of the Studio Pictures video store. They didn’t want to be late for their shift. The video storeowner had given Jason plenty of warnings. Studio Pictures was one of the only physical video stores for miles. The advent of NetFlix, RedBox, and various other ways of watching movies made the store almost a historical site in Hinsdale.

  The tardy duo whizzed by the young female cashier without saying a word. Jason busted through the horror section with Brian behind him. They ducked into the back break room, grabbed their time cards out the rack and clocked in; the clock read 18:00. Jason was on time. He had made it just in the nick of time. Relief washed over his face.

  Brian was young, but he was the manager. He didn’t really need the job. He was driving a Jeep handed down to him from his father. Brian offered to pick Jason up and bring him to work. Jason didn’t have a car, and he needed the job. Jason’s mother had very little money after she divorced his father, and she wasn’t willing to share any of it with him.

  Jason had agreed to ride with his manager even though Brian was a blonde, clean-cut choirboy. Brian looked like he could be in a boy band. Jason was pale, with a punkish goth/rebel without a cause look and an “I don’t give a fuck attitude”. They were complete opposites.

  Brian didn’t care that Jason had a multitude of piercings and tattoos or that he wore nail polish. Brian just gave him rides because he was that type of guy. Plus he knew Jason would show up if he had a chauffeur.

  Jason and Brian weren’t friends; they just worked at the same place, but that alone was enough for them to get along.

  Jason dropped his backpack down at the nearest table. The other employees joked that his pack was full of explosives. Jason knew about the joke, and it helped with his menacing façade. Everyone knew the police had questioned him two months ago because he knew the girl from the mall that had been murdered.

  The two guys sat down in chairs as if their shift hadn’t started yet. Jason lit a cigarette right under a sign that said, “No Smoking.” It was an old relic from when smokers could still light up inside in some common areas.

  “You going out there to tell her?” Jason asked Brian as he inhaled.

  “You tell her.”

  “You’re the manager. She doesn’t even like me.”

  “What am I going to say to her?” Brian started raking his blonde curly hair with his fingertips.

  “I don’t know. You’re the smart guy. Dude, you went to college. I can barely go to fucking high school. Just tell her the cops are at her house and Channel Five News is out there or something. Or just tell her to call home.”

  “Maybe she knows already.”

  “If she knew there were a shit load of cops at her house, she wouldn’t be at work.”

  “She has to be here. There was no one to relieve her.” Brian wittingly added.

  Jason couldn’t argue with that logic. “You have to do it.”

  “It’s probably nothing,” Brian assured, although he wasn’t sure.

  “With all those fucking cops on Briar Lane? Either it’s nothing or they’re filming an episode of C.S.I. Miami. Guess what?

  “What?”

  “We’re not in fucking Miami.”

  “Okay. I’ll just tell her to call home. You coming?”

  “No thanks, I’m doing this nicotine thing.” Jason blew cigarette smoke from his thin chapped lips. He watched as Brian left the break room.

  Brian walked through the horror section and glanced over at the lone customer browsing through the new releases. He began to make his way to the video store cashier and decided to slow his pace. He was inches from her long, dark brown ponytail.

  “Misty.” He called out.

  The ponytail swung around, and the cashier was staring Brian in his eyes. Brian always did a double take when looking at Misty. The resemblance between Christy and Misty was uncanny. They were the only identical twin girls he knew.

  “Hey, Brian.” Misty’s bubbly personality jumped out through her wide smile.

  “Hey.” Brian searched for the right words.

  “Did you guys make it on time?”

  “Oh yeah. I just wanted to tell you that I gave Jason a ride to work and—”

  “You always give him a ride.” She interrupted.

  “We passed your house on the way here and there were a lot of Hinsdale police out front, a lot of them.”

  Misty’s smile fell flat. “At my house?”

  “Yeah, I think it was your house. Maybe you should call home so someone can tell you what’s going on.”

  Misty’s face went limp. “That’s what I’ll do. I’ll call home.” Misty walked from behind the counter.

  “Misty,” Brian called out to her as she was headed to the employee break room.

  “Huh.”

  “Where are you going?” Brian walked behind the counter.

  She looked over at Brian. “My cell is in back.”

  Brian lifted a cell phone covered in a purple shell case. “Your cell is right here.”

  “Oh.” Misty backtracked behind the checkout counter. She took her cell from Brian’s hand and started to dial. Brian left her side and pretended to alphabetize the returned videos on top of the counter.

  “It’s just ringing,” Misty mumbled, but Brian heard her in the quiet store.

  “Who did you call?”

  “My sister, I know she’s home. She’s not answering. She always answers her phone.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Tami was tired. She hadn’t felt this way in a long while. It had been a long day, and she knew it wasn’t over just yet. She still had police work to do. Her job was a twenty-four seven gig. She had finally made her way back to the police station and it was her duty to question Matthew Mathers. He was a person of interest for obvious reasons.

  She had many questions for the bloody teen. She had formulated a few when she saw him sitting on the couch in the house of the dead girl. Yes, he was underage, but Tami wasn’t going to go easy on him. He had some explaining to do.

  She was already in the interrogation room sitting across from the pretty boy and his handsome father. The video cameras in the ceiling would visually record the entire interaction. The microphones under the table would record the conversation. They were there to pick up the slightest sound. Tami’s partner had gone over to the neighboring suburb to compare notes with their homicide division. It looked as if there may be some similarities with the murder that happened two months ago in Oakbrook at the mall.

  Young Matthew had changed clothes. He was no longer draped in blood. His father, Charles Mathers, was dressed like he was on a golf outing, which reminded her of Lieutenant Meyers’ earlier casual attire. Tami’s boss had gone home and changed into a gray suit. He was going to sit in on the questioning. This was an important case th
at would be highly supervised and watched by the higher-ups.

  The table in the interrogation room was small. It was big enough for the notepad and one single ballpoint pen that Tami coveted like gold.

  Lieutenant Meyers had entered the room and took a seat alongside Tami directly across from Matthew and his father. He was going to let her take point. Her boss knew how charming Tami was to the opposite sex. She disarmed men, and he was sure she could get anything out of a teenage boy.

  “Matthew, Mr. Mathers, we really appreciate you coming down tonight.” Tami faked a smile. “I know it’s been a really rough day for the both of you.” Tami shook her head to express her sympathy. “Matt, we just felt it would be a good idea to talk to you while everything was still fresh in your mind. Later on the details may get blurry. So that’s why we’re here. This should be brief. First, I will read you your rights. Then I’m going to ask you a few questions about what happened today. Matthew, do you understand what I’ve just said to you?”

  “Yeah, my dad explained it to me.”

  “Is my son being considered a suspect? Why are you reading him his rights?”

  “No sir, we are just questioning everyone. We are reading him his Miranda Rights because it’s protocol. If he jumps up and says, ‘I confess,’ we have to be prepared for that. But from what I gather he won’t be doing that, so I will Mirandize him verbally to make him aware of his rights. Our primary goal at this juncture is to get clarification on times. Matthew is a good witness for this purpose.”

  “Okay fine,” Charles said clearly. He was sure that his son had nothing to hide. He raised a great kid, and he was quite sure of it.

  “Matthew Mathers, you have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you. Anything you say here today can be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  Lieutenant Meyers addressed the father and son. “I would like to note that Matthew Mather’s father, Charles Mather’s, is present and acting as his legal guardian.”