Hothouse Orchid Read online

  “You were going to say sex, weren’t you?”

  Teddy laughed. “You don’t know me well enough for that, yet.”

  “I like shooting, too,” she said, “and…” She stopped, and they both laughed.

  She reached over and touched his hair. “This isn’t original equipment,” she said.

  Teddy laughed. “I’m vain, and I look better with hair, even if it isn’t original equipment.”

  “It looks good on you,” she said, “but my guess is you’d look just as good without it.”

  “You have a liking for bare scalp, do you?”

  “On some men it looks good.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Teddy said, “but I’ll keep my hair on, at least in public.” Especially while he was in the same town as Holly Barker, he reflected.

  He took their dishes away and brought them both ice cream, then he put a coffeepot and cups on the living room coffee table.

  She took a seat on the sofa, near the center, and he sat close to her. They were both warm with the Scotch and the wine, and it didn’t take long before they were kissing.

  “It’s been a long time for me,” she said.

  He knew from his research that she meant since Bruno had raped her.

  “I won’t rush you,” he said.

  She kissed him again. “I think I’d like to be rushed.”

  Teddy picked up the tempo.

  When he awoke the following morning she was in the shower, and she came back to the bedroom toweling herself, but naked. He liked it that she wasn’t modest about what was a very beautiful body.

  She lay down next to him for a moment. “I’d really like to make love to you again,” she said, “but I have an early staff meeting that I can’t be late for.”

  “I understand,” he replied. “Is this about the rapist/murderer you’re looking for?”

  “Yes. We’re having everybody sit down together at the same table: the local cops, the medical examiner, the forensics people. Maybe we can get a little synergy going.”

  “I hope so,” he said. “I’d like to see you clear this thing and get it off your mind.”

  “It’s constantly on my mind,” she said. “Sometimes I’d just like to go out and shoot Bruno. No trial, just execution.”

  “I read about his court-martial on the Internet,” Teddy confessed, “so I know what he did to you. You won’t have to have the burden of explaining.”

  “I’m glad you read about it. The newspaper accounts were accurate and pretty much told the whole story.”

  “There was another woman who was a witness against Bruno,” Teddy said.

  “Yes. Her name is Holly Barker. She managed to fight him off, and she was a good witness, but the deck was stacked against us.” She got up and began dressing.

  “I hope you get him,” Teddy said.

  “We will,” she replied. “This time we’re playing with a new deck.” She kissed him, said goodbye and, telling him to stay in bed, left.

  Teddy lay there, thinking about how he would like to end this whole thing for her.

  28

  Lauren arrived at work early and went to her cubicle to pick up a legal pad for use in the weekly staff meeting. She had been there for only a moment when Hurd Wallace came in and sat down in the chair next to her desk.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  “Good morning, Hurd,” she replied.

  “I’ve got some difficult news: Jim Bruno is here, and he wants to attend our morning meeting.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Lauren replied.

  “I know this is awkward for you, Lauren.”

  “It’s not that it’s awkward for me,” she said, “even though it is. It’s that he’s our only suspect, and we can’t have a suspect attending a meeting at which we’re going to discuss the crimes we suspect him of.”

  “That’s a very good point,” Hurd said. “How would you suggest I disinvite him?”

  “Tell him we’re not talking about the murders. Tell him we’re discussing something from another jurisdiction that’s confidential.”

  Hurd thought about that for a moment. “All right, that’s what I’ll do. But Jimmy Weathers is here, too, and he’s the lead detective on the case. What do I do about him?”

  “I’ll call Jimmy later and bring him up-to-date.”

  Hurd stood up. “I’ll go talk to both of them, then.”

  Hurd went back to his office and found James Bruno and Jimmy Weathers waiting for him.

  “Morning, gentlemen,” he said, shaking both their hands. “My secretary tells me you want to attend my staff meeting.”

  “That’s right,” Bruno said. “I think it’s best if we know your thinking on these murders, so we can be of more use.”

  “I’m afraid the murders are not on our agenda for the meeting. I mean, they may come up, but for the most part we’re dealing with investigations in other jurisdictions, and we have to hold those details in strict confidence, just as you hold the details of the crimes in your jurisdiction in confidence.”

  Bruno appeared to be trying not to seem annoyed. “I think it’s important that we share knowledge on these murders,” he said.

  “That’s exactly what we’ve been doing, Jim. At least, I thought that’s what we’re doing.”

  “Well, maybe you’ve been sharing with Jimmy, but not with me.”

  “Jimmy is your lead detective, Jim. Jimmy, do you feel left out of the case?”

  “Well, no, Hurd. I can’t say that I do.”

  “But I’m left out of the case,” Bruno said.

  “If that’s true, Jim, it’s because you haven’t expressed much interest in it.”

  “I’m very interested in it,” Bruno said.

  “Then I’m sure Jimmy will be glad to brief you on all the details of the investigation,” Hurd said.

  “Jimmy has already briefed me,” Bruno replied hotly.

  “In that case, I don’t know why you’re here, Jim,” Hurd said. “It’s not as though we’re keeping information from Jimmy. In fact, he’s the one who’s been keeping us abreast of his own investigation. We’re not hiding anything from him.”

  “Why won’t you let me attend the meeting?” Bruno demanded.

  “Jim, I’ve already explained that we’ll be dealing with other cases in our meeting, cases you have no reason to be privy to.”

  “I see,” Bruno said, getting to his feet. “Let’s go, Jimmy; we’re apparently not wanted here.”

  “I don’t think it’s like that, Chief,” Jimmy said.

  “I said, let’s go!” Bruno retorted.

  “I’ll certainly keep you posted if we get anything new, Jim,” Hurd said.

  Bruno walked out of the office without another word.

  “I’m sorry about this,” Jimmy said.

  “Lauren will call you later,” Hurd replied. “Keep that to yourself.”

  Jimmy looked puzzled. He shook hands and left.

  Hurd watched to see that they were out of his office, then he walked next door to the conference room, where Lauren, the medical examiner and the forensics guy were waiting. Everyone sat down.

  “I’m sorry to be late,” Hurd said, “but I had to ask Chief Bruno of Orchid Beach not to attend our meeting.”

  “Why?” the ME asked.

  “Because he’s our only suspect in the case,” Hurd explained.

  The ME looked shocked. “What evidence do we have against him?”

  “He has a history of being accused of rape,” Hurd explained. “We have no material evidence at this point, but I think it’s best if we keep him out of the loop until we can exclude him as a suspect.”

  The ME shrugged. “If you say so, Hurd.”

  “This is confidential, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  Jimmy and Bruno were driving back to the Orchid station with Jimmy at the wheel.

  “What was that about?” Bruno asked.

  “Chief, I don’t think it was about anyth
ing,” Jimmy replied. “Hurd explained himself, and I think we have to accept his explanation.”

  “Why would he want to keep information from me?” Bruno asked.

  “I don’t think he does. Sergeant Cade has been in touch with me on a daily basis, and I’ve called her a lot, too. I think I’m fully briefed on the case.”

  “Well, I don’t feel fully briefed,” Bruno said.

  Jimmy pulled into the station parking lot, and they got out of the car.

  “I’ll get the case file and go through it with you,” Jimmy said.

  Bruno slammed the car door. “Oh, fuck it!” he spat. “You handle the goddamned thing any way you like. I’m out of it.” He stormed off and went into the station.

  Jimmy went back to his desk, and he was reading the file again when his phone rang. “Detective Weathers.”

  “Jimmy, it’s Lauren.”

  “Hi, Lauren.”

  “I’m sorry you were kept out of the meeting this morning, but we didn’t want Bruno there.”

  “How come?” Jimmy asked.

  “Because he’s the only suspect in the case.”

  “Bruno?”

  “Yes. He has a past history of rape.”

  Jimmy took a deep breath. “Lauren, I think you should know that I read the stuff on Bruno’s court-martial, so I know about your involvement.”

  “It’s just as well,” she said. “I would have told you eventually. I hope you don’t think I was keeping anything from you.”

  “Well, you kept the fact that Bruno is a suspect from me.”

  “We don’t want him to know, and I think you can see how important it is that you don’t tell him.”

  “That puts me in kind of an awkward position,” Jimmy said.

  “I know it does, but I can’t do anything about that. For the integrity of the investigation you have to keep this from him.”

  “And what happens when he finds out and I get fired? Are you folks going to give me a job?”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll see that it doesn’t come to that. Either Bruno will find out when we get enough evidence to arrest him, or he won’t find out at all.”

  “All right, Lauren, I’ll play along, but please don’t get my ass caught in a wringer.”

  “I won’t, Jimmy. I’ve got to run now. Bye-bye.” She hung up.

  Jimmy hung up, too. “God in Heaven,” he said aloud to himself.

  29

  Holly got out of her first day’s training for the Malibu Mirage at dusk, and she was exhausted. She had spent half her day learning the airplane’s systems and the rest in the simulator, which she had found trying. It didn’t fly like the airplane, and, although she could look out its windows at the landscape, it was more of a schematic of a landscape, and it didn’t help all that much. She decided she would rather fly the airplane itself.

  She got into her car and was heading back toward the beach and home when, shortly after crossing the bridge, she saw two police cars, their lights flashing, with a silver sedan pulled over. She drove slowly past the cars and got a look at the driver, who appeared to be a sixtyish man, sitting in his car and talking with two police officers. She supposed that the Orchid force had started stopping every white male driving alone.

  All she could think about now was a drink, some dinner and a hot bath.

  Teddy had just crossed the bridge when the lights began flashing behind him. He considered whether he should make a run for it but decided against it. After all, he was a solid citizen with ID to back it up, so he pulled over, lowered his window and waited. To his surprise the police car pulled past him and blocked any escape, and another car pulled up behind him. A moment later there was a flashlight in his face.

  “Good evening, sir,” a young officer said. “May I see your license, registration and proof of insurance?” His hand was on his gun.

  “Certainly,” Teddy said, reaching for his wallet.

  “Slowly, sir, please,” the cop said.

  Teddy slowly produced his wallet, removed the license and handed it over, then opened the center armrest for his registration and insurance information, while another cop watched him closely from the other side of the car.

  “Mr. Smithson?” the cop read from the license. “What are you doing out tonight?”

  “Driving home,” Teddy replied.

  “From where?”

  “From the Publix market on US-1,” Teddy said. “There isn’t a big supermarket on the island.”

  “Would you step out of the car, please?”

  Teddy got out.

  “Place your hands on top of the car, please.”

  He did so and felt himself being searched. “What’s this about?” he asked. “Why did you stop me?”

  “Do you mind if I have a look inside your car, Mr. Smithson?”

  “No, I don’t mind, but I’d like to know why.”

  “Just a routine procedure, sir. Please have a seat on my front bumper, right behind your car.”

  Teddy walked back to the police car behind him and sat down. He watched as the two officers thoroughly searched his car and as one officer pressed the button inside the car that opened his trunk. The two officers moved around the four bags of groceries in the trunk and looked under the floor where the spare tire was stored.

  “All right, Mr. Smithson,” the cop said, handing him back his paperwork. “You may proceed on your way. I apologize for any inconvenience.”

  “Not at all,” Teddy said, accepting his paperwork and returning to his car. The cop had not even mentioned that he had been driving at least ten miles per hour over the speed limit. He started the car, waited for the police car to move from in front of him, then pulled away from the curb and continued on his way.

  This had to be about the search for the rapist/murderer, he thought. He drove home, put away the groceries, took his laptop from the safe and switched it on. He logged on to the Agency computer through a handy computer in Birmingham, Alabama, and began compiling everything he could find on James Bruno, from his court-martial record, to his West Point transcript to his military personnel file.

  Finally, he ran a complete background check on the man, discovering only some speeding tickets, the most recent four months ago. Except for those, the man was clean on the civilian side. Only the court-martial transcript told the story of his abuse of women.

  Bruno, he concluded, was a type A personality, aggressive and bullying, though Teddy doubted that part of his personality would display itself when he was faced with someone his own size who had an equally aggressive attitude.

  He pulled Bruno’s recent Florida driver’s license application from the state’s DMV records, which gave him the man’s current home address. He was going to have to start looking into Bruno’s daily schedule and devote some thought to how to best deal with him.

  Lauren Cade got home from work, poured herself a drink and called Jack Smithson.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, it’s Lauren.”

  “How was your day?”

  “Long and tiring. I’m just having a drink and recovering.”

  “I was pulled over by the police on the way home from the grocery store this evening,” he said.

  “Oh? What crime did you commit, Jack?”

  “White male alone in a car,” Teddy replied. “I take it this is part of your investigation?”

  “It’s the Orchid Beach department’s part of it,” she said. “Our little unit doesn’t have the resources to do that sort of thing. I take it they saw your innocent face and let you go.”

  “Something like that,” Teddy said, chuckling. “You making any progress with your investigation?”

  “Not really. Jim Bruno showed up at our office this morning to attend our staff meeting. Hurd had to tell him he couldn’t but not why, which is because Bruno is a suspect. He got mad and left.”

  “That’s awkward, isn’t it, when a cop is a suspect?”

  “Yes, it is. First time I’ve ever had a case where an investigating
officer was a suspect, and I don’t like it. I wouldn’t like it, even if Bruno wasn’t the guy.”

  “I’ve got a whole lot of new groceries here,” Teddy said. “You want to come over and help me eat them?”

  “I’d love to, but I’m just so tired. Tomorrow night?”

  “That would be lovely. Seven o’clock?”

  “I may have to come straight from work; mind if I have a shower there?”

  “I’ll be happy to assist you in that endeavor,” Teddy said.

  “Oooh, now you’re making me wet.”

  “Hold that thought until tomorrow night,” Teddy said.

  “You’d better believe it,” she replied. “Night-night now.” She hung up.

  The call made Teddy’s evening.

  30

  Lance Cabot’s secretary buzzed him. “There’s a man from computer services named Ross Hilton who’d like to see you for a moment,” she said.

  “Why?” Lance asked. He was busy, and he didn’t want to discuss his computer needs with some nerd.

  “He says it’s an Operations matter.”

  “Oh, all right, send him in,” Lance said impatiently.

  A kid who appeared to be about seventeen walked into his office. “Hey,” he said.

  “You’re from computer services?” Lance asked.

  “I’m twenty-five, and everybody in my department looks like me,” the kid said.

  “All right, ah…”

  “Ross.”

  “Ross. Have a seat.”

  Ross had a seat. “I’ve come across some unusual activity on the mainframe,” he said.

  “What sort of activity?” Lance asked. He hoped he was going to understand this the first time.

  “It looks like someone is logging on to our mainframe from a remote computer and using it.”

  “From where?” Lance asked.

  “Once from the Bahamas, once from Birmingham, Alabama. I think the Birmingham computer was being used as a conduit from yet another location.”

  “And where is that location?”

  “I haven’t been able to figure that out yet, but the very idea of somebody using our mainframe is pretty scary, wouldn’t you say?”