Chapter 2

Day Two

The next day Julie stopped at the Starbucks near Police Plaza and purchased two venti roast-of-the-day coffees and a bag of mixed Danish pastries. She’d try a peace offering and see if she couldn’t change Tommy Lomax’s attitude just a little. She was early but Tommy was already in the interview room they had commandeered for the case. She had put the evidence boxes in a carryon suitcase for convenience so she could wheel them around. Tommy didn’t look up when she entered the room nor did he offer to help her to juggle the evidence boxes or the coffee.

“I got black, there’s sweetener and cream in the bag if you need it; Danish too,” Julie put the sack of Danish on the desk and held out the venti to Tommy who got up from behind the laptop where he’d been working.

“Careful, it’s hot,” she said when Tommy took the coffee from her.

He lifted the lid and inspected the contents.

“You shouldn’t have,” Tommy said; a conciliatory tone in his voice and Julie gave him a wry smile.

“No I mean it. You shouldn’t have,” Tommy hawked up phlegm and spat in the coffee.

He put the lid back on the coffee and dropped it in the trash.

Julie’s smile disappeared. At least she knew where she stood with him. Nothing had changed.

“Make that coffee to go; we’re off to the morgue,” Tommy took his jacket from the seatback and put it on.

He scooped up the bag of Danish and threw it in the trash next to coffee she’d bought him. Julie just sighed and followed him to the city car. The lingering hint of Old Spice, cigarette smoke, fast-food and Jack Shepard’s farts had dissipated little overnight but Julie knew better than to open the window. Tommy still a found a way to torment her though. Every time she tried to take a sip of coffee he’d brake, causing her head to jerk. If the coffee didn’t have a lid it she would have scalded herself.

The childish prank got the better of her and she put the coffee in the cup holder in the console and left it undrunk

“Do you want to know what I found in the missing person’s files and the surveillance video?” Julie broke the silence.

“Amaze me,” Tommy said.

“The missing person’s files refer to Steven de Lorraine as a twenty year old college student and the pictures in the files were taken a few years before he went missing. Everyone would have been looking for a twenty-year old man not a young woman,” Julie began.

“So what?” Tommy gritted his teeth.

“Stephanie Carter was a nearly fully transitioned woman when we found her so I’d assume that Steven de Lorraine was likely presenting as feminine or at least androgynous when he went missing,” Julie took a breath.

“Despite what you think, young men don’t just wake up one day, put on nylons and lipstick and start calling themselves a lady. I’d guess that Stephanie Carter’s gender dysphoria would have been known to her parents. Even if Steven de Lorraine was publicly presenting as male you can bet he was dressing feminine out of the public eye,” Julie stated.

She could see the look of disgust and confusion on Tommy’s face.

“Maybe that’s why he cleaned out his savings and ran away. His parents couldn’t come to terms with his gender issues so Steven takes the money and begins to live as Stephanie. No one is looking for a young woman, they’re still looking for Steven,” Julie continued.

Tommy nodded. He had to concede that what Julie was saying was likely the truth.

“The driver’s licence that was found at the scene belonging to Stephanie Carter was a forgery but a good forgery. She had help,” Tommy added, surprising Julie by actually discussing the case with her rather than telling her to shut up or giving her busy work.

“Maybe her pimp?” Tommy speculated.

At least Tommy wasn’t misgendering Stephanie and Julie was tempted to tell him what she knew about Fleur de Lis but she wasn’t ready yet. She’d have to tell him how she came across the information and that would be difficult.

“You know what to do when we get to the morgue,” Tommy reverted to his surly self.

“Just observe, take notes and keep my trap shut,” Julie repeated Tommy’s instructions.

“And the security videos?” Tommy asked.

“Probably useless. By some coincidence the camera in the hallway on the floor of Stephanie’s apartment wasn’t working and I don’t like coincidences. The footage from the lobby shows a procession of residents and visitors coming and going from the building on the day of the murder but unless we find a suspect to compare it to it’s not much use to us,” Julie read from her notebook.

“The uniforms who did the door-to-door interviewing Stephanie’s neighbours report that Stephanie kept to herself. She did however seem to have a lot of visitors, mostly men, some couples, often leaving in the early hours of the morning. No one heard anything untoward on the day she was murdered,” Julie closed her notebook.

Tommy just grunted and turned into Camden City Community Hospital and parked in a spot reserved for doctors. He put a ‘Police Business’ sign on the dashboard and Julie followed him into the hospital where they took the elevator down into the morgue.

The elevator ride was only two floors but the elevator was slow and Tommy got talkative.

“So you and Gail had a thing goin’ in New York City a while back?” Tommy blurted out.

This was the conversation that Julie was dreading.

“I always wondered why that chick never succumbed to my charms then she tells me she’s a lesbian and that you and her used to fuck,” Tommy continued

Julie refused to be drawn into the conversation. Now she knew what Gail and Tommy were talking about when they were alone in Stephanie Carter’s bedroom.

“So you alphabet people; you got like a radar or something so you can sniff each other out?” Tommy continued to goad her.

Julie grinned not only at the mixed metaphor but also because ‘Gaydar’ was in fact an LGBTI dating site.

“But is Gail technically a lesbian if you’ve still got a cock? Because I thought lezzies were only into carpet munching you know. So if Gail is still keen for cock maybe I still got a chance. Maybe mine’s bigger?” Tommy grinned.

When Julie didn’t rise to the bait Tommy let it go and then thankfully the doors opened.

Hector ‘Doc’ Freeman and Gail Johnson were dressed in protective clothing standing over Stephanie Carter’s nude body. Stephanie was ghostly pale. Her makeup had been wiped away when the body was cleaned but she was still an attractive woman even in death. Except for her genitalia it would have been impossible to guess that she once been a young man. The Y-shaped incision in her body had been stitched shut.

“We’ve run some of the trace evidence and bloodwork through the lab. Her clothing has been processed, catalogued and bagged. Gail will sign it into the evidence room at Police Plaza to maintain chain of custody,” Doc began without any preliminary small talk.

“Stephanie Carter had traces of cocaine, MDMA and alcohol in her system but not enough to incapacitate her. I’d say she was a frequent user but was relatively sober at the time of her death,” Doc read from a sheet of paper on a clipboard.

“She also tested positive for Rohypnol in a quantity that would likely have put her in trancelike state. She would have been conscious but not responsive,” Doc continued to read from the clipboard.

“There was semen from two different men in her anus and her own semen was found in her panties. She ejaculated just prior to or at the time of death,” Doc said dispassionately but Tommy screwed up his face.

“Cause of death was exsanguination due to the wound inflicted on her throat. As was presumed at the crime scene, there is no evidence of a struggle or defence wounds. She is slightly underweight for a person of her age and her stomach was almost empty except for alcohol and sperm,” Doc said dispassionately and once again Tommy screwed his face up.

“She has fine scars associated with facial feminisation surgery, breast augmentation and a tracheal shave and she was taking a regimen of female hormones,” Doc flipped through the pages on the clipboard and looked up at Tommy expecting questions.

Julie saw the fine silvery scars on the underside of Stephanie’s perfect breasts. Julie had similar scars herself and then she subconsciously rubbed at the faint scars on her wrists.

“So, what do we have that’s useful?” Tommy looked from Doc to Gail and back again.

Gail took a deep breath and began.

“There are no signs of break and enter nor signs of struggle. I proffer that Stephanie let her killer or killers into her apartment with the intention to have consensual sex. The semen found in her body and her underwear confirms that she’d had anal and oral sex within twenty-four hours of being killed. The two samples from her anus are being processed for a DNA match but the sample from her stomach is corrupted by her digestive juices,” Gail directed her response to Tommy.

“She was killed sometime between midnight and four in the morning by a single knife wound to the throat and given the quantity of Rohypnol in her system she was likely in a vegetative state and unable to fight back. Her mobile phone is missing, there was no computer found in the apartment so she either didn’t have one or it was taken too. She doesn’t have a vehicle registered under either identity but we’re continuing to search the apartment block parking garage,” Gail continued.

“There was only one glass found at the scene which has Stephanie’s prints and lipstick on it and traces of Rohypnol. The killer took the second glass with him. There is a glass missing from the set of six and the rings on the countertop suggest a second glass was used and the wine bottle was nearly empty,” Gail looked up at Tommy who just nodded.

“Even though the apartment was scrupulously clean there are prints from at least thirty people in the apartment but specific areas have been wiped clean with alcohol including the door handles. Except for the semen, even if it is his, the killer left no trace evidence behind and the cut to her throat was precise, almost clinical. The killer knew what he was doing,” Gail finished her summation.

“Sex, drugs and money. The john or pimp she’d ripped off came to her apartment, drugged her, fucked her, and killed her, wiped down any surfaces he had touched and took with him anything that might incriminate him,” Tommy surmised.

“Why was she posed?” Julie blurted out and Tommy’s eyes flashed at her.

“As a warning to the other hookers. Don’t steal my money or my drugs,” Tommy snapped.

“What about the Fleur de Lis card? Was it hers or the killer’s?” Julie wouldn’t be silenced.

“Stephanie’s fingerprints were on the card. The phone number on the back of the card belongs to a burner and is unregistered. I’ll leave Tommy to call the number and see who answers. He likes to be in charge,” Gail gave Tommy a cheeky smile.

“Send the reports and findings through to Detective Sanderson,” Tommy nodded at Julie dismissively.

“Let me know if you find anything else of significance. I have an appointment with Senator de Lorraine and his wife that I’m not looking forward to,” Tommy ushered them both out of the morgue back to the elevator.

“You still don’t want to believe that it was her pimp or john that killed her,” Tommy sighed.

“It’s too clinical and she was posed. If it was her pimp, if there is one, or a john, I’d expect it to be a crime of passion. Why drug a girl who is going to let you fuck her anyway?” Julie replied.

“And what about the Fleur de Lis card? What’s the significance of that?” Julie asked, not expecting a reply.

“We’ll interview the senator and his wife and then I’ll consider what to do about that telephone number. You wanna stop for coffee on the way?” Tommy chuckled and Julie felt her stomach roil.

Senator Raymond de Lorraine and his wife Judith lived in a mansion surrounded by well-tended gardens bordering a tennis court and a swimming pool. The house was set back from the road and walled and gated. Tommy had to flash his badge and speak into an intercom to gain access. He parked the city car on the pristine raked pea-gravelled circular driveway.

Tommy didn’t need to reiterate his warning about keeping her mouth shut to Julie, he just gave her a withering look that substituted for the verbal warning.

Tommy and Julie were ushered into a sitting room where the senator and his wife were sitting side by side in winged white leather chairs. A two seater sofa was positioned across from them with a silver coffee service set on a walnut coffee table between the seats and the sofa.

Tommy and Julie were led to the sofa by the valet who retired and closed the double doors behind him. Tommy was uncomfortable sitting so close to Julie that their thighs were nearly touching. Today she was wearing a navy-blue pantsuit and low heels so at least there was no flesh to contact.

The senator was wearing a dark business suit with a white shirt, striped tie and polished brogues. His hair was perfect and he looked like a caricature of himself in his election posters and pamphlets. Judith de Lorraine was wearing a bone skirt suit and mauve blouse, sheer tan nylons and white heels. She was stick-thin and her grey hair was coiffed; her makeup was perfect. The couple looked like they were ready to give a television interview rather than to be questioned by detectives.

“First, please let me say how sorry I am for your loss,” Tommy began.

“Steven has been missing for over a year so we would be lying if we didn’t think it was a distinct possibility that he was dead,” Raymond de Lorraine responded.

Julie felt herself tense up. So this is how it was going to be. Stephanie Carter was going to be misgendered by her parents who were in denial about their son’s transition.

“You are aware of the circumstances surrounding how we found Steven,” Tommy decided that it was no use getting into an argument regarding Stephanie Carter’s gender at the time of her death.

“Yes and it was awful but I think we lost our son long before he disappeared,” Raymond said while his wife began to pour coffee.

“In high school he started dressing and behaving differently and hanging around with a bad crowd. We figured it was just a phase he was going through, you know wanting to be a Goth or something. He grew his hair out, wore makeup, black clothing, even tights and skirts sometimes,” the senator explained.

“Then we found a collection of girls’ clothing and pictures of him dressed as a girl on his computer,” the senator continued.

Julie remembered how mortified she was when her parents found her stash and confronted her when she was only thirteen.

“We put him in a male-only private boarding school where there was discipline and a curricula pertaining to men’s studies and an emphasis on outdoor and sporting activities and we thought that he’d gotten over it,” the senator passed a cup to Tommy and Judith passed one to Julie.

“He was fine when he first started college but then his abhorrent tendencies resurfaced. His grades dropped, his attendance became sporadic and he turned up for classes wearing makeup, and androgynous clothing. I hired a private investigator who found that Steven was living as a girl nearly full-time and even worse he was hanging around with others who shared the same aberration,” Raymond visibly shuddered and his wife issued a sob.

“If my political opponents found out about it I would have been ruined,” the senator sipped his coffee as if he was telling a fictional tale rather than telling the tragedy that was his child’s life.

Julie fought hard to keep her emotions in check and once again thanked god that she’d had such understanding parents.

Tommy sipped his coffee and nodded sagely. Julie had to put her coffee down because her hand was beginning to shake with anger.

“I told Steven that I was going to stop paying tuition fees and close out his bank account if he didn’t straighten up and fly right. My investigator found a place that discreetly conducts conversion therapy. We were going to give Steven the option of undertaking the therapy of his own free will or I was going to have my investigator arrange for an intervention,” the senator frowned.

Julie knew that the scientific consensus is that conversion therapy is ineffective and when it fails to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, participants often feel increased shame that they already felt over their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“What do you mean by intervention?” Tommy asked.

The senator looked at his wife briefly before answering.

“We were going to have Steven taken forcefully to the conversion therapy facility,” Raymond de Lorraine said stoically.

“If we knew about all this when we were working on your son’s missing person case we would have handled things a lot differently,” Tommy said as gently as he could.

“We would have investigated the kind of places where people like that tend to congregate. The pictures you provided us to give to the press and print on the missing persons posters showed Steven presenting as a man,” Tommy explained.

“He is a man!” Raymond de Lorraine yelled and thumped his fist on the table.

“Stop it Raymond; stop it!” Judith de Lorraine began to sob.

Her shoulders shook and her cries of anguish were heart-breaking.

Tommy dug his elbow into Julie’s ribs and she took the cue and extended her hand across the table and took Judith’s hand in her hers.

“You don’t understand,” Judith de Larraine sniffled.

“I understand very well,” Julie whispered stroking Judith de Lorraine’s hand.

Judith looked at Julie suspiciously then her look turned to anger and she recoiled and snatched back her hand.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” Judith hissed.

“You vile creature!” she looked at Julie with absolute hatred.

“Let me tell you something. When we get Steven’s body back from the coroner I’m having his hair cut short, I’m having those plastic tits ripped out of his chest and I’m burying him in a tuxedo. His name is Steven de Lorraine and that will be the name on his gravestone,” Judith hissed.

“Get out! Get out of this room and never come back!” Judith unleashed her fury at Julie.

The manservant entered the room and politely led Julie out of the sitting room and sat her in the entranceway next to the door.

“I was running for election while Steven was carrying on that way in college. The party would have dropped me from the ticket if it came to light what Steven was up to. It could be worse for me now if it came out that my son was some sort of transvestite prostitute. You understand what I’m saying here detective?” Senator Raymond de Lorraine glared at Tommy.

“Senator Graham Milburn is coming after me because I’m next in line for party whip. He’s trying to poison my reputation with the party because he wants the job. Politics can be vicious and playing dirty is all part of the game. It would be best if my private life remained private,” Raymond took Judith’s hand in his and squeezed it lightly, to emphasise that the couple were in agreement.

“If you want a career in the Camden Police Department or anywhere else in this state you better keep a lid on this,” the senator growled.

“I have been instructed to use the utmost discretion Senator. This case is being handled with extreme delicacy,” Tommy replied.

“Thank you. When you put my son’s killer behind bars without any fanfare or public debacle you will find that I can be more than generous. It might be more convenient if the killer is never actually arrested. My understanding is that felons often meet their demise if they try to evade arrest of if they are armed and dangerous,” the senator raised his brows knowingly.

Tommy just nodded sagely but said nothing.

“What about the thing in the pantsuit?” Judith de Lorraine nodded towards the door.

“Detective Sanderson is working for me solely in an advisory capacity. You understand that she has knowledge on how these people operate and how they think. She knows to keep her mouth shut and she will return to New York as soon as the case is closed,” Tommy said, the lie sticking in his throat.

“You called Detective Sanderson she,” Judith de Lorraine glared at Tommy.

“Only as a matter of convenience Mrs de Lorraine,” Tommy said sagely.

Tommy stood and nodded at the senator and his wife and left the room.

“Let’s get out of here before I throw up my breakfast,” Tommy pushed Julie through the door towards the car.

“You saw the denial there Tommy. If they had treated Stephanie with a modicum of love and respect, this might never have happened,” Julie said.

“Fuck their respect. I get it that they’re angry that their fucked up son wanted to become a girl; I have no problem with that but they lied to police and that asshole offered me a bribe,” Tommy slammed the car door closed and reached for his seatbelt.

“Mrs de Lorraine liked your pantsuit by the way but I prefer it when you show a bit of leg,” Tommy quipped and Julie couldn’t help a wry smile.

They stopped for coffee at the Starbucks on the way back to Police Plaza. Julie brought the coffees over to a small table in the corner away from the other customers.

“You want it with or without the spit?” Julie held out Tommy’s coffee.

“I make the jokes and I’m sorry about this morning,” Tommy said begrudgingly.

Julie sat across from him and Tommy studied her closely.

“What are you looking at?” Julie blushed.

“No one would ever know, would they?” Tommy mused.

“Know what?” Julie frowned.

“At least half a dozen guys checked you out when you walked in here with me,” Tommy said and Julie blushed for the second time that day.

“I’m five ten in my low heels. I stick out because I’m a tall woman. People stare at me all the time,” Julie replied.

“Yeah but it’s not just that. That guy over there hasn’t taken his eyes off your ass since you walked in,” Tommy nodded at a man pretending to read his newspaper.

“We call it being clocked. That’s when someone suspects that you’re a transgender woman. I don’t hide the fact that I am but I don’t advertise it either,” Julie took a sip of her coffee.

“No one here has clocked you. They’re checking you out because you’re a good looking woman,” Tommy shrugged.

“I’m waiting for the insult,” Julie said dryly.

“Listening to the senator and his wife got me thinking. You have to put up with that a lot don’t you?” Tommy said.

“Ok. Mostly I don’t because except for my height I’m pretty unclockable. It’s when people find out that I’m trans that their prejudice shows through. You can imagine what I went through at the academy?” Julie replied.

Tommy nodded sagely. The police academy was hell on all the rookies especially women. Julie would have copped it worse than anyone.

“And then there are the tranny chasers. Some men think because you’re trans you’re promiscuous. They wonder what it would be like to fuck a trans woman but there is no way they’re going to date you,” Julie said dispassionately.

“What about Gail?” Tommy raised his brows.

Julie sighed. She might as well get it out in the open.

“We were lovers. We shared an apartment. She wanted commitment, a relationship ... and I didn’t so we broke up. She moved to Camden when a better job came up here and I stayed in New York,” Julie said soberly.

“So ... you never considered...” Tommy formed his fingers into scissors and imitated a cutting motion.

“Now you are getting really personal Detective Lomax,” Julie stirred her coffee.

“Where to now boss?” Julie broke the awkward silence.

“Let’s see what happens when I dial that number on the back of the card,” Tommy said.

As it turned out, Tommy didn’t get to dial the number that day. They ran into Jack Shepard back at Police Plaza. He was coming out of the temporary office that supposedly only Tommy and Julie had access to.

“What’s going on Jack? You know this case is close-hold,” Tommy asked.

“Just looking at what you have Tommy. You know. Fresh set of eyes and all that,” Jack made light of the matter and changed the subject.

“How’s the tranny cooze working out Tommy? You have to rap her on the nose with a newspaper to keep her from sucking dicks in the parking lot?” Jack looked at Julie with disdain and thought he was hilarious.

“Don’t be like that Jackie boy. You know she got foisted on me by the captain, I didn’t bench you,” Tommy wouldn’t be seen defending Julie Sanderson but he wouldn’t have Jack continue to disrespect her either.

“Why don’t you type up our notes from the interview with the de Lorraines and see if the autopsy and trace evidence reports have come in,” Tommy ushered Julie into their temporary office as much to get her away from Jack Shepard as anything else.

“Tell me what you got Tommy,” Jack dragged Tommy into the adjoining interview room.

“You know this case is close-hold Jack. I’m not supposed to discuss it with anyone,” Tommy grumbled.

“I was in at the start Tommy, just let me know where you’re at with it. When are we going to be able to partner up again?” Jack whined.

Tommy relented and gave Jack the down low on the case and then he was summoned to the captain’s office to update him.

When Tommy returned to the office Julie was affixing some evidence to the crime wall, standing on her tiptoes to blu-tac crime scene pictures next to the picture of Stephanie Carter and Steven de Lorraine. Her pants were stretched tight across her buttocks and Tommy realised why the guy in the coffee shop was staring at Julie’s ass. It was a fine ass.

“You’re not sharing information about our case with Jack Shepard are you Tommy?” Julie said with her back to Tommy.

“You know I wouldn’t do that Detective Sanderson and just because we shared a cup of coffee doesn’t make us buddies,” Tommy said gruffly.

Julie was used to this. Colleagues would be open and friendly with her when they were alone but as soon as they were in the company of others or in the workplace they treated her like a pariah.

“We have just about everything from the autopsy and most of the trace evidence has been processed. I’ve asked for the DNA to be fast-tracked because it’s our most compelling evidence if there’s a match,” Julie said evenly.

“Not that it will be conclusive if we do get a match. We’re almost certain that Stephanie Carter was working as a prostitute so the sperm samples in her body may not have been deposited by her killer,” Tommy looked up at the crime board.

“But it will lead us to whoever was with her on the day she was killed,” Tommy added.

“Stephanie Carter’s stomach was devoid of food. She would have douched before engaging in sexual activity so the sperm samples were reasonably fresh. There were samples from two different men in her anus. The sample in her stomach was too adulterated by her stomach acids to be useful and may have come from one of the other secretors anyway,” Julie tapped her pen against her teeth as she studied the crime board.

“Doc said that her own sperm was present in her panties. Is that usual?” Tommy blushed when he asked the question.

“What I mean is, if she was raped it is unlikely that she would have ejaculated right?” Tommy’s pink blush turned bright red.

“Involuntary erections or ejaculations can occur in the context of non-consensual anal sex. Erections and ejaculations are only partially under voluntary control and are known to occur during times of extreme duress. Also, she was under the influence of Rohypnol,” Julie replied.

“You know a lot about this stuff,” Tommy said carefully.

“You can imagine the type of cases that I’m assigned to. Back home almost any crime involving sexual assault on a trans woman is tossed my way,” Julie visibly stiffened and unconsciously fingered the scars on her wrist.

“Homework?” Julie changed the subject.

“Study the autopsy and trace evidence reports. See if they can help us put together a timeline. That’s our task for tomorrow,” Tommy began to pack up and Julie did the same.

She signed out the laptop on which the reports were stored. Given the delicacy of the case, chain of custody was tight. Tommy locked up the interview room behind them. Their farewells were brief and cursory.

On the drive back to her hotel in her rental car Julie pondered the day’s events. Tommy was no longer being outright vindictive towards her and they were starting to work as a team. Julie didn’t flatter herself that she had made Tommy any less prejudiced against transgender women, he had just come to realise that Julie’s insights were helpful.

Back at the Grand Hotel she toyed with her phone, considering whether to use her escort service app to summon the urban cowboy to her room but given all she had been through today she wasn’t in the mood.

She laid out the evidence and opened the laptop ready to work through the night. She showered and changed into her silk pyjamas, poured herself a glass of wine and was studying the room service menu when there was a knock on her door.