Chapter 13

I escorted Dave to the morgue. He was allowed to see Melissa, but when he tried to touch her, he had to be restrained. That was the most painful thing I’d ever witnessed on the job, maybe in my whole life. I could see his pain, his loss. He’d lost the love of his life.

I thought about Jude. Were we done? Was it over? Was it too late for us or could I stop what was happening and win her back? Did I want her back?

As I was about to drive Dave back home, Martinez pulled me aside. “The forensics guys say they got multiple prints. Not only that, but Doc says they ran a rape kit and pulled a semen sample from the vic.”

“Melissa,” I stopped him. “Her name was Melissa.”

“Sorry, from Melissa. It’s not like our perp to be that sloppy. He always wore a condom before.”

“He’s escalating his game,” I said. “He’s getting overconfident, making mistakes.”

“Dude, are you alright?” my partner asked me. “You got your head up your ass. He left fingerprints and DNA all over the place. Our perp is too careful about that shit. Maybe you need to take a step back, bro. You’re too close to this one. You ain’t thinking right.”

“It’s not the case,” I told him, acknowledging that I had not been on my A game. “It’s personal.”

“Personal? Dude, I been your partner for over ten fucking years. What’s going on?”

“I can’t get into it, now. I need to get back in there.”

“Fuck that shit, bro. Tell me what the fuck is going on.” I knew Martinez too well and realized he wasn’t going to back off. With a sigh, I confessed my suspicion that Jude was cheating on me with her yoga instructor.

“Oh bro, that’s fucked up? I heard about them yoga dudes. They got into some kind of freaky, kinky sex shit called tanto or some shit.”

“Tantra,” I corrected him.

“Yeah, that’s it. They get all in the women’s heads and make them have like hour-long orgasms and shit. I can’t believe Jude would do that to you, bro. You sure?”

“No, not really,” I explained. “It’s just a suspicion at this point. But, that’s why I’m so distracted. I’m spending more time worrying about what Jude is up to than working on this case.”

“What’s this mother fucker’s name? I’ll go pay him a visit and teach him not to mess with married women.”

“Marcel Beaufils, but you leave him alone. I’ll take care of Slick.”

“I got your back, bro. You know, if you need an alibi or some shit.” I nodded and assured him that it wouldn’t be necessary.

“Yeah, well, my cousin Pancho has a three-thousand-acre ranch out in West Texas. We bury that mother fucker out there, they never find the body.” I couldn’t tell if he was serious, but knowing Martinez, I assumed he was honest. I promised not to do anything stupid and to keep my personal problems out of things. As he walked away, he shouted, “Call me if you change your mind.”

I retrieved Dave, and we headed back toward his place, but he spoke up. “I can’t go home, Bill. I can’t be there. Can you take me to a hotel? I doubt I’ll be able to sleep anyway, but I can’t face seeing her things at home.”

“Sure,” I told him. “You’re welcome to stay at our place tonight.”

“No,” he replied. “I need to be alone.”

“Ok, I understand.”

I drove to a nearby NyLo, and as we pulled up to the porte-cochère to drop him off, he sighed heavily. “Melissa said that life is suffering,” he began, and his words sent a shockwave into my brain and nearly stopped my heart. “I never knew what she meant until now.”

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Life is suffering,” he repeated. “It’s some kind of Buddhist expression, something she picked up at the yoga studio. Melissa said it was something her instructor used to tell them during class.”

I was trying to process the connections. My brain was suddenly working in turbo-mode.

“You said that Melissa was still taking classes? At the studio?”

“Yeah, she loved those fucking classes.”

“With Marcel?”

“Yeah, two or three days a week. Why? Do you think her death was related to the studio somehow?” he asked, desperately clutching at straws. I downplayed it as best I could.

“No, no,” I said. “I was just trying to see what Melissa spent her time doing. We have to look into everything. Try to get some sleep.”

Dave nodded and got out. He looked like he wanted to say more, but opted not to. I waited, watching him go into the hotel, then I drove home as fast as I could. It was almost four in the morning, but I went straight to the bedroom and woke up Jude. She didn’t complain and got up to put on a pot of coffee.