It Takes a Photographer Page 6

  "Damn," Lou said as soon as he was inside the apartment, trying not to sound angry, "You must have forgotten to turn on your phone."

  Rory waited until he'd kissed Lou before apologizing and taking care of the problem.

  "Did you have it off while you took Beth to supper?" Lou asked.

  "Nope. That was a no-go. She was expecting company, she said, and she wasn't lying this time. As I got on the elevator, Ms Rogers got off. From what I could tell, she had no idea who I was, but…" Rory shrugged.

  "Then why was your phone off when I tried to call?" Lou asked, frowning as he took a seat on the sofa.

  "Because I saw Ms Rogers, then Beth, leave a while later, while I was eating supper across the street. So I decided to take advantage of that to do another search of Beth's place."

  "That took, what? Three hours?"

  "Searching took maybe forty-five minutes. The rest of the time I was hiding in her closet."

  "How did that happen? She came back early?"

  "They both did. If I hadn't heard them unlocking the door, they'd have caught me red-handed. As it was, I barely got hidden when they came in. From the sound of it, they were doing the same thing I was, looking for this." Rory took a digital camera's memory card from his pocket, handing it to Lou. "I found it behind the false back of a desk drawer."

  "It must have something important on it, in that case."

  "No kidding." Rory shook his head. "Coleen almost caught me. Would have, if Beth hadn't suggested they try searching Seaver's 'love nest', as she called it. They left, maybe twenty minutes ago. Given how my luck was going, I waited until I was sure one of them didn't return before getting out of there. I think they left the first time to throw me off the track, in case I was watching them."

  Lou frowned. "That means they still think you're a plant, in spite of not finding anything incriminating in here."

  "Let's say that they probably aren't taking any chances."

  "It will be interesting to see what's on this," Lou said, fingering the card. "I'll pass it on to our tech geeks first thing in the morning."

  "Why wait? We can have Olivia look at it, if she's still up."

  "At this hour?" Lou asked.

  "Unless you've got the patience of a saint, which you don't…" Rory grinned, patting Lou's shoulder while taking out his phone.

  "No can do," Lou said, after a moment's thought. "This is potentially evidence. Letting Olivia access it could be deemed tampering with evidence, if it leads to someone's arrest."

  "Damn it!" Rory reluctantly started to pocket his phone. "Wait. She can't alter what's on the card, right?"

  "I have no clue. Ask her, since you're going to call whether I like it or not," Lou replied with a good deal of asperity.

  "Hey, ease it back a notch, okay? I just want… Hell." Rory put his phone away, muttering. "We'll do it your way. And what's eating you, anyway?"

  "You turned your damned phone off," Lou replied tightly. "So I spent the drive over here wondering if it was because you were out to dinner with Ms Garland or if something had happened to you—like someone broke in here again, while you were here. So don't tell me to back off. You could at least have let me know what you were planning."

  "Hard to do, since you had your phone off," Rory retorted. "Yeah. I know. That was because of work, but then that's my excuse too." He plopped down beside Lou. "Well, sort of, anyway," he said, giving Lou a lopsided smile.

  Lou took a deep breath. "Sorry. I shouldn't be yelling at you. But I was worried, and now that I know you're safe—"

  "You had to let it out. I get that, and it's all right. I'd have done the same thing, if the tables were turned." Rory smiled softly, taking Lou's hand. "I remember, way back when, that you said you'd never date a cop after trying it once, because they were too protective and worried about you, despite the fact they were well aware that you know what you're doing."

  "Yeah. Now I'm pulling that with you, which isn't fair."

  "It's the first time, so don't worry about it. If you start making a habit of it, then we might have problems."

  "I won't. I promise." Lou cupped Rory's jaw, looking into his eyes. "It's just… This is the only time since the forger case that we've worked together, if that makes sense."

  "It does. It's different when we're each doing our own thing. We worry, but we're not…personally involved with what the other one is doing. We don't know the details, the way you do now."

  "Exactly." Lou lowered his gaze to Rory's lips before kissing them. "Maybe we should go home?" he said when the kiss ended.

  "Hell, yes." Rory got to his feet, pulling Lou up then into a tight embrace. "I don't think I have to keep going after Beth. Not when we have what, I suspect, she was looking for. I wonder…"

  "No wondering. No talking about the case. Not until tomorrow," Lou ordered. He picked up the memory card, stuck it in his pocket, then they left.

  Chapter Seven

  After too little sleep, Lou arrived at the precinct first thing Saturday morning, even though he wasn't due in until two. He wanted to let Harber know about the memory card Rory had found in Seaver's apartment as soon as possible, before passing it on to the department's experts to go over.

  Harber was not happy when Lou told him about it. "With no search warrant…"

  "Rory's not a cop," Lou pointed out. "And, so far, we have no reason to get a warrant."

  "If our people find anything useful on the card, we can't use it, since there's no chain of evidence to document where it was found."

  "Then I won't give it to them. I'll do what Rory wanted to in the first place and let Olivia take a look."

  "And how will we explain her having the card?" Harber asked tightly.

  "I don't know," Lou admitted. "We'll figure that out if she finds anything."

  Harber scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I should tell you to have him put it back where he found it, but—"

  Lou smiled slightly. "You want to know if there's a reason Seaver hid it so well, just like we do. And since we can't find Seaver to ask him…"

  "Yes." With a shake of his head, Harber gestured for Lou to leave. "Get out of here, and keep me apprised of what she finds."

  "Of course."

  As soon as he left, Lou called Rory to tell him what the lieutenant had said. Then he headed to Olivia's house, after calling to warn her he was on his way. He wasn't terribly surprised when Kevin opened the door to let him in, telling him Olivia would be down in a minute.

  She was, going straight to the kitchen with a muttered, "Coffee. I need coffee," after waving at Lou.

  "She doesn't do mornings well," Kevin said with a laugh.

  Olivia appeared a minute later, coffee in hand. "So, what's going on?" she asked Lou.

  He handed her the memory card. "This. Rory found it hidden in Seaver's apartment. We need to know if there's a reason why."

  "Why he found it?" She smirked.

  "No. Why it was…" Then Lou got that she was teasing. "Okay. Yeah. I said that wrong. We want to know what's on it. It could be the reason Beth Garland and Coleen Rogers were looking for it."

  "And why Mr Seaver is missing?"

  "Yes."

  "I can get started on it now, but I probably won't have anything for you until Monday, since I'm supposed to work the gallery today and tomorrow."

  "I think Rory and I can handle that," Kevin told her. "This is more important."

  She nodded. "Why didn't you give this to your people?" she asked Lou.

  "Because you're as good as—or better—than them?"

  Olivia snorted. "Now the real reason."

  "You are, even they said so. But, yeah, Rory's taking it wasn't exactly legal. He's working with us—the police—but not officially. And with no search warrant—"

  "I win by default. Okay, I'll get to work on this and see if there are any incriminating pictures on here. Hopefully, I'll be able to tell. If you can wait, I'll download them now then you can have Rory put it back where he found it."
>
  "Since we're only looking for the reason why it was so important to Seaver that he hid it, that works," Lou replied. "Once we do, we'll go from there."

  After Olivia left the room, Kevin offered Lou coffee, which he accepted. Then they waited. She came back a few minutes later. Handing him the card, she said, "This came from a smartphone, not a camera—not that you can tell the difference by looking at it."

  "But my expert can," Kevin said with a grin.

  She laughed. "No, I knew by the file structure, when I downloaded them. Whoever took the pictures didn't fill the card, but there are still around five hundred photos."

  "That'll keep you busy and out of trouble," Kevin said.

  She smacked his butt. "Only if you go to work."

  "It's too early." When she pointed out it was already nine thirty and the gallery opened at ten, he ceded the point and went to get his things.

  "Thanks for doing this," Lou said to Olivia.

  "No problem. After the pictures I took, I want to find out what's going on. I hope there's something in the photos from the phone that helps you catch…whoever."

  "Or at least figure out why Seaver's missing and if his ex-wives are involved."

  Kevin came back, stopping long enough to wish Olivia good luck and kiss her goodbye. Then he left, with Lou following a moment later.

  *****

  "I have to return it?" Rory asked when Lou got home just before ten. "I guess that means I need to go back to the apartment again and hope they don't think I've moved out."

  Lou shook his head in amusement. "You were gone one night. I doubt anyone noticed you weren't there."

  "True. Okay. The things I do for you."

  "The things you did for me a few hours ago should hold us both for at least a couple of days," Lou retorted, grinning.

  "Maybe?" Rory hugged him, which earned him a rather heated kiss in return. "Quit that," he said, "or we'll be back in bed again and damn your job or the gallery."

  "No can do. With Olivia off, you have to be here until closing. It is Saturday. I'll stick around until I have to leave for work."

  "In that case, I'm out of here. Maybe I'll get lucky and Ms Garland will be gone for the day. That way I can replace the card and be back here by one thirty."

  "Go for it."

  Fifteen minutes later, Rory was at the apartment building. He buzzed Seaver's place, then, after getting no answer, took the elevator up to the seventh floor. When he got to the door, he knocked, waited, then knocked again. Pressing his ear to the door, he listened to see if he could hear any movement inside. He didn't.

  I guess luck is with me—for once.

  He looked both ways, to be certain no one was around, then took out his picks and, seconds later, the door was unlocked. He eased it open enough to peer inside. Then he pushed it the rest of the way, without going into the apartment, and quickly pulled out his phone.

  "Lou," he said, when his husband answered, "we have a problem."

  *****

  Lou arrived at the apartment building to find two squad cars parked in front, lights flashing. When he got to Seaver's apartment, one officer was talking to Rory. The others were inside with the body. Lou flashed his badge, put on booties and gloves, then joined them.

  "What have we got?" he asked, although it was evident from looking. There was a man's body, face-down on the carpet in the middle of the living room, blood pooling around the head. "Have you checked the other rooms?"

  Before the officer could reply, Lou felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Quint standing there. "Seaver?"

  "Looks like it, but we won't know for sure until we can turn the body over," Lou said. "The ME and crime scene people should be on their way."

  "They were pulling up when I came in," Quint told him.

  "Detective," said the officer Lou had been talking with. "We found a second body, too. Female. Brown hair. That's all I can tell you at the moment."

  "Not Beth Garland, then," Quint said as he went to look.

  By then, the crime scene people and the ME were there. Lou talked to them, before asking the officers to leave the apartment so they could get to work.

  Rory was leaning against the wall opposite the apartment, looking less than happy, when Lou joined him. "I didn't expect that," he said, gesturing toward Seaver's place. "Is it him?"

  "We should find out pretty soon. There's another body, in the bedroom. Probably Ms Rogers, from the hair, though we won't know for certain until the ME's done with her."

  "And Beth?"

  "Only two bodies so far," Lou replied, then asked him quietly, "How did you explain finding him?"

  "I said I had something I thought belonged to Beth, which I'd found by her car when I went to mine, earlier this morning. This was the first chance I'd had to return it. When I knocked on her door, it opened and I saw the body, so I called you and 9-1-1."

  "Did you say what it was of hers you supposedly found?"

  "No," Rory replied softly. "Only because I thought of something when I was on my way over here. If Olivia finds anything in the photos, how do we explain her having them?"

  "We won't have to," Lou said. "Give me the card." When Rory did, Lou used his sleeve to wipe away any fingerprints, then returned to the apartment, going into the bedroom. A couple of the crime scene people had just begun collecting evidence, so on the pretext of wanting to take a look at the body, Lou skirted along the wall to the bed. As he stood there, he surreptitiously dropped the memory card between it and the nightstand, then left again.

  Back in the hallway with Rory, Lou said, "Our people will find it and check to see what's on it. Yeah, I'm playing fast and loose, but—"

  "Whatever works," Rory agreed.

  "Let's just hope no one picked up on what you did," Quint said with a brief smile as he joined them. "If so, you could end up back on foot patrol. As for you, Rory, you're free to leave. Just don't forget to come down to the precinct to sign your statement."

  "I'll go back to the gallery. I have a feeling you'll be here a while," Rory said to Lou before taking off.

  Lou and Quint returned to the apartment, arriving just as the ME turned the man's body over. "It's Seaver," Lou said. "Not that we doubted it. Where the hell has he been and why did he come back?"

  The ME looked up. "I can't answer your questions, but I can tell you, wherever he was, it wasn't willingly." He lifted one of Seaver's arms to show the detectives the abrasions on the wrist. "From a rope, I'd say, though I'll know better when I get him on the table."

  "Cause of death?" Quint asked.

  "Other than the obvious, that someone bashed his skull in? I can tell you that the weapon had no definitive sharp edges. It could have been a bottle, a vase, a bat—"

  "A paperweight," one of the crime scene people said, handing Quint an evidence envelope. "We found it against the wall, under the bookshelf. Possibly the killer dropped it, it rolled, and they didn't want to take the time to look for it. We also found this." He handed Quint another envelope, containing the memory card. "It was between the bed and the night table."

  The ME ended his preliminary examination of Seaver's body, told his assistant it was ready to be moved to the morgue, then went into the bedroom. Quint and Lou waited at the doorway until the ME examined the body as it lay, bagged the hands, then turned it over.

  "Definitely Coleen Rogers," Lou said when he saw her face.

  "She was manually strangled," the ME pronounced. "We have nail marks here and here"—he pointed them out—"as well as bruising. I'll know more when I do the autopsy."

  "Two different methods of killing," Quint said to Lou. "Given the photo we have of Seaver trying to strangle, presumably Ms Garland, my bet is on him as Ms Rogers' killer."

  Lou nodded. "Then, whether Ms Garland was present at the time or came in later, she took matters into her own hands, picked up the paperweight, then killed him."

  "Not in self-defense, since the blow was to the back of his head."

  "Yep. Now al
l we have to do is find her, then maybe we'll get some answers."

  *****

  When Rory saw Olivia come into the gallery, he told the man he was helping that he'd be right back. "What are you doing here?" he asked her.

  "I called Lou. He said Seaver and the other woman—Ms Rogers?—had been murdered. I think I might know why."

  "Something on the memory card?"

  "Got it in one," she replied with a small smile, pointing to the office.

  "I'll join you in as soon as I can."

  While it hadn't been exceptionally busy, there had been enough people in and out of the gallery to keep both Rory and Kevin from getting bored. Rory went back to his customer, thankful when the man told him which painting he'd decided to buy. After completing the sale and telling the man it would be delivered on Monday, Rory let Kevin know he'd be in the office and to come get him if he needed help.

  "So, what do we have?" Rory asked Olivia.

  "These." She spread five photos out on the desk.

  "If I was into woman-on-woman pornography…" he said, arching an eyebrow. "I will say, from a very impartial point of view, Ms Rogers had one hell of a body. They both do."

  At that point, Olivia took several more photos from the portfolio. "I blew up their faces and sharpened the images. Tell me what you think."

  Rory studied them, especially the eyes. "They were drugged."

  "It sure looks like it."

  "Are they the only women he photographed?"

  "No. But in the others, they were shot so that the faces were blurred or hidden."

  "That would explain Beth's comment about Seaver's love nest."

  *****

  "I wonder where this love nest is," Quint said later that evening. He had come home with Lou—after they'd finished writing up the murders—so they could look at the photos Olivia had given Rory. "It could be where they were holding Seaver."

  "Your guy didn't follow her last night?" Rory asked.