The Last Place You Look

“It’s always the last place you look.” Mark chimed from the shower. “I’m sure it will turn up where you least expect it. Just stop looking for it and it’ll come to you. It always happens that way." 

She spit her toothpaste into the sink to blurt her rebuttal. “That’s terrible advice to give a detective. You know my entire life is spent solving mysteries, right?” She stuck her head into the shower and gave her best “now what?” expression. Rachel always needed to have the last word, or so she had been told. She knew it was only because she was right most of the time. Part of what made their marriage work so well was that he actually loved that about her when everyone else saw it as a flaw. 

“Well, detective, perhaps you can crack the case of what’s for dinner while you search for your necklace. Double jeopardy or something like that right?” Mark retorted as he turned off the water. 

“That’s so not what that means.” She teased. “And you know I’ll be lucky to make it home before you are asleep, let alone on time for dinner. Harkin is riding our asses about getting these initial investigations in on the Fines murder. We are in the critical first few days.” She offered a kiss before rushing off to finish getting ready for her day. She was lucky to get some rest last night, but this week would be anything but restful as they took on a new case. After years of hustling to finally make homicide only a few months ago, she wasn’t about to slack on her first few cases. 

She grabbed for her necklace out of habit only to get a blunt reminder it was missing. There was barely a day she went without the simple necklace with her initials and her birthstone on it. It seemed so juvenile to still wear it, but it was one of the few items her mother had given her. It was one of her few reminders left after she passed. Rachel knew she needed to put this out of her mind for now if she was going to get through the day. 

Mark, dinner, and the search for her necklace, would have to wait. 

___

The apartment was easy to find and left little time in the car to discuss the case with Detective Bryant, not that there was much to discuss. When a woman turns up dead in a dumpster with little clues or evidence to speak of; investigations precede discussions. Despite little reason to, and her own partner’s skepticism, Rachel couldn’t help but feel this was not an impulse murder by a first-time offender. It was as if the lack of evidence and leads said more about the killer’s skill and strategy than the probability that it was random or opportunistic. She hoped learning more about the victim would give a spark of light to the otherwise dark cavern the case built. It would just be the parents at the apartment since they had discovered Sarah was single and had lived alone. She took a quick deep breath before heading to the door. 

Handling the introductions on these interviews was one of the few things her new partner actually let her do. She may be new, but everyone recognized that she had a demeanor that seemed to calm the bereaved. Before she knew it, they were sweeping the apartment for any information or leads. 

Rachel flipped through some photographs of Sarah as Bryant handled some questioning. It was an unusual feeling getting to know the intimate details of someone’s life after they don’t exist. The pictures showed the same smile, same hair, same style, every time. Then she saw it. The necklace. She could just make out the initials SJF and what looked like a few charms. It was a popular enough style that she had surely other women wear, but the image on the victim stopped her cold as she pictured her own necklace of such a similar style.

“Ma’am?” Rachel interrupted the line of questioning between Bryant and the parents. “Can you tell me about this necklace here? It wasn’t in the evidence but I notice it was something Sarah wore often.” 

Renee shifted in her seat to view the photograph of her daughter and gently took it with the slightest tremble in her hand. “Yes, it was a gift from her aunt. They are...were quite close. She wore it almost every day, but lost it a few days back. She wouldn’t have been wearing it when…” She halted abruptly when she realized what she was about to say. She couldn’t finish the sentence. She cupped her hand over her mouth and merely handed the photo back to Rachel.  

Rachel looked back at the photograph and faintly registered Bryant chiming in with additional questions. He clearly had moved on to more pertinent topics but she couldn’t pull her attention from the necklace and any possible connections it may have. She had no reason to believe there was any significance in the similarity, but that didn’t convince her heart rate to slow down. 

“Rachel.” Bryant’s firm voice snapped her back to her surroundings as she looked up to see everyone looking her way. “Any last questions for the family?” He asked. 

“No, I think we are all set.” She replied. 

She realized she needed to compose herself, and do it fast. Her seasoned partner had no tolerance for weakness or unprofessionalism. She let him deliver the platitudes and condolences she’d heard many times before, thanking them and reassuring they would follow up with any information. The predictability of his words eased her anxiety just slightly enough to refocus herself. 

As soon as they had closed their car doors he turned to her with an expression she was expecting. 

“What was that back there, where was your head?” Bryens asked, just empathetically enough to tell her she had a fleeting chance at saving face. He was always cordial and never admitted it, but she sensed he didn’t see her as valuable yet.  

She chose her words carefully. If she apologized, she would only admit she had made a mistake. She didn’t want to offer any explanations about missing necklaces. It sounded far fetched enough in her head, let alone saying it out loud. “I was working on a lead theory. It reminded me of an old case I had last year and thought there could be a connection, but it’s nothing.” She hoped it was just enough to have him back off and not ask more questions to expose her lie. 

He either bought it or didn’t care to indulge her because he clicked the car into drive and drove off to the station. 

___

The desk sergeant dropped the file on her desk right next to her head and it jolted her awake. It had been days on the case with barely a few hours of sleep each night, but it was still so embarrassing to be caught dozing off. 

“New lead came in.” Tony said. “Coworker says Sarah had mentioned something about a weird client about a week or so before the incident. It’s worth checking out. Sounds like we got the address and a name at least.” 

“Better than what we’ve had so far at least” She retorted. 

It was an easy enough lead. The report stated that Sarah had recently told a coworker she had to fire a client and she had seemed upset about it. There wasn’t much substance to the story but they couldn’t ignore anything when there were so few trails on the investigation. She felt like their efforts had been more about eliminating leads as opposed to chasing them in the last few days. She easily found some information on the name when she ran it through the system. Robert Simms had nothing more than a speeding ticket over a decade ago on his record. She caught the slightest chill when she checked the report for the address to verify the ID. The street was the same as her house, just a few blocks up. Rachel sat staring at it with enough intensity to not notice Tony appear in the doorway again. 

“You ok, Rach?” He asked.

“Uh, yeah, sorry, just noticed this guy lives real close to me.” Rachel said, doing her best impression of calm. 

“It’s a small enough city, bound to happen once in a while. Bryant should be back soon enough. He’ll be eager to get out to the house to question the guy so I’d be ready to go.” Tony replied. He headed back to his desk before she could get anything more in. 

Her unsteadiness was unwarranted and she needed to make some strides to prove herself. Despite her years of experience in other departments, her reputation in homicide so far was not her usual confident and capable self. She needed a win and needed it badly. She grabbed the file and contemplated what she was about to do. Going to handle the interview alone was not exactly protocol, but she hadn’t been told not to either. She’d be there and back before Bryant even knew she was gone. 

She headed to her car and hoped Mark would answer his phone on the way. He had been understanding but she knew she was pushing it on the hours. She needed his confidence in her right now. The tone of the voicemail triggered a sigh as she hung up. 

___

Rachel parked across the street to get a clear view of the house.  It was nothing remarkable. It blended in with the rest of the block; Two-story, screened in front porch and a thin driveway to the garage tucked in the back. It was hard to tell if anyone was home with a closed garage door and a number of cars parked on the street. She took several deep breaths and opened her car door. 

She tried the front porch door and found it to be locked. She searched for a doorbell but there was none. She rapped on the old wood screen door and it let out a hollow sound that echoed through the otherwise empty porch.

“Hello? Rachel McGinnis, I’m a detective with M.P.D., just here to ask a few questions.” She said, hoping to catch the attention of anyone inside. 

After a few more knocks and unanswered hellos, she stepped down to the sidewalk. She took a deep breath and opened her phone to call Mark again. Just as she was about to press call she heard the sound of a door closing from the back of the house. She turned quickly towards the sound, expecting to see someone approach, but saw no one. She took a few steps up the driveway and offered a few inquiring hellos with no response. A fence that stretched from the back corner of the house to the garage. The gate of the fence was ajar and she could just see the immaculate backyard through the opening. She creaked the fence gate open and took a few steps into the backyard. She stretched to look into the garage window and didn’t see a car. An array of usual garage items and a collection of gardening tools littered the walls and floor. The garage door was cracked open enough for her to see the edge of a tool bench, where an open beer bottle stood, heavy with condensation. It must have still been cold and opened only recently. 

As she turned to head back to the front of the house, she noticed the faint outline of boot prints near the back door and the garage door. A chill came over her as she began to feel she was not alone. She instinctively reached for her gun and unsnapped the holster. She felt a wave of regret for not radioing into the station when she arrived and knew she needed to call in. The birds in the distance and the casual breeze of what was otherwise a normal afternoon mocked her sudden uneasiness and she tried to reason with her growing fear. “Just get to your car and send for Bryant.” she said to herself, wrestling her anxiety. “There is no need to overreact.” She took a few steps towards the fence and halted when she noticed a large window on the back of the house near the back door. The blinds were open just enough to see in and the sunlight was catching on something shining brightly back at her. 

She took a few steps towards the window to get a better look. It appeared to be an office from the desk and computer, a few books on a shelf, and a tall-backed chair in one corner. She scanned the room for the source of the bright shine and finally saw it. There was a map of the city on the wall with pins stuck in various locations, each with a necklace hanging, motionless. The blood drained slowly from her face as her eyes jumped from one pin to the next. She saw Sarah’s first, a pin stuck right where her apartment was. She immediately jumped to her street and there it was. Her necklace. Her missing necklace. Fear pulsed through her and she was as frozen as the mementos hanging lifeless from each tack. She started to back up slowly and as silently as she could, feeling the weight of her situation with each step. She barely heard the sound of rushing air and a quiet grunt before the painful smash to her head from behind. She fell to the ground, feeling herself fade, and could only think of Mark’s words echoing in her mind before everything went black. 

“It’s always the last place you look”