Loves Redemption

I know you have a heavy workload. I don’t want to add to your burden.”
“Thanks for the concern, Mark, but if I didn’t think that I could handle it, I wouldn’t do
it. I may seem like a masochist, but I’m not. I enjoy what I do. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to put in the time without having serious resentment issues, and I have none. Believe me, when I do begin to feel a little run down, I take a break.
“Honestly, I do. Although I’m the only full-time psychologist here, I do have a colleague
who devotes some of his spare time here on a volunteer basis. Once in a blue moon, I’ll take a day or two off, and he’s happy to fill in for me.”
“I’ll take note. That’s good to know for the future.” Clearing his throat he continued.
“The lieutenant wants to set up a time for you to come in so that you can be filled in on both the particulars of the case and police protocol, and we can come to a mutual agreement on what we’d like from you as a consultant.” He tried to squash his guilt over his need to have her available by telling himself it was for the investigation.
“Give me the time, and I’ll put it on my schedule.”
He secured a promise from her that she’d drive home carefully and hung up. The smile
on his face still there as he gathered his things to go home.

CHAPTER 7
“Listen, Maya, I expect this damn house to be clean when I get back, no fuckin’ around
this time. And get Ally to bed, and your ass better be in bed too when I get back--you hear?”
Melissa would demand, as she slathered more mascara on lashes already thick and coated.
As she sprayed more hairspray and attempted to fluff her thin blonde hair, Maya would
feel her glare. She’d call her a mutt. Maya particularly hated that name. She wasn’t a mutt.
During that time Maya had grown increasingly afraid of Melissa’s lover Danny. She’d
caught him staring at her when she began developing. His stares made her nervous, and she’d then started hunching her shoulders and wearing oversized sweaters to try and hide her
developing body away from his creepy stares.
Danny had just gotten out of jail for having sex with an underage child. He’d told Melissa
he thought the girl was nineteen. Maya wondered at the time if Melissa had believed him. She’d been little more than a child herself, and she’d known he was lying. But Melissa was blind when it came to Danny.
“Damn,” Maya said out loud in her empty office. “Will the memories ever get easier?”
She asked on a weary sigh to no one in particular.
“Yes sir. I’ll get right on it. As soon as I have updates, I’ll let you know.” Jaime gently replaced the phone on the receiver and settled deeper into the soft leather chair, staring out the bay window.
Spring was the best time in San Antonio, with the soft fall of rain. It was a time of
renewal. Jaime looked out the window with a small, pleasant smile and thought back to a rainy day years ago. Just like today, it too was a day of discovery.
“Jaime, Jaime where are you? I’ve been calling you for the last two hours…” Jaime could
hear Aunt Meg’s voice halt outside the door, and then heard muffled cries.
She had to know what was going on behind the closed bedroom door. She had to know
what had been going on for the last few weeks. Meg knew what Rick was doing on that cold rainy day. She had been the one to encourage Rick. She’d been the one to suggest it was time for Jaime to join the “family business.” The bitch. She deserved what she got. If her man no longer wanted her, it was her own damn fault. She should have never let her lover rape her own sister’s child in the first place. Jaime turned away from the window and stared gloomily into empty
space. The carefree happiness of moments ago falling away, leaving a cold determination in its place.
* * * *
“Mark, we got a call from the uniforms. Looks like it might be the slayer,” Jordan yelled
out, and they donned their jackets, hiding from view the holsters that housed their weapons and left the squad room at a half jog.
“Looks like our girl may have hit again,” Lieutenant Hernandez shouted out, coming out
of his office.
“We’re on our way, sir,” Jordan called back as they were nearly out of the door.
Favoring the stairs over the slow climbing elevator, they took them two at a time in their
rush to reach the underground parking lot. Tossing the keys his way, Jordan yelled across the roof, “You’re up, partner.” They’d started early on with both of them taking turns driving, and the tradition had continued throughout their partnership.
Driving through the streets at a fast pace, they soon reached the interstate and drove to
the coordinates they’d been given.
“What do we have here, Davis? Is it our girl?” Mark questioned the crime technician
who, with gloved hands, was placing evidence into a plastic bag, as he and Jordan approached the taped off scene. This was the same tech that’d worked the two last murders, and Mark knew he was familiar with the MO of the slayer.
“Yeah, it looks like the same. Down the road a bit we found an abandoned black
Mercedes SLK 350 with an empty wallet on the passenger seat--no identification left inside of course to tell us who are victim is. The uniforms ran the plate and the car is registered to Guy Kross. We also have found shell casings from a .22 and evidence that the victim had been
sodomized.” He listed the familiar MO of the killer.
“Any witnesses?”
“Jogger over there discovered the body,” Davis motioned to a female standing near the
trees, hunched