Loves Redemption

work with.”
“No it’s not, I understand what you’d like to gain from me, and I’ll do my best to help in
any way. When I return to Imani House today, I’ll begin my quest to find out any information I can. I’ve already begun asking questions as to Ally’s last place of residence, as well as who she’d been associating with.”
“Great. This is the best way to dig up leads, Dr. Richardson,” the lieutenant encouraged
her with a half smile.
“I do have one other question before we continue. You mentioned that Ally had been
found within a week of her death. How long between time of death and discovery for the others?
I don’t know about the other victims, but the last two had families and people that would miss them. Does this play a factor in your investigation?”
“We’ve uncovered the majority two to three weeks from the time of death. Based on the
coroner’s report, our victim last night had been killed within the last 48 hours, which is the soonest,” Mark interjected.
“Why was this victim’s discovery sooner?” Maya asked, giving Mark her full attention.
“A jogger and her dog discovered the body. This is important information. Because as
you say, if our victims had close families, and based on what type of lives that the men led, they’d be reported as missing as soon as they didn’t show up when they were supposed to. Your sister didn’t have a report filed on her and neither did the greater majority of our other victims, including Kross, our man from last night. If the slayer is stalking loners or men without family members, which was our original thinking, it would be easier to see some type of pattern. This in turn makes life easier for us, because the closer you come to completing the pattern, the closer you come to finding the offender.”
Jordan, who’d remained silent for most of the meeting, added, “Either she’s changed her
mode or it never was her mode. We assumed based on the type of victims targeted that maybe
she had been scouting out her victims, choosing them based on their anonymity. The only victim with a missing report filed, had it filed by his employer.”
“Which leads us to the question: is our killer watching and then targeting certain men,
and if so why did she kill both Kross and Clemens? Because neither one fit the type of her
previous victims. And what, if anything, is the connection with Allison?” Mark questioned.
“At this point, let me suggest we go into more of Dr. Richardson’s expertise if we may,
because as we’re all aware she is here despite a busy schedule,” Lieutenant Hernandez rerouted the conversation.

CHAPTER 10
Maya glanced at her watch and was surprised to see the time. “I hadn’t realized it was so
late. Are there any questions for me?”
Jordan spoke up. “You work with women who’ve been in prostitution for a lot of
different reasons. It’s got to be hard for them to leave prostitution on their own; it almost seems like a drug.”
“In the time I’ve worked with these brave women and men, I’ve found that most come
from abusive homes where there was no father living in the home or the father that was present was abusive physically and or sexually to them or another family member. In an attempt to
escape the abuse, they run away.” She gave the handsome detective her full attention.
“You said that it seems like a drug. In a way it is. Drugs find their way into a person’s
bloodstream, destroying anything in their path. Prostitution is a behavior that does the same thing. At Imani House we treat it for the ‘drug’ it mimics. We know that it takes more than finding a 9 to 5 job to reclaim their lives.”
Maya had strong feelings for the women and men who came to her, trying to recapture a
life that had been stolen from her. Although she’d directed her response to Jordan, she could feel the collective stares of Mark and Lieutenant Hernandez.
Lieutenant Hernandez shook her hand at the close of the discussion. “Thank you for
taking so much time out of your schedule for us Dr. Richardson. I hope we haven’t put you too far behind in your day.”
“You’re welcome. And no you didn’t. I hope I’m able to help. I’ll be in touch with you
whenever I find any new information,” she said, and allowed Mark to lead her out of the office.
Once she and Mark were inside the elevator, she turned toward him. “Do you think the
media are gone?”
“They should be gone by now; it’s been a while. They can’t gain access into the garage.
How Alicia and her cameraman got through I have no idea, but I’ll find out.” He promised
grimly.
As they were leaving the elevator and walking toward his vehicle, seemingly out of
nowhere a bright light shone directly in Maya’s face. Again.
“Hey what the hell are you doing?” Mark demanded, as the cameraman evaded the arm
he swung in his direction.
“If you’ll give me a nice sound bite, I’ll be out of your way, and I promise I’ll make the
police look good. It won’t take long,” Alicia pleaded.
“That’s fine, Mark. I don’t have a problem with speaking with the reporter.” Maya spoke
up, just as Mark was opening his mouth to shoot the channel eight reporter down. As she’d
spoken, Maya had moved closer to Mark. She knew the best defense was always a good offense.
“Make it quick, Alicia, Dr. Richardson has given up enough of her time this morning, and
she needs to return back to work.”
“How is she involved in the investigation?”
Maya took marginal offense in the way the reporter talked about her as though she was
invisible. “She can speak for herself. If you have a question about me, please direct it toward me.”
“Fine. How are you involved in the investigation?” Alicia asked with a discernible bite.
Mark gave her silent approval to disclose her