Chapter 14: The Lady In The Red Dress

Sam's POV

Since I have narrowed the mysterious Mr. Warden Karo as our killer, all I needed to do now was to fish the bastard out. Find out who he is.

I snatched the receiver then. I hummed a happy tune, grinning at myself as I slapped the receiver to my ears, the other line ringing from my end. I am always happy when I am making progress on a case. And this sure feels like progress to me.

A sharp click from the receiver drilled through my ears, and I sat up with my spine straight like a ruler. “Detective Cross on the line, please.” I paused for a moment. “Officer Harry, do you have what I asked for earlier today ready?”

“Yes, Detective,” Officer Harry breathed into the phone in his usual breathy voice.

“I will be right by your desk in a minute, so prepare it for me,” I said.

“Okay, Detective,” he said. This time his voice dropped lower, like he was yawning.

I slammed the receiver home, and I jumped fast to my feet. I strode down the aisle between the desks, still humming my happy tune. I took a pause in my humming and walking, stopping just before Officer Harry's desk.

The older man raised his tired eyes to me. He looked like I was the thing keeping him from his bed, yet he grinned. He’d always called me his favorite eye candy. Today, he didn't bother. Perhaps, he was too tired to call me one. Or perhaps, he had found new eye candy. His mouth spread for a yawn, but somehow he controlled it, and soft air puffed out instead.

He glanced at his wristwatch like he was late for an important multi-million-dollar meeting. He shrugged his thin, sloppy shoulders. “I still have five minutes before my shift ends, so that's five minutes to spare, Detective Sam.”

He rose up to me as if he had all the problems of the world residing in his legs. He held some papers out to me, and I took some from him, spreading them in the air before both of us.

He pointed somewhere in a paper. “The name Warden Karo, spelled exactly as it is, seems very made up. I ran it through the database and came back with nothing. So whoever this Warden Karo was, he had likely used a fake name to book the hotel. Moving on to the ID that this fictitious Mr. Warden Karo character used to register for the hotel room. The ID belongs to a man named Robin Van Halen, a tourist who had reported his ID card stolen three days ago.” He paused, opening another paper for me. “This is the report here, as emailed to me.”

We both held the report in the air, and I read through it. “So you are saying, Mr. Robin Van Halen, the tourist had his ID card stolen by our mysterious Warden Karo, who used it to book a room in the Perry Lane hotel. But how could he use a different name and a different ID to book a hotel room?”

Officer Harry shrugged his shoulders around his large uniform. “You are the detective, Cross. That's for you to think about, not me.” He said. He glanced at his wristwatch again. “Just a minute to the end of my shift, detective. I need to start packing up my things.”

I knew that to be a dismissal. I flashed him a smile, and I walked away, returning to my desk.

I dropped back onto my seat, sighing from exhaustion. Now I became more aware of the protests from my bones and muscles. I wished I could leave for home just like Officer Harry. The business with Rowan Drake throughout the day and the anxiety of trying to cover my ass had already left me stressed out. Now I needed my bed. But I can't get it. There was too much at stake.

I need to find Captain James and the governor a new suspect other than Rowan Drake, or my secrets will be popping out in the open soon. Very soon. With the state’s resources at Governor Rosewood's disposal, it was only a short matter of time before he found out I was the lady in the footage, and then I would be brutally cooked. I wouldn't need to fear suspension then. I would be fired by the governor himself or worse, framed as an accomplice to a murder rap. That's the kind of fall from grace the media gets excited about.

I could already picture the headline in my head: LOCAL COP IMPLICATED IN THE MURDER OF CECILIA ROSEWOOD, GOVERNOR BRANDON ROSEWOOD’S DAUGHTER.

I tried not to think about it, and I dragged my seat forward with my weight on it. It squealed as if tortured, scratching the floor. I heaved another sigh, and I dragged the telephone closer, putting it to my ear.

The hotel manager came on instantly. “Hello, Detective Cross, how can I help you?” His voice was as rough as sandpaper scraping wood, just like I remembered when he handed me the CCTV footage earlier today.

“I want you to look into the guest that checked into room 2003 on the 18th. A man that goes by the name Mr. Warden Karo. His name doesn't tally with the name on his ID. Help me find out why it is so, and also, and importantly, has he checked out? If he had, then when did he?”

“Hold on for a while, Detective. Let me get back to you.” He said.

I held the receiver from my ear, waiting, my fingers quivering around it. It took over five long, nervous minutes, and his voice boomed from the receiver again.

I slammed the receiver to my ear immediately. “Detective Cross. It seemed like my staff made some mistake when registering the guests. That is why the ID and name don't match. The guest seemed to have presented a fake ID and name, and the system went temporarily down around that time due to some maintenance issues at the time, which made my staff not detect that the guest submitted a fake ID.” He paused. “And about when he checked out. He did so this morning, as early as 5:00 am.”

I blew off some air, emptying my lungs a little. “Okay, thanks.” I muttered, and I ended the call. Another dead end. I grunted at myself, dropping the receiver.

Shadows fell over my desk, shoes tottering to a halt before me. I looked up then. Riley stood beside Captain James, wearing the same red sheath dress I had worn last night. She held her designer purse, staring down expectantly at me, her eyes shifting about the place, a little restless.

How did she get her hands on the dress? Fuck. A shiver danced through my spine, and I adjusted myself on my seat—uncomfortable. I should have warned her the mission was dismissed already. Warned her she shouldn't put her ass on the line for me again.

I reached for her hand over the desk and snatched her wrist. I was circling around the desk to get her and drag her out of the precinct when Captain James's words stopped me cold on the spot.

“She is the lady in the footage with Rowan Drake, his accomplice. And I assume she came to turn herself in. Interrogate her and find out how they killed Cecilia Rosewood.” He said, cold and serious.

“What?” Riley screamed, her mouth hung open, eyes darting from Captain James to me. The snapping noises of the gum she had been chewing ceased, and then there was silence between the three of us, a loud, screaming silence that nearly crushed my eardrums.