“You seem a little quiet tonight,” Aaron said. “You okay, Cindy?”
“I'm great,” she fibbed. She thought he was just about the sweetest man she had ever gone out with, but, Jesus, Cindy, he's a pastor. Why didn't you think of this then? Is this a good idea? Think it through. Don't hurt him. Don't get hurt yourself.
They stopped walking in front of the entrance to Cindy's building and stood in the lighted arch. He sung a line from an old R&B tune, “I've Passed This Way Before.” He even had a good singing voice.
There was no use postponing it any longer. “Look, Aaron, someone has to say this. You want to come up? I'd like it if you did, hate it if you didn't.” He exhaled and smiled. “I don't exactly know where to take this, Cindy. I'm a little out of my range. I, uh, I've never dated a blonde before. I wasn't expecting any of this.” “I can relate to that.” She smiled. “But it's only two floors up. We can talk about it there.”
His lip was quivering slightly, and when he touched her arm it sent a shiver down her spine. God, she did like him.
And she trusted him.
“I feel like I'm about to cross this line,” he said. “And it's not a line I can cross casually. So I have to know. Are we there together? In the same place?”
Cindy elevated on her toes and pressed her lips lightly against his mouth. Aaron seemed surprised and at first he stiffened, but slowly he placed his arms around her and gave himself over to the kiss.
It was just as she had hoped, that first real kiss. Tender and breathtaking. Through his jacket, she could feel the rhythm of his heart pounding. She liked it that he was afraid, too. It made her feel even closer to him.
When they parted, she looked in his eyes and said, “We're there. We're in the same place.”
She took out her key and led him up the two floors to her place. Her heart was pounding.
“It's great,” he said. “I'm not just saying that.” A two-story wall of bookshelves and an informal open kitchen.
“It's you... Cindy, it seems silly that I haven't been up here before.”
“It wasn't for lack of trying.” Cindy grinned. God, she was so nervous.
He took hold of her again, this time giving her a longer kiss. He certainly knew how to kiss. Every cell in her body felt alive. The small hairs on her arms, the warmth in her thighs; she pressed herself against him. She wanted, needed, to be close to him now. His body was slender, but he was definitely strong.
Cindy started to smile. “So what were you waiting for?”
“I don't know. Maybe some kind of sign.” She herself into the grooves of his body, felt him come alive. “There's a sign,” she said, close to his face.
“I guess my secret's out now. Yes, I do like you, Cindy.”
Suddenly, the phone rang, almost blasting in their ears.
“Oh, God,” she groaned. “Go away; leave us alone.”
“I hope that's not another sign.” He laughed.
Each ring seemed more annoying than the last. Mercifully the answering machine finally kicked on.
“Cindy, it's Lindsay,” the voice shot. “I've got something important. Please. Pick. Up.”
“Go ahead,” Aaron said.
“Now that you're finally up here, don't use the time I'm on the phone to change your mind.”
She reached behind the couch, fumbled for the receiver, put it to her ear. "I wouldn't do this for anyone but you, she said.
“Funny; that's just what I was about to say Listen to this.”
Lindsay shared her news, and Cindy felt a rush of triumph surge through her. This was what she had wanted. It had been her angle that put Lindsay onto him. Yes!
“Mana`na,” she said, “and thanks for the phone call.” She placed the receiver down, squeezed back with Aaron, and looked into his eyes.
“You wanted a sign. I think I've got the best one in the world.” A glimmer lit her face.
“They found him, Aaron.”
Womans Murder Club 2 - Second Chance
Chapter 83
WE KEPT WATCH all night at the William Simon. Unofficially So far, Coombs hadn't come out again. I knew where he was. Now all I had to do was make the case.
That was the morning Jill came back to work. I headed to her office to bring her up to date. Coming off the elevator on the eighth floor, I ran into Claire, who must've had the same idea.
“Great minds and all that,” she said.
“I've got big news,” I told her, beaming with anticipation.
“C'mon... ”
We knocked on her door and found Jill at her desk, looking a little peaked. Stacks of documents and legal files gave the impression she hadn't missed a single day. At the sight of us, her blue eyes sprang alive, but as she stood, her arms outstretched for a hug, Jilly seemed to be moving at half her usual speed.
“Don't,” I said. I went over and gave her a hug. “You've got to take it easy.”
“I'm fine,” she answered quickly “Abdomen's a little stiff, heart's a little broken. But I'm here. And this is the best thing for me.”
“You sure this is the smartest thing?” Claire asked her. “you sure this is the smartest thing?” Claire asked her.
“It is for me,” Jill shot back. “I promise, Doc, I'm fine. So please, don't start trying to convince me otherwise. You want to help me start to heal, just bring me up to date on what's going on.”
We looked at her a little skeptically But then I had to share the news. “I think we found him.”
“Who?” Jill asked.
I beamed. “Chimera.”
Claire gave me a stare. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if in prayer, then opened them with a sigh.
Jill looked impressed. “Jesus, you sonofabitches have been busy while I've been away.”
right questions, and I laid it all out for them. When I told them the name, Jill muttered, “Coombs... I remember the case from law school.” A spark lit in her sharp eyes. “Frank Coombs. He killed a teenage boy.” “You're sure it's him?” Claire asked. She was still wearing a bandage on her neck.
“I hope so,” I said. Then, without any doubt, “Yes, I'm sure it's him.”
“You arrest him yet?” Claire asked. “Can I visit him in his cell? Hmm? I've got this ball bat I've been meaning to try out.”
“Not yet. He's holed up at some dive in the Tenderloin. We've got him under twenty-four-hour watch.”
I turned to Jill. “What do you say, Counselor? I want to bring him in.”
She came over, a little gingerly, and leaned on the corner of her desk. “Okay, tell me exactly what you have.”
I went through each link: the loose connections to three of the victims, Coombs's history as a marksman, his documented grudge against blacks, how the OFJ had sealed his fate. But with each strand of evidence, I saw her conviction dim.
“Jill, listen.” I held up my hand. “He took a department-issued thirty-eight from a retired cop, and Mercer was killed with a thirty-eight. Three of the targets tie directly to his own history. I've got a guy in San Quentin who says he boasted he was out for revenge.”
“Thirty-eights are a dime a dozen, Lindsay. Do you have a match on the gun?”
“No, but Jill, Tasha Catchings's murder took place in the same neighborhood where Coombs went down twenty years before.”
She cut me off. “What about a witness who can place him at the scene? One witness, Lindsay?”
I shook my head.
“A print, then, or a piece of clothing. Something that ties him to one of the murders?”
With an exasperated breath, I reacted. “No.”
“Circumstantial evidence can convict, Jill,” Claire cut in. “Coombs is a monster. We can't just let him stay out on the streets.”
Jill looked sharply at both of us. Jeez, she was almost the Jill of old. “You don't think I want him as much as you? You don't think I look at you, Claire, and think just how close we came...? But there's no weapon, barely a motive. You haven't even placed him within sight of a murder scene. If you bust in and don't find anything, you've lost him for good.”