CHAPTER TWO
1101 Words
CHAPTER TWO
Dakota stepped into Agent Carter's office, her eyes roaming the room. She spotted three separate security cameras easily visible, and more than one hidden in the bookshelf at the far wall. The windows were covered in dark drapes, preventing line of sight from the parking structure across the street.
And again, Agent Carter's large desk had been moved.
Dakota could see the imprint in the floor where the desk had settled a few days ago. But now, it was on the other side of the room, facing the door.
“Sorry I'm late,” Dakota said more as a formality than anything. She doubted Carter would care to cut her any slack. And she doubted the second figure in the room would care to give her any grief.
The short-haired, middle-aged woman behind the desk glared over a bronze statue of a bull. Her hands were folded neatly in front of her on a computer mat.
The giant of a man, Agent Marcus Clement, threatened the existence of the small chair he reclined in. The dark, handsome man was smiling at her, flashing perfectly maintained, perfectly white teeth. He wore a comic book shirt visible just beneath his suit jacket and tie. She couldn't make out the particular characters on his shirt this time, but the body-builder had a penchant for nerds and geeks who turned into gods. She didn't know comic books particularly well, but she never talked down on them when Marcus was around.
The one thing Marcus enjoyed more than lifting weights at the gym, was memorizing words and sharing his pet-favorites with the people he most liked. To Marcus, a newly discovered word was the same as a house-warming gift or a birthday surprise.
So it wasn't unusual that instead of greeting her by name, he said, “Schadenfreude.”
She glanced at him, back at Carter who was still frowning, then at Marcus again. “Dunno,” she said.
“Guess,” he said cheerfully.
“A type of ice cream?”
“No, no,” he replied. “More like delight in someone's suffering.”
Dakota nodded. “Seems appropriate,” she murmured, but quickly returned her attention to Carter.
Agent Carter very much liked Marcus. So this sort of preamble was only met with a good-natured nod. But Carter disliked Dakota, so any time Dakota spoke it was met with a glare.
Now, the supervising agent was gesturing towards one of the seats next to Marcus. “Come along,” she was saying. “Sit, sit. We don't have all day, Agent Steele.”
Marcus winced apologetically and conspicuously turned to face their supervising agent.
The two of them went quiet now, watching Carter.
She cleared her throat. “Glad to have you both here.” This time, though, her look of frustration didn't linger so long on Dakota. They had solved the last case, after all. Dakota had to hope this was earning her some level of good graces.
“Now,” Carter was saying, “The case in question is in Arizona. So I hope you two pack some sunscreen. Two victims so far.”
"And what connects them as victims?" Marcus said.
Agent Carter glanced at her computer screen, her features illuminated by a low, blue light.
"The first woman," Carter said slowly, "was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning."
Dakota leaned in now, still keeping her posture professional, but interested. "And how do we know it was murder?"
"According to the first responders, an outboard heater was rigged to spew fumes into the garage. The job was sloppy, but intentional. Also," Carter looked over her steepled hands, "the door camera was stolen."
"What about the victim's phone?" Marcus said.
"Sonja Pierce was found in her garage, dead, with no phone, and no house keys. The doors were locked. House keys were found inside."
"Is it possible she locked herself in the garage?" said Dakota.
"The initial findings suggested that was a possibility. But a coroner's report came back yesterday, and it indicated that prior to the carbon monoxide, Ms. Pierce ingested some type of tranquilizer."
"So the killer drugged her, then killed her?"
"So it would seem.” Carter tapped a finger against her keyboard, and moved on to another case file, judging by the sudden shift in lighting against her face from the glowing screen. She frowned, and said, "Our second victim is Billie Childs. She was working at a supermarket when she was trapped in a supply closet and killed."
"Same MO?"
"Yes, Clement, she was attacked with a tranq combined with something else. The coroner says it looks like mustard gas."
Dakota wrinkled her nose, scowling. "Like weaponized gas?"
Carter nodded. "According to our lab it’s as if the killer made it himself.”
Dakota leaned back.
"Did anyone see anything at either location?" said Marcus.
"Nothing yet. But the employees at the supermarket haven't been questioned yet. The body was only found this morning. The toxicology report wasn't confirmed until a couple of hours ago. And the only reason we were able to run it so fast was by matching it against results from the last murder."
"So when was Ms. Pierce killed?"
"Tuesday, two days ago."
Marcus was frowning, pushing to his feet now, and gently pressing a hand against Dakota's shoulder as if prompting her to rise as well. "Sounds like we need to get going," Marcus said. "Do we have flights booked?"
Carter nodded once. "Flights are handled. We already have a car lined up to meet you at the airport. And remember sunscreen. Arizona can be sweltering this time of year."
Dakota brushed at her long suit sleeves, shifting uncomfortably. In the warm weather, it would be difficult to wear turtlenecks without drawing attention. But she could just about feel where the edge of her collar pressed to her throat, obscuring the tail of the dragon tattoo she had gotten years ago.
Sacrifices had to be made to maintain an appropriate appearance.
"And agents," said Carter, firmly, "we have DEA, ATF, and Homeland Security all looking over our shoulders on this one. The chemicals being used don't look like they are geared towards a massive terror attack, yet. But I wouldn't rule it out.” She leaned forward. “We don't want to find out what happens if this guy starts getting out of control. Understand?” Her voice struck like a gavel. “Bring him in. Now.”
And with those chilling words, Marcus turned, leading Dakota back out the door, and away from the stern frown of Agent Carter.
- Writer
