Girl, Haunted (Ella Dark #22)

CHAPTER THREE

Two months of living here and Ella still hadn’t figured out the intricate locking mechanism on Luca’s front door. Turn the key, twist the handle, turn the key again, kick until something gave.

There. She was in.

‘Honey, I’m home,’ she said. The thirteen-hour flight had turned into eighteen hours with delays, so her expected arrival of last night turned into arrival this morning. She was a little disappointed that she didn’t have the opportunity to wake Luca up at stupid o’ clock, the annoyingly-sound sleeper that he was.

Ella threw off her shoes in the hallway made for the living room. It had been three months since Ella’s last case, where she’d apprehended a perp the media had since dubbed the Water Torture Killer. In that time, Ella and Luca had given in to their somewhat-obvious urges and become one. Ella had ditched the rented life and moved into Luca’s apartment in Takoma, a place that Luca was insistent Tom Cruise also called home, apparently in this very same complex. Luca had never seen him, of course, probably because Tom Cruise could afford to not live in Takoma, but Luca remained insistent regardless.

And perhaps most surprisingly of all, in the past three months, Mia Ripley – Ella's yin to her yang – had retired from thirty years of FBI service. There had been no party, no grand ceremony, not even a message on the noticeboard at HQ. In her last words to Ella, Ripley was 'throwing her phone in a woodchipper and setting sail for Hawaii.'

Then, as mysteriously as she arrived, she vanished.

It was strange, this life without Ripley. Apparently the woman hadn’t made good on her promise of destroying her phone, because she and Ella had exchanged a few texts since she’d called it quits, but Ella knew better than to pester her. So, she’d done the noble thing and left the woman to her retirement. The crazy old dog had earned it, doubly so since she was smart enough to get out before a bullet decided for her.

Ella's mind briefly drifted to that night by the riverbank, where she and Mia had confronted the ugly truth about Mia's ex-boyfriend. Ella wouldn’t be able to forget it; the trap, the gunshot, the body sliding beneath the waters. Police had fished him out thirty minutes later, and given the evidence they had on him, they had an open-and-shut case. Mia had confided that she was more troubled by her failure to see the truth than the fact that she had to pull the trigger. But from what Ella knew, the old dog was holding up well.

‘Honey, you’re home,’ Luca said. Ella found him in the living room, TV off, book nestled on his lap. He was wearing a white t-shirt that was two sizes too big and blue shorts two sizes too small.

Ella sauntered over and glimpsed the book cover. ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ she said as she dropped her bag on the floor.

‘Ever read it?’

‘No. Any good?’

Luca slammed the book shut and looked it over. ‘I’m two-hundred pages in and not once have I thought about killing John Lennon.’

Ella dropped on the couch beside him and put her feet on his lap. ‘I think someone already beat you to it.’

Luca threw the book on the coffee table and leaned over for a peck. ‘I’ll just have to kill one of the other Beatles then. How was the trial?’

‘Death penalty,’ Ella said. ‘Cold justice, some might say.’

‘I know. I saw the clips.’

‘The clips?’

Luca waved his phone at her. ‘They’re all over the news. Including your takedown of that attorney and your little rah-rah speech.’

‘Jeez. Is nothing sacred?’

‘Not anymore.’ Luca clasped his hands around her ankles and squeezed, then massaged up to her knees. ‘Nice little reference to Ted Bundy at the end, too. You went another way, partner. That must have stung. ’

‘Glad someone caught that,’ Ella said. Try as she might, nothing got past Luca over here.

‘Death penalty though. Tough one.’

‘Yeah. Still not sure how I feel on that front.’

‘I wouldn’t worry,’ Luca said. ‘First off, it’s not your responsibility to save him from death.’

‘It’s not?’

‘No, it’s his responsibility to not go around killing women. Secondly, executions take twenty years to come to fruition. Creed’ll probably die of old age before the needle gets him.’

Ella conceded the point. It was true. The road to the lethal injection chamber was a long one. ‘The last mile,’ she said.

‘Sometimes the green mile seems so long.’ Luca put on his best Tom Hanks voice, then ditched it when he realized it wasn’t very good. ‘Oh, and you need to answer your phone. I texted you last night. Twice.’

‘A double-text? Have you no shame?’

'None. For all I know, you could have died.'

Ella smirked. This new life with Luca was strange, uncharted territory. But the good strange, like finding an extra clip when you were down to your last bullet. A few months back, her ex Ben had popped the living arrangement question, but Ella had shut it down pretty quickly. Not that Ben wasn’t a catch, but with him it had been all ‘when are you coming home’ and ‘can't you take a desk job?’ The guy tried his best to understand, but he could never figure out why she'd choose chasing monsters over a white picket fence.

But Luca – he got it. He was in the same boat, rowing with the same oars. This time, Ella had popped the cohabitation question, and Luca hadn’t even flinched. He’d just said ‘what took you so long to ask?’ despite them only being official for a month.

So far, it had been sunshine and roses, maybe because they hadn’t worked a case together in three months. But wherever they were, they had each other’s backs, in the field and out. Ella had never had that before, never let herself have it. Attachments were a liability in this line of work, but Luca made her want to risk it. It was like leaping off a cliff and trusting he'd be there to catch her.

So far, he had been.

'Forgive me,' Ella said. She plucked her handbag off the floor and rifled through the contents. She found her phone and lit up the screen. 'Twenty-seven emails, none of which are from Luca Hawkins. No texts from him either. Hmm?'

‘Well, that’s not true because I did email you.’

Ella checked again. ‘Okay. One email from Luca Hawkins, of which you’ve CC’d me. What am I, just a colleague now?’

Luca worked out a knot in her left calf with surprising efficiency. ‘Did that southern air scramble your brain? That’s your work phone, you clutz. I don’t text your work phone since you made it clear that tech are reading our messages.’

‘Of course they are. If I was them, I’d read everyone’s messages.’

‘You just want to know who’s sleeping with who.’

‘So do you,’ Ella said.

‘Well…’

Ella went through her handbag again. Just a wallet, an empty cup, three pens, some tissues and a battery for some reason. ‘I’m sure I took both phones with me. And a hairbrush. Maybe I left them at the office.’

‘Maybe you’re going mad.’

'I might be forgetting things, but at least I'm not forgetting things.'

‘You’ve only just noticed that your phone is missing?’

Ella threw her bag back down. ‘I use my work phone for everything. It’s more active than my normal one.’

‘That’s sad.’

‘Isn’t it? I need to go and check my desk.’

‘Same.’

‘Wait a minute. It’s Monday morning. Why aren’t you at your desk?’

‘Edis told me to wait for you, make sure you didn’t go mad.’

‘Mission failed.’ Ella stretched herself up to a standing position, put her hands on her hips and surveyed the living room. The place was still a man-pad, despite her being a full-time occupant of this place for two months. She’d been meaning to wallpaper the feature wall, add some plants, remove that god-awful crown molding that was straight out of the eighties. She just hadn’t found the time.

Luca asked, ‘What’s the plan? Want to hit the office? Pretend we’re model employees?’

‘Or,’ Ella said, ‘we could get some TLC done.’

‘It’s nine AM. That’s a midday activity at best.’

‘Agreed, so not that,’ Ella said. She gestured at the walls. ‘We’ve got some DIY to do. Need to womanize this place a little.’

Luca threw his feet up on the coffee table. ‘Womanize? Today?’

‘We’ve been saying we’ll do it for weeks.’

‘We’ve never had time.’

Ella said, ‘I haven’t got any ongoing cases, have you?’

‘No. I closed one two days ago. But paperwork? FD-302s? 772s?’

‘Loads of both,’ Ella said. ‘Come on Hawkins, paperwork can wait. A little elbow grease never killed anyone.’

Luca groaned and sank deeper into the couch. ‘No, but it's made plenty wish they were dead. Can't we just hire someone?’

‘To wallpaper a wall? What are you, a housewife?’

‘I wish.’

‘Look, a man’s house is a reflection of the woman he lives with. I don’t want people thinking you’ve shacked up with your nana.’ The shrill ping of Ella’s work cell interrupted their conversation.

‘Oh, thank God,’ Luca said. He reached for the phone and clocked the name on the screen. ‘The big man wants you.’

Ella took the phone from him. INCOMING CALL : WILLIAM EDIS . She sighed and said goodbye to any hopes of redecorating. If Edis was calling at this time of morning, it meant he needed something done today.

‘Morning, sir,’ Ella answered.

‘Dark. Heard about the trial. Good job.’

‘Thank you.’ Now wasn’t the time to debate the ethics of the death penalty, least of all with the director. ‘Arrived back in D.C. an hour ago.’

‘Perfect. Then you can get to the office. Something landed on my desk this morning and I need my A-team on it.’

It had been three months since she’d last been out in the field – her last hurrah beside Ripley. Now, she guessed, was the time to fly solo.

‘A new case?’

‘Yes. And it’s… a strange one.’

Ella’s heart pumped a little faster. Strange was her drug of choice. ‘How strange?’

‘Difficult to say. It’s a serial case in the back end of Oregon. But… well, you need to see the details. Can you get here right away?’

‘Yes. I can get there.’ Over on the couch, Luca grinned. The little rat might have escaped renovation today, but his time would come.

‘Good. Step on it,’ Edis said. ‘Oh, and bring Hawkins with you. If you’re back, it means he’s free too.’

Then the phone line went dead. Ella stuffed her cell back into her pocket and returned Luca’s white-toothed smile.

'Don't forget to check your desk while you're there, honey,' Luca said.

‘I will, honey. Don’t forget your toothbrush this time. You’re not borrowing mine again.’

Luca was halfway towards picking up Catcher in the Rye again. ‘What?’

‘Get your dancing shoes on. Edis wants to see you too.’

‘You’re kidding?’

‘No. This is karma for us trying to skip work.’

Luca blew out a long breath. ‘Me?’

‘Yes. You. Now come on. The quicker we get there, the sooner we’ll be on a plane.’

He heaved himself up from the couch and cracked a few joints. ‘Fine. I knew this vacation wouldn’t last long. Did Edis say where we’re going?’

‘Oregon, didn’t specify where.’

‘Maybe he’s sending us to catch Bigfoot.’

‘The only big foot you'll be seeing is mine up your ass if you don't hurry up.’

‘Hey,’ Luca said, catching her arm. ‘You ready for this? Us working together again?’

She hadn’t even worried about it for a second. There was no doubt in her mind. It had been too long since she’d been on the frontlines, and doing it with Luca by her side was the icing on the cake.

‘Of course, honey, now let’s go.’