Hothouse Orchid

18

Holly sat in her living room with Hurd Wallace and Lauren Cade. She laid her file on Jim Bruno’s juvenile record and the stories from the New Jersey newspaper on the coffee table and sipped a Diet Coke while they read it.

“Well,” Hurd said finally, “this is all very interesting, but there’s nothing here that ties him to the recent rapes and murders locally.”

“Not in an evidentiary sense,” Holly admitted, “but all this shows a past which gives him a predisposition to that sort of crime.”

“None of this could ever be presented in court,” Hurd said. “You haven’t even tied him to the New Jersey murder when he was still a young man.”

“Don’t you think I know that, Hurd?” She tried not to sound irritated. “All I want to do here is place Bruno on your list of suspects. Oh, and you can add to this material that he keeps a boat at the marina that’s tied to the death of two victims and the disposal of one body.”

Lauren spoke up. “I have to agree with Hurd, Holly. Even that could be no more than a coincidence. Eighty or ninety other people, including Detective Jimmy Weathers, keep boats there, too.”

“Maybe you should investigate all of them, Lauren, and when you’re done I’d be willing to bet that not one of them would have the sort of background that Bruno has.”

“You’re convinced that Bruno is our perpetrator?” Hurd asked.

“Of course not, Hurd. I just think he’s your best suspect right now.”

“Our only suspect,” Lauren said.

“All right,” Hurd said, tucking the file into his briefcase, “James Bruno is a suspect. Is that what you want?”

Holly nodded. “Thank you, Hurd. And for God’s sake, don’t show his juvenile record to anybody. It was sealed by the court, and I don’t want to have to explain how I got it.”

“How did you get that record?” Lauren asked.

“Don’t ask,” Holly replied.

“Holly,” Hurd said, “do you want to work on this full-time? Do you want me to get you a badge?”

“No!” Holly said. “Please, no! I’m on vacation here, and I don’t want my head filled with this case. Of course, I would appreciate updates.”

Hurd laughed. “You mean you want to be involved but not involved.”

Holly laughed, too. “I mean I don’t want to explain to anybody my past with Bruno or how I’ve looked into his past, especially in court. My boss would not like for me to be cross-examined by some hot defense attorney.”

“All right,” Hurd said, “we’ll keep you out of the official record on the case.”

“Thank you, Hurd. I appreciate your understanding.”

Hurd got to his feet, and Lauren followed him out the front door. Holly waved them off, then turned back into the house. She had to shower and change before Josh came for her.

Josh arrived, and they took their drinks outside to Holly’s deck and sat down in comfortable chairs to watch the light change on the ocean as the sun went down.

“I ran into the county ME at the hospital this afternoon,” Josh said. “He told me something interesting about one of your crime victims, the one you found on the beach.”

“Tell me,” Holly said.

“He checked for needle marks on her neck, and he found how the Rohypnol had been administered. It wasn’t by needle, it was by gun.”

“I don’t follow,” Holly said.

“A vaccination gun,” Josh explained. “Surely you had one of those used on you during your years in the army.”

“Yes, you’re right,” she said, “but I remember those things as attached by hoses and electrical cords to things.”

“There’s a version that holds a vial of something and is powered by a fairly small battery, the way power tools are these days.”

“Still, it wouldn’t be something you could stick in your pocket, would it?”

“If you had a big enough pocket,” Josh pointed out. “It would be easier to deal with than a hypodermic syringe. You’d just press it against the neck and pull the trigger.”

“Where would a perpetrator obtain one?” Holly asked.

“Probably from the manufacturer or maybe even from a medical supply store-there’s a big one in Vero Beach.”

“Okay, I buy it.”

“It makes the perpetrator more interesting, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose,” Holly said. “It also adds another way to find him. The police could visit that medical supply store in Vero and find out whom they’ve sold the things to. Anybody who wasn’t a doctor or a hospital purchasing agent would stand out as a suspect.”

“I think maybe I should have been a cop,” Josh said. “I enjoy knowing about this stuff, even if I am a couple of steps removed from the process.”

“Well,” Holly said, “maybe you did miss your calling, but it wasn’t as a cop.”

“Really? What should I have been.”

She laughed. “A porn star,” she said.

Josh blushed. “First time I’ve been told that,” he said.

“I don’t believe it. When you’re carrying around that sort of equipment, it gets noticed.”

“Okay, it’s been mentioned,” he admitted, “but nobody ever suggested I should have been in porn films.”

“You know what I think you need?” Holly asked.

“What?”

“Another audition.” She took his hand and led him into the house and upstairs.

“We’ve got a dinner reservation in half an hour,” he said.

“We’ll manage,” Holly said, unzipping his fly.