Broken Heart (The Broken Heart Series Book 1) Read online

  “Yeah, yeah…Hey, Nick, do me a favor? Shut the fuck up and bring me a coffee…from that twenty-four hour McDonald’s down the block…

  Black...got it?”

  “Sugar? Boss?” Nick asked with a smirk on his face.

  “Nope, drive safe, good night, Jenesis, or rather, Good morning.” He chuckled with a half smirk then winked at me. Then he got up and slipped me a white envelope. It was money. Money for a day’s work at the office. I placed the envelope in my purse and smiled gratefully at him.

  “Good night, Dave, and…thank you,” I said appreciatively.

  I did feel safe and I was so grateful that Dave had Nick take me home. I was so drained. We headed to the police car, and I felt like I was on an assignment. I couldn’t help but smile and think of the show COPS. The song playing over in my head over and over. Nick opened the passenger side for

  me and slid in. He walked around the front of the car as I eyed him with his dark blue uniform. A gorgeous man in uniform. He took my breath away.

  “So, you like New York?” Nick asked as he drove through every red light in the city like a raving lunatic.

  “I do. Do you always drive like a maniac?” My face was hurting from the strain of holding my body in place, but I was happy to sit so close in proximity next to his gorgeous face.

  “So, like, you lived on a farm or something?” “Something like that.” I giggled.

  “You got a boyfriend?” He turned and stared at me, his blue eyes darkened a little with a hint of desire.

  “No,” I said hesitantly. I swallowed hard as his eyes lit up. They were so intimidating.

  “Why not?” he asked, prying, as he cocked his head to the side.

  “What’s with the twenty questions, Nick?” I said bravely as I looked out of the window holding on to the door for dear life.

  “Excuse me, just wanted to know. To be honest with you, ever since you dropped your purse outside, I can’t stop thinking about you, you’re beautiful, and I wanted to get to know you a little better, that’s all.” I glanced over at him and he let go of the wheel and reached over to gently touch

  my hand. I slowly pulled away from him. “I’m sorry if I crossed the line,” he said apologetically. As we approached the apartment building, I let him drive by it.

  “This building here.” I pointed to the building across the street from where

  I lived. I didn’t want Nick to know that I lived in Dave’s building. He stopped in the front.

  “Oh…okay, good night, and again, I’m sorry.” He raised his blue eyes at me, and I melted. I couldn’t leave without giving him a sincere, heart-felt smile.

  “No need to be sorry. Good night, Nick, thanks for the ride.” I leaned in before I left the car and caressed his hand, trying to dismiss the fact that I pulled away from him earlier. He grabbed my hand gently, kissed my knuckles, and let go. My body shivered a little as he let go, and it forced

  me to give him a hug and a warm kiss on the cheek before I exited the car, closing the door gently. I started walking, then turned around to see if Nick was still there. He was, and he waited until I

  walked into the building. I started to ring random doorbells until someone buzzed me in. I waved at Nick and shut the door behind me. As soon as he left, I walked across the street to my apartment.

  It didn’t feel right that I was deceiving Nick about where I lived, but Dave asked me not to tell…so I didn’t. I wasn’t used to working at night or getting in a police car with a complete stranger, even though he was a police officer, it didn’t make it any easier to trust him. He was gorgeous though,

  and for a minute, I frightened myself when he held my hand and brushed his soft lips against my knuckles. I wanted to get to know him better, too.

  The following night at work was even more interesting. The same rude people didn’t look my way and walking down the dark corridor to Dave’s office frightened me. I sat at his desk for a moment scanning the room and looking at all of the garbage. It looks like Stevie came back and took the

  garbage bags he gave me. I guess he didn’t like my response, so I walked to the front of the precinct to look for him.

  Everyone was talking and eating and the usual night shift gossip grew louder as I approached the front desk. Cassandra saw me and approached me.

  “Hi, how’s work?” She stood staring at me, checking me out from top to bottom. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was rooting for the same team.

  “It’s good. I was looking for Stevie. I need some garbage bags.” I tried to turn away from her so she would stop staring so hard.

  “Oh…here I have extra. I’ll walk you back to the office.” Great, just what I needed. She walked with me down the corridor as she handed me the garbage bags. She came into to the office and sat down on the chair in front of the desk.

  “Wow…this place is a mess,” she snickered as she picked up an empty coffee cup and tossed in the trash.

  “Yeah it is,” I laughed. We stood talking to each other for a while. The conversation was awkward at first, but as soon as she started to talk about Dave, things became very interesting.

  She happily volunteered information about Dave. She told me his previous secretary gave him sixteen years of service and then some. According to

  Cassandra, they were having an affair. He was caught getting a blowjob in the men’s bathroom. The secretary, Danielle, was head over heels in love with him, but Dave didn’t love her…he loved his wife, Sophie.

  Cassandra got all of her information from the men on the job. I really didn’t know that men gossiped that way, and I was surprised with how much they knew about Dave’s personal business.

  According to Cassandra, Dave’s ex-wife, Sophie, was a New York City schoolteacher and a good woman. This was his fourth marriage. She divorced him after three years, and he never remarried

  again after that. I have to say that would be pretty hard to swallow if I were his wife, too…no pun intended. No one ever mentioned Dave having any kids. But they did say he always told everyone

  he never wanted any. I guess he never settled down long enough with one woman to make a family. I wonder why they were all married to him for such a short amount of time.

  She talked about how Dave was a very handsome older man. In my eyes, he was much older than me, late fifties, but you wouldn’t know by the energy he had. He reminded me of my father, tall,

  stocky and piercing dark brown eyes. Dave had a way about him, though. He was a smooth talker. He made you feel comfortable yet fearful at the same time. Having issues with trusting men made

  me skeptical about a man, a stranger, who wanted to help me so selflessly, but he made everyone feel at ease, including me, and somehow that made it a little easier to open up…just a little.

  He was the boss, and he made everyone fully mindful of his administrative presence. He was highly respected and everyone knew not to mess with him, but they all seemed to enjoy his company at the same time. It was weird. I can’t explain it.

  “It was nice talking to you. Maybe we could grab dinner some time.” She forced out another smile at me as she waited for my response.

  “Absolutely, it gets a little lonely back here.” I nodded my head as she walked out of the office. For some reason, I wasn’t truly convinced about her intent. I didn’t really know her. I was cautious…I felt like I needed to be. I grabbed one of the files from the desk and started to look

  through it. I was hoping to use my forensics knowledge from Penn State somewhere at this job, and analyzing the files seemed like a good place to start, especially the cold cases. When Dave

  walked in and saw me reading the files, I wasn’t sure how I was going to play it off. The files were confidential. There might have been a hidden camera in the office, so I closed the file and

  continued to clean up. I looked forward to two in the morning when Nick was taking me home, and that was the highlight of my night.

  CHAPTER 5

  I only he
ard from Uncle Mike once after I moved to New York. He texted me and asked how I was doing and said he had finally moved. He didn’t ask for my address, and I just dialed his number

  to call him, and it was out of service. So much for caring about what happens to me, that was short-lived. Now I could see I really had no one. No one to call my family, except my cousins in

  Brodheadsville and that blew up in my face when I told Aunt Stephanie I was selling the house and moving to New York.

  School and work were overwhelming, and I couldn’t believe the amount of paper work in the precinct. It was ridiculous. Working with Dave was grueling because he was very demanding and didn’t leave much room for error. I know he expected a lot from me. Maybe he thought I was smart

  and even though I didn’t like his moodiness, I really appreciated his friendship, and I began to feel safe and secure with him. This was the first time ever that I put my trust in any man, a stranger, no

  less. My father ruined me for any other man, and even though I wasn’t interested in Dave that way, even as a friend, it was hard for me to trust him.

  As my boss, he was a little bit of a tyrant. While I worked all of those hours at night, I was usually alone. Dave was out of the office most of the time; he hardly ever called. He was the captain, and

  I thought they wouldn’t have to be out of the building so much. So many times people called looking for him, and I had to make up one excuse after another as to where he was. You would

  think no one called during those hours, but that phone rang until the sun came up. I guess I shouldn’t complain. It paid the bills, and it was my job to be his secretary, and that’s exactly what

  I was. I needed the money. The life insurance money was dwindling little by little, and to top it off, I needed to see a therapist about my nightmares. They were out of control.

  I walked into the office, perusing the room looking for Dave. Dave was missing in action again and had a pile of papers and folders stacked to the ceiling waiting for me to file. I’m surprised they didn’t topple over. I wasn’t in the mood to file a million papers tonight, so I decided to read through

  the files. I opened the first file, taking a quick glance towards the door to make sure no one was around to witness my snooping. I sat and read the details, sliding over the lamp to get a better look.

  Cold Case incident# 12-35768: Homicide-Margaret Blair

  The first incident report was written by Officer Nicholas Riso, badge #79586 on 10/04/2007.

  Dispatch had received a 911 call, Time: 2017, Dispatch Officer Brian Johnson from Daniel Blair where previously police had intervened. The first incident report lists the previous dates where police had arrested Margaret Blair on grounds of domestic violence.

  Oct. 12, 2007 at approximately 1745pm, Margaret Blair stabbed several times, mostly in the head and neck. 911 report #26. Two neighbors gave similar information. Nobody actually witnessed the stabbing, heard screaming, called 911.

  Oct. 12, 2007 at 1800pm, Blair pronounced dead. Autopsy but no copy in file. Officer Steven Bell described autopsy in report #198 dated 10/12/07.

  My heart began to pound rapidly as I continued to read the contents of the file. Poor Margaret, stabbed in the head and neck not once, but several times. I wonder if she had any kids. I wonder if her husband killed her. The desk lamp gave me just enough light to read but not enough to light

  up the room. I felt uneasy. To top it off, our office was so far down the corridor from the front desk, it would take me at least five minutes running at cheetah speed, to get the hell out of here.

  I’m assuming I have to file all of the cold cases tonight. Dave left them piled meticulously in alphabetical order reminding me to file them the way he left them. He’s so anal. I just don’t see

  how I could do all of this tonight; there seems to be ten times more than there were the other night, how could that be possible? I filed Margaret Blair then sat at the desk and went over the next file.

  Stabbed? Multiple times? Oh my God, what a nightmare, I thought to myself. I kept going through the files without filing them. I was intrigued by the gory details, and my curiosity could not be confined. I continued reading,

  Angela Claudio, Single gunshot wound to the face.

  The contents of the files became more gruesome as I continued to read. I noticed some other files were mixed in the cold case files. A knock on the door startled me, causing me to jolt in my chair flinging the file up in the air and watching the papers free fall everywhere.

  “Hey, Jenesis!” Stevie shouted happily.

  “Jesus Christ, Stevie! You scared the hell out of me!” I shrieked.

  “Holy Shit, woman! You look as white as a goddamn ghost!” he chuckled as he bent down to pick up the papers and the file from the floor, and then handed them to me. “What the fuck is wrong

  with you?” he asked harshly staring at me with glossy covered light brown eyes. I could tell when Stevie had been drinking. He’s loud and obnoxious when he’s hitting the bottle. “Do you always

  have to curse, Stevie?” I said as I grabbed the files from him. “Thank you…and…nothing’s wrong. I’m just really busy,” I snapped back at him.

  “Slow your roll, woman. I just came by to give you some bags, but I see you really cleaned up this shit hole.” He crackled and snorted a laugh as he tossed Dave’s two-day-old cup of coffee from the windowsill into the trash.

  He glared at me up and down as I stood sliding the papers inside the file.

  “You gotta talk to your boss; he’s a goddamn pig!” He looked over his shoulder with his shiny eyes wide open, making sure no one was around to hear him.

  “Will do…now…I have to work.” I tilted my head and motioned with my eyes towards the door, hoping he would get the hint to get out. I gave him a half gentle smirk and lowered my head to continue reading the files.

  I sustained a steady gaze on the file reading until I finished it and opened the next case. My eyes were worn-out, and I decided that this would be the last file I read. I began to read.

  Cold Case Incident #: 12-47932 Homicide – Miriam H. Hunter

  On Sunday, September 17, 1991, at approximately 2143 hours, the Delaware County’s Sheriff Office in Pennsylvania, responded to the area of Delaware River in Marcus Hook near the banks. Deputies made contact with a Private Investigator, who reported that she had received information

  from a confidential informant, who provided her with the location of bones, that he believed to be fully decomposed human bones. Upon conducting an inspection of the area, several bones, which

  appeared to be of human origin, were discovered, with the xception of the skull. Attached to the bones were what appeared to be two pink socks, and a black, name brand sneaker was also

  discovered over one of the socks. The Private Investigator advised investigators that she discovered the bones with the confidential informant on Saturday, 09-16-1991 at approximately

  2330 hours. The Private Investigator stated that she and the confidential informant then left the area.

  The identity of the skeletal remains was later determined to be that of, one;

  Miriam H. Hunter, White, Female, 31 YOA, DOB: 11-21-1963

  Who was reported as missing in August 1990, a case which was being investigated by the Delaware County Police Department. A subsequent examination by the Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be a homicide.

  The Detectives followed all of the leads that developed for several years. However, there appeared to be no conclusions reached as to a prime suspect in Hunter’s death.

  It should be noted to this date Hunter’s skull has never been recovered.

  That was it. The shooting, the stabbing, the raping. Now beheading. It was just too much. Not to mention this poor woman had the same birthdate as mine. Why didn’t I listen to Dave when he

  told me not to read the files? The cases were in order all the way to the letter y. Jesus, all of these women and men dead and no one
knows who killed them? I started to file them knowing that the

  clock was ticking, and I made the attempt to file them as quickly as I could. Dave would have daggers for me if I didn’t at least file some of them.

  I was exhausted, and I only filed to the letter J. Dave’s going to have a hissy fit. I’m sure he doesn’t think I’m reading the files one by one. I’ll just give him some cockamamie excuse as to why I

  didn’t finish. It was 1:45 A.M., and Dave strolled in with his eyes pinned on the file cabinet, a file in his hand, his hair disheveled, and his boots muddy.

  “Hey, you’re done filing?” he said abruptly as he walked in and sat in his chair not giving me any eye contact. He turned on the radio to his favorite

  80’s station…I think it was 106.7. Really? 80’s music…it’s like reliving my childhood again.

  “Hi…you okay? Is it raining outside?” I tilted my head to the side trying to read his face.

  “Um… no, not exactly…and…do I look like the fucking weatherman to you?” he snapped. “You had more than enough time to do your job, Jen. I don’t ask for much you know.” Really? I glanced over at him and met his eyes for a moment. I looked away quickly to avoid eye contact and not to

  mention the fact that his anger towards me was resonating quickly over his face. He was PISSED. “I really need these filed by Friday. I hope by then they’ll be complete. The city is coming in, and

  I don’t want to be audited.” I knew he was serious, and I didn’t want to stay a minute longer in his presence. He stared at me for a moment and then shook his head in disgust.

  I was internally wounded and decided to grab my purse and head for the door.

  “I’ll finish it tomorrow. Promise.” The words were pushed through my lips as I turned around for a moment to look at him once more. “Dave, you’re bleeding! What happened? Where were you?”

  I noticed blood on his hand, and I rushed over to his aid, even though I felt like a child who had just been scolded by her father.