Chapter 9 The Panic Attacker

"So, Beautiful, how was your date?" Sanchez asked as I walked to my desk. These guys came in three hours before me and always seemed to be at their desks when I came in.

"Did you have fun last night?" Richmond asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"More fun than you did," I snapped as I slammed my things down on my desk. "When was the last time you had a date and not a drinking partner?"

"She's got you there," Sanchez turned to his partner with a chuckle. Richmond gave him an offended look.

"Don't the two of ya have a new case ta get to?" Jones blurted out from behind his newspaper.

I almost didn't notice my tall, burly partner. He was surprisingly silent for such a big man when he wanted to be. The two detectives looked at each other before leaving. I flopped into my chair. I folded my arms on my desk and put my head on them.

Once I got home last night, I changed out of the dress and shoes to take Murphy on his walk. I then sat in a blanket burrito on my bed eating both slices of the chocolate cake. I spent my entire night tossing and turning, just thinking about RM. I barely slept an hour last night.

"I'm only gonna ask one thing," Jones said not even looking at me. "Did you sleep with him?"

"Of course not," I raised my head to glare at him.

"Good. There's a new body for us," Jones said as he put down his newspaper and grabbed his things.

"Why can't someone else take it?" I asked. "We're still working on the Bloody Office case."

"For some reason, there was a lot of murders last night," Jones said. "Everyone's gotta new case. Captain just gave it to me. Let's go."

"Right," I said as I stood up. I grabbed my things and followed him out to the car. Once inside the car, I turned to him and asked, "Where are we headed?"

"The docks," Jones said as we got inside his car. "Triple homicide. Captain wanted us on this one. Once he heard it come in this morning, he knew we could handle it. Don't know if I like this much attention from the Captain. I preferred barely being noticed."

"Sorry, Jones. But we make a good team," I said. "I want to help as many people as possible. And you're helping me with that."

"Shut up, Kid. We're goin' a homicide scene. Keep your head on straight," he said.

I sighed and looked out the window, getting ready to do my job.

Once at the crime scene, I looked around. It wasn't the docks exactly, it was a construction site a block away from the docks. All the bodies were lined up one right next to each other.

Jones was already next to the bodies, knelt down next to them. It was obvious what this was.

"This was an execution," I said to Jones as I walked up behind him.

"Yeah. That much is obvious," Jones said. "But why here? And who are these men?"

"I can answer that," an officer from behind us said.

"Go ahead," Jones said. He stood up and looked down at the officer.

"They're Gwon Dong-hyun, Gwon Haneul, and Buyeon Geun. They're low ranking members of the Bangtan mafia," the officer said.

Of course it has to do with His mafia. And right after I had a date with the boss who ran out before we could have dessert. I didn't want to deal with him or anything to do him for a while.

"Bangtan?" Jones asked. "They were part of it?"

"They don't even have the tattoos yet, so they can't be anything but bottom feeders," the officer said. "They probably got some rival angry and were taken out."

"Well, Kid, looks like we gotta meet up with you-know-who," Jones said. He took out his phone and began typing into it.

"Seeing him for so long last night was long enough," I said with a roll of my eyes. The officer gave me a confused look. "Don't ask." I shook my head to him.

My phone then started to ring in my pocket. I slipped it out to see 'Captain Butler' blinking across the screen.

"Detective Barnes," I answered.

"Ah, my favorite new detective. Good news, the woman who found the dead body of the office worker is ready to speak with you and Jones," Captain Butler said through the phone. "Can you head to her apartment?"

"One second," I said before I put him on hold. "Hey, Jones. The woman who found our office victim is ready for an interview."

"And I just got a text back from RM," Jones whispered to me. "He's going to meet us in thirty minutes."

"Well what about the office case?" I asked. "We can't just forget about our other case, Jones."

"But for this case we can talk to RM and have his help," Jones said. "We can figure this out sooner than that case."

"Fine, you go talk to RM and I'll go talk to the woman," I said.

"What happened on that date that makes you not want to see him?" Jones asked.

"I just want to solve this case," I said. "That's all."

"Fine, I'll be fine without your attitude for a while," Jones said. "Hey, officer! Can you give Barnes a ride?"

I took my phone off hold and said, "Sorry about that Cap, give me her address and I'll be right there."

"Just you?" Captain asked.

"Jones has a lead on the triple homicide. He's going to follow that lead and I'm going to go do the interview," I said.

"Smart, Barnes. I'll text you the address, keep an officer on scene with you just so I know you're safe," Captain said.

"Got it," I said. "Thanks, Cap."

"Ready to go, Detective?" the officer from earlier asked.

"Yup, and you can call me Barnes," I said.

"Only if you call me Denton," he said.

"You got it," I said.

///

Officer Denton walked with me into the apartment building and to the apartment of the woman. I knocked on the door. A woman answered after a bit of shifting around inside.

"Hi, I'm Detective Anastasia Barnes with the Towson Police Department. Are you Melissa Benson?" I asked.

"No, but I'm her roommate, Grace. She's in the living room. Come on in," the woman said. She opened the door for Denton and I to walk in.

"It's nice to meet you," I said as I entered the apartment. Grace led me to the living room where a woman sat with a cup of tea in her hands. "Melissa Benson?"

She looked up and smiled at me. She looked a bit older than me with curly brown hair and green eyes behind rectangular glasses. She was dressed in an over-size sweater and had a blanket over her lap.

She placed the mug down and asked, "Are you the detective?"

"Yes, my name is Anastasia Barnes," I said. "I'm here to ask you some questions about your co-worker, Isaiah Tallmadge."

"Ask me anything," Melissa said.

"You were the one who found Mr. Tallmadge that morning," I stated.

"Yeah," Melissa muttered with a nod.

"Can you explain to me exactly what happened that morning, from the time you got to work until you found him?" I asked.

"Are you sure that's necessary?" Grace asked. "She's prone to panic attacks. I don't want her to-"

"It's fine, Grace," Melissa cut her off. "I can do this."

"It's good that you're looking out for her. Go ahead, Melissa," I urged.

"So, I got to work at eight-thirty, like every day. I started off with getting the papers from the fax machine and handing them to the correct people. I always saved Isaiah for last, because he was always mean to me. I usually just went in and placed them on the desk without looking at him, but he . . . his face-"

She stopped and took her head in her hands. She was obviously scarred from the experience. I know I am.

"It's alright, Melissa," I placed a hand on her knee. "You don't need to talk about what he looked like. You said he was mean to you. Can you explain that?"

"He would call me names, throw stuff at me, he would make fun of my panic and anxiety attacks," Melissa said. I noticed that she was shaking. "He always focused on me more than everyone else. Everyone said it was because I look like his ex-wife. But I think it's because I'm an easy target because I'm so shy and submissive."

"Did you tell your superiors about this?" I asked.

"They all knew about it," Melissa shrugged. "But Isaiah was directly above me. And so if I wanted to report anything I would have to do it through him."

I noticed that something in her posture changed as she spoke.

"So you had no one to turn to?" I asked.

"No, but my superiors were talking about demoting him. They were done dealing with him," Melissa said.

"Did everyone know this?" I asked. I don't remember that any of the other employees mentioned his potential demotion.

"They told me after I had an anxiety attack at work because of him a few days ago," Melissa said.

"So you worked with him on a regular basis," I said.

"Yeah, Isaiah and I were always the last ones to leave the office," Melissa said. "I made sure he left before me, so I wouldn't have to be stuck in the elevator with him on the way down."

"And he didn't leave before you the night he was killed?" I asked.

"No. He had thrown a picture frame at me and I didn't want to stay later than I had to," Melissa said. "I got home around seven thirty that night. Grace was here when I got home."

It was then that I noticed a complete difference in Melissa from the time I walked in.

"So you didn't see anyone go into his office," I stated.

"No one went in there unless absolutely necessary," Melissa shrugged.

"So what time did he throw the picture frame at you?" I asked.

"What?" Melissa asked. "Does that matter?"

"I just want to make sure your story adds up with what other co-workers say," I said.

"Around two o'clock," Melissa shrugged.

"How sure are you about that?" I asked.

"Maybe half an hour or so?" Melissa guessed.

"What time did Mr. Tallmadge go to lunch?" I asked.

"Noon. Always noon."

"Then why did none of your co-workers say that no one went into his office after his lunch?" I asked. "Could you have gotten the day wrong?"

Melissa stared at me, mouth agape. Her eyes flickered around my face as I continued to stare intently into her eyes.

"How old are you, Melissa?"

"Twenty-five."

"Just one year older than me. And you've killed one more person than I have."

"I'm sorry?"

"I can tell your lying to me, Melissa. Mr. Tallmadge threw that frame at you when it was only you two in the office that evening, wasn't it? You were done with him treating you that way, so you snapped. Am I right?"

"Your a cop. And you've never killed anyone?" Melissa snapped. She was completely different from the shy woman she made herself out to be. "I don't believe you, you b****."

"Mel!" Grace shouted.

"How right was I?" I asked with a smirk.

"He deserved it," Melissa muttered. She picked up her tea and took a small sip. "Everyone hated him. When he threw that frame at me, he called me the sh***iest employee he's had the displeasure of working with. I work harder than anyone, including him. He didn't have the right to say that to me."

"Where's the murder weapon?" I asked.

Melissa scoffed. "It's in the dumpster of a Chinese restaurant down the street from the building. A bat that he had in the corner of his office. It's covered in blood, it won't be hard to miss if it's still there."

"Melissa Benson, you are under arrest for the murder of Isaiah Tallmadge," I said. I yanked her up off the couch and turned her around. I took my cuffs from my belt and put them on her as I read her Miranda Rights to her. "Officer Denton, would you mind taking Melissa to your cruiser?"

"Of course, Detective," Denton said as he Melissa's arm and led her out of the apartment. I turned to Grace who was staring at the door in shock.

"I-I never thought - Melissa. . . . I can't believe- She killed someone," Grace stuttered out.

"I know, Grace. Just when you think you know someone," I said. I walked up to her and put my hands her arms.

"We've been roommates since college. She's never been like this before," Grace muttered before she began to cry into my shoulder.

I let her cry as I rubbed her back. This was part of the job, comforting those who need comfort. I've learned that it's best to let them get everything out. Once she was done crying I took her to sit down on the couch.

"Grace, I will stay here as long as you need me to," I said.

"Thank you, detective," Grace said. "But don't you need to get back to work?"

"Once you no longer need me," I said.

"I'll be okay," Grace said.

"Okay, but if you need me, here's my card," I said. "Also here's the number of a therapist if you need to talk to anyone."

"Thank you so much."

I hugged her once more before I left the apartment building. I walked to Denton's cruiser and sat in the passenger seat.

"Well that's one murderer of the streets, let's hope Jones got a lead on the other," Denton said.

"I can hear you, you know," Melissa said from the backseat.

"Please keep your mouth shut," I told her. "I read you your rights. I hope you exercise your right to remain silent."

"Sure thing, Little Detective," Melissa hissed.

I turned around and glared at her. That nickname. That stupid nickname reminded me of Him. "Right to remain silent," I hissed to her.

I didn't want anyone to call me that. Not even the first one I heard it from. Not even the damn Bangtan boss that I spent all night thinking about.