Tunnel Vision by Brenda Adcock Page A

back.
    The doors to the lab opened as three lab
    technicians, a photo tech, and two paramedics with a gurney entered the room. A man in his mid-thirties with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail walked toward the detectives. He was wearing bright yellow coveralls and worked at pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
    “Sorry we’re a little late, chica . Car trouble. The city council better get off its dead ass and vote us a new van soon. Where’s the body?” the technician asked, looking around.
    “Can’t tell you that, Frank. But part of him is in there,” she said pointing at the aquarium.
    “You won’t be needing that gurney either,”
    Nicholls added. “A bowling bag should do it.”
    The technician’s eyes widened, “No shit! Cool.”
    “We’ll be downstairs while you work. Let us know what you find. Enjoy,” she said as she and Nicholls turned to leave the room.
    Maggie was waiting in the hallway. Brodie
    stopped and seemed to be thinking. Then she turned to her.
    “Take a couple of uniforms and go through the rest of the building. Make sure there aren’t more body parts waiting around for some unsuspecting coed in any of the other labs. Grab a walkie-talkie from the car in case you come across something. Nicholls, you and I will take a few officers and canvass the area around the building. Before we split up, tell Gus the Ghoul in there that I want a preliminary report on my desk this afternoon. And none of that bullshit about the victim was decapitated. I want something more concrete than that this time.”
    Nicholls re-entered the lab while Brodie and Maggie went to the car for the walkie-talkies. As they retrieved them from the trunk and checked them, Maggie leaned against the vehicle. The sun was out in full force, driving the humidity to an uncomfortably sticky level. Brodie watched Maggie slip on a pair of aviator-style sunglasses. She silently chastised herself for thinking Maggie couldn’t look any sexier than she did at that moment. What did she expect? That Maggie would have turned into the same kind of bitter woman Brodie had become inside?
    “Do you think it could be a random act?” Maggie asked.
    “Nope,” said Brodie, startled from her thoughts.
    “I don’t believe in random acts. I’ve never seen a single case where there wasn’t some kind of motive involved.”
    “What could be the motive for decapitating someone? Seems a little over the top.”
    “Who knows? Maybe the vic made a smart ass remark to the killer’s girlfriend or bumped into him in the hallway the wrong way. I didn’t say it had to be a good motive, or even a logical one,” Brodie said, looking at her. “People do irrational and unexpected things when you least expect it all the time. You should know something about that, Detective,” she added, the words falling unbidden from her mouth before she could stop them.
    Maggie removed her sunglasses and looked at her, revealing fiery hazel eyes. “Why am I getting the distinct impression you’re not thrilled to have me here, Lieutenant Brodie ?” she asked with a touch of irritation in her voice.
    “Probably because you’ve always been very
    perceptive,” Brodie answered flatly. “But whether or not I’m excited about it is irrelevant. If you want another training officer, I won’t oppose the request.”
    Taking a step closer to Maggie, her eyes hard, she lowered her voice, “Why the fuck are you here? Tim could have gotten you on in Austin and we both know it.” “Leave him out of this. He doesn’t make decisions for me,” Maggie said, raising her voice a notch.
    “Well, he sure as shit did eight years ago,” Brodie seethed, immediately regretting reopening the old wound, but unable to stop.
    “And you let yourself get out of control,” Maggie said, her voice becoming less confrontational. “Just let it go. It’s already cost us both too much.”
    “What the hell does that mean?” Brodie
    demanded, her closeness to Maggie suddenly