Loves Redemption by Kimberly Terry (best novels to read in english .TXT) 📗

day had started early and lasted long for both of them. Mark turned her around so he

could hold her spoon fashion. It wasn’t long before they drifted into sleep holding on to one another, each ones body automatically moving and adjusting to accommodate the other, as they fell into a contented sleep.

CHAPTER 38

“Hey Jack, did you find anything for me?” Mark asked the lab tech.

As soon as he’d come to the station that morning, he’d gone by the lab before going to

the squad room, hoping the tech’s had been able to find prints, fibers, or anything on the floral arrangement. Now he’d returned in hopes that the tech had found some usable print.

“Sorry, Detective. It was clean. There were roughly three or four sets of prints on the

vase itself, which is in line with the amount of people who handled it. The only prints on the card were from the samples you provided me. There weren’t any others.”

The technician remained seated in the high-backed wheeled lab chair and rolled over to a

steel gray cabinet. Rolling back, he handed Mark a plastic bag that held the small card and envelope from the arrangement.

“Thanks Jack, I appreciate you taking a look at it for me.”

“No problem, Mark. Any time you need anything give me a jingle.”

With that, the technician went back to his work and Mark left the lab. With a pensive

look on his face, Mark closely looked at the writing on the card he could see clearly through the sheer plastic bag. He made a turn that would lead him into the direction of the evidence room.

“Hello,” he called out as he entered the room and found no one at the front counter.

“Anyone around? I need to take a look at something,” he called out to no one particular. As he was approaching the desk, the clerk came out from behind one of the stacks, and hurried over to the counter.

“I’m sorry, Detective, it’s been a busy day and I’m the only one here. I didn’t hear you

come in,” he offered in apology. “How may I help you?”

Mark glanced down at the clerk’s badge. “Smith, I need to take a look at a piece of

evidence from the slayer case. It should be tagged by itself. It’s a small white card.”

“What type of card? Do you have the tag number?”

“It’s a small white card with a hand-printed message on it. The type of card that goes

with floral arrangements. I don’t have the number, sorry about that,” he explained to the flustered clerk and waited patiently as the man went back into the stacks to retrieve the card. Ten minutes later he emerged with the bagged evidence in his hands.

“Thanks…” Mark thanked him as he scrawled his name across the sheet of paper to

check the evidence out.

“Detective, when will you return this? I noticed you didn’t indicate a return time.”

“I’m not sure. Some time today when I’m done with it,” he said, and walked out of the

room, missing the way the pleasant smile dropped immediately from the clerk’s face as soon as he left the room.

* * * *

Before he returned to the squad room, Mark made one last detour back to the crime lab

after taking a look at the message on the first card.

“Jack, is Wanda around today?” He referred to the technician who also was a handwriting

expert.

“Yep. Somewhere around here,” the tech said before he bellowed, “hey Wanda, you got a

visitor!”

“What can I do for you sexy?” Wanda asked with a wink, as she came from behind a

partition in the room, which separated each technician’s workspace.

Mark watched with a smile as the large woman ambled slowly in his direction. Wanda

was old enough to be his mother, but that never stopped her from flirting with him.

Her glasses sat perched on the end of her large nose as she peered at him over the frames.

Her nearly wrinkle-free sienna skin was liberally sprinkled with freckles and small moles. Her wide mouth usually carried an infectious grin virtually no one was immune to, even though she was known to tease just as mercilessly as she flirted. However, Wanda was sharp, and when it came to her field of expertise, she was the best.

“Wanda, I want you to take a look at these two cards for me and give me your

impressions,” he asked.

Mark handed her the two plastic wrapped cards. He watched as she looked around before

spying a box of surgical gloves and donned a pair before she removed the cards. She then

carefully examined both, her eyes squinting behind her half lenses, before looking back at Mark who was watching her expectantly.

“Well sugah, it looks like the writing may have come from the same hand although there

are some differences in the script. You see these two letters?” She pointed a gloved, ringed, pinky to the curve of a letter in one of the cards, before pointing to a similar curve in the letter of the other.

“This is unintentional. This is the natural way the writer makes this particular letter.

However, what is intentional is the large ‘flowery’ script, as though they’re trying to disguise their true handwriting,” she told him as she continued to carefully look at both cards.

“Can you tell if it’s a man or a woman?” He bent his head down close to hers, looking at

both cards with her.

“Boo, you smell good! What you wearing? Polo? Armani?” Wanda took a deep whiff off

the side of his neck.

Used to the way the older woman teased, Mark absentmindedly answered, “Ralph,” as he

continued to peruse both cards.

“I need to examine them both a little closer before giving a good ‘guess.’ This one is

tricky, it could be a man or woman. Usually I can tell straight off if it’s a woman trying to pass off writing as a man or vice versa, but I’m not sure with this