There was no sign of life at the house when Reina backed into the driveway. The same could not be said for the yard next door.
"Never a dull moment with you huh Reina?" A fat, unattractive woman said from the other side of the fence which separated the two properties. "You've been back what 6 months? I suppose that's a record for you."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Reina snapped.
"I see you have guests. Aren't you going to introduce us?" The woman asked changing the subject.
"No."
"You'd think that you'd have learned some manners by now," the neighbor said. "One day you're going to need something from me."
"What do you want Samantha?" Reina hissed in exasperation as she rolled her eyes.
Samantha and Reina had gone to the same high school. Samantha was universally hated by everyone in the school. And while Reina tended to be contrary, her feelings toward her neighbor were no different from the rest of the school. The passing years hadn't changed her feelings toward Samantha. Reina thought that Samantha was a two-faced, snotty, suck-up back then and felt the same way now. She tended to completely ignore Samantha during those times when she left the car while Samantha was in the vicinity. The only time that became a problem was when Reina arrived with any of her male friends in tow. Back in high school Samantha was a shameless man chaser. That facet of her personality had not changed over the years. In addition to her aggressive nature when it came to men was the compounding fact that she never caught any of the objects of her lust. It never discouraged Samantha and despite her constant failure she kept trying and Reina's male friends were not exempted. Reina usually warned her friends about her annoying neighbor beforehand but as it so happened this time she was too preoccupied to do so.
"What makes you think I want anything?" Samantha said coyly. The look of obvious lust she directed at MacLeod and Richie belied her tone.
"They're not interested," Reina said bluntly.
"How do you know?" Samantha demanded.
"Because no one ever is."
Samantha laughed. "You are such a kidder."
Reina turned away from Samantha while rolling her eyes again. That was another thing Reina hated about Samantha. Samantha didn't even have enough sense to know she was being insulted.
"My name is Samantha Goler," Samantha said.
"Richie Ryan."
"Duncan MacLeod."
"How long are you going to be in town? I could show you around."
"What are you deaf?" Reina snapped at her neighbor. "I told you they aren't interested."
"I'm waiting to hear it from them," Samantha said snippily.
"That is a tempting offer," MacLeod said diplomatically.
"You've got to be kidding," Richie muttered under his breath.
"But Reina and Reynaldo have things planned," MacLeod said smoothly.
"Perhaps some other time," Samantha said. "By the way, Reina there was a police officer looking for you."
"A cop? When?"
"Oh so now you're interested in what I have to say?"
"For the first time ever yes," Reina said. "So spill."
"I don't know. You were rather rude this evening."
"Samantha, if you don't tell me what you know I will wring your overstuffed neck. I am not in the mood for your bullshit."
"Reina," Duncan said admonishingly. "I don't think this is helping."
"A true gentleman," Samantha said.
Oh God she's about to go into her "I've suffered so much at Reina's hand" speech. Just what I need.
"You don't know how much I've suffered at Reina's hand," Samantha started. "She is often rude and is quite snippy. I was just trying to help her and she threatens to wring my neck. That's gratitude for you."
Reina rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. Typical Samantha melodrama.
"I'm sure Reina is grateful to you for your concern," MacLeod said ignoring the dirty look the younger immortal gave him. "If you could just tell us what happened."
"A couple of officers came looking for Reina about an hour or so ago. I told them that she had gone and that they should try the pool hall or something. They said that they would come back later."
"Thank you Samantha," MacLeod said.
"Just trying to be neighborly." Samantha said ingratiatingly.
Reina made a face at her neighbor before turning to the house. Neighborly my ass. She thought.
The three immortals entered the foyer of the house on their way up to Reina's second floor apartment.
"Do you know what you just did Duncan?" Reina asked.
"What?"
"You encouraged Samantha to continue to throw herself at you. Now she'll be even more blatantly nosy."
"I think there are easier ways to put Ms. Goler off than to be rude to her. Especially when she has information you might want. You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar Reina."
"Then why is it that flies are so attracted to rotting flesh and shit?"
MacLeod tried not to laugh at Reina's response. It would only encourage her. Reynaldo had always tried to get Reina to be a little more tactful and diplomatic. He hadn't succeeded. Thinking about Reynaldo in the past tense already? You don't know he's dead yet.
"Have a seat," Reina said as waved the two men over to the living room before going to check her messages. "I'm just going to check my messages. Maybe there's a message from Reynaldo."
"Hey Rei! This is Darlene. I know Reynaldo dumped some surprise guests on you but if you can get away we'll be at the pool hall until midnight," A feminine voice said. "Otherwise give me a call or beep me. Talk to ya later."
"Hi Rei, this is J.T. I heard about you guests. Don't worry about the movie we'll see it some other time. We'll be at the pool hall until midnight if you can get away. " A second feminine voice said. There was nothing from Reynaldo.
"Maybe Reynaldo had to hide from the police. It happens," MacLeod said.
Reina didn't look convinced. "Right."
"Well Samantha did say there was a cop here earlier."
"She said the cop was looking for me. If Reynaldo's hiding from the police why didn't he leave a message or call me on the cell phone?" Reina asked as she started pacing.
MacLeod opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the doorbell ringing. Reina went downstairs to answer it.
"Ms. Molestador?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Detective Briscoe. This is my partner Detective Curtis. If you don't mind we'd like you to accompany us."
"Why?" Reina asked suspiciously.
"We found the body of someone we believe to be a Reynaldo Montoya. We need you to identify the body to be sure."
Reina's face paled as all the blood left her face. "I-I have to get my coat."
Reina quickly returned to her apartment. "Will you two be all right?" She asked Duncan and Richie. "That was the police. They think they found Reynaldo's body. They need me to make an identification."
"There's plenty of food in the refrigerator," Reina said.
"Not for long," Richie joked. "I'm starving."
"You're always starving."
"Don't women forget anything?"
"Very little," MacLeod told him.
Reina put on her coat and was testing the sharpness of her sword as MacLeod shrugged into his coat.
"You won't need that."
"But…."
"Not in front of the police."
"But..."
MacLeod gave Reina a look which did not leave any room for argument.
Reina sighed dejectedly. "All right," she put the sword in the closet before heading out the door. But she didn't look happy about doing it.
Every hospital Reina had ever had the misfortune to step into smelled exactly the same. The stench of sickness and death could never be erased by the gallons of disinfectant that was used to clean the cold sterile surfaces. The morgue was worse. At least on the upper floors you had the hope of beating death albeit temporarily. In the morgue there was no escape. Death was there and it wasn't going away. The formaldehyde only made the stench worse as its smell permeated everything in the morgue, including the people who worked there, not unlike cheap perfume.
"Ms Molestador," One of the detectives' voices broke into her thoughts. She couldn't remember which was which. "Are you with us?"
Reina looked up at the older detective. "I'm with you," she said. Barely. She thought.
"I want to warn you, he was beheaded. It's going to be gruesome."
"When isn't it?" Reina asked flippantly.
Detective Briscoe narrowed his eyes at her in irritation.
"Don't take it personally, it's a coping mechanism," MacLeod said.
Reina narrowed her eyes at MacLeod. She hated it when people insisted on explaining away her less than ideal behavior. It was a habit that Jonathan had picked up when she was growing up and still hadn't dropped. MacLeod, to his credit, had dropped the subject immediately after making the statement. He merely shrugged when Reina glared at him. Detective Briscoe knocked on the glass. The coroner lifted the sheet. Despite the fact that they had put his head back on his neck, it was still fairly obvious that it was detached. There was also a hole in his chest. There was no mistaking the man on the slab for anyone else. It was Reynaldo. He had lost. Reina turned away from the glass into MacLeod's chest.
"That's Reynaldo," MacLeod said for her.
"Are you sure?"
"Am I sure?" Reina turned around to face the two detectives. She felt her self start to hyperventilate. She couldn't stop herself. Reina could feel the blinding rage threatening to explode in a fit of temper the likes of which she hadn't dealt with since her brother Ben's death. (She hadn't dealt with it well either.) She also knew that the anger which she was losing control of was really directed at Mark Tuttle. It didn't matter. He was about to take her anger out on two strangers. Cops at that. "Am I sure? There are a lot of things I may not be sure of but I can assure you that the identity of the man on that slab is not one of them!" She snapped. "Why the hell didn't you know anyway? Don't you have his driver's license?"
"No. We didn't have any picture ID. Just the credit cards."
MacLeod raised an eyebrow quizzically. "If that's all…."
"We have a few questions we'd like to ask," Detective Briscoe said.
"Questions now?" Reina hissed. ¡Cálmate Reina! She thought. ¡Cállate Reina! She told herself. "You want to ask me questions now?"
"Reina," MacLeod said diplomatically. "Why don't you have a seat outside"
"I don't want to have a seat. I want to go home."
MacLeod led Reina outside. "Don't worry. I'm sure the detectives can wait until tomorrow," he went back into the room.
"We can wait until tomorrow," Detective Curtis said as MacLeod approached him. "I know this has to have been quite a shock to Ms. Molestador."
"Thank you," he said turning back to the door.
"We'll be in touch," Detective Briscoe said.
"We'll have an officer drive you home," Detective Curtis told him.
"What do you have so far?" Lt. Van Buren asked the Detectives.
"We've got a witness who claims to have seen lightning in the area," Detective Curtis said. "Numerous cars in the area look as though they've been through a power surge. There's broken glass everywhere. Headlights, windshields all blown to hell. A few nearby homes had TVs and other electronic equipment blown out."
"What about the woman who's name was in the dead man's wallet. Did you talk to her?"
"She identified the body. She wasn't really up to answering questions afterward."
"This case seems familiar," Detective Briscoe said.
"How so?" Lt. Van Buren asked.
"I'm not sure. It was a while ago."
"There was a case similar to this a couple of years ago a man was found dead in a parking lot. His body was riddled with bullets and he was decapitated. There was evidence of heavy electrical activity there as well," Detective Curtis said.
"You're right," Detective Briscoe said. "But the case I'm thinking about is older. I'm thinking about ten years ago."
"We can check the computer."
"You do that," Lt. Van Buren said. "If we have a serial killer loose we'd better get on it quickly before we end up with another headless body."
"Reina, please do it for me."
"No Duncan. Not even for you."
"Just this once."
"You say that now."
"If you do this, you'll feel better in the morning."
"I don't care."
"Reina, those detectives will come back tomorrow. You'll need to be at 100%. For that you need rest."
"I don't want to sleep," Reina told him. "Every time I close my eyes I see Reynaldo on that-that slab and all I can think about is taking that son of a bitch's head. That bastard's a dead man when I catch him."
"You won't be catching anyone tonight," MacLeod told her. "Why don't you try to get some sleep."
Reina's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'll try. It's obvious that you won't leave me alone otherwise. You're in full parental mode tonight," Reina left the balcony. On her way to the bedroom she drained the snifter of brandy that MacLeod had tried to foist on her when she returned from the hospital.
You're a mess. She chided herself as she noticed her hand shaking. Reina had no answer for her inner voice so she ignored it, instead choosing to busy herself preparing for bed. Suddenly the bed didn't seem so inviting, so she busied herself looking for the papers Reynaldo insisted she kept "just in case." Just in case never really seemed possible. She was so caught up in her thoughts, she'd forgotten that she wasn't alone in the house. She jumped when she heard a tapping at the door.
"Reina?"
Reina opened the door. "Duncan."
"I thought you were going to try to get some sleep."
Reina shrugged. "I will. I just have a few things to straighten out. Funeral arrangements. I know Reynaldo left instructions around here. I made a copy. I just can't seem to remember where I put them."
"It can wait."
"No I want this out of the way now," Reina said. "I'm sure it'll only take a minute. I just have to remember where it is."
"Reina...."
"Now that I think of it," she continued ignoring MacLeod. "Reynaldo has it in his safe I don't need my copy. I'll just take his." Reina scowled. "Damn I guess I'm going to have to pack up his things. I'll have to go the basement and get supplies. First I'll go to the basement and get the boxes and tape then I'll go upstairs and while I'm up there find the papers and make arrangements. I hate this. I don't know the first thing about this type of thing. Ben and Jon took care of the details when our grandmother died. Jon took care of arrangements when Ben was murdered. Ma died when I was small. I didn't have to do anything."
"Reina," MacLeod grabbed the younger immortal by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. "I will help you with whatever you need. You don't have to do this alone. And you don't have to do this now. Right now the best thing you can do is to get some sleep. Running yourself down is not going to bring Reynaldo back. Trust me, all this can wait until the morning. Go to bed. You might even remember where you put those papers after a good night's sleep. Try to get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."
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