Crime, Thrillers & Mystery / The Trace

The Trace
By
tj bozeman

ONE

“Damn sun,” it’s hurting Randi’s eyes.
“Fuck, I wonder what time it is,” rising up rubbing her eyes, her head feeling like it is about to explode. Through her blood shot eyes, she looks at the clock next to the television, makes out 8:10.
“Oh shit I’m late.”
Jumping up off of the couch she realizes she is going to be sick.
“Ah fuck.”
Stumbling towards the bathroom door, she trips over the empty bottle of Dewar’s lying on the floor.
“Shit.”
She hits the floor so she has to crawl the rest of the way to the bathroom.
Riding the old porcelain isn’t one of her most favorite thing to do first thing in the morning, hugging the toilet and vowing to God that she will never do this again …until the next time.
“I outta call in sick.”
Laying there for a few minutes more because the cool ceramic tiles feel good next to her body.
After a while, she manages to pull herself up off the floor. Leaning over the sink, splashing some cold water onto her face she wets a rag holds it against her forehead then rubs it around her neck. Slowly she begins to feel alive again. Looking into the mirror; she doesn’t recognize the person looking back at her.
“Who in the fuck are you looking at?”
Brushes her teeth, takes a quick sponge bath because she has to hurry she is running very late.
Finds a pair of clean underwear and a clean pair of jeans in the clothesbasket, then grabs a shirt out of the dryer, she doesn’t care if it is wrinkled she doesn’t have time to iron. Looks around for a clean pair of socks then decides to wear the ones that she had own yesterday.
“Where the hell are my boots?” remembering she slept on the couch.
Sitting down to put on her socks, she pulls her boots out from under the couch and puts them on, lays her head on the cushion looking over at his picture on the table next to the couch.
“Old man I sure miss the hell out you,” saying it out loud like he can hear her.

Finding it hard to believe that he had been dead a year already. She is supposed to meet Penny out at the gravesite today, not having seen her since his funeral.
Grabs her gun and her badge then heads towards the door, stopping to take one last look in the mirror, Very, very bad hair day, ponytail she decides.
“Damn I hate Mondays and I’m starting to look old.”
Life is starting to bleed her dry.
She heads out the door.
Just as she is about to shut the door the phone rings.
“Damn what else can go wrong this morning?”
Let the machine get it, she thinks to herself she has to go.
Hearing the sweet sound of Marge’s voice, “Sweetie if your there pick up.”
“Damn, my ass must really be in trouble.”
Marge Rathe is Chief Arsenaux’s personal secretary.
Randi leaps back through the door lands on the couch and grabs the phone.
“I’m walking out the door now. I‘ll be there in five.”
“Slow down sugar I’m not calling you about that. We just got a call for someone complaining about something lying out in the middle of the trace and the Chief wants you to go and check it out.”
“You got to be kidding me, right.”
“Well no honey I’m not,” replies Marge.
“Why doesn’t he just get one of those new recruits to ride by there in their patrol car?”
“Sweetie he would if he could but there’s been a wreck out on 190 just before you get to the causeway and it’s got everyone and everything tied up this morning”
“Damn, I’ll go,” she sighs, “I’ll call Cheryl from the truck to get directions.”
“Oh and sugar don’t worry about running late this morning. I told the Chief I had you running a personal errand for me.”
“Thanks Marge, I owe you one.”
“Honey you owe me more than one and someday I’m gonna collect.”
“Your right, I’ll see you in a little while,” Randi hangs up the phone.
Her head is still pounding and her stomach is still churning, she runs back to the bathroom, she has to take one more ride on the porcelain bus this morning.

Randi climbs into her truck. “Where in the hell are my sunglasses. Shit can’t just one thing go right this morning,” she is starting to make a habit of feeling sorry for herself. Looking all over the seat of her truck she finally locates them on the passenger side floor board.
Calling the station from her truck on her cell phone, “Good morning my dear Cheryl, how are we today?”
“Morning Randi,” says Cheryl, “I’m fine, how are you feeling?”
“Like shit, but let’s keep that between you and me, ok sweetie. The last thing I need is Marion on my ass.”
“Your secret is safe with me cutie and you have forgotten Marion is off today.”
“That’s right her son and his wife are in town for the week.”
“So where in the hell I’m I going this morning?”
“Montgomery Street,” says Cheryl.
“Ah fuck,” says Randi with disgust.
No man’s land - woods, asphalt, mosquitoes, and not much of anything else it’s the place where the pot heads go to smoke their dope and not get hassled by the police.
The last little bit of forest left here in the town. Hell if TcxxxxxxxParish was a small country every environmentalist in the country would be out here chained to a tree and P.E.T.A. would set up shop protecting every raccoon and opossum slaughtered by what is called progress.

Randi parks her truck, gets out, looks around, it has been raining hard the last couple of days so it doesn’t look as if anyone has been out here lately. Grabbing her police radio she starts walking back towards the old town. Wondering how in the hell could anyone see anything out here.
Normally people don’t walk out this far because there is nothing or no one out here.
Walking about a half mile back towards town she notices something white lying in the middle of the trail.
“I’ll be damn there is something out here,” she says aloud.
Radioing back to the station, “Dispatch this is Randi, come in.”
“Go ahead.”
“You didn’t happen to get the name of the person who called this in did you?”
“No, they didn’t give a name.”
“I bet it is some kids, pulling some kind of practical joke.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because…” the line goes dead
“Come back Pitre, I didn’t catch that last part,” says Cheryl.
Randi breaks back in, “Cheryl get me the Chief.”
“You know I can’t do that, he is in his weekly meeting with the Mayor this morning.”
“Cheryl just do as I say, go and get him now.”
“But…”
“No buts just go and get him on the damn radio…NOW!”
Cheryl gets up and runs down the hall towards the Chief’s office.
Marge almost tackles her before she gets to the door.
“You can’t go in there. You know he is in there with the mayor. They are having their weekly meeting.’
“Marge, Randi is on the radio and she needs to talk to the Chief now. Marge I think something is wrong, she sounds, well upset or something.”
“I wonder what she has gone and gotten herself into now. Give me a minute and I will get him.”
Marge knocks on the door, “Excuse me Chief but Randi needs you on the radio.”
“Tell her I’m busy she will just have to wait.”
“Chief I think you had better take this. It sounds urgent.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Mayor I will be right back.’
He looks at Marge, “This had better be good or I’m gonna have her ass.”
Cheryl hands him the radio.
“What the hell is so damn important that you call me out of my meeting with the Mayor?”
“A body!”
“A what?”
“Chief we’ve got a dead body out here on the trace.”
“Hold on I’ll be right there,” says the Chief, “Marge, please tell the Mayor I will get back with him later and for God’s sake don’t say anything about a dead body”
“Cheryl where is she?”
“Montgomery Street.”
“Damn. No man’s land.”
He looks around the station.
“Lambert get your car and meet me around front,” he yells, “Cheryl call Marion, tell her to meet us over there.”
“But chief, it’s her day off.”
“I do not give a rat’s ass about that, tell her to meet us there.”

Randi stands there staring at the lifeless body of a beautiful young woman with her cold dead eyes staring back at her. Her open eyes bother her for some reason. They make her feel uncomfortable.
Randi closes her eyes for a moment. Flashback.
She stops and shakes her head, brings herself back to the here and now.
It takes Lambert and the Chief just ten minutes to get there. She hears them coming down the trail. “Chief,” she yells, “I am over here.”
Chief Arsenaux looks down at the body and his face goes pale. He looks as if he has seen a ghost or something.
“Chief do you know her?”
“No, I have never seen her before.”
“Neither have I,” says Randi.
“So what do we have here?” asks Chief of Detectives Marion Brumfield walking up.
Marion has been on the force almost as long as the chief has. You have to give to old man Marquis when he was the chief; he had a set of balls him when he hired her. In a town, that is still ninety-five percent white and five percent other; he stepped out big time hiring a single black female, the mother of three sons. It was the best damn thing he ever did. She’s one hellva cop and one hellva woman. She managed to put all three sons through college. Every one of turned out to be a fine young man.
“Damn some nice looking white girl has gone and gotten her pretty little self killed just so she could ruin my day off.”
Marion walks over to take a closer look at the body, “Oh my God.” she says as she takes a step back. “Déjà vu.” she mumbles to herself.
Marion looks back at the Chief
”What is it with yall?” says Randi.
Marion glances back at Pitre, “Secure this area. Do not let anyone and I mean no one near this scene.”
Randi looks over at Lambert, “Do you happen to know what the hell is going on here?”
“Hell if I know,” he says.
Lambert starts walking back to the car to get the crime scene tape to rope off the area.
Marion and the Chief talk alone for a few minutes.
“Pitre do you remember how to process a murder scene?” asks Marion.
“Duh, it’s not like we haven’t had our share of murders around here.”
“Don’t be a smartass Pitre.” snaps Marion.

Randi combs the whole area looking for any kind of clue but there is nothing. She sketches out the scene while Lambert takes photographs of everything and fingerprints the body.
“I want you to stay with the body until the coroner gets here,” Marion tells her.
“Yes boss, anything you say. Do you mind telling what’s going on? You and the Chief act like y’all have seen a ghost or something,” says Randi.
“I will fill you in when you get back to the station,” says Marion.
“Okay.”
Marion turns to walk off, “Pitre, one more thing, I don’t want anyone else back here. You understand that?”
“You got it. Just make sure we have enough people out there to keep the site seers out and do mind if we cover her up.”
“Done and I’ll send Lambert back here with a sheet.”
“Thanks boss.”
“And another thing you look like shit. You had better get your head screwed on straight before I bust your ass back to patrol. I don’t care if your Arsenaux favorite screw up.”
Randi stands there holding her head down.
“Your damn good cop Pitre, but you have got to get out of whatever this is you’re in. If you need some time off say so.”
“I’ll be alright.”
“You better,” Marion says as she walks off.

Lambert comes walking back with a sheet in hand. They cover the body; Randi sits down on the ground.
“This doesn’t make any sense what so ever,” she looks over at Lambert. “Why the hell would anybody dump a body out here?”
Randi places her hands back behind her then scans the area.
Lambert looks down at her, “Careful Randi you just might burn up what brain cells you got left thinking that hard.”
“Fuck you, Lambert.”
He just laughs at her.
Lambert and Randi went through the academy together. They formed a friendship over the last few years. Randi even introduced him to his wife Sarah.
“Sarah misses you asshole.”