Killing Roses

19__See you in the dark

The little lady stared at the cops and the cops stared at the little lady.

“I… I don’t sell no weed…” she muttered, the whites of her eyes brightening as she widened them.

Roman raised a brow. “I didn’t ask you if you sell weed. Who said anything about a murder?”

Pushing her lips out in a pout, she shoved the evidence bag across the counter to them.

“Business is closed, Detectives. If you won’t buy anything—”

“I’ll take roses,” said Roman, his gaze sharpened on the woman’s face. “A dozen.”

*****

14:45

Roman and Daniel walked into the Biology lab of the State University, both hoping to get more out of this than their meetings with the florists earlier.

“Okay, good,” Roman was saying to Kingston on the phone.

“Oh, and Michael says to let him see some friends who are in the area. ‘Parently they got something for him.”

Roman narrowed his eyes and scoffed. “Like hell. Keep him at home, no matter—”

“Roman? Can you get ice-cream on the way home?” Valerie suddenly said on the phone.

Roman pulled the phone away from his ear to glance at it as they walked into an elevator, frowning at his own reaction to her voice on the phone. Why the hell did she sound that way? All sweet and cutesy. And why the hell was his tongue burning to say something cheesy like ‘Anything for you, baby girl.’

Coughing in embarrassment at his own thoughts, he pulled the phone back to his ear. “Excuse me?” he said to Val. “I’m not your errand boy.”

“Get some low-fat milk too and can I have a huge bag of Cheetos, please?” she continued. “And I didn’t get time to grab all my hair products, so I’m gonna need some Shea butter and honey deep conditioner cause my curls are frizzing.  Also, diet coke for me and regular coke for Kingston and Michael—”

Roman pulled the phone away and hung up, sliding it into his jacket pocket.

“You need to fix that habit,” murmured Stark as the elevator open and they walked out.

Roman didn’t respond. They reached the place of their appointment and he pulled it open, walking into the air-conditioned laboratory.

The large room was pristine white, nearly everything made of glass, steel and marble. About four isles stretched to the right, flanked by rows of work stations, glinting bright with spotless apparatus.

“Rome!”

Roman turned to an open office door and smiled. “What’s going on, man?”

Dane jogged over, his handsome face lit by his bright smile as he greeted Roman with a brotherly hug. “Damn, to think I only get so see you for a case. Some friend you are.” Dane turned to Stark. “How you doin’, Daniel?”

Stark nodded, curtly. “Doing well, Mr. Smith.”

Chuckling at Stark’s formality, Dane lightly tapped him on the arm. “Come on in.”

Stark stiffly followed behind Roman and Dane, glad that they had someone to refer to about the poison, but disliking that it had to be Dane. It’s not like he was bitter or being petty or anything, but how come Dane got to be friends with Roman and he didn’t? What a prejudiced world he lived in! It was only so much Stark could do to not stomp his foot.

They filed into Dane’s office and sat when he waved them to the chairs before his desk. Stark glanced around, it being his first time in Dane’s lab office. It was as sharp and neat as the hallway of a mental hospital. The air was crisp and cold, filled with a vague minty scent and the distant sound of bubbles. Stark wondered if they had a Jacuzzi in there somewhere.

Dane, himself, sat on the edge of his table and drew forward a few sheets of paper.

“What’ve we got?” Roman asked. “Did you find the links?”  

Dane sucked his lips into his mouth and then popped them back out again as he nodded. “Yes, I definitely did, but it’s like a bottomless pit, you know.”

“What do you mean?” Stark asked as he flipped open his notebook.

Dane handed Roman a sheet of paper, displaying the diagram he’d drawn by hand.

“The poison is one that isn’t easily acquired,” he said, adjusting his glasses. “I contacted my professor’s colleagues at different universities and hospitals and those who were dabbling in Tetrodotoxin research all swore on their mothers that it would be impossible for the poison to have gotten out from any of their stock.”

Listening carefully, Roman tilted his head. “And you trust them?”

“Totally,” said Dane without hesitation. “If this poison is suddenly out in New York, it’s either, somehow, in the black market, or…”

“Or?” asked Stark.

Dane looked at him and shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe your guy’s really cooking up some poisonous puffer fish and feeding it to the victims.”

“That would make it so easy to find where he got it,” said Stark, his eyes twinkling. “Y’all know that dish is illegal in the States, so by the time we take a look at the twelve restaurants that are allowed to sell it in New York, find out their suppliers… we should have something concrete to hunt that bastard down with.”

Dane winked, a smile curving his mouth. “Well, there you go.”

“The poison wasn’t ingested,” Roman said with a shake of his head. “He altered it and put it in the bloodstream.”

Dane stilled, his brows rising. “He did what? He… altered TTX? How much did he alter it? It was still lethal?”

Roman rose and released a breath. “Do me a favor, man.”

Dane smiled. “Another one? You’re gonna be owing me.”

“Shut up, you still owe me for last Christmas,” said Roman and Dane laughed, putting a fist over his mouth.

Rolling his eyes, Stark got up too and shoved his notebook into his coat. This third-wheeling energy was not what he came here for.

“Okay, fine. Now what?” asked Dane.

“Send me a list of all those trusted colleagues of yours. I’m gonna check them all out myself.”

Dane raised a brow. “Okay… I’ll give you those that I can. Some of them are conducting top secret researches—”

“All the names, Dane,” said Roman as he started for the door. “Thank you!”

Dane watched him go and laughed, shaking his head. “Get outta here! Little stupid ass.”

“Thank you!!” Roman repeated, leaving the lab with a grumpy Stark beside him.

**************

17:10

He blended in with the shadows of the alleyway, his gloved hands easily resting in the pockets of his black coat.

A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, lifting it in a lopsided smirk as he watched a man stepped into the alley. There was his number one fan, working so hard.

The dingy door in the grimy alley wall creaked shut behind the man as he snuck out, his eyes sharp as they looked around for any witnesses. He looked like a spy agent from James Bond.

The Rose Killer smiled. How adorable. For all his Detective’s sharp sight, he’d been unable to spot the man standing in the shadows right across him.

They were all looking for his poison, weren’t they? Trying to find out where he’d gotten it. How he’d so ingeniously spread it through the body of his victim for such a perfect result. He hoped they understood how he’d done it. He hoped they’d acknowledged his work.

The man at the door lowered his head, snapping a hood over his black cap before he took off quickly up the dark alley to a secret exit.

In the shadows, the flame of a lighter lit up a masked face as he caressed the end of a cigarette with it.

Putting away the lighter and thus allowing darkness to once more gather, he pulled off the mask to hold the skinny cig between his lips.

Releasing a cloud of tobacco scented smoke, he finally pushed away from the wall. It was time to give his number one fan a gift.