CHAPTER FIVE

Once she’d stopped the heavy drinking during the more desolate stretches of the grieving process, she had slowly replaced her alcohol intake with caffeine intake. Her reading sessions would often consist of two cups of coffee with a Diet Coke in between. Because of this, she’d started to develop minor headaches after several weeks if she went without coffee for more than a day or so. It wasn’t the healthiest of ways to live but certainly better than drinking herself into despair.

That’s why she found herself in a coffee shop after lunch the following day. She’d gone out for groceries primarily because she’d run out of coffee at the cabin and, having only had a single cup that morning, needed a quick fix before getting back to the cabin and finishing out the day. She had a book to finish reading but also thought she might head out into the woods for another try at deer hunting.

The coffee shop was a trendy local place, with four people huddled down behind their MacBooks throughout the shop. The line at the counter was long, even for such an early afternoon hour. The place was abuzz with conversation, the whirring of machinery behind the counter, and the soft volume of the TV at the waiting end of the bar.

Avery got to the cashier, ordered her dirty chai with two espresso shots, and took up her own place at the waiting area. She passed her time by looking at the small corkboard filled with fliers for upcoming local events: concerts, plays, fundraisers…

And then she noticed the conversation beside her. She did her best not to seem obvious that she was eavesdropping, keeping her eyes turned to the events board.

There were two women behind her. One was in her mid-twenties, wearing one of those Baby Bjorn baby slings that wrapped over around her chest. Her baby napped restfully against her chest. The other woman was a bit older, drink in hand but not quite ready to leave the shop.

Their attention was turned to the TV behind the counter. Their conversation was hushed but easily overheard.

“My God…have you heard about this story?” the mother was saying.

“Yeah,” the second woman said. “It’s like people are finding new ways to hurt one another. What kind of sick mind do you have to have to even think about something like that?”

“Looks like they still haven’t found the creep,” the mother said.

“They probably won’t,” the other woman said. “If they were going to catch this guy, they would have something by now. Jeez…can you imagine the poor guy’s family, having to see this on the news?”

Avery’s attention was snapped when the barista called her name and handed her drink over the counter. Avery took it and, now facing the television, allowed herself to watch the news for the first time in almost three months.

There had been a death on the outskirts of town one week ago, in a rundown apartment complex. Not just a death, but a pretty blatant murder. The victim had been found in his closet, covered in spiders of varying varieties. Police were working on the assumption that the act had been intentional, as half of the spiders there had been kinds that were not native to the region. Despite the abundance of spiders at the scene, only two bites were found on the body and neither had been venomous. According to the news, so far, the police were working on the assumption that the man had been killed by either strangulation or heart attack.

Those are two pretty different causes of death, Avery thought to herself as she slowly started to turn away.

She couldn’t help but wonder if this was the case Connelly had called her about three days ago. A case with a very unique twist and, so far, without any real answers. Yeah…this is probably the one, she thought.

With her drink in hand, Avery headed out the door. She had the rest of the afternoon ahead of her but she was pretty sure she knew how it would go. Whether she liked it or not, she’d probably be looking quite a bit at spiders.

***

Avery spent the rest of the afternoon getting familiar with the case. The story itself was so morbid that she didn’t have a problem finding a variety of sources. When all was said and done, she found eleven different reputable sources that told the story of what had happened to a man named Alfred Lawnbrook.

Lawnbrook’s landlord had entered his apartment after rent had been two weeks late for the umpteenth time and had known something was off right away, Reading it, Avery couldn’t help but parallel her recent experience with Rose and her landlord and, quite frankly, it creeped her right the hell out. Alfred Lawnbrook was found stuffed in his bedroom closet. He had been partially draped in at least three different spider webs, with two different bites – bites that, as the news report in the coffee shop had said, were not overly harmful.

While an actual count was not possible, an educated guess as to how many spiders had been found at the scene was somewhere between five and six hundred. A few of them were exotic and had no business being in an apartment in Boston. An arachnologist had been called in to assist and pointed out that she had seen at least three species that were not native to America, much less Massachusetts.

So there’s intention, Avery thought. And a lot of it. That much intention points to the likelihood that this guy will strike again. And if he’s going to strike again in the same way, it should be possible to trace him and take him down.

The coroner’s report stated that Lawnbrook had died of a heart attack, likely from the fear of the situation. Of course, with no one having been at the scene during the murder, there were numerous other scenarios that could have played out. No one could know for sure.

It was an interesting case…if not a little morbid. Avery did not fear much, but large spiders was certainly on the top of her list of Things She Could Do Without. And while there had been no images of the scene revealed to the public (thank God), Avery could only imagine what it had looked like.

When she was filled in, Avery stared out of the back window for quite a while. She then went into the kitchen and moved quietly, as if she was afraid she might get caught. She pulled out the bottle of bourbon for the first time in months and poured herself a shot. She took it quickly and then grabbed her phone. She pulled up Connelly’s number and pressed CALL.

He answered on the second ring – pretty quick for Connelly. Avery supposed that said a lot, all things considered.

“Black,” he said. “I honestly didn’t expect to hear from you.”

She ignored this formality and said, “So, this case you were calling me about. Was it the one involving Alfred Lawnbrook and the spiders?”

“It is,” he said. “The scene has been combed over repeatedly, the body has been scrutinized, and we just have nothing.”

“I’ll come in for it,” she said. “But just this one case. And I want to be able to do it on my terms. No over the shoulder hand-holding just because I’ve been through a rough time. Can you see to that?”

“I can do my best.”

Avery sighed, resigned to how good it felt to be needed and to know that her life would soon feel like her own again.

“Okay then,” she said. “I’ll see you at the A1 tomorrow morning.”

CHAPTER SIX

Avery wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when she walked back into the precinct for the first time in over three months. Maybe some butterflies in her stomach or a wave of nostalgia. Maybe even a secure feeling that would make her wonder why she ever thought it had been a smart idea to quit in the first place.

What she wasn’t expecting was to feel nothing. Yet, that’s what she felt. When she walked back into the A1 the following morning, she felt nothing special. It felt almost like she hadn’t missed a day and was just churning out another day – any other old day, just like before.

Apparently, though, she was the only one in the building who felt that way. As she made her way through the building and back toward her old office, she noticed that the busy rush of the morning seemed to quiet as she passed by. It was almost like a wave of silence followed her. The receptionists on the phone went quiet, the murmur of conversation by the coffee pots fell silent. They all looked at her as if some huge celebrity had entered the building; their eyes were wide with wonder and their faces were slack. Avery wondered for a moment if Connelly had even bothered telling anyone that she was coming back.

After weaving her way through the central part of the building and to the back where the offices and conference rooms were, it felt a little more natural. Miller, a records and research guy, gave her a little wave. Denson, an older officer who had maybe two years left before retirement, gave her a smile, a wave, and a genuine: “Nice to have you back!”

Avery returned the woman’s smile, thinking: I’m not back.

But on the heels of that there was another thought. Whatever. Tell yourself that lie all you want. But this feels natural to you. It feels right.

She saw Connelly coming out of his office at the end of the hallway. The man had caused her some pain and headaches over the years but damn if she wasn’t glad to see him. The grin on his face let her know the feeling was mutual. He met her in the hallway and she could tell that the A1 captain – usually a staunch hard ass – was holding himself back from giving her a hug.

“How was it coming in?” he asked.

“Weird,” she said. “They looked at me like I was a celebrity or something. I couldn’t tell if they wanted to avert their eyes or bust out into spontaneous applause.”

“Truth be told, I was worried you’d get a standing ovation for coming in. You’ve been missed around here, Black. You…well, you and Ramirez both.”

“I appreciate that, sir.”

“Good. Because I’m about to show you something that might piss you off. You see…deep down, I had this hope that you’d come back some day. But we couldn’t just make the entire A1 stay on pause until that day came. So you don’t exactly have an office anymore.”

He explained this to her as he led her down the hallway, in the direction of her old office.

“That’s not a big deal at all,” Avery said. “Who got that dump anyway?”

Connelly didn’t answer. Instead, he took the last final steps toward her office and nodded toward it. Avery approached the door and poked her head in. Her heart warmed a bit at what she saw.

Finley was sitting at her desk, sipping from a mug of coffee and reading something on a laptop. When he saw Avery, his face went through a variety of emotions: shock, happiness, and then settling on embarrassment.

He did not show the same restraint as Connelly had. He instantly got up from the desk and met her at the door with a hug. She had underestimated how much she had missed him. While they had never truly worked together, she had enjoyed watching Finley slowly make his way up the ladder. He was funny, loyal, and genuinely kindhearted. She’d always felt as if he were a distant brother in the workplace.

“It’s good to have you back,” Finley said. “We’ve missed you around here.”

“I already went through all of that with her,” Connelly said. “Let’s not give her a big head her first day back.”

Dammit, I’m not back, she thought. But it felt even flimsier than it had five minutes ago.

“You want me to take her out to the site?” Finley asked.

“Yes, and soon. O’Malley is going to want to touch base with her later and I’d like her all nice and caught up when he lands here. Ride her out there and catch her up on everything we know. Try to get out of here in the next ten minutes or so if you can.”

Finley nodded, visibly happy to have been given the task. As he hurried back to the computer, Connelly motioned Avery back out into the hallway. “Come with me,” he said.

She followed him farther down the hall, to the big office at the end. Connelly’s office hadn’t changed a bit since she left. Still cluttered but in a neat sort of way. There were three coffee mugs on his desk and she guessed at least two of them were from this morning alone.

“One more thing,” Connelly said, walking behind his desk. He opened his top desk drawer and pulled out two things that Avery had missed probably more than any of the people in this building.

Her gun and her badge. She smiled as she reached out to them.

“I already filed the paperwork for you,” Connelly said. “They’re yours. In terms of pay and the duration of your stay, I’m handling that paperwork, too.”

Avery honestly didn’t care about the pay or how long she was expected to stay onboard for the case. When her fingers fell on the badge and then picked up the Glock, she felt something slide into place inside her heart.

As sad as it seemed, the badge and the gun felt familiar.

They felt like home.

***

The crime scene was six days old and, therefore, was vacant when she and Finley got there. They ducked under the yellow tape and she watched as Finley unlocked Alfred Lawnbrook’s apartment door with a key he took from a small envelope that he’d kept in the breast pocket of his shirt.

“You got a fear of spiders?” Finley asked as they stepped inside.

“A bit,” she said. “But that goes no farther than right here, deal?”

Finley nodded with a grim smile. “I only ask because while there were arachnologists and exterminators that came in and took care of them, there were a few stragglers. Just common ones, though. Nothing fancy.”

He led her through he apartment. It was very basic; the layout and appliances told her that Lawnbrook had either been a divorcé or a bachelor. “But there were ones that had no business here, right?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Finley said. “At least three species. One was local to India, I think. I’ve got the detailed notes saved on my phone if you want them. The spider expert that came out and looked the place over said that there were at least two species at the crime scene when the body was found that would have had to have been ordered from a dealer. And that it would likely have been hard to get.”

“Any huge ones that you know of?” Avery asked.

“I think they said the biggest one was about the size of a golf ball. And if you ask me, that’s big enough.”

They entered the bedroom and Avery did her best not to start scanning the walls and floor for rogue spiders. She did a quick sweep of the room and found it expertly cleaned out. The closet door was standing open, allowing Finley to reach inside and flick the light on. He did so very quickly and then stepped back just as fast.

“Lawnbrook was slumped over in the back left corner,” Finley said. “We’ve got the pictures back at A1 and I’m sure O’Malley would love to go over them with you. That asshole is fascinated with this case.”

Avery stepped into the closet doorway. Other than a few stray threads of cobweb in the corner, there was nothing to be seen.

She then left the bedroom and started looking the place over for any signs of a break-in. Finley followed behind her, keeping his distance and letting her work. She looked for anything knocked out of place, even something as small as a picture in the living room, but found nothing. She scanned the books sitting on the small bookshelf beside the entertainment center for anything linking Lawnbrook to spiders but found nothing.

“Do we have any kind of link at all between Lawnbrook and an interest in spiders?” Avery asked.

“No. Nothing.”

“Has anyone spoken with the family?”

“Yes. And I think O’Malley ran backup on that. From what I understand, they painted Lawnbrook as something of a scaredy-cat. Hated roller coasters, scary movies, things like that. So the chance that he had a thing for spiders seemed to be thrown out the window.”

So if the spiders weren’t here because of Lawnbrook, why were they here? Avery wondered. And what sort of a person would bring them here? And why?

The days upon days of keeping her mind sharp with Sudoku and crosswords had paid off. Once the questions started rolling through her head, she couldn’t get them to stop. And it felt good.

“Do you know if Lawnbrook is still with the coroner?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’s still there. The spider experts have been studying him. There were eggs found in his nose and lower intestine during the autopsy.”

Avery couldn’t suppress the shudder she felt at this revelation. “Feel like taking a ride over there?”

“I’ll take you anywhere you’d like to go, so long as it gets me away from this place. I know they’re all gone, but – ”

“But it feels like they’re crawling on you,” Avery said with a shaky grin. “I know. Let’s get going.”

***

Even the hectic pace of traveling from one stop to the next to find answers felt amazing to her. It wasn’t just her moving, but her life. She could feel the sensation of things in motion, of people and places buzzing by her as Finley drove her to the coroner’s office.

She had hoped there might be an arachnologist there when they arrived, but was disappointed. She did find that the woman who performed the autopsy was there. And that was the next best thing. After being ushered through to the back and to the examination rooms, Avery and Finley met with Cho Yin. Yin was a petite, beautiful Asian woman who seemed more than pleased to discuss the case. Like O’Malley, she also seemed to find the case morbidly fascinating.

They met in Yin’s office, a very tidy room with an ancient-looking filing cabinet in the back corner. Avery introduced herself and wasted no time getting right to the point. She already felt like she was behind because of coming on so late and didn’t have the convenience of niceties.

“I suppose my first question is about the bites,” Avery said. “From what I understand, there were only two.”

Yin shook her head and looked surprised. “That’s not correct at all. Some bad reporting on the part of the media, I think. There were three bites from spiders that could have been lethal. But there were other bites as well, mostly from non-venomous spiders. There were twenty-two in all.”

“Oh my god,” Avery said. “And would that be enough to kill someone?”

“Yes, especially one of the bites from the venomous spiders. There were two bites from a brown recluse, as backed up by the entomologist that was on hand during the exam. The third venomous bite came from a funnel web spider. And from what I understand, that’s the rare one. The family from which that spider came isn’t native to the States.”

“Where does it come from, then?” Avery asked.

“I don’t know. You’d have to speak with the arachnologist. And you know, I must say that I can’t be absolutely certain the venom from the bites killed the victim. It was something that the spider expert and I disagreed on, actually.”

“Why is that? What do you think killed him?”

“Well, Mr. Lawnbrook’s cortisol levels were much higher than they should have been. Essentially, he was basically terrified at the moment of his death – but the levels I saw were off of the charts. The heart showed massive signs of stress and trauma. I am quite certain Mr. Lawnbrook suffered a heart attack during his time in the closet. He was that frightened.”

“Is the body still here?” Avery asked.

“It is. I have to warn you, though…it’s a pretty grisly sight.”

“I’ll be okay,” Avery said.

She had nearly said I’m sure I’ve seen worse but then she tried to imagine what someone with twenty-two spider bites – three of which were deadly – might look like. The imagery from what Finley had told her about eggs being found in the nostrils and intestine did not sit well with her either. Still, she felt she needed to see the body for any other signs or clues.

Yin led them to the rear exam room and methodically walked over to the rows of sliding cabinets. With a hefty pull, she drew out the slab that Alfred Lawnbrook was occupying. She stepped back, allowing Avery and Finley room to step forward. Avery approached the body while Finley remained close to the door, making it clear that he had no intention of getting any closer to the body.