Read Part Seven.
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Heat or no heat, Jules could only smile as she found her feet running along the familiar path that ran from university north to the shopping district. She had spent hours each week running that trail when she was younger, the time spent running was a welcome refuge from the horror of her home life in high school, and later had brought order to the chaos that had swirled around her in college, threatening to pull her under the current of her roommates constant drama, maintaining her stellar grades so as to not shame her parents, and forget the pain of the few budding romances she had killed before they began to threaten her independence.
It was hard not to feel equally threatened by her mother now. Everything Jules had fought for since she had left home, to be a strong woman, a competent and respected member of the police force, even a sane and productive human being, now seemed to be like sand slipping through her tightening grip. She should have known better than to think that she could come home so soon after her father's death... or she could have come home at all.
Jules squinted as she tried to take in the sight ahead of her on the trail, the sun had fallen below the tree line and though there was shade enough, a few rays of golden sunshine made it difficult to be sure her eyes weren't playing tricks. Slowing down, Jules took her time to approach the man, pacing the concrete path. Surprise was not going to gain her the upper hand in this situation, and she figured it was best to give him the opportunity to discover her presence on his own.
Still, by the time she had approached him, his head was still down as he paced the width of the sidewalk, muttering to himself. Jules cleared her throat before speaking. "Detective Sterling?"
Alistair looked up at Jules and snorted. "You would show up now," he laughed, taking in the sight of his partner in running shorts and a baggy t-shirt. She hadn't struck him as a runner, but then she hadn't struck him as much of anything to begin with. That was his own fault - he didn't trust Preston at all, and the mayor was just a few wrong turns away from suffering the same fate - but he'd let that get in his way of using a new pair of eyes and ears to help solve the case.
"Sir?" Jules asked, wiping the sleeve of her shirt over her brow to keep the sweat out of her eyes as Alistair continued to stare at her. "Are you alright?"
Alistair waved off her question, his eyes returning to the grass on the side of the sidewalk. "This is where we found the fourth body."
"And what are you looking for here?" Jules asked, turning her own eyes to the area - it had recently been mowed and the earth beneath was visible in places where they had cropped the grass quite short, probably so they wouldn't have to return to mow for a few weeks.
"Something... anything, really." Jules could hear the desperation in his voice.
"Sir, it's been several months, wouldn't anything that could have turned up been found by now?"
"It's not always tangible evidence, Julian." Alistair muttered as he crouched down for a minute. "At least, not at first."
"I took you for a 'Just the facts, ma'am' sort of cop." Jules laughed.
"I am... you can't convict anyone with hunches and feelings. But if you get a sense for where to look... of what you should be looking for in the first place... then you can gather the hard evidence."
"Only your problem is that there is no hard evidence." Jules stated.
"Yes, Dr Julian, that's the problem." Alistair grumbled.
Jules stuck her tongue out at the back of her partner's head. "So what are you trying to get a sense of right now?"
"Direction... there's no direct way of approach right here... you are at least fifty feet from any entrance point onto the trail. It's almost as if he was daring someone to see him."
"Daring us to find him." Jules looked around the trail, looking at the chain link fence on the other side of the trail. "Isn't there a way to get through there?" Jules pointed to the other end of the fenced off section. "There's a gate with a padlock."
"That land belongs to the university. And the lock wasn't broken when we found the body." Alistair replied.
"Did you ask if they had to replace the key? Or when they had last opened the gate? Or when they opened the gate again? Even if they've opened the gate at all since then?"
Alistair was about to give another sarcastic answer when he realized that he couldn't remember if he had ever known that information. "I can't say. I don't even know if we talked to anyone at the university."
"Guess we can make the phone call in the morning. As for me, it's getting dark and I've got to get back home."
Alistair nodded, looking around. "I can drive you back if it's too dark." The offer slipped out before he quite knew what he was saying.
Jules shook her head. "I don't know if that's a great idea... my mother had company for dinner tonight."
"And by 'company' you mean the mayor?" Alistair glared.
"Yeah." Jules shrugged. She really didn't want to give Sterling any more reason to dislike her and shut her out of the case, but she was pretty sure that if she tried to hide the mayors frequent visits to see her mother, it would only create more problems.
"And I suppose he tried to poke his nose into things that don't need his attention."
"He tried." Jules affirmed. "Didn't get too far, though."
Alistair sniffed at the air, seemingly making up his mind about whether or not to trust Jules. "Let me take you home," he finally said, taking his keys from his pocket and tossing them to Jules. "I don't need you dead, too."
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