Greene County Sheriff's Captain Dedra Ann Watson pulled her county issued SUV into the entrance of the Ramada hotel and dropped Barbara Patterson off. Patterson was a friend of her wife Mary Jane Abernathy. She was also a freelance writer/reporter that convinced Dede to let her do a story on her. It was after one AM during a busy and tragic night. Dede, Patterson, and MJ were at dinner when Dede was called to a scene earlier in the evening. The victim was a woman who Dede had known. Patterson came along following Dede around.
Dede first encountered Mary Baker, the victim, several years ago when she was still a patrol deputy. Dede tried several times to get the woman off drugs, but Baker failed rehab time after time. Dede felt a kindred spirit with the woman who was a veteran, having served four years in the Army. When Dede moved to Homicide, she encountered Baker a few times as she provided tips on cases. Mary Baker was found dead in the same cheap motel where the Greene County sheriff's Office routinely investigated other crime. Baker seemed to be the victim of a drug deal, or a trick gone bad. The Medical Examiner would test for the presence of drugs but the three bullet holes told a different story. Dede remembered the feeling when she lifted the tarp and saw the body. She wondered why someone would pump three nine mm slugs into a harmless drug addict. Of course, no one at the motel heard anything or saw anything. But they were lying. Mary's name was on the register so there wasn't a lead there.
Dede volunteered to make the death notification as she knew the family. That was going to be a hard visit. Having Mary Jane's friend along was not going to make it easier.
"Look I will talk to you about this case later, but right now I don't want to answer a bunch of questions. I am going to meet the family and it is people that I know," said Dede to Patterson while they were driving in the car.
Patterson was also affected as she observed the squad follow investigative procedures. This was the first time that Patterson encountered a murdered body. The bloody scene in the motel room was one she will remember. She also noted that the members of Dede's squad did their jobs without emotion, all but Dede. She wanted to follow up and find out why this person's death affected her friend's wife.
Dede pulled into the driveway of a small house with a manicured lawn and stopped the car. She told Patterson that she might be awhile but didn't want her to observe. Dede got out of the car and rang the doorbell. The door opened a crack and then fully when she was recognized. Patterson heard the scream of a mother's anguish coming from inside the house. Fifteen minutes later Dede came out and got in the car. Patterson knew that Dede was shaken.
"I just told a mother that her twenty-nine-year-old daughter was not coming home again, not sharing dinner, not having Christmas, not providing grandchildren. The only good thing is that Mary Baker didn't have kids. She was a drug user, but she was a good person, and no one deserves what happened to her," said Dede when they were on the road.
Dede dropped Patterson outside the hotel and said that she would see her tomorrow. All she wanted to do was go home and hopefully climb into Mary Jane's arms. MJ would know what to do.
Mary Jane was waiting for her in the kitchen door and enveloped her in a tremendous bear hug. Barbara Patterson called Mary Jane after she was dropped off at the hotel, to give her a heads up. She kissed Dede without saying anything. MJ directed them to the couch and the pair kissed. Dede was comfortable in her wife's arms. It felt good to be next to the woman she loved.
"Do you want to tell me now or get ready for bed and tell me in the morning?"
"I knew her MJ tried to help her kick the habit. Later she was my ears on the street and I could get good information from her. I might be too close, might need to sit this one out."
"You can't and for the reasons you cited, yea you could turn it over to one of your deputies, but you will hover over him or her. You will need to face this and get justice for her family," said Mary Jane.
"We have no leads, and that dump of a motel's security cameras weren't working, so we have nothing," said Dede in frustration.
Mary Jane kissed her wife again. She wanted to comfort her but didn't know where to start. She rose and pulled Dede to her feet. Directed her back into their bedroom and began to undress her wife. When Dede was naked, Mary Jane moved her into the shower and waited until she was finished. Dede came out of the shower looking more like a drowned rat than a woman, but MJ had a large towel ready and wrapped Dede in it.
"Hot water seems to help, I guess that is why I enjoy using the hot tub at the cabin," said Dede when she was dry.
Dede slipped into the bed without bothering with PJ's. Mary Jane covered her and shut off the light. She moved to the second bedroom and fell on that bed. As much as she wanted to cuddle and hold her wife MJ knew that Dede needed alone time. Dede would be better in the morning.
The next morning Mary Jane got up, it felt weird sleeping in the spare bedroom. She went into their bedroom to use the bathroom and found that Dede was up already. She heard her talking to someone on the phone. When MJ finished her morning routine, she walked into the kitchen and found Dede still on the phone eating some toast.
"We need to send patrol out to find people who Mary hung out with. I know that she did prostitution to support her drug habit. So, we should be looking for customers also," said Dede.
Dede nodded several times and told whoever was on the other end that she would be in the office in an hour and a half. She put her phone down and got up and embraced Mary Jane. The pair kissed, and then kissed again
"Why do I love you so much, MJ?"
"My bright personality, I'm good in bed, have a shoulder to cry on, take your pick, my love."
"I pick all of them, sorry that I was such a fool last night. But I felt horrible. Sleep was the best medicine, but you will not be sleeping alone tonight," said Dede.
"I won't make plans as I know that things could change," said Mary Jane.
"I had plans, take Barbara to dinner with us, take her up to the cabin, let her see us practicing, all that went up the flu when Mary Baker was murdered," said Dede.
"You could have told Barbara that this is not a good time, so you could concentrate on the investigation," said Mary Jane.
"There would always be something, so it is better to get it out of the way now. Besides when I told the Sheriff about Barbara, and the story, she indorsed the idea, so I need to follow through," said Dede.
"Let me know if you need anything," said Mary Jane.
"A kiss, access to your bank account, a silver tiara?" said Dede.
"I can provide the first item on your list," said Mary Jane as she kissed Dede.
"I am going to meet Barbara for breakfast and then to the office," said Dede.
The two women came together, again and their lips met. Mary Jane wanted to take her wife's clothes off and lick her pussy on the couch, but that would have to wait. They kissed again and Dede moved to her SUV and pulled out of the driveway. Mary Jane had plenty to do as she had several projects on her burners and they all seemed to have the same due date.
Later that morning
