A Study in Sin Read online

  A Study in Sin

  By August Wainwright

  A Rough Seas Book

  About ‘A Study In Sin’

  Jacob Watts broke his neck in Afghanistan. Now he’s in D.C. with no job, a therapist, an uncontrollable tick in his arm, and PTSD. And he can’t pay his rent.

  His new, and monetarily necessary roommate, Remy Moreau, isn’t helping either. Cold and detached, she might be a savant – but she’s also socially inept, has absolutely no boundaries, and is possibly dealing drugs out of their apartment. When the two come in contact with a stiff and blood-covered body in Capitol Row, the ambiguous Remy Moreau will lead him on an obsessive-compulsive hunt in pursuit of a tormented killer.

  Can Remy, with Watts in tow, catch a murderer before he strikes again? And what are Remy’s real intentions with Watts? Is she even capable of anything resembling real human emotion?

  Writing is a horrifically lonely endeavor; having someone who believes in you makes all the difference.

  For my wife.

  Part 1: On Being Introduced to an Unexplainable Woman, Words Written in Blood, and a Lost Gold Ring

  Chapter 1: Introducing Ms. Remy Moreau

  Chapter 2: The Pluto Incident

  Chapter 3: A Capital Offense

  Chapter 4: Officer Barrera and the Homeless Drunk

  Chapter 5: Craigslist Comes Through in the Clutch

  Chapter 6: Lambert Catches a Killer

  Chapter 7: The Spark Before the Fire

  Part 2: The Land of Saints and Scholars

  Chapter 1: Spring, 1985

  Chapter 2: Fall, 1995

  Chapter 3: Jimmy Rhino, 1977

  Chapter 4: The Retribution

  Chapter 5: The Inevitability of Aiden Clery

  Chapter 6: The Conclusion

  Coming Soon

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Part 1

  On Being Introduced to an Unexplainable Woman, Words Written in Blood, and a Lost Gold Ring

  Chapter 1

  Introducing Ms. Remy Moreau

  I lost my grip on life in the same amount of time it will take you to read this sentence.

  It turns out a hundred feet is a long way to fall, even when you're at thirty thousand in a commercial liner. But in a twin prop Dash 7, it’s an oh-shit-life-flash-before-your-eyes type of moment, although, it really doesn’t have to be anything more than terrifying. Unfortunately for me, I had just unbuckled and ducked into the back of the dark plane in search of an extra piddle pack. When we dropped, I went up into the ceiling, my head, neck, and back taking the brunt of the collision.

  That night, my professional life ended; the night I cracked two vertebrae.

  I grew up worthless and graduated high-school slightly less worthless. It wasn’t until I dropped out of community college and joined the Air Force that I realized I had something to give, that there was an ideal I could strive for.

  When I broke my neck, I was in Afghanistan, volunteering with a Special Operations unit to set up communications for a new forward operating base. The transport I hopped was running from Bagram out to the new remote location when my accident happened.

  The job defined me; there was no separation between who I was as a person and what I did as an Airman. It was all I’d ever wanted, without ever knowing it – to do something worth doing, to matter.

  And as quick as it came, it was gone.

  Originally, the speculation was that I might have a brain injury, so they flew me to Ramstein and on to Landstuhl in Germany, where I went through the tests that determined whether or not I was still good to anyone.

  The consensus came back negative.

  I remember the day they came into my room and told me the good news that my brain was ok, but that I’d broken two vertebrae in my neck. My first question was if I’d walk. Yes. My second question was whether my military career was over. Yes again.

  When I started seeing the physical therapist, no one could say for certain why my left arm would go numb and my hand would shake uncontrollably. The therapy did little to nothing for me. The shakes got worse. I got pissed and yelled at the therapists and told them they didn’t know what they were talking about. And the shakes got worse.

  In response, I was flown back stateside and honorably discharged. No real help, no real guidance; just “Thank you for your service.” Saying I was shell-shocked was like saying an anti-tank missile is a bullet.

  I’m not sure why I moved back to Washington DC; I say moved as if I had someplace else to go, like there was someone waiting for me with dinner on the table. That wasn’t the case. DC just seemed like as good a place as any. I drew disability and started seeing a therapist, as well as a physical trainer to continue treatment on my arm. But nothing we tried helped.

  For the first few weeks, I looked for a job. Or, a more precise explanation would be that I filled out resumes online and pressed the send button. I blamed my unemployment on the job market, on high unemployment, on Barack Obama, on whatever was comforting at the moment. Regardless of the excuses, I always knew that playing Call of Duty for six hours a day wasn’t going to get me hired.

  But I didn’t care. The jobs I applied for were ones I thought sounded cool; the ones I was qualified to do, I wanted no part of. I didn’t want to go work as a contractor; I had no desire to get back into the military world, not after the way they had discarded me like a well-chewed rack of ribs.

  It hit me one day, as I ate another frozen dinner for breakfast, that I was a disabled vet. I was a vet with no job, no college degree, no desires to work as a contractor or do anything military related, and no real way to pay the bills that kept piling up. In the past few months, I had burned through what savings I had drinking beer and paying rent. The money was all but gone, and if there was one thing I knew I could count on, it was that rent was due on the first.

  It was early in the afternoon a few days later and I decided to postpone the “job search”, so I dropped into a local gastro-pub around the corner for a drink. It was my third round, finally facing the full gravity of the situation I was in, when I heard someone call my name.

  “Jay? How are you, man? I haven't seen you in years,” called the voice from over my right shoulder. I turned to find Sam Bartlett, an old friend from my brief stint at NOVA, staring back at me. I must have been wearing a slightly dumbfounded look, mixed with more than a hint of irritation, because his large crooked smile immediately faded.

  “It's me, Sam. I know, I know, I've gained a few pounds,” he said, grabbing at his gut. “Ok, more like fifty. But how about you, how are you doing?”

  I realized I was staring at him and made a conscious effort to change my demeanor. Although Sam had never been a good friend, he was always one of those guys that was just around, the truth was that it was nice to see a familiar face. The last thing I needed was to be left alone to sulk and drown away in my sorrows. I asked him to join me, which seemed to make up for the cold way I had greeted him because he laughed out loud and yelled “Hell yea, of course I will.” We grabbed a table in the corner next to the front window.

  I ordered us a round of beers and he insisted I bring him up to speed. So I told him of my better days. He sat listening with complete interest, slouching onto the table, his hand holding up his fat face. By the time I got to the end, I was ready to leave.

  “And apparently you can't go unemployed and still pay rent in DC on just military disability,” I said, trying to finish my story.

  Sam perked up, fighting against his own body to sit up straight.

  “Can't find a place to stay? Interesting. That's actually the second time today I've heard someone say that.”

  “And where was the first?”

  “Down at the lab, nea
r the university. I was there this morning and a friend, well, more like an acquaintance, was complaining she had found a great apartment near Dupont Circle and can't find anyone to go in half for expenses.”

  “Honestly, I don't think I can afford to live in Dupont, even if I'm splitting it,” I confessed.

  “I guess she's got a great deal lined up. She said she knows an old lady who owns a bakery that has a large apartment above it that's not being used. It's not on the market so nobody else is going to rent it. She just doesn't want to take on the cost alone.” He paused and I could see him thinking about something. “But, the more I think about it, I'm not sure she's the type of person you would really want to live with.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well,” he started, shifting and moving in his seat. I stared as his jowls shook like a bulldog; I was waiting for him to slobber, “She's a little odd. Extremely intelligent and spends a lot of time studying different subjects, but nice enough, I guess. Different, that's what she is, different.”

  “So she's a student?”

  “Oh, no. She doesn't go to school at the university, she just sort of hangs out there sometimes. And the lab isn't a part of the school anyways, it's more of a hangout than anything else. She studies and reads a lot and is really good with a computer, I know all that. But I really don't know what she does.”

  “You're friends, and you've never asked her what she does?”

  “We're not really friends. We just know each other. I'm not sure she has any real friends.”

  “Either way,” I said, confused and irritated by the conversation and Sam's constant fidgeting, “I'd like to meet her and get the specifics.”

  “I'm sure she's still down at the lab, we could drive over now if you wanted. Where are you parked?”

  “I didn't drive.”

  “I don't mind taking you.”

  I agreed, and waited for him to finish sipping his beer before we took off. I turned to face him as we walked out onto the sidewalk.

  “So what's this odd acquaintance of yours named?”

  Sam hesitated before answering, looking up at me as if he was sorry for something.

  “Remy Moreau.”

  We had only driven a few blocks when Sam piped up.

  “You can't be pissed at me if you don't like her,” he said.

  “If I don't like her or she's some sort of psycho control freak, then there's nothing forcing me to live with her. I'll just tell her that I'll think about it and we can go our separate ways. Don't worry about it.”

  “I'm just saying, you're the one who wanted to meet her. So you can't hold it against me if things don't go well.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “You don't understand. Remy is – I don't even know. She's brilliant, I can promise you that, and sometimes it's amazing to be around her. But it's like she wasn't raised by humans. She just says whatever she's thinking, and a lot of the time, her thoughts don't even make sense. It can be off-putting to people. I don't know. I just can't give you much because I don't know anything about her other than what's said at the lab, which isn't much.”

  “Give me an example of something she's done,” I said, challenging him.

  “Last week, she had been consuming medical journals one after the other. There were four of us in the lab that day and she interrupts everyone and announces 'Half of all Americans will die of heart disease.' then she looked around the room and stared at this guy named Tiny and I; like she wanted us to know she was talking about us. Then she just goes back to what she was reading.”

  I almost burst out laughing.

  “It's fine, Sam. I can handle myself.”

  “Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you. We're here by the way,” he said as we turned down an alley behind a row of buildings. We parked at the end of the row and I followed him down the steel staircase on the side of the building that led to the lower level. When we entered through the outer door, I was immediately hit by the stale smell of old air. Sam turned and opened the first door on his right.

  “The Lab” as he called it was more like a basement hideout for an unclean, villainous comic mastermind. There were computers and parts and equipment everywhere. Wires hung from the ceiling and plastic soda and water bottles were littered over the desktops that ran along the outer walls of the room. In the middle of the mess was a high-topped laboratory table that stretched the full length of the room. I assumed that's what gave the place its name.

  As I looked around the room, I noticed that I had drawn the attention of a man that had been staring at his computer screen, which was full of lined code. His stare made me uncomfortable, mostly because he was the largest human being I'd ever seen.

  “That's Tiny,” Sam whispered. I remembered his story and laughed to myself before nodding in Tiny's direction. He looked at me for a few more seconds and then turned back to his monitor without saying a word.

  Then my eyes caught sight of a little woman working on a laptop at the far end of the lab table. She was surrounded by papers full of charts and scribbles. The glow of the screen lit her features and I wondered to myself why Sam hadn't mentioned that his friend was so good looking. She stared at her laptop with large, bright eyes. I couldn't look away.

  Sam walked towards her.

  “What are you working on Remy?”

  “Why would the heiress of a vast energy empire, chosen amongst nine children to take over the family business, disappear on the very day she was to be named the benefactor?” she asked without ever looking up from her computer.

  “I don't know. What do you think?” Sam said back.

  At first Remy didn't answer, then she said “Capulet”, mumbling under her breath as she turned to look up at Sam. He ignored the comment.

  “Remy Moreau, I'd like you to meet Jacob Watts.”

  “Nice to meet you, Jacob,” she said from her stool.

  “The pleasure's all mine. She disappeared for love, right? The heiress, I mean.”

  A look of amusement ran across Remy's face as she looked at me.

  “I suspect that's the case. Tell me how you guessed.”

  “Capulets, Montagues, old story,” I said.

  “One made easier to unravel when you photograph the fiancé of a rival owner's son and she looks oddly like the missing girl.”

  “I can image it would. Sounds like an interesting story.”

  “If you only knew. Maybe I'll tell you one day.”

  Sam coughed as he plopped himself down into an adjacent chair. We both looked over at him. His cheeks flushed red for having interrupted us.

  “Jay and I are actually here on business, Remy. He's looking for a new place to stay and I remembered you complaining about not being able to find a roommate to split expenses with.”

  An anomalous, interested look appeared in Remy's eyes as she studied me over. She perked up and seemed excited at the mention of living with me.

  “I helped a woman with a break-in last week. A not-too-smart gentleman had pegged her an easy target and robbed her bakery. After I set things right, she offered me the apartment above her shop at a great rate. There's more than enough space for two, but I can make a bit of a mess when I'm focused on something else. Will that bother you?”

  “I think I can manage.”

  “You won't mind if I spread my papers out all over the floor?”

  “No, that's fine,” I said, smiling back.

  She continued, “I go through these bouts of depression. I'll go silent, sometimes for days at a time. Just leave me alone and try not to bother me and I'll find my way out. And don't take anything I say personally, especially when I’m dejected. What about you? It's best we know what we're getting into with each other before making any commitments.” She spoke like an engineer I knew in the Air Force.

  “Well, I don't care for petty arguments and I'm admittedly lazy, so your messes won't bother me. I don't sleep much, I'm up at random times because of my nerves, hopefully that wo
n't be an issue.”

  “Would you consider persistent piano playing a reason for petty arguments?”

  “Not if you play like Miles Davis. Now if you play more like my niece, then we might have some issues.”

  Remy ignored the attempt at humor and slid from her stool. “I think we'll be great together,” she said as she made her way around the end of the lab table, her hand outstretched to shake mine. Remy took my hand and held it firmly, shaking it as she moved in close. “So which was it, Iraq or Afghanistan?”

  I stared down at her for a moment. Her question took me by surprise.

  “Afghanistan, how the hell did you – ”

  She slowly rose onto her toes and tugged at my shirt, pulling me down towards her. Her big eyes looked up into mine. And very deliberately, she kissed me. Not a peck on the lips, but a kiss that sent shock waves through my entire frame. She lingered, pressing her soft wet lips against mine as her hand trailed up my left arm. I felt the heat of her body against me. Then suddenly, she pulled away, taking a step back.

  “I'll text you the address and we can go look at the apartment together tomorrow,” she said. She grabbed her bag and walked out of the room, leaving me to stand alone in silence.

  I turned and faced Sam who was staring at me with an annoying smile on his chubby face.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “I warned you she was odd.”

  “Did you tell her I was in Afghanistan?”

  “Nope. That's just what she does.”

  Chapter 2

  The Pluto Incident

  We met at the apartment the next day. There was a narrow door between the front of the bakery and the tailor’s shop next door. Remy used her key and we ascended the dark staircase to a single steel door. I flicked the light switch at the top of the stairs, but none of the three bulbs that hung overhead came on. The narrow hall was perfumed with a thick musky smell.