Unhinged

Chapter 11

"Are you sure about this? Okay, no I won't pursue any charges against you. Right. Uh huh...okay."

Dean looked at his partner Shelby who was putting her phone back on its receiver.

"What was that about?" he asked.

She looked at him in disbelief. "You're never going to guess."

"I don't want to guess. That's why I asked you." Dean smirked.

Shelby rolled her eyes. "That was Dr. Alexis Reyna. She said she wanted to drop her complaint about someone following her."

Dean, who had been leaning back against his chair, suddenly sat up. "What?"

"Surprising, right? She was so adamant the other day." Shelby began tapping her desk with her fingersnails as she tried to figure out the reasoning behind it.

"We should charg her for wasting our time," Dean muttered.

"It makes no sense."

"What makes no sense?"

"Dr. Reyna. She was so shook up the other day. Even now she sounded frightened so why would she drop her complaint?"

"C'mon, Shelby. We were going to tell her about the phone number being in her name. She probably wanted to back out of this attention seeking problem before she realized we were on to her sick games."

"And what about the ring? Deandra Ward's brother confirmed that was his sister's ring," Shelby reminded Dean.

"There were no prints on it. It's possible that Deandra had lent it to Dr. Reyna before she died."

"Women don't lend out precious family heirlooms, Dean. At least I wouldn't. No, something isn't right here."

Dean leaned forward. "Are you thinking Dr. Reyna killed Deandra?"

Shelby scowled at her partner. "Would you mind being a professional and stopping your 'I hate Alexis Reyna game' for a minute? I'm serious. It had crossed my mind for a minute but she wouldn't have the strength to do that to her friend. I spoke with the ME and based on the wounds, it had to have been someone taller and stronger than Deandra. Deandra was taller than Alexis."

Dean shrugged. "Anything's possible when you're upset enough."

"People don't grow a foot and then shrink. No, something isn't adding up here."

Dean nodded. "Just admit it Diaz. You're thinking Dr. Reyna is suspicious too."

"No. Unlike you, I don't hate her. I'm thinking maybe she really is being harassed."

"Shelby, the phone was in her name!"

"Yeah, but it was a pay-as-you-go account. Anyone could go to their local Wal Mart and buy a phone card that most networks sell and set it up with a used phone and a Visa gift card online. I could even set up an account in your name if I wanted to."

"That's a bit of a stretch. It's easier to go with the theory that she's doing all of this herself and only wants attention."

"Since when did we just follow the easy route?"

"Since it's usually the right route," Dean retorted.

Shelby sighed. "I'm not going to drop this just yet. I could've sworn she still sounded scared over the phone."

"Well, I wish I had all the time in the world to choose which cases I wanted to work on," Dean said sarcastically. "Oh wait...I don't and neither do you so forget about Dr. Reyna and focus on this instead." Dean tossed a case file onto Shelby's desk.