“The computer and phone both being taken. That bothers me.”
“Stolen? I have to wonder about it,” she agreed. “The phone can be traced. The computer might have forensic information on it. I think Nicole must know this person and they had some fear she could implicate them through her media devices.”
“That’s possible.”
Even when their food arrived—he hadn’t realized he was starving, because a case like this one did that to you—Ellie continued to postulate. “She probably was carrying her phone when she answered the door but the computer would be harder to find unless her abductor knew exactly where her room was and understood there was something on it that might point us in his direction.”
The house hadn’t been ransacked, true.
“That expensive car is still sitting in the driveway and her keys were on the table in the foyer. Who the fuck gives a kid her age a car like that anyway?”
Ellie said in an ironic tone, “Parents who can afford it. Besides, by their account anyway, she’s pretty and might overachieve a little, but obviously is bright. The person who ran her off the road could have easily followed her before. That car is an eye-catcher, and more so I’m sure with her in it.”
Jason couldn’t help but agree. “From those pictures, yes.”
She gave him a sardonic look that said she thought men were all the same.
“A little young for me,” he responded, doing his best to not inhale his food. He couldn’t even say how it tasted, it was food. “I’m just agreeing with you. A pretty girl in a noticeable car. Give me a break.”
“A break is what we need.”
“We agree again. Twice in one day. That has to be a new record. So next is … what?”
“Unless we hear from the state police or anyone else that she’s been spotted, I suppose we continue to monitor her social media, cell phone records, and hope like hell she contacts her parents. I’m a homicide detective, but I don’t want to be investigating this one. It was on the news; maybe we’ll hear something.”
He hoped so too, but with the caveat it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
* * *
The apartment she’d rented was actually only a few blocks from Santiago’s place. It was fairly generic but had a nice gas fireplace, an extra bedroom for an office, and was on the third floor. The size of the balcony could probably hold two potted plants, but she’d been able to sign a short lease and then could rent month by month, so it worked out. There was a grocery around the corner that also sold wine, and some close shops and restaurants.
She’d finally told Bryce that she was moving out. Ellie went and sat on the couch, which she’d just bought that day on the condition they’d deliver it right away, and thought about Dr. Bryce Grantham.
Not good timing for it. She was exhausted and stymied by the case, and felt like she should be doing something, but didn’t know what exactly at this point. On television, detectives often went ah-ha and magically solved the case. Real life was grittier. Real life meant that they needed to wait for forensics to process the blood through familial testing to find out if it was Nicole’s. That wasn’t done instantly. A lot of her job involved waiting for evidence, and then going forward, if there was a forward. There was quite a list of cold cases.
Like her and Bryce.
He hadn’t been surprised when she explained it was more and more uncomfortable for her to live in his house alone. He’d gone to New York months ago to research his new book, and she got the vibe it might be a more prolonged stay.
The complexity of their relationship had been exciting at first, but she was beginning to think opposites might attract was a phrase coined by those who understood that while that might be true, it didn’t make for an easy road beyond the bedroom.
They were nothing alike. He was calm and intellectual on a different level, one that involved academics and introspection, and she was more about problem-solving and practicality.
So his response was that she should do what felt best for her and he’d just ask his parents to stop by and check on the house now and then.
As a breakup went, it was fairly nondramatic. Trying to decipher how she felt about it was not a simple task. So she called her sister, because Jody would certainly tell her how she felt about it.
Her sister was pregnant, and it was getting a little late, but Jody answered right away without a greeting. “In bed, but not asleep. I’m just reading a book. Your brother-in-law, who is not the pregnant one with swollen ankles, wanted to watch a movie, and he had the nerve to fall asleep in about five minutes. He’ll pay tomorrow when I make him wash the dishes and fold the laundry. Oh well, it was a pretty boring movie, that’s why I turned it off and picked up a book instead. What’s up?”
“New case. Missing girl. Not our usual, but it does look like a homicide, unfortunately. If anyone beeps in, I’ll just hang up and take it. Don’t be offended. This is very urgent.”
“How terrible.”
“Truer words never spoken.” Ellie decided the new couch was pretty comfortable after all, which was a bright note in her day. “Santiago and I just had dinner together to try and sort out what direction to go, though I admit it isn’t the best conversation to have while eating. The consensus is, we aren’t sure where to turn, and might need some sleep.”
“I would think the two of you would get tired of each other. Though,” Jody added, “he isn’t bad to look at, I admit. I like that commercial. No shirt, just jeans with a badge attached to his belt? Pretty good abs.”
“He’s a smart-ass ninety percent of the time. No, make that one hundred percent.”
“I wasn’t talking about his mouth, though come to think about it, he has a pretty sexy smile—”
“Jody, shut up and stop being deliberately a pain. The last time Nicole was seen was leaving school around noon. We have zero leads.” She paused. “Speaking of leaving, I’ve moved into my new apartment. All my furniture is still up north in the house. I can’t decide whether sell or keep, but I have a new couch you’ll like. I’ll take a weekend when this case is cleared up and bring some stuff down.”
Jody was Jody. Straight to the point. “How did Bryce take it?”
Though her sister couldn’t see it, Ellie made a face. “He’s pretty hard to read, in person and especially on the phone.”
“So he didn’t try and talk you out of it?”
Maybe that part of it did smart a little. “No.”
“How is Ellie MacIntosh taking it?”
“She doesn’t know.” That was honest. “I’m sad, of course, on a certain level, but I’m thinking maybe not sad enough. A part of me knew this would happen the day he got on that plane months ago. It wouldn’t surprise me if he sold the house here and moved to New York, if not on a permanent basis, at least for a year or two. The place is beautiful, but far too big for him. He bought it as a knee-jerk reaction to his divorce.”
“Wish we could afford it,” Jody murmured with a sigh, “but we can’t. We’re going to need more room pretty soon. Anyway, I’m sorry it didn’t work out, honey.”
“I think I am too, but shouldn’t I be sure I was sorry?”
“You are one of the most independent people I know, Ellie. You always regroup and move forward. That said, I believe you’ll miss Bryce, and he’ll miss you, but life in general is a little crazy, so if it wasn’t meant to be, it wasn’t.”
After Ellie hung up, she moodily contemplated the lights of the city.
Somewhere a frightened girl might be out there, or at least she hoped Nicole Remington was still frightened because that would mean she was still alive. It was difficult to think of the night her parents were experiencing.
So she contemplated something else. Santiago hadn’t said a word about his mother since she sent him the file. Given he used flippancy to pretty much cover up his feelings, she wasn’t surprised. For all she knew, he would never discuss the subject with her again.
Her phone rang and she picked it up, saw th
e number, and murmured, “Speak of the devil.”
As usual, he didn’t bother with a greeting. “Nicole’s parents just called me. Jeremy, the boyfriend/friend, whatever he is, just called them and said he got a call from Nicole. The person was whispering so he can’t be sure it actually was her, but he recognized the number. The call was interrupted.”
Ellie was already on her feet. “I’ll pick you up in five minutes. Call in the number and see if they can do a trace. I’m out the door right now. Let’s go find out exactly what she said. God, it would great if she was still alive. We needed to talk to him anyway.”
Or was. If her captor caught her on the phone, he might want to cut his losses.
“Five minutes?” He sounded surprised. “What? You have a magic carpet or something?”
“I moved,” she explained shortly. “Be waiting outside.”
Chapter Four
Jeremy lived only a few blocks from the Remingtons’ prestigious address in a much more modest house of brick with white shutters. The pavement reflected the street light because it had started to rain, which unfortunately was supposed to turn into at least a dusting of snow. It was March, and the city often had snow into April.
Jason was in the mood for a cold beer and a balcony overlooking a pristine beach somewhere in the Caribbean. Not more snow.
Jeremy’s mother was hovering by the front door, and when they pulled in she came out at once. Mrs. St. Joseph was short and a little overweight, with flyaway brown hair and, at the moment, creases of concern around her eyes and mouth. Her hands literally fluttered, and she was in her robe.
“I’m sorry I’m not dressed. I work an early shift and I was in bed when Jeremy woke me to tell me what happened. It has been such an awful day … ”
“Can we talk to your son?” Ellie produced her identification. “He’s already been very helpful, but he might be able to help us find Nicole even faster.”
“Of course. He’s up and waiting for you.”
Jeremy was sitting in the living room on a plaid couch, his hands dangling between his knees, wearing pajama bottoms and a Brewers T-shirt. He was a little pudgy, like his mother, but fairly tall, his hair the same nondescript brown color. The flu claim appeared to be true, for he did look pasty and unhappy. In Jason’s humble opinion, this kid wasn’t near Nicole Remington’s league, so maybe the “just friends” thing was true.
“I’m so scared,” he said by way of greeting.
“I’m Detective MacIntosh and this is Detective Santiago, and we are doing our best. Jeremy, what did she say?”
Ellie always had a better way with witnesses than he did, so Jason let her handle it.
“She was whispering. If it hadn’t been for her number popping up, I wouldn’t have recognized her voice. She said: ‘Help me, help me, help me.’ ”
That was chilling, but disappointing. “She’s a smart girl. I am surprised she didn’t give a clue about where she was.”
“Before the call ended I thought she said: ‘It’s dark in here.’ But I can’t swear to it. The call dropped right after that.” His eyes were red. “She and I are literally best friends. We have a competition going over who is going to be valedictorian, but she’ll probably be the one. Her college test scores were off the charts. She was so relieved.”
Come on with the trace … hurry.
“Is she seeing anyone? Her parents say no, but surely you would know.”
“No. She dates, of course, but no one serious. There was this college guy who was tutoring her before the tests. I know she really liked him, but that was months ago.”
“Do you know his name?”
“David. I’m afraid I don’t know his last name. He’s doing graduate work at Marquette.”
Jason’s phone finally rang. He saw it was Chief Metzger himself, which surprised him a little. “Tell me they got it.”
“I’m texting the address of an old church just off downtown. Just so you know, I’m sending in uniforms for backup. This guy either has a hostage, or else there’s a dead girl in that building. Be careful. Don’t make her dead. Get going.”
Yeah, like that was their goal.
“On our way.”
Ellie was already halfway to the door. She said to Jeremy, “We appreciate your cooperation.”
“I’ll drive, you navigate.” Jason ran around the side of the car and yanked the door open to slide in. She handed over the keys without arguing, probably because they didn’t have the time.
He said in explanation, “This will be faster. I know how to get to the area. I just need help finding the church itself.”
“Okay, let me know when we’re getting into unfamiliar territory.” Ellie fastened her seat belt.
He said, “Hold on.”
“Like I haven’t seen you drive.”
The streets were beginning to ice over, and though he’d driven her car often enough, he wished he’d had his truck as they fishtailed a little and narrowly missed the curb.
The church proved easy to find, considering they weren’t the first ones there, but it looked like they were just a minute or two behind, because an officer was at work on a chain and a padlock with bolt cutters and there were a lot of flashing lights. They showed their IDs as they got out and Jason asked, “Back entrance secure?”
“Betcha it is,” the young officer said. “Locked, but if he’s still in there, he’s not coming out that way.”
“Hello, Detectives.” An older man, obviously with authority, approached. He wore a bulletproof vest under a lightweight jacket that said MPD on the back. “This is our turf and I’m running the show. I understand Metzger wants you here, as this is your case, but we’re going in first. At the moment, this isn’t a murder but an Amber Alert abduction. Let’s hope it stays that way.”
Ellie opened her mouth, but he interrupted, “And if you tell me to not let officers contaminate evidence, it is going to piss me off. They know what to do.”
As they walked back to the perimeter, she murmured, “I wasn’t going say that, for the record. I suppose he didn’t see all that blood, but I was going to ask him why an ambulance wasn’t already here.”
“Good point.” They stopped by a line of police tape and Jason watched airy snowflakes drift onto her hair. He was 100 percent in love with his partner and she didn’t seem to notice. It was a toss-up whether to be relieved or irritated.
The lock came off finally, and one of the officers pulled the venerable door open and another one shouted, “Police officers!”
As they swarmed in, Jason said grimly, “These guys live for this sort of thing. Personally, we stormed enough buildings when I was deployed during my time in the military that the bravado wore off pretty quickly. It’s scary shit.”
She was still watching the building, but asked, “I thought you were military police.”
“Had to earn that. My first two years I was just a grunt infantry guy.”
“You and I ran down a serial killer in a barn, remember?”
“I remember the part when I got shot. Like I said, scary shit. It isn’t the bullet so much as that moment when you try to figure out how much damage it did.”
His phone rang right then and he pulled it from his pocket. “It’s that Jeremy kid again. Yeah?”
The voice on the other end of the call said in a rush, “Nicole just called me. She’s free but doesn’t know where she is. Can you do the same thing you did before and find her?”
This case was pretty bizarre. “We can do a trace again, but call her back and tell her not to move. Does she need an ambulance?”
Ellie was already on her phone.
“She didn’t say she was hurt or anything. She didn’t say much at all. I don’t know.”
“We’ll get her. Stay right by your phone okay?”
“Don’t worry, Detective, I already intended to.”
Jason snapped his phone shut just as Ellie said, “It should be faster this time. It’ll take them a while to search the entire church and
she isn’t in there, apparently. Should we tell them?”
“Hell no,” he said and meant it. “That guy was an asshole.”
The department fulfilled some promises anyway; they got a call on the location maybe a minute later.
Ellie called Metzger as they ran toward the car. “I think we’ve found her and she’s still alive.”
It was just a couple of blocks away, and they both spotted a lone figure on a cracked sidewalk, slender in the falling snow, shivering in the increasing wind despite that she was wearing a coat. Ellie rolled down her window as they approached and hung her ID out. She called out, “Nicole Remington? We’re police officers.”
The girl said in a quavering voice, “Oh god, David is dead.”
* * *
They interviewed Nicole at the hospital; her parents insisted she be examined, and though Ellie believed her when she said she hadn’t been sexually assaulted, victims reacted in very different ways to trauma. Denial was one of them.
Santiago had a few flaws—more than a few—but an insistence he take charge was not one of them. He let her do the talking, and she agreed that surely Nicole would be more comfortable with a female asking the questions anyway.
“I just want to go home.” Nicole said it in a choked voice.
It was after midnight. They all did. “You can after a few minutes,” Ellie said as matter-of-factly as possible. Too much sympathy could do as much harm as not enough. This young woman—still a child actually—already felt victimized. It wasn’t a good idea to make sure she was reminded of it every time someone spoke.
“Just tell us what happened from the moment you opened the door to when we found you. Who is David?”
It might have been helpful if the Remingtons had not been in the room, but they had every right to be. Mr. Remington said tightly, “David Lambrusco. He tutored her while she studied for her exams. Five damn years too old for her and I told her—”
“You don’t need to worry now.” Nicole lifted her chin and stared at her father. “I hope you’re happy.”
The words fell like stones clattering on the floor.
Silence for a full moment.
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