“Exactly.”
“Then we are going about this all wrong. We have spent all this time looking into Remi’s life and enemies, when we should be looking into Rayna’s!” She nearly yells the last part, then begins shuffling the papers on her desk looking for the correct ones. “I knew we were missing something big. This has to be it!” She pulls out her notepad and begins looking over her notes.
“I think we should let her sleep a couple hours, then interview her as soon as possible,” Brown interjects as his partner hands him some files. He can tell she isn’t really listening, she’s too excited to have found a possible break in the case.
“Put all these away and let’s get everything we know about the sister.” She sets Rayna’s file on her desk and opens it slowly like it’s some sort of antique document.
“I’ll put these away for you, but then I’m going to get a couple hours of sleep.” Brown yawns as he stands with his arms laden with files.
“Sleep?!” Grady exclaims. “How could you think of sleep when we might have just had a major break in the case?”
He rolls his eyes. It has always been difficult to get his partner to put down her work. “Because I’m tired and we can’t do much until Rayna wakes up anyways. I’ll tell the night lady to make sure she doesn’t leave just in case she wakes up before I do.”
Grady looks down dejectedly at the file in front of her. She’s also pretty tired. Maybe fresh eyes after a couple hours of sleep would help. “Alright, you’re right, I’ll get a couple hours of shuteye too and then we can interview her together.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he says as he turns toward the employee break room.
“You’re not going home?” Grady asks. She’s the one who usually sleeps in the break room.
“After a big break? No way!”
Both of them laugh as they head down the hall. They don’t say anything more as they each pick a couch and tuck in for the night.
***
Grady’s phone alarm goes off at six. She groans as she stretches and tries to work the kink out of her neck. These couches really do a number on her muscles.
She looks at the other couch to see Brown doing the same. He’s much taller than she is, and appears to be even more uncomfortable. It explains why he goes home to sleep even in the middle of big cases.
Without saying a word, they each get up and take turns using the mirror to make sure they’re presentable. Grady uses the toothbrush she keeps in her purse to quickly freshen her breath. Brown shrugs and pops a stick of gum in his mouth.
They head out into the main area of the office where work is just starting up for the day. The night receptionist is just leaving when Brown calls out to her.
“Any noise from Ms. Casell?”
She shakes her head and slides her large purse over her shoulder. “She didn’t try to walk by me. Honestly, she’s probably still asleep, considering how plastered she was last night.” She chuckles.
“Thanks!” he calls after her as she pushes open the office door and heads into the morning mist.
Grady yawns loudly as she starts up her computer. “Are you waking up sleeping beauty or does the pleasure fall to me?” She taps her fingernails on the desk expectantly.
“Go ahead,” he replies.
She’s surprised, as she thought for sure last night that her partner had a thing for Ms. Casell. She thought he would insist on waking her up himself.
To be polite, she knocks on the door to the waiting room before twisting it open. The light was left on all night, which apparently didn’t bother Rayna, who’s still sleeping on the couch. She moves slightly as Grady walks into the room.
“Ms. Casell.” She taps the young woman’s shoulder lightly. It feels weird to refer to her by her last name after referring to her by her first name in her mind.
The woman stirs, but her eyes don’t open.
“Ms. Casell,” she tries again. This time the woman opens her eyes and blinks a few times and she begins to stretch.
Grady backs up as Rayna sits up and surveys her surroundings.
“You’re in the police station waiting room,” Grady provides.
The young woman nods. “I recognize it. I remember coming here last night but I sort of thought it was one of my dreams. I didn’t realize it had actually happened.”
“It did,” Grady provides in a flat voice as she watches the young woman pinch her eyes closed and rub her head. “Hangover?” she asks in the same tone as before.
“Most definitely,” Rayna replies.
“Well, let’s get you some water and Tylenol, and then I’d like you to answer a few questions for me.”
“More questions?” Rayna asks as she stands up. She’s more sure on her feet than when Grady saw her stumble into the station last night.
“Just a few.” It’s kind of a lie, but she doesn’t want to scare the girl right away with the new direction of their investigation.
“Why? Did something happen?” She follows Grady as they head out of the room and down the hall to an interrogation room.
“No. But we’ve thought of some questions we didn’t ask before. Now please have a seat,” she motions to one of the four empty chairs in the room, “and I will be back with water and Tylenol. And maybe if you’re lucky, I can snag some sort of breakfast for you.”
Rayna shakes her head, placing her hand on her stomach. “Don’t bother, my stomach isn’t ready for food yet.”
Grady nods and closes the door. She walks back down the hall, stopping at the break room for the water she promised, then heads to her desk for the Tylenol. Brown stands up as she walks by.
“She ready?”
“Sort of.” Grady heads back toward the interview room. “She’s a little too hung over for my liking, but this is just questions about her life so I think she’s in a good enough state of mind to answer.”
The two of them enter the room together and take two of the available chairs across from Rayna. Grady places the water on the table and the pills in Rayna’s hand.
“So Rayna, do you have any enemies?” Grady starts, pulling out both her recorder and notepad.
The young woman groans. “We already covered Remi’s enemies.”
The officers look at each other. “We know, I want to know your enemies now Rayna, not Remi’s,” Grady clarifies, hoping the Tylenol kicks in fast.
Rayna furrows her eyebrows for a moment then closes her eyes. “I don’t think so.”
“No enemies, at all?”
Rayna shakes her head.
Grady is having trouble buying it. Especially since she first mentioned that she was the hated one. Every young woman has at least one enemy, even if it’s just a jealous female friend. “You told me a couple days ago that you were, and I quote, ‘the hated one.’”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant she was always the favorite whenever we met people. And I’ve been having trouble making friends lately, which I guess reaffirmed my feelings on her being more liked than me,” Rayna corrects, a flush on her cheeks.
“Well, let’s try something different, who are your friends?”
Rayna thinks for a moment but then shakes her head again. “I don’t really have any friends either.”
“No friends? Now why is that?” Grady can tell something is missing here. What young woman doesn’t have friends?
“I quit my job a few months ago, and I’d had trouble making new friends in our neighborhood. They were all older and we had nothing in common. Zeki was pretty much my only friend, and you already know where he is at.”
Both officers sit quietly for a minute, observing the girl. When something finally clicks in Grady’s mind. “Rayna, how did you pay for the drinks at the bar last night?”
“You mean like whether I paid cash or card?” Rayna is obviously very confused by their question, which meant she’s less likely to be prepared to lie.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking.” Brown is also staring at Grady in confusio
n, wondering what she’s getting at.
“I paid with my debit card,” Rayna answers with a shrug, the typical twenty year old American answer.
“Can I see the card?” Grady asks.
As Rayna begins to fiddle around in her small clutch for the right card, Grady makes eye contact with her partner. It’s clear he’s starting to have an inkling what she’s getting at, yet is still largely in the dark.
Rayna places the red bank card down on the table in front of them. Grady picks it up and looks at it. “Bank of America, interesting. Zeki didn’t have an account at Bank of America.”
“If you say so, he never said he had one there but I thought maybe since everything else had been a lie—”
Rayna has started to ramble so Grady cuts her off. “No, I mean I’ve looked into it, Zeki didn’t have an account at Bank of America. So did he send you money to this card? Did he give you cash?”
Rayna, obviously assuming this questioning is still about Zeki and his selling drugs, quickly blurts out, “Zeki never gave me any money!”
Grady smirks. She knew it. “But you quit your job months ago. Seems to me someone living on savings wouldn’t be racking up a hundred dollar bar tab.”
Rayna is silent, the expression on her face unreadable. Both officers watch in silence. They know from years of experience when someone is about to spill their guts, and this is it.
A single tear slides down her cheek as she sighs and opens her mouth. She closes it, obviously at a loss for words, before opening it a second time. “I…work…”
They wait but she doesn’t elaborate. “Where?” Grady prods.
“Part time, various jobs, you know, whatever I can find.” Her chatter is nervous and certainly not genuine as before.
Brown tears a page out of the notepad he’s using and slides it over to Rayna. “Can you write down each job that you remember? We will need to look into each one.”
Rayna sighs. “I—I can’t.”
“Why not?” Grady pushes again.
“I—I—was doing…” She looks away toward the wall, obviously having an internal debate on what she’ll say. “…videos…” she finally finishes.
“What kind of videos?” Brown sets his pen down, looking straight at Rayna. Grady knows him well enough to know he’s shocked, but this is how he shows it.
“Pornography,” she says in the smallest whisper. A single tear slides down her cheek. “Please don’t arrest me.”
Ah, so she’s afraid of the legal implications, rightfully so, but Grady doesn’t intend to arrest the girl. “We aren’t going to arrest you Rayna, but you need to tell me about who you were working for and where. One of these people might have taken Remi.”
She shakes her head. “That’s the problem, I don’t know names or anything. We filmed in a hotel, I would just meet them there when he texted.”
“When who texted?” Brown picks his pen back up and once again takes notes.
She shrugs. “I called him Daryl. Probably not his real name, though.”
“Last name?” Grady knows it’s a long shot but she has to ask.
“No idea.” Rayna looks embarrassed.
“And you were paid in cash, I assume?” Brown asks awkwardly. Grady looks at him with a raised eyebrow, then turns back to Rayna.
“Can I have the number you contacted him at? We might be able to find him that way.”
Rayna nods and begins to look through her phone. “You really think Daryl took Remi?” she asks, turning her phone so Grady can see the number.
“We aren’t sure,” Grady responds as she copies the phone number down. “But we have run out of leads on Remi’s side, so we need to follow every lead possible.”
“But why me? Unless…” Grady can see the young woman connect the dots before their eyes. “…You think I was the one who was supposed to be taken.” As she finishes the sentence her face melts into an expression of guilt. She looks at Brown with a look of someone who has been betrayed. “You…you said it wasn’t my fault…”
Grady looks over at her partner to see an odd expression that she doesn’t recognize come across his face. As if he knows she’s watching, he quickly corrects it and his face is once again his emotionless interview mask. “We aren’t saying it’s your fault, we just need to look at every possible angle. And that means everyone involved in your life.”
Rayna sighs. “I never meant for it to get this far. I just didn’t want to have to ask Zeki for money. I had savings from waitressing, but when those ran out…” She drops her head down into her hands. “I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I only did it a few times. I hated it. It made me feel like trash, but the money was good.”
“And the people who were in these…movies with you?” Brown is obviously struggling to keep his emotions hidden. Grady is pretty sure she was correct in thinking he has feelings for the girl.
“I told you before, I only know false names. Daryl was my contact. I would meet up with him and other people would either already be there or show up shortly after. We would film, and then go our separate ways. I don’t know of anyone there who didn’t like me. Daryl was pretty mad when I said I wouldn’t be in any more of his movies.”
“And when was this?” Grady asks, quickly scribbling down all the notes she can.
Rayna looks toward the ceiling, counting quietly to herself. “A few weeks ago. He’s been hounding me, but Zeki and I’s relationship was falling apart so I told him I couldn’t do it anymore. But he’s kept on messaging me.”
“Do you still have the messages?” Brown asks. Rayna nods, presses a few buttons on her phone, then slides it over to them. They both lean in to look at the screen. Grady makes eye contact with her partner but doesn’t say anything. They’ll discuss the texts later. Grady raises her own phone to take photos of the texts on Rayna’s phone.
“Do you think Daryl would want to hurt you?” Grady questions, more as a formality. The text messages don’t seem threatening, just desperate.
“I don’t think so.”
“Did Daryl know you were a twin?” Brown passes Rayna’s phone back across the table. It takes a moment for what he’s saying to sink in, but Grady quickly catches on to her partner’s thought process.
“Why would that matter?” Rayna asks, her mind obviously not on the same devious path as the officers’.
“Some people get a little, how do I say it—obsessed—with twins,” Grady clarifies for the girl, watching her face for any reaction.
She looks more confused than anything. “When we were kids we would sometimes be harassed. People would wonder if we could have conversations in our minds and feel each other’s pain and stuff. But for Remi and I, that never happened. We were pretty much just regular sisters who looked a lot alike. I haven’t had anyone zero in on the twin aspect of my life in a very long time. Remi and I have lived mostly separate lives for years. In fact, I hardly even mention it anymore.”
Grady nods, finishes scribbling some notes, then looks at Brown. He also completes whatever he’s writing then looks at his partner. This is their way of knowing neither of them has any more questions.
“Alright Rayna, you can go home. That’s all the questions we have for now.”
Both officers stand, but Rayna remains seated.
“I never thought I would be this…lost without her. You guys have to find her.”
They look at each other, a sad look on Brown’s face. It’s Grady who speaks. “We are trying and we will do our absolute best.”
The three of them then exit the room, Grady headed for her desk while Brown walks Rayna to the door. They stand just outside and talk for a minute. Grady would give anything to know what they were saying. Maybe she really is too nosy for her own good. She watches as he scribbles something down on the paper and hands it to Rayna.
After another few minutes, he walks back inside, keeping his head down as he passes her desk and heads for his own.
“What was that about?”
“Gee
z, you’re like my mother or something,” Brown mutters, obviously avoiding the question.
“You gave her a piece of paper.”
“Thanks, Hawkeyes.”
“What was it? Your number?” Grady is now leaning all the way across her desk, only inches from Brown’s head.
“No.” He looks up to find her face inches from his and scoots back, annoyed. She continues to stare at him expectantly. Finally he realizes she isn’t going to give up.
“It was the number of a place she can get temporary work. The legal kind.”
“And your number?” Grady jokes, trying to lighten his mood, which has been somber since the interview room.
He shakes his head. “She knows where to find me. And the last thing that girl needs right now is someone new in her life. I think she needs to figure some things out first.”
“I disagree.” Grady sits back down in her chair. “I think what that girl really needs is a friend.”
Brown opens his mouth to argue, but they’re cut off by the ringing of the phone on Grady’s desk. She quickly reaches for it, taking a deep breath before she answers. Their work is never over.
“Grady.”
From the other end of the phone line comes the five words every cop learns to dread. “There’s been a media leak.”
REMI
NOW
She knows this is her chance. And probably the only one she’ll ever get.
The two men tied Remi up and put her in the trunk of a car. Well, it’s a hatchback car, so trunk isn’t quite the right word, but it isn’t exactly a seat, either. They’ve been driving now for almost twenty minutes. Or what she assumes is twenty minutes, her ability to judge time is definitely lacking.
She has no idea how far they’re taking her, but she knows the moment they open the back hatch, she needs to be ready.
Her hands are tied behind her back with rope, which she’s working furiously to get out of. She knows there’s no way she can overpower two men, so her only chance is to surprise one of them with a punch or kick, then run like hell. But her plan won’t work if she can’t get her hands untied.
“Come on,” she mouths silently, willing herself to wriggle harder. Her wrists are definitely bruised at this point, probably about to bleed.
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