Cold Truth

by Mary Stone

  He was on his feet again, and this time he got a front kick in past her defenses. She grinned, arching a single eyebrow and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  “She’s enjoying this,” one of the other students muttered loud enough to be heard.

  But Jacob kept his eyes on Ellie. He knew better than to take his focus off her, even for a split-second.

  When she gave him an opening, he took it. He had her in a bearhug with her arms pinned before he realized that was exactly where she wanted him.

  She stepped hard on his foot then did a reverse kick to his shin and thigh. His grip loosened, and he was rewarded with an elbow strike to the stomach, then to the face. He winced, but she was coming at him, facing him, striking him hard with the heel of her hand, then her elbow again. When she kicked him, he instinctively backed up. His move gave Ellie a chance to make space between herself and her “attacker,” ending the fight.

  But she didn’t take it.

  She came at him again, a blur of knees, elbows, and hand strikes. When he hit the mat again, she was on him so fast he didn’t have time to roll out of the way. Her knee was in his back, pinning him to the mat.

  “That’s enough, Kline.” The instructor walked up to them, ready to intervene.

  But Ellie was in control, despite her fury. She stood and held a hand out to Jacob. They were both breathing hard when he got to his feet, but another pair was already taking the mat, and all eyes were on the partners getting ready to spar.

  Jacob took the towel Ellie handed him and mopped the sweat from his brow. “Good job,” he said when he finally caught his breath. “I hope you feel better.”

  They walked to the door and stepped outside to let the cool afternoon air dry the dampness from their skin.

  “I’m sorry about that. It’s been a long, frustrating day.” She looked back at the windows that made up the entire front of the gym. The group was still focused on the pair fighting it out on the mat. “I’m sorry if I made you look bad.”

  He shook his head. “Any man that’s intimidated by a strong woman isn’t a real man. I knew what I was getting into when I stepped onto the mat.” He wiped his face and took a long drag on his water bottle. “I do wish I’d let you take on Prince Charming instead, though.”

  “I would’ve enjoyed handing his ass to him.” She grinned, her gaze searching out the blond in the circle inside. “He did not take my rejection well.”

  “I believe it,” Jacob said, thinking back to the earlier conversation with him. “As long as you’re feeling better, that’s all that matters.”

  She bit her lip, her attention divided between him and whatever was on her mind.

  Still, he didn’t press her for information. “You ready to go back inside? I didn’t get a chance to hit the weights yet, and I could use a spotter.”

  “Sure.”

  He followed her in, ignoring the stares that tracked them as they made their way to the back room. His focus was on Ellie and getting through his workout. Everything else was just background noise.

  Ellie clipped her damp hair up off her neck and used a towel to wipe the steam from the mirror. The ladies’ showers were empty, so she’d taken her time washing away the sweat and the grime from her workout, then wrapped herself in a towel so she could air-dry for a few minutes before getting dressed. She glanced at her arm, noting a bruise was already starting to darken where Jacob had gotten in a good shot. She was sure he was covered in bruises.

  Finger-combing her spiral curls, she got dressed. She was sore and tired, but it felt good to get all that stress worked out of her system. Exactly what she’d needed after the day she’d had. It seemed like a lifetime since Fortis had called her into his office. So much had happened between then and walking into the gym, it seemed almost unreal.

  But her father’s health issues and the looming transplant to save his life were all too real, and no amount of sparring could make that go away.

  She stuffed her dirty clothes and towel into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. The gym was a flurry of activity as she hurried down the hall toward the parking lot, and when the door closed behind her, the loud music was instantly deadened to a low, pulsing beat.

  Jacob was waiting for her by her car. “You look refreshed,” he said when she stepped onto the sidewalk.

  “That was just what I needed to get my mind off everything, thanks.”

  “I was thinking about a late dinner.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not hungry. Really, I just need to get home.”

  His smile slipped a little, but he recovered so quickly she wondered if she’d imagined it. “I understand. Is there anything I can do?”

  “This was enough.” She gestured to the bruise forming along his jawline and sighed. “I guess I should tell you what’s going on.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I know.” She took in a steadying gulp of air. “My father’s health is failing. He needs a heart transplant, and he’ll be in the hospital until that happens.”

  “That’s rough, I’m sorry.” He stepped closer, pulling her in for a hug. “How is your mom handling it?”

  “By suggesting my job is keeping me from keeping vigil at my father’s bedside.”

  “You can always take vacation time.”

  “I don’t want to. I can’t stay pent-up at that hospital for weeks on end. It’s just too much. Daddy understands.”

  Jacob’s dark eyebrows shot upward. “He’s awake then?”

  “He is. He’s just too weak to get out of bed.”

  “Are you sure he’s not saying it’s okay so you don’t feel guilty?”

  Ellie considered for a moment then shook her head. “Daddy isn’t like that. He doesn’t always understand me, but he gets that I love my job. I wish my mom could do the same, but she’s so set in her ways she really can’t see things beyond her own experiences.”

  “I can see why you’re so stressed.”

  She thought about telling him about the cold case file and everything else, but she decided against it. Her father’s health issues were enough. There was no use opening that second can of worms.

  “She agreed with him eventually, but I could tell she would rather have me there with her and Daddy to keep an eye on me.”

  “Are your brothers staying with him too?”

  “Are you kidding?” she scoffed, throwing her hands up in defeat. “I guarantee she didn’t give them the same talking to. Because they have responsibilities.”

  “I’m sorry you have to deal with that.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it. Everyone has to deal with family dynamics. I just wish she’d get over it already.”

  Jacob tried to imagine her family dynamics and failed. “You are her only daughter.”

  “That’s Wesley’s fault.” She laughed at the joke she’d told before. “If he’d been born a girl, I’d be home free.”

  Jacob chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t honestly believe that, do you?”

  “You’re right, I don’t. But at least it would be a little easier.”

  He bumped her with his hip. “I’m sure she’s proud of you, even if she doesn’t always know how to express it.”

  “I wish I could be so sure. But my dad stepped in, so there’s that.”

  “It’s something, at least.”

  “Yeah, I was a little surprised. Daddy usually sides with her no matter what, but he was so calm about it.” She frowned before she continued. “It’s like knowing how fragile life is made him realize that we can’t just let life slip by us, you know?”

  “I understand completely. Your mom will figure it out. And in the meantime, at least she’s nice about it.”

  Ellie agreed. “I just wish he wasn’t hurting so bad. And my mom looks so worried. They’re both usually pretty relaxed, so it’s weird to see them like that.”

  “I’m sure it is.” He looked at his watch. “I have to get going. Duke has a schedule, and if I mess it up, he gets destructive.�
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  “Duke sounds like my kind of guy.” Ellie laughed, and Jacob’s eyes reflected her humor.

  “Call me if you need to talk,” he said. “And if there’s anything else I can do, don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “Thank you. I’ll let you know.”

  She watched him drive away as she got into her car and turned the radio all the way up. Picking a station that was upbeat, she sang along as Guns N’ Roses belted out “Sweet Child o’ Mine” as she backed out of the parking spot and made her way home. It was after dinnertime, and the streets were almost empty, so she made it home in record time, stopping to pick up takeout on the way. She took the stairs, and by the time she opened the door to her apartment, her mouth was watering over the scent of orange chicken and chow mein.

  Her phone chirped at her as she sat down to eat. When she read the text from Nick, she smiled.

  Your mom is settled, and your dad is resting comfortably. She told me I was her new favorite son. Not sure what your brothers are going to think about that. He included a winking emoji at the end, drawing a laugh out of her.

  She set down her chopsticks and typed in, Thank you for staying with them. I’m doing much better. Kicked Jacob’s ass at Krav Maga and grabbed Chinese takeout.

  Poor Jacob.

  She was smiling as she sent him one last text. He survived. I really appreciate you for helping with my parents.

  Anytime, he responded with a smiley face. Sweet dreams.

  She was still smiling when she took the last bite of her dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. The day had started off rough and gone downhill from there, but in the end, she’d been reminded that she was surrounded by people who loved her and understood what she needed to feel safe when her world was out of control. She resolved to take Nick out to dinner to thank him. He deserved a medal for dealing with her life, but he would have to settle for filet mignon instead.

  She didn’t bother getting undressed when she crawled into bed more than an hour earlier than her normal bedtime. She was exhausted, and she still had so much work to do before the weekend. There were only two more days until the workweek was over, and she’d promised Fortis she would shelve the Jane Doe case if she hadn’t made headway by then. That didn’t give her much time, and she was determined to give the unnamed families closure. It was the least she could do after their violent deaths had snuffed out two vibrant lives. In fact, it was the only thing she could do for them.

  That and bring their killer to justice.

  21

  “You look like hell,” Jillian said when Ellie dragged herself into the office bright and early Thursday morning. “Maybe I should’ve brought you coffee.”

  “I’m fine.” Ellie forced a smile. “I overdid it at the gym last night, and I’m a little more sore than I expected.”

  Jillian smiled back, hers looking more natural. “At least you know you gave it your all.”

  “Thanks. I needed to work through my feelings.”

  “About your dad?”

  “About my dad, about Nick, about my mom.” She set Jillian’s coffee on her desk. “And about my own cold case. My whole life, really. Things aren’t going the way I’d hoped, and now I have just today and tomorrow to try and figure this case out before I have to step back and work on something else. I was feeling really overwhelmed, but I think I managed to get all the kinks out.” Ellie yawned, covering her mouth and looking longingly at her already empty coffee cup.

  “I didn’t touch mine yet, you want it?”

  Ellie gladly took the proffered cup, gulping the hot liquid as quickly as she dared. She burned her tongue, but in a few minutes, when she started to feel human again, she knew it was worth it. “Did you make any headway with the Jane Does after I left?”

  Jillian shook her head. “Sorry. Detective Finnigan is preparing to testify next week so he was in and out of here all day looking up stuff for his case.”

  “I bet that was annoying.”

  Jillian rolled her eyes. “You have no idea. But, I did go through a bunch of searches this morning to see if these girls pop up together. So far, I’ve come up dry. I tried extending the searches, but if you go out too far, it comes back with too many hits to weed through. Slows the computer way down.”

  “Did you mark off where you’ve searched so far?”

  “I’m already one step ahead of you. I have a list, and it’s organized by website and by region.” Jillian presented the neatly printed list with a flourish and a goofy smile that made Ellie laugh.

  “Thanks, Jillian. I’m going to get started.” Hanging her purse on the back of her chair, Ellie straightened the papers on her messy desk. “I think we’re on to something with the theory that their families don’t know they disappeared in Charleston.”

  “At least we have a new perspective. That’s something, isn’t it?”

  “It is, but it makes it more complicated. When it was only Charleston, we had a small sample area and a limited number of people. Now that these two women could be from anywhere and could’ve been headed to any number of destinations, it’s going to be that much harder.” Ellie frowned as Jillian nodded her agreement. “And if their families don’t know they disappeared together, that’s another strike against us.”

  “If they really were together,” Jillian pointed out. “We don’t have proof that they were killed by the same person, and even if they were, what if he picked them up separately?”

  Ellie nodded. Maybe she’d been going with her gut feeling a little too much. “You’re right. We can’t even say for sure whether they ever ran across each other. He could’ve killed one then grabbed the second girl later.”

  “Or we could have multiple killers using the same dumpsite.”

  Ellie’s mouth dropped open. “Don’t you dare put that out to the universe. I know I can’t prove it yet, but I’m telling you, I know these cases are related.”

  “They don’t have the same cause of death, only one woman was tortured, and they were dumped in two entirely different fashions. Sometimes, more than one killer is drawn to the same place when disposing of a body, could be because of the previous dump. Plus, multiple serial killers can be active in the same place at the same time.” Jillian shrugged and propped her chin on her hand. “It’s not unheard of, even in a place like Charleston.”

  Ellie plopped down in her chair and groaned. “Web searches are not my favorite thing, but the theory is the only lead we have right now. Until we can figure out who these women are, it’s going to be next to impossible to figure out who killed them with the evidence we have.”

  “Then let’s get after it,” Jillian quipped, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

  Ellie typed in keywords from her own list, then scrolled through the results. With every combination of words that came up empty, she made a note and kept going. She’d started with just a few, added more to the list, then tried different combinations. The results varied so wildly, Ellie’s head started pounding. She rubbed her temples, glaring at the computer screen. “There are so many people listed as missing on social media that aren’t even in our database.”

  “I know. How does that happen?”

  “Sometimes friends and coworkers are the only ones who know someone has disappeared and they don’t really know what to do. Or they’re afraid to go to the police for whatever reason. And could you imagine if every boss that was ghosted by an employee filed a missing persons report?”

  Jillian groaned. “We’d never get out from under all those reports.”

  “I think it’s usually obvious when that happens, though.”

  Jillian paused in her typing. “You would think so, but I worked with this one guy that was super dependable, driven, and an all-around great coworker. He just stopped showing up one day, and nothing at work changed. He left there one afternoon like he always did every day, and the next morning he was just gone. I was really worried, but my boss said it happens all the time. Then he showed me a picture of the guy checking in on his so
cial media account. He was out on the lake fishing, and his status announced he’d taken a job offer from a rival company starting that Monday.”

  “He didn’t bother giving notice?” Ellie asked.

  “Nope. He had to have known he had the job for a week or two, but he kept it a secret. Then he got tired of working and just took a long weekend before he started his new job. No one even batted an eye at it.”

  “I guess it’s good that more of those cases aren’t reported.”

  Jillian shook her head. “We would have entire police departments chasing their tails for no reason.”

  “That explains some of them, but what about the ones posted by family?” Ellie had a hard time believing family members would just go on, never digging deeper into the disappearance of their loved one. “Surely they know their loved one is actually missing. I get that social media is like the modern-day missing poster, but that’s not enough, is it? Why would they post online and not go to the police?”

  “You’d be shocked at how many missing people are found by online sleuths. And some of those families did file a report first. But when the police point out evidence that suggests their loved one left on their own, a lot of families don’t want to believe it. It’s not a crime to walk away and start a new life.”

  “Unless you’re already a criminal.”

  “And that accounts for some of the others,” Jillian added. “If you do a quick search of some of these missing women, they have someone in their household with an active warrant. If someone is hiding from the police, they’re not going to call us to their house to look for clues in a disappearance.”

  “It just breaks my heart. With cameras almost everywhere and the power of social media, we should be able to find most of these people in days, if not weeks. There’s no reason for someone to stay missing unless they want to. Even then, it’s next to impossible to erase your electronic footprint.”