by Dale Mayer
Harrison came over and read the name below hers. “Do you know any of the names below yours?”
She read the rest of the page and shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
Logan said, “We should get this to the police right away. They’ll contact these women and see if they are still safe.” He turned the page and found four more names.
Alina’s finger shot out and stabbed the last one on the list. “Tracy Evans.” She gasped. “I can’t believe her name is here.”
The men exchanged looks as they both pulled out their phones. Once again, she felt useless. Scared of what she’d found. Hoping beyond hope that maybe the other women were safe. She returned to the kitchen to finish going through that drawer, then started opening the rest of the cupboards.
She found one with a boxful of keys and a satchel tossed inside. The police would’ve gone through the bag for anything damaging. She pulled it out and checked. Too small to hold a laptop, but she’d seen kids at the university carry similar type bags. She did a quick glance through it, but it was empty. Which was why it was still here obviously. She went through the rest of the kitchen and didn’t find anything more.
She went to the hall closet and opened it. More junk, a mop and brooms. Which really surprised her because he didn’t seem to be doing any cleaning when he was here. On the upper shelf was cleanser, and above that had more cleaning supplies.
With nothing left to check, she went back into the living room. The men were still on their phones. She headed to the bathroom and gave it a very thorough check, then went to the bedroom. She remembered all of Colin’s movements when he ignored her. He’d opened the night table and dresser drawers, plus the closet while she lay here. She checked out both tables, but there was nothing. She looked in the closet; nothing there. She knew there shouldn’t be anything left to find. After all, the police would’ve been through this apartment.
The bed had been picked up, checked over thoroughly and obviously dropped again. It was on its frame on the box spring but askew. She got down on her hands and knees and checked underneath, but couldn’t see anything. The bed was on wheels, so she grabbed the frame at the back and pulled it toward the doorway, to look behind the headboard. A part of it fell. As she reached for it, it fell all the way to the floor. An envelope was taped to the back.
She ran back to the living room. Logan had finished his call. “Come see what I found.” Back in the bedroom, she pointed at the headboard.
He glanced around the bedroom. “Did you move the bed?”
She nodded. “I pulled it away from the wall. The police had obviously moved the mattresses and already dusted the headboard. We can see fingerprint dust all over it anyway. When I pulled the bed away from the wall, the headboard fell off.” She pointed to the floor. “And this envelope was taped behind it.”
He pulled out his phone and took several photos and then removed the 9x12 envelope. He walked back into the living room and held it so Harrison could see.
Harrison spoke into the phone. “I’ll call you back. Looks like we found a hidden envelope too.” He put his phone away. “Let’s clear off the coffee table and empty the contents onto a smooth surface.”
They were photographs. Lots of them. Most were of the women. All held in the bedroom, or in the suitcase, evidence that Colin had been the one who had taken them. Those who were tied up were bloodied, bruised.
None were of Alina. She sat back and said, “I’m so damn grateful I’m not among that nasty collection.” She hung her head. “What’s wrong with me? I should be feeling bad for the other women instead.”
“All these women are unconscious. These are reprints. And if you aren’t here, we have hope that, while you were unconscious, he wasn’t up to other stuff.” He held up one photo with a woman nude, obviously tied and unconscious.
Alina clapped her hand over her mouth and shook her head. “Oh, my God.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach and paced the small apartment.
Logan lined up the photos, recognizing most of the faces from the files Levi had gotten access to. Logan looked inside the envelope and found one more picture. He pulled it out and dropped it to the table on top of the others. This one was of men.
Harrison picked it up, studied it. “And why the heck does he have this here?”
Logan looked. “Blackmail. In case anything ever went wrong, he had this photo along with all the women.”
“So, if we can identify the men in this photo …”
Alina walked back over to them. “How many are there?”
“Four in the photo. And if I’m not mistaken, they look familiar. As in the ringleaders who were released and disappeared. But the photo is older, so we’d have to confirm my ID.”
Harrison looked over at her with respect. “This was a really good find.”
She nodded, but didn’t feel like smiling. “It’s also horrible. A couple of those women don’t even look like they’re alive.”
Logan picked up several and turned them over. “Names and dates. Likely the time he picked them up.”
“And something else. A number. This one says sixteen,” Harrison said.
“Is that victim number sixteen?” she asked. “Or was he paid sixteen thousand?”
Logan shook his head. “It’s too hard to tell what the number represents.” He checked them all. They were all numbered. “The first couple have more information though. This one says, ‘eight thousand, Jason.’ The second, ‘ten thousand, Lance.’ Two of the first names of the four suspected traffickers. It’s quite possible in the early days these are the men who paid Colin directly. All in all, there are four different men’s names, matching the four we’re looking into. The rest don’t include names. There are fourteen photos, each one of a different woman. At least we know that’s how many we’re looking for. I was afraid fourteen purses were actually just the most recent missing women.”
“Again it’s more proof that he was involved. But hopefully these photos are the ones we really can use.” Harrison then lined them up carefully, took pictures and then returned them to the envelope. “We should take these to the police.” He stopped and looked at Alina. “Do you feel like you’ve had a good look, found everything there is to find?”
She shook her head. “I never checked his dresser.” She ran back to the bedroom, buoyed by the two things she had found. In both cases, they would be hugely useful. They went through all the drawers, pulling every one out, checking inside, around, and behind them, but there was nothing more.
At the end, she asked the men to pull the dresser away from the wall, saying, “I found the envelope when moving the headboard, and the back panel fell off. Maybe the back of this comes off too.”
The men did that and then carefully pried off the back. It matched the headboard, so they had to check. With the back removed, they found nothing more.
Still not ready to leave, she headed to the night table, took off the stuff on top and turned it upside down to lie on its side on the bed. She checked it over but found nothing.
Harrison grabbed the other one and did the same. She went back to the headboard, still on the floor, and checked to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. Finally, she stood in the room and said, “I don’t think anything else is here.”
Both men nodded, and Harrison said, “And we would agree with that.”
Logan reached out a hand to grasp hers. “Let’s go. We’ll drop these off at the police station, then get that food we promised you.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “At least now I feel like I earned a meal. I couldn’t stand the thought that another woman might be missing, and here I was warm, free, and being fed while she was likely tied to a bed. She probably still is, but maybe now we can track her.”
“What we can confirm is she’s been taken by the same group of assholes. And her time will run out—soon.”
*
At the police station, Logan kept his arm around Alina. It was either that or let her pace until her shoe
s had holes in the bottoms.
Coming into the police station was unnerving for a lot of people. In her case, it was very understandable. But he thought it was more the realization that another woman had been taken in her place. She’d been amazingly resilient so far. He wanted her to hold on a little longer.
They had to meet with the police, and Logan would keep it as short as possible. After that they’d head off to a restaurant, feed her and then take her back to the hotel. He was hoping she’d go to sleep easily. But he wasn’t sure if it was possible tonight.
Last night she’d slept, but that was more about physical exhaustion. He knew she was still feeling incredibly sore, but apparently she was the kind who never complained. And she had no prescription to be filled, so she was handling her injuries without painkillers. That made him respect her even more.
After asking for Detective Easterly by name, they were escorted to a table in a small room. They all took seats on one side and waited. The detective came in quickly with a notepad. When they showed him all the stuff they’d found, he shook his head.
“I can’t believe any of this was missed.”
But when they explained where the stuff had been found, it helped to mollify his anger.
As they handed it all over, Logan said, tapping the picture with the males, “We think this picture of the four guys is connected to all these women individually photographed. That this is the group of kidnappers and these were their victims. We need to find proof of that though.” He spread out the women’s photos. “The early ones have men’s names on the back. We’re really hoping that has something to do with these male faces. If we’re lucky, that might be the names to help identify them. A lot of photos have no male names written on the backs.”
Detective Easterly quickly went through the photos, then looked at Alina. “None are of you.” He looked at each man with a hard glare, as if thinking they had stolen it to protect her.
“I don’t remember him ever taking any. I never saw him with a camera.” She shook her head. “Chances are he takes his photos and then gets them printed. He didn’t have time with me.”
The detective dropped his gaze to the pictures and nodded. “That’s possible.” He picked up the notebook and shook his head. “So many women.”
“And under my name is a check mark,” she said bitterly. “Nice to know he was keeping track.”
Logan leaned forward and tapped the name at the very end. “This woman is the one I called you about. She didn’t show up for her shift at the hospital. Unfortunately, we’re afraid she’s been taken in Alina’s place.”
The cop nodded. “Given her physical stature and similar size…it’s all too likely. Forensics are all over the suitcase, and they’ve found hair and in some cases blood. There are also epithelial cells. It’s gonna take a while, but we will get to the bottom of it.” He glanced over at her. “Where are you staying? And are you back at work?”
She shook her head a little too violently for the occasion, Logan thought. He reached over and grabbed her hand to help her calm down. She took a deep breath. “I stayed the first night at my place. The guys were with me to make sure I could actually get some sleep, but I can’t stay there anymore,” she said. “Look what they just did. Colin threatened they would come after me. But now that they’ve taken Tracy, I don’t know if they’re still after me or not. I want to leave. I want all this to go away.”
The cop’s face softened. “I’m sorry this happened to you. We’re doing our best to solve it.”
She reached out with both hands and clung to Logan. “Can I leave town? Go to Texas and stay with a friend there?” She looked at the cop hopefully. “I’m just so scared. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I have nobody here.”
The cop frowned. “As much as I understand you need to get away …”
Logan butted in. “Unless, of course, you can do a round-the-clock detail for her?” There was no budget for such a thing. “Otherwise we can escort her to Texas and see her settled with her friend there. She should be able to rebuild a new life and hopefully forget this one. She can fly back for the court case.”
Detective Easterly frowned, staring at the new evidence in front of him.
Alina squeezed Logan’s fingers hard as if to say thank you.
Harrison added smoothly, “Of course we won’t be leaving just yet.”
Detective Easterly looked up and nodded. “You guys came up with a lot of very helpful information. Not everybody here is very happy about that. But we must find these missing women, and fast. Worrying about egos is not my department right now.”
Logan grinned. “It’s all right. We understand. We’ll do what we can while we’re here.”
“I had Artie track down the woman’s address. We had a black-and-white go over there, but she’s not answering her door. Now that I see Ms. Evans’s name here, we’ll assume the worst. We’ll get officers inside her apartment.”
Logan lifted that piercing gaze of his and stared at her. “Can you think of anybody else who might’ve been involved? Any chance somebody you work with might have been helping Colin?”
She shook her head. “I can’t imagine. It never occurred to me what Colin had been doing. I never liked him, but still didn’t think he was capable …”
The cop’s gaze narrowed with interest. “How often would you see him, and how did he try to approach you?”
“He kept asking me for dates, but I kept saying no. Then the day I was kidnapped, I went the cafeteria to get coffee. It was after my shift, and he was there, so I sat down with him.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t remember anything after that.”
The cop nodded. “Chances are he drugged your coffee.”
“Because I was snatched from the hospital where I worked,” she said in a trembling voice, “I don’t want to go back there. All I’ll ever do is look over my shoulder.”
Logan wanted to add something, but knew it wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t matter if she went to this hospital or not ever again. It would take a long time to stop looking over her shoulder regardless. He’d known several people who had been kidnapped, and one thing they always felt was that sensation of heading into danger again. They always carried that feeling of having to watch their back to make sure they were safe.
She glanced at the other two men. “But I’ll feel so much better when all these missing women are found, especially Tracy. She’s the most recent and should be easiest to track, right?”
At that, the detective’s phone rang. He answered it; the others waited while he finished the call. “That was the black-and-white. They’re at the apartment right now. The door was open. The lock showed signs of forced entry. No sign of her in the apartment.”
With that Alina sank back with a cry. Logan reached out and held her in his arms. “Calm down. This is not your fault.”
“But if you hadn’t rescued me, she would have been safe.”
Harrison shook his head. “You can’t think like that. For all you know, they were planning on snatching her too. Her name is in the book.”
She stared, her mouth open. “What kind of a world do we live in where they’d take women from their homes and put them in suitcases to sell to the highest bidder?”
Logan looked at the cop, but he was phoning someone again.
“Does the apartment building have security cameras?” he asked Easterly.
He smiled at Logan and said, “Give me a couple minutes. I’m checking.” While they waited, Easterly rose and excused himself. When he came back, he said, “Yes, they do. Getting the videos right now to look.” He turned to Alina. “I’d like you to watch, see if you recognize the person taking her out of her apartment. Of course, I can’t guarantee any decent imagery. But, just in case, would you mind waiting until we can look?”
She bolted to her feet. “No, I don’t mind. Yes, I’ll definitely look at the video. Anything to help find her.”
Easterly took them to another area, where several monitors were set up. He ask
ed her to take a seat, and with Harrison and Logan standing behind, they watched the camera feed. And sure enough, sometime earlier today, a large male, tall, his back to the camera, popped the outside door open and in seconds was inside Tracy’s apartment. The recording came with no audio, so they couldn’t hear what went on. They fast-forwarded, waiting for the man to come out. When he did, he pulled away a large suitcase on wheels.
“Where did he get that from?” Alina asked.
Logan said, “He probably delivered it to her apartment earlier.”
The cameras followed him to the elevators. But he was very careful to keep his face out of sight. He disappeared into an elevator. They switched to a camera inside it, but again, he kept his face out of view. They followed him outside, but it never once caught a glimpse of his face.
He was tall though. And large. She tried to place a physique like that but didn’t really see a resemblance to anyone she knew.
He stopped outside on the street, turned toward the first intersection. He looked up, then crossed the street.
Logan asked, “Can you patch into the city cameras from here?”
Detective Easterly called over a different police officer. He sat, shifted programs and on the screen on the right brought up the camera at the intersection. Sure enough, it caught the full face of the man hauling the suitcase.
Logan yelled, “That’s it. I know who that is.”
Detective Easterly asked, “Who?”
Logan turned to Harrison. “Do you recognize him? From this morning?”
Harrison nodded. “Oh, yeah. That’s the asshole who gave us the boxes he had kept after his brother’s death.” He snorted. “That’s John Lingam, terrified to talk to the police, brother of Joe, whose address was linked to the four traffickers.”
Chapter 12
Leaving the police station and heading for the nearest restaurant that looked good to them all, Alina asked Logan, “Did you mention it to Levi?” This time she was in the passenger seat while Logan drove.