by Rebecca Deel
“Great. So how do we find this guy?” She frowned. “It’s a sure bet he won’t return your calls.”
“We could drive around Black River since it’s not that large, or return to Al’s place and check the police scanner.” The police station was another option. Perhaps the desk sergeant might offer another tip. Last resort, though. He didn’t want the sergeant to face a reprimand.
Quinn searched the faces of the responding officers, recognizing a few from his high school years. One of them might be willing to confirm Bennett’s absence from the scene. “I’ll ask some questions of officers I know. Wait here.”
“No way. I want to go with you.”
He turned. “Baby, it’s cold outside and you’re a target. I’m trying to keep you comfortable and alive which is easier to do if you’re not out in the open.”
“I’ll warm up soon enough, especially if we stop and purchase coffee when we’re finished here,” she pointed out. “The killer hasn’t tried to shoot me, Quinn. His weapon of choice is fire. Unless he’s acquired a flame thrower, I should be safe. I doubt the killer would be foolish enough to try something with me surrounded by law enforcement officers.”
He blew out a breath in frustration and reminded himself he couldn’t put her in bubble wrap, either. This wasn’t a life or death situation where he had cause to overrule her wishes. Heidi wanted to be part of solving her sister’s murder and he couldn’t blame her for that decision. Quinn wanted a chance to bring down the person who caused his father to take his own life.
After a quick nod, he climbed from the vehicle and met her on the sidewalk. “Let’s see if my old friends recognize you.”
Holding hands, they made their way through the crowd and walked to the closest cop on the perimeter of the scene.
“Help you?” the cop muttered.
“You haven’t changed a bit since high school, Sully.” Quinn smiled at the startled officer. “How’s your family, buddy?”
“Quinn! Haven’t seen you since graduation, man. You look great. Where have you been all these years?”
“Deployed around the globe. I enlisted in the Army as soon as the ink dried on my high school diploma. Spent twelve years in, then transitioned to a private security firm.”
“Wow. No wonder we haven’t seen you around town. What kind of work do you do for that firm? Is it like a rent-a-cop business?”
Amusement had his lips twitching. “Not quite. We specialize in high value target security and hostage rescue.” A very low key description of a high octane job. “What have you been up to since high school?”
“Couple years of community college, then started working for the police department when I couldn’t find anything else that suited me.”
“You like the job?”
Sully rolled his eyes. “Some days. Most of the time, though, I’m stuck on traffic detail or crowd control. We get our share of looky-loos at wrecks and crime scenes. People are a bunch of busybodies.”
Quinn tilted his head, considering his friend’s words and the tone with which he’d said them. “So you’re a twelve-year vet of the police force and still doing grunt work?”
“Got to know somebody to get your detective shield. More politics than skill and knowledge.” A wry smile curved his friend’s mouth.” Guess I don’t know the right people.”
“Does Detective Bennett know the right people?”
A scowl marred Sully’s face. “Oh, yeah. His old man had a lot of clout in this town and on the force. Can’t do nothing wrong.”
“What kind of detective is he?”
He leaned close. “Lousy, but don’t repeat that. Why are you asking about Bennett?”
“He might have information that could help us solve a cold case.”
Sully blinked, then shifted his gaze to Heidi. “Who are you?”
She held out her hand. “I’m Heidi Thompson, Quinn’s girlfriend.”
“Soon to be wife,” he corrected with a smile. “Heidi used to live here, Sully. Been twenty years ago. She went by the name Katie Henderson then.”
The policeman froze. “Your old man caused my family to end up in bankruptcy court.”
“Lot of that going around in those days. I’m sorry, Sully. What my father did was wrong on so many levels and hurt most of the town. He also hurt my family as well. His selfishness led to my sister’s death.”
“How old were you when all that went down?”
“Ten.”
“Just a kid,” he muttered, glancing around. “So what do you want to know? Maybe I can help.”
Quinn doubted that was the case. Sully had been in high school with Quinn at the time of the kidnapping. They’d been more interested in football and girls than a kidnapping, at least until the fallout washed through the town’s families. “We heard Bennett was here working a crime scene. Any chance we can talk to him for a minute?”
“Nope. Sorry, man. The detective left here thirty or forty minutes ago to head to another call.”
Huh. Interesting timing. That was about the time Quinn and Heidi arrived at Al’s place. “Did you happen to hear where he was going?”
A head shake. “Just somewhere on the east side of town. I can ask one of my buddies if you want, see if they overhead a specific location.”
“The call didn’t go through dispatch?”
“Not that I heard. Figured he was notified by cell.”
“Is that normal?”
“Nope. Might be meeting an informant. Those calls don’t go over the radio.”
“What about his partner, Salinger?” Heidi asked. “Is she here or did she leave, too?”
“They work in pairs, like the big city detectives, though if you ask me, Anne Marie is the one carrying the lion’s share of the load in that pair. She left when he did.”
“Thanks for talking to us, Sully,” Quinn said. “We won’t keep you any longer.”
“Sure. Great seeing you again. Don’t be such a stranger.”
“You bet.”
Back in the SUV, Quinn cranked the engine and turned the heat on high to alleviate Heidi’s shivering. His cell phone rang. He glanced at the readout. Al. Had he copied the file so soon? “Hey, Al.”
“Anne Marie is here at the station alone. Don’t know where Junior got off to.”
“Do you think she’d talk to us at work?”
“I think so. I’m in the copy room right now. Should be safe enough if I commandeer an interview room and ask questions about the case. I don’t want to alert anyone that she’s helping you. No one would be surprised that I’m still poking a stick at this case. We’ve all got cases we couldn’t close that haunt us. The Henderson kidnapping is mine.”
“We’ll be there soon, Al.” Quinn ended the call, praying they caught a break from Anne Marie Salinger. He had a feeling time was running out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Quinn opened the front door of the police station and escorted Heidi inside. Sergeant Banks glanced up, eyes widening when he recognized them.
“Can I help you?” His eyes shifted slightly to the left toward a group of cops gathered nearby, talking quietly.
“We’re here to see Al Graham. He’s a family friend, told me to look him up when I was in town. He said he’d be here for a while, shooting the breeze with his friends. Will you tell him we’re here?”
Banks relaxed a fraction. “Sure. Wait over there,” he said, indicating a row of benches for visitors. The group of cops glanced at Quinn and Heidi with varying expressions, ranging from curiosity to suspicion to outright hostility.
Tough crowd. He and Heidi sat, waited. Five minutes later, Banks waved them over. “Through the double doors, down the hall to your left. Second door.”
“Thanks, Sergeant.”
He pressed his hand to the small of Heidi’s back and urged her past the knot of cops who stopped talking as they drew near. Locating the right room, Quinn opened the heavy wooden door.
“Quinn!” Al grinned, rose, and wrapped him in a
tight hug. “Good to see you, my boy. And who is this beautiful young woman?”
Quinn went along with the ruse, seeing the subterfuge as a way to protect Al as much as possible. He introduced Heidi again to his friend, then turned to the curious woman seated at the interrogation table, papers strewn across the flat surface in front of her. He held out his hand. “Quinn Gallagher. This is my girlfriend, Heidi.”
“Nice to meet a friend of Al’s. I’m Anne Marie Salinger.” The detective stood. “I’ll get out of your way so you three can talk.”
Al closed the door to the interrogation room and leaned back against it. “Actually, we’d like for you to stay if you have time. We need your help, Anne Marie.”
She resumed her seat and waved them to seats across from her. “What’s going on?”
Quinn glanced at the camera in the corner of the ceiling. No red light. No way to be sure someone wouldn’t slip into the observation room next door, but he didn’t have the luxury of waiting. Bennett could return to the station any time and when he did he would find his partner. “Heidi and I used to live in Black River twenty years ago. My family still lives here.”
“Noreen Gallagher.” Anne Marie’s face brightened. “She’s a sweet lady.”
“Yes, she is.” She was also tough as nails. His mother would still get in his face if she thought his behavior was foolish. Nothing like being taken to task by a woman thirty years your senior and almost a foot shorter. Noreen Gallagher didn’t put up with any garbage from her children even if they were all adults. “Heidi used to go by the name Katie Henderson.”
Her startled gaze shifted to Heidi. “You’ve been gone a long time. Why did you return?”
“Justice. I want to find my sister’s killer.”
The detective’s face hardened. “That’s our job, Ms. Henderson. Civilians messing around in law enforcement investigations run a high risk of being hurt.”
“Thompson. Heidi Thompson. Katie Henderson is my past. This is who I am now, a woman seeking answers to a mystery that still haunts me to this day.”
“Look, the kidnapping was a tragedy for you and your family. No one’s arguing that. We’ve never stopped looking into your case, but we haven’t found new leads. Nothing but dead ends.”
“I know you want to close this case,” Quinn said.
“No cop wants an unsolved case on the record. I’m working with the son of the original investigator, as I’m sure Al told you since it’s obvious now you came to talk to me. Bennett and I chased every investigative avenue and got nowhere.” She turned to Heidi. “What prompted you to return to Black River now?” Suspicion lit her gaze.
Anne Marie Salinger was pure cop, suspicious of everyone’s motives. One thing he’d learned over the years in dealing with terrorists. Everybody lied. Some with good intentions, some with bad.
“Quinn and I are getting married soon.”
Anne Marie blinked. “Congratulations. What does that have to do with me?”
“We’ll be constantly looking over our shoulders, wondering when the next fire will be set.” Heidi leaned forward, arms folded on the table. “Our future children will be in danger until the second kidnapper is caught and put behind bars. I don’t want to lose my sons and daughters the way I lost my mother and older sister.”
“Next fire?” The detective’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by that? You aren’t talking about the fire that killed your family, are you?”
“That was the first of many incidents over the years.” She explained the sequence of events, touching on each of the fires, ending with the latest one at her rental house. “I can’t take the chance that something will happen to Quinn or our family. I won’t hide from this coward any more. It’s time to end this thing once and for all before someone else dies.”
The detective remained silent a moment, then said, “How can I help?”
A simple statement that had Quinn’s fists loosening. “What can you tell us about Bennett?”
Like a door slamming shut, her expression closed off.
Yep, that’s what he expected to happen. Quinn admitted to himself that he would close ranks if someone went after a member of his Delta unit. That’s what happened when the feds had looked at Alex for the murder of his father, a U.S. senator. “Look, I know it seems disloyal to talk about your partner behind his back. I appreciate your reluctance, but Bennett won’t be willing to talk to us about his family. That’s the information we need. Will you help us?”
“You’re right about Ivan.” Her fingers drummed on the table top. “He doesn’t like to talk about his family. Can you blame him? His sister’s in a psych hospital and so was his father until he died. My partner is worried the higher ups in the department will begin questioning his judgment.”
“What about you?” Heidi asked. “Do you question his judgment?”
Anne Marie’s expression became guarded again. “I’ve never had reason to.”
Something there, but what? Quinn would circle back around to that.
“You said you and Bennett continue to investigate,” Al reminded her. “Learn anything new recently?”
“You know I can’t talk about an open investigation,” she muttered.
“Come now, Anne Marie.” Al sat in the one free chair. “We both know it’s not uncommon to interview witnesses and victims again in an attempt to unearth another avenue to explore.” He inclined his head toward Heidi. “Here’s your witness and victim. To ignore a golden opportunity to move this investigation forward would be remiss of you.”
Humor sparked in her eyes. “I guess it would. So, Heidi, would you be willing to answer questions?”
“Try me.” Under cover of the table, Heidi clasped Quinn’s hand. “I’ll answer what I can. I still have gaps in my memory from the kidnapping.”
“Traumatic amnesia?”
“That’s what the therapists said.”
“More than one?”
“A string of them when I was living with my aunt and uncle. They worried I wasn’t coping well with the loss of my family.”
“What prompted that?”
“I wouldn’t talk for months after my home burned and my father went to prison. My aunt and uncle thought talking to a professional might help me move through the grief and shock faster.”
“Were they right?”
“I started talking again not long after beginning therapy so I suppose it worked. So, Detective Salinger, what do you want to ask me?”
Quinn listened without comment as the detective took Heidi back through the painful events of her kidnapping. In spite of a growing pressure to punch the closest wall, he kept his feet firmly planted on the tile floor of the interrogation room and his body glued to the chair as the woman he loved described the last moments of her sister’s life and her own desperate flight into the darkness to find help for Moira.
He couldn’t go back in time and prevent the heartbreak and trauma of those days. He could, however, support her the only way at his disposal. Holding her hand was nothing considering he wanted the second kidnapper centered in his rifle scope. But he’d hold her hand forever if it reminded her of his love and support.
“Do you remember what the second kidnapper looked like?” Al asked. Quinn’s friend had fallen into an easy rhythm of asking questions along with Anne Marie. The younger detective didn’t seem to mind.
“His face is a blur,” Heidi whispered, her gaze focused on the scarred wooden table.
“The second kidnapper is a man?” Anne Marie asked. “You’re positive?”
Quinn watched Bennett’s partner. Had there been some doubt as to the sex of the second kidnapper? This was the second time he had listened to Heidi recount her experience and she hadn’t changed her statement. She believed her father’s partner was a man. No reason to ask this particular question unless the cops believed Henderson involved the woman he’d been having an affair with in his kidnapping scheme. Did the suspicion surface during Al’s time?
He glanced at
his friend who gave him a slight head shake. Ah. So the information was new.
“It was a man,” Heidi insisted. “A woman’s hands wouldn’t look like the kidnapper’s.”
“You remember the hands but not the face?”
“That’s right.”
“How did the hands look?”
“Big, strong, wiry black hair on the backs. I told Al and his partner the second kidnapper was a man right after I escaped.”
“How old do you think this guy was at the time of the kidnapping?”
Heidi raised her head, her gaze locking with Quinn’s.
He straightened at the pure terror in the depths of her eyes. Decades old terror. “Baby, what is it?” he asked, his voice soft and low.
Perspiration beaded on her forehead. “I….” Her voice trailed off.
Quinn reached cupped her face with his palm. “No one will get through me to you. I’ll protect you with my life.” He brushed his lips over hers in a light kiss, a reminder that he would stand between her and the danger stalking her. “You know what I’m capable of, sweetheart. Trust me.”
She gave a short nod and eased back from Quinn. Her hand clenched on his as she turned to Anne Marie and Al. “The second kidnapper was young, maybe late teens or early twenties. He didn’t move with the same assurance of an older man. I can’t tell you exactly why I think that except to say he felt young and inexperienced to me. Of course, as a kid, I wouldn’t have been able to voice that distinction.” A wry smile curved her lips. “After I lost my mother and older sister in that house fire, I didn’t speak at all for almost a year.”
“Not a bad assessment of the perp for a traumatized ten-year-old.” Al nodded his approval. “Did he have any distinguishing marks or mannerisms?”
She shuddered. “A tattoo on his hand. I keep seeing it in my dreams. I can’t wait until we find this guy so I can stop having the same nightmares over and over again.”