by D. A. Brown
“Lap dog, huh?” Jess leaned against the windowsill. She had a softness to her that Sophia had never noticed. When she first came to the unit, Sophia thought Jess was more interested in looking good than doing good. For the first time, she felt a kinship with her, as though she was the only person she could trust.
“Ok, we’ve got to think this through.” Jess sat next to Sophia and scratched Bodhi under the neck in the sweet spot. The pup’s tail wagged.
“We have to get this to Anderson in ICAC. I think they’re out from under the late Chief Burton’s sphere of influence, you know, just in case there are others…” Jess sat up. “There’s nothing on here that’s evidence in David’s homicide, right?”
“Not that I can see, but who the hell knows? I mean, what if they’re all involved? What if this,” she shook the envelope containing the drive, “what if this is what got David killed?”
“Look, George Anderson and those guys have got to have more information by now. They took a ton of stuff, computers, drives, all sorts of evidence from that house, and from those other guys, when they served the warrant. We need to talk to him first.”
“And then we’ll deal with homicide?”
“Yes, and then we’ll deal with homicide. We’ll have to finesse that conversation. But let’s deal with this thing first.” Jess pointed at the envelope.
“Well, they’re the last people I want to piss off. I might as well withdraw my name from consideration, take it off the eligibility list. They won’t touch me with a ten foot pole.” Sophia closed her eyes.“Have you heard anything about how the homicide investigation is going?”
“I’ve tried to get an answer out of my contact, but he’s being pretty tightlipped. But there’s something going on with Stinson. I walked over there the other day and heard one of the guys say his name and when he saw me, they all clammed up.”
“Let’s get this over to George in the morning,” Jess said. “Do you feel OK to be alone?”
“I’ve got the mutt.”
“You know what I’m talking about.” Jess smiled.
Sophia took Jess’ hand and squeezed it. “I’m good, really.”
Jess held onto Sophia’s hand. “I can stay. I’d like to stay.”
Sophia let her hand remain in Jess’ grasp. She closed her eyes.
Jess kissed her, pulling her toward her.
“I can’t…”
“Not now or never?” Jess let go of her hand and leaned against the armrest.
“I’m a little drunk.”
“And?”
“And I’m not ready for this.”
“I shouldn’t have.”
Sophia stood and walked to the door. “I’m sorry.”
“I get it.” Jess slipped out the front door and jogged to her car.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
A cold front moved into the Pacific Northwest shortly after midnight, and a frigid breeze snuck though the old double-hung windows in Sophia’s bedroom. She nearly fell out of bed reaching for the heavy wool blanket that was draped over the chair next to the bed. Exhaustion and Bodhi’s warm body kept her sound asleep until the alarm clock went off.
She rolled onto her side and scratched Bodhi behind the ears. She closed her eyes and thought about Jess. The kiss had come out of left field. She’d been unprepared but not unwilling.
After a hot shower, she got dressed in a pressed pair of dark pants and a crisp white blouse she purchased during her amnesty from work.
Sophia parked her car in her usual stall and walked into the building. Her desk was covered with case files and new intakes.Tommy’s desk was clean. His chair was pushed in up against the desk and there was no sign of his briefcase. She cracked open one of the bins above his desk. It was empty. He was either getting ready to retire or getting ready to be fired.
Sophia heard footsteps down the hall. She expected to see Tommy but it was Jess who gave her a quick nod, and headed to her desk.
Sophia walked over and leaned on the cubical wall.
“Sorry about how I left things last night.”
“I shouldn’t have…” She paused and looked over the cubicles. She lowered her voice. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. I don’t want this to be weird.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
Jess laughed. “So there’s hope then?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jess pulled off her gun and put it in her top drawer.
Sophia pulled out the stack of photos and spread them across her desk. “We need to go down to ICAC and talk to George Anderson. He needs to see this stuff. Plus, I want to know where they are on the case.”
“Sounds good. I don’t have anything on my plate today, unless you want to wait for Tommy.”
“Let’s go. I don’t even know if he works here anymore.”
When Sophia and Jess walked into ICAC, several people started clapping.
George peeked out of his office.
“Hey, welcome back. You did the world a great service by taking out Augustine Verbeck. He was a frequent flyer down here.”
“I guess I should say thanks but I honestly don’t know how I feel about it.”
“Take it while you can. No doubt it won’t last.” George waved the two women into his office and asked them to take a seat. He got up and shut the door.
“I’m really glad to see you, Sophia.” He looked at Jess. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“I thought you knew Jess. She’s been in SAU for a couple of years,” Sophia said.
Jess shook George’s hand. She sat back down and George leaned up against his desk.
“So this child porn ring is incredibly extensive. We’re talking worldwide. This is huge, Sophia.”
“You’re kidding me.” Sophia said.
Jess smiled.
“No, I’m not kidding. We’re still trying to confirm how widespread. Obviously we believe Marcus Burton played some role or at the very least, he enabled them to operate without much scrutiny.” He stroked his beard. “Although, maybe his ex-wife might be able to add…”
“How about David Montero,” Sophia said. “Was he involved in this?”
“We found nothing to link anyone by that name. But I have to tell you, it’s still pretty early in the investigation. We have a ton of information we still need to get from the computers. Who’s he again?”
Sophia pulled the file folder from her case and spread the pictures from David’s thumb drive on George’s desk. “He was my ex-husband.”
“I didn’t know that.” George looked at the photos. “But I haven’t seen his name on any hard drives.”
“How about the name Isabel Proust?”
George looked at her and frowned. “No, can’t say it does. Should it?” He looked at the photos one by one.
“Where did you get these?”
“They came from David.”
“When?”
“Actually, I got them from this Proust woman. She met me for coffee a couple of days ago and handed me an envelope with this thumb drive in it. She said she found it in David’s things when she was cleaning up.” Sophia pulled out the envelope and handed it to George. “I think this now is evidence in the case.” She glanced over at Jess and then back to George.
“Ok, I recognize Burton, and I’m assuming that’s Stewart Halifax. Who’s this?” He leaned in to get a better look.
“Well, that’s the complicating factor here. I think it’s Proust.”
“So she dumps off evidence implicating herself to you and disappears into thin air?”
“That’s what I said,” Jess said.
“Do you have a location for Ms. Proust?”
“Nope. I met her for coffee not for an interrogation. And don’t bother, I already ran her through all of the databases. She doesn’t exist. And her phone number, which I might add, worked just fine the other day, is disconnected.”
“She was probably spoofing her number anyway, if she k
nows what she’s doing. Odd that she would even want to meet with you. Why not just drop this in the mail?”
“I have no idea.”
“So have you been able to connect Stewart Halifax to this case?” Jess said.
George scratched his head. “We’ve got his daughter Grace identified in several of the photos now. We didn’t have him on film until these pictures you brought in today.” He sat down at his desk. “But none of the suspects picked him out from a photo montage.”
“That won’t matter now. I mean, this is clearly Halifax in these photos.”
George held up his hands. “Well, there’s some pressure being brought to bear about how we go forward.”
Jess stood up and started to pace. “From where?”
“From the prosecutor’s office. They’re very nervous about going up against Stewart Halifax and his fleet of lawyers.”
“Well, that’s bullshit. We need the evidence on those computers that links Halifax to this ring. Now we have a photo of him at the scene of the dead drop with Marcus Burton, who presumably killed himself because of all of this. I’m not asking you to manufacture it George, but I know it’s on there, and I know he’s guilty. As far as I’m concerned, there’s at least a couple of deaths directly related to this investigation. I’m not going to sleep knowing that that little girl is still living under the same roof as that monster. And who knows what’s happened to those other kids?”
Sophia’s cell phone rang. It was Tommy. She stepped out of George’s office, leaving Jess and George in silence.
“Hey what’s up?”
“Sophia, I need to talk to you right away.”
“Meet me at George Anderson’s office.”
“Ok, I’ll be there in fifteen.”
The first thing that Tommy saw were the pictures spread across the desk. Jess stood in the corner, and Sophia in front of the desk.
“What’s this?” asked Tommy.
“Photos of Stewart Halifax and Marcus Burton and a woman who’s probably in the wind.”
He slowly moved his hand over the prints and then pushed them away. “Who’s the woman?”
“I don’t know for sure.” Sophia stood in front of Tommy. “Where the hell have you been, by the way?”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Tommy’s face was bright red, and sweat ran down his temple.
“I took some time off.” He looked down and then at Sophia. “Where did you get these photographs?”
“It was on another thumb drive that David was trying to get to me.”
“How did he know about the drop?”
“I don’t know, Tommy. Somehow he stumbled on the photos, put two and two together and figured out it was related to the case we were working..”
“That’s a little thin.”
Sophia looked over at George. “This is your case. How do you want to proceed?”
“You’ve brought new evidence to me which I am obligated to investigate. We probably should let my sergeant know about these photographs, and let it play out.”
“So who’s the woman in the photos, assuming it’s a woman?” Tommy picked up the photo.
“Not really sure, but I think it’s someone named Isabel Proust.”
“And I don’t know this name because…?” Tommy looked at Sophia.
“I tried to call you. She wanted to meet with me and I agreed.”
“And now she’s a suspect in this whole thing and you didn’t think it was important to try a little harder to reach me?” Tommy walked out of George’s office, slamming the door behind him.
Tommy climbed into his car and quickly drove from the parking lot.
“Jesus, I thought shooting someone would feel bad. I swear to god, it almost feels worse knowing I may have been played by that woman, and now I feel guilty about keeping Tommy in the dark and treating him like he’s some child. What is wrong with me?” Sophia and Jess walked out to their car.
“Nothing’s wrong with you. And if you want my opinion, Tommy’s being an asshole. He’s been AWOL, not on leave. He wasn’t taking anyone’s calls.”
“I need to ask you something.”
Jess looked at Sophia.
“Did you think Tommy was drunk at the shooting?”
“Of course not. Who said he was?”
“At the FRB, the captain asked me about it. Said Tommy was drunk and had to leave the scene.”
“That’s crazy. He was there…”
“Jess?”
“He left early but I was under the impression he had a medical thing.”
“But he wasn’t drunk.”
“I didn’t smell anything other than that god-awful cologne he was wearing. Besides, he doesn’t drink, right?”
“Right.”
As they pulled into the parking lot, Sophia noticed Tommy’s car already parked and empty.
Sophia and Jess walked into the office. The door to Pierson’s office was closed.
Julie was at her desk prepping the weeklies for the commanders. She didn’t look up.
“Who’s in there?” Sophia asked.
“Stinson.” Julie said as she turned and answered the phone.
Jimmy stood up and peered over his cubicle.
“Hey Benedetti, your phone’s been ringing off the hook since you left. Answer the goddamned thing.”
“Well, whoever it is hasn’t left a message. Are you sure it was my phone and not Tommy’s?”
“Yeah, I’m sure it was your phone. I got up and looked. It was a blocked number.
Sophia picked up her cell phone. She had four missed calls.
The first message was from Victoria Tilden, informing her that she had some ‘fabulously interesting news.’ The last three messages were hangup calls. As she listened to her voicemail, another call came in.
“Hello?”
“Detective, it’s Barrett Halifax.”
“How can I help you, Barrett?”
“I need to see you.” It sounded as though he’d been crying.
“See me about what?”
“About my sister.”
“Barrett, I’m probably not the right person for you to talk to. I can put you in contact with the current case detective.”
“I don’t want to talk to anyone else. It’s really important.”
Sophia looked around the room. Jess watched her out of the corner of her eye.
“Where do you want to meet?”
Jess walked over and leaned on the corner of the cubicle.
“We could meet at the coffee shop on 10th Ave. How about in 20 minutes?” His voice began to fade as if he had moved away from the phone.
“Barrett, are you okay?”
“Just please hurry.” Sophia heard a muffled cry.
“You know you should really call George and let him deal with this,” Jess said.
“Barrett doesn’t know George. He may be our final chance to get to Stewart Halifax.”
Jess frowned. “If you get me kicked out of this unit and sent to first watch south, you’re coming with me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have your back. That is, if I still have a job when this is done.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Barrett sat at a small table in a darkened corner of the coffee shop. As Sophia neared the table, she saw the little girl who was at the center of one of the most convoluted investigations Sophia had ever known. Grace was an apt name for the cherubic little girl sitting quietly next to her brother. Dressed in a beautiful blue jacket and patent leather shoes, her blond hair lay softly in ringlets against her cheeks. She made no eye contact with Sophia.
Then Sophia saw Barrett’s face.
Both of his eyes were ringed with bruises, and a fresh scratch traveled from the middle of his forehead down the ridge of his nose. His hair looked as though it hadn’t been washed in several days. Sophia smiled at Grace and then looked at Barrett.
“What happened to your face?” She reached out and touched the side of his cheek. He flinched and looked dow
n.
“I got in a fight at school. It’s nothing.”
Sophia looked back at Jess, who pulled out an alcohol tissue from her bag.
“Here, why don’t you wipe the blood off your nose,”Jess said.
“Who’re you?”
“This is my partner, Detective Vance.” For the first time in three years, she was introducing someone other than Tommy as her partner.
“What happened to the old guy?” Barrett asked.
“He’s working on something else right now.”
“I kinda liked him, even though he was sort of a prick to me that last time.”
“Detective Stinson can be that way sometimes. You need to tell me what happened to you. I don’t believe this was a result of a fight at school.”
Barrett looked down at his sister. “You okay Gracie?” The little girl stared at Sophia, and then at Jess.
“How about I take Grace for a cup of hot chocolate?” Jess reached out her hand to the little girl who grabbed it. Grace jumped off the chair and followed Jess to the coffee bar.
Sophia sat next to Barrett and put her hand on his shoulder.
“What happened?”
Barrett hung his head and began to sob.
“Barrett it’s okay.”
He sobbed again.
“She’s my baby sister. I couldn’t protect her.” He covered his face with his hands.
Sophia grabbed a napkin and pressed it into his hand.
Jess walked over with Grace.
“We’re going to sit over there and play with my phone.” She took the little girl by the hand and sat her at a small table near a window.
Sophia turned to Barrett. “None of this is your fault.”
“I used to take a lot of pictures of my sister on my camera phone. She loved to dance around the room in her underwear. I uploaded the photos to my dad’s computer because my laptop wasn’t working. One day he found the photos and just started yelling at me. I didn’t understand why he was so angry. He told me to take the photos off my phone and called me a pervert.”
“Were they the same photos you saw on that website?”