Incisions

by Barbara Winkes

  “Here we go with the personal…You’re worried about me?”

  “No. I’m worried about her.”

  Secretly, Jordan felt the same. Ellie’s return to work and life after her abduction had been swift and smooth, maybe a bit too much—and she felt guilty because she knew Ellie was still trying to spare her. By not talking about details. Maybe, by moving out at the first opportunity.

  “She’ll be fine. Not everyone follows your textbooks.”

  Bethany laughed. “Now I’m insulted. My job isn’t just about textbooks, you know? Anyway, we both have someplace to be now. Good luck, Jordan.”

  “Thanks.”

  She could use it, and lots of it.

  * * * *

  Jordan quietly entered the interview room where Derek was sitting with Officer Wes Martin.

  “Whatever I can do to help. You want to know about Ward? I remember those guys he hung out with, too,” he said, seeming eager to help. “Mercer, Branson, they both seemed to make an honest effort.”

  Jordan winced, remembering Branson had tried to hit her over the head with a pipe, trying to escape. So much for an honest attempt. Still, his record looked infinitely better than Josh Ward’s.

  “Ellie—Officer Harding—arrested Branson once, but I think most of us brought in Ward at one time. I heard that in the beginning, his parents tried to bail him out, but eventually they disowned him. He was heading for disaster. Was there anything wrong with the arrests? Is that why I’m here?”

  “No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Derek assured him. “Those old cases might be related to a current one, and it’s important we go over every detail.”

  “Is that why the FBI is still in the house? Something big?”

  “We went over your reports. Is there anything you remember about Ward…maybe wanting to get back at the police, or did he make any personal threats?” Jordan asked.

  “Ward, no. I remember Branson lost it in court back then and yelled at Ellie. Ward never seemed to be the one to instigate. He was always someone’s hired help, and that’s how he got himself out time after time, turning on others.”

  If only he was alive to tell the story now, Jordan thought. Who was the mysterious man who had put Ward’s name on the lease of the apartment, and what was he up to now? Certainly the man on the loose with C4 was more worrisome, but Ellie’s kidnapper might lead them to him.

  “Did you talk about these cases to anyone outside of work?”

  Martin looked uneasy as if he was adding up the evidence that this was indeed more than a friendly conversation among colleagues. “Some guys at the bar,” he said nervously. “They’re all cops.”

  “That’s all right. Do you think someone could have overheard you, someone who’s not a cop?”

  “Come on, you talk cases there after the shift, don’t you?” Just like that, uneasy became defensive. “Besides, the owner used to be a cop, right?”

  “So you think somebody might have heard something they would have used—against you, or to plan the abduction of Officer Harding?”

  Officer Martin shook his head. “I really don’t like where this is going. I did nothing wrong. I thought you had a few questions over an arrest record, but this looks like I should get my union rep and a lawyer involved. Does Sergeant Bristol know?”

  “I do, Officer.”

  All eyes went to Bristol standing in the door. “Josh Ward attacked Officer Harding twice. He was arrested and let go only a week before the first time, in her neighbourhood. That was your arrest. If you have any other information, now would be the moment to come forward.”

  “I am not answering any more questions at this point,” Martin shot back.

  * * * *

  Jordan was late hurrying across the street and into the building that housed Sophie’s office. To her relief, she found Darla still in the waiting area, leafing through some information for mothers-to-be. She looked up when Jordan walked in.

  “Sophia said you wanted to talk to me,” she said, her expression guarded.

  “Yeah. Let me buy you a coffee?”

  Darla shrugged. “You don’t need to buy me food anymore. Believe it or not, I’ve got a pretty good handle on things, even though you probably can’t imagine that.”

  “Come on. I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

  “Are you? Sorry, I mean?”

  “What do you want me to say? I hope you didn’t lose your love for everything sweet, so I have a chance here to make it right. It’s not like I can tell you how to live your life.”

  “I won’t be depending on your tax dollars, if that’s what you think.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking,” Jordan confessed. “And by the way, you helped me a lot. It’s about time you catch a break. I was caught off guard.”

  “I guess so. I think I even understand, with what you told me. It’s not like I didn’t have a moment of panic myself, but I have people who support me now. I am not going to screw this up. All right, I won’t say no to something sweet, but you probably knew that already. How are you doing after everything?” Darla asked as they left the building and headed towards the café across the street.

  “That’s a good question. I guess my earlier reaction gave you an answer to that. Parenting is still a touchy subject.”

  “Yeah, I can imagine. Doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be doing okay. By the way, you know I met your girlfriend. She’s cute. Who is going to have the baby?”

  “Whoa, slow down, no one. Your brain is on a one-way street at the moment.”

  It was true, the revelations about her birthparents had given her some thought, and the sobering knowledge that certain windows weren’t eternal, but this wasn’t the time. She wasn’t ready. Ellie was…healing, and according to Bethany, this process had only just started. Unfortunately, Bethany was mostly right when it came to these subjects. Jordan hadn’t dealt with her birthmother’s attempts at making peace yet, and Ellie was going to move out…

  No, she was in no place to judge Darla who, after a long uphill battle, was trying to take control of her life.

  “Speaking of which. Chocolate cake would be amazing.”

  On that, Jordan could agree.

  Relieved she’d been able to smooth things over with her former CI, she arrived back at the station to find Ellie was still out, working overtime alongside of Casey. Doss was nowhere to be found, and Officer Martin had sought legal representation. She caught Derek heading out.

  “I guess we’ll continue here tomorrow,” he said. “It looks like Martin does have some secrets, whatever they are.”

  “Yeah, about that. I talked to Roth a while ago, but I’d like to go see him again. Maybe something comes to mind about Wes, or the people he talked to. Roth is a good observer. He might be able to help us if we ask the right questions, and he once arrested Ward, too. We could even stay for a drink afterwards.”

  Bethany’s warnings rang in her mind. If things were going to get more difficult, she might as well clear the air with everyone she’d gone off on lately, work out her own issues, so she could be there for Ellie if she needed her.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Derek agreed.

  “All right—and I know who you date is none of my business, or anyone else’s. I heard some folks are giving McCarthy a hard time. That’s not right.”

  “Who?” he asked, his tone making Jordan wonder if she should have kept that detail to herself.

  “I don’t know names, I swear. They’re just immature. It’ll blow over.”

  “It better. She doesn’t deserve that kind of crap.”

  Jordan silently agreed. She was relieved though that everyone around her seemed to be in a forgiving mood today.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Carl Roth took it in stride that the police had even more questions for him. He gave Jordan and Derek an apologetic shrug. “I’m sorry I can’t help you much. I remember Ward, a nasty little weasel. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for money. He’d practically beg people to let him
in on a job. I’m not surprised that he got himself killed, but I actually am surprised about the way it happened. I assume he made many enemies over the years. As for your other question—of course I don’t know everyone who comes through here, but the majority of them are from the precinct. You know. You could ask Danny though…I haven’t been here a lot in the past months, so he might have picked up something. You really think it’s someone who’s been coming here?”

  “Both attacks happened shortly after Ellie and I came here,” Jordan said. “It could be a coincidence, but…”

  “You don’t think so,” he finished. “Danny!” he called towards a door in the back. “Can you come here for a second?”

  Roth’s son was in his early thirties. Everyone had seen him around—he was doing the books and sometimes helping behind the counter. If anything was out of the ordinary, chances were that he knew about it.

  Jordan tried to remember if he’d been there the night she’d dropped Ellie off at her apartment to do some last minute packing and get a few hours of sleep. She remembered asking Ellie to stay over. Ellie had laughed and claimed she wouldn’t get any sleep that way.

  “Danny, the detectives are here about Officer Harding’s case. They think someone might have been stalking her. Did you notice anything here at the bar, someone watching her maybe?”

  “Here, in a room full of cops? I think everyone else would have noticed before me.” He gave a nervous sounding laugh.

  “Just try,” Jordan advised, already put off by his attitude. It had been a long day, with Bethany around and working with Ellie on her memories. In addition to that Jordan had to apology to pretty much everyone she was close to—not to mention a multitude of other unsolved issues.

  “Well, I don’t know what to say. I certainly didn’t hear anyone saying they wanted to kidnap Officer Harding. I thought that first time was the serial killer, are you sure he doesn’t have anything to do with this?”

  “Believe me, the thought occurred to us,” Derek said. Jordan saw Roth wince, but if it was at his son’s words, or Derek’s reaction, she wasn’t sure.

  “Well, there was this one guy, he came in every once in a while. I don’t know his name, or where he is now…but he did watch the girls. Never spoke to anyone though.”

  Roth seemed perplexed. “You never mentioned anything about this.”

  “I didn’t think it was important. Some guys are just shy…I imagined he went some other place, or maybe he didn’t like cops. No offense, guys.”

  “This might be important,” Jordan told him. “Can you describe the guy?”

  “I don’t know, my age, tall, blond…that’s all I remember. I’m sorry. Wait, he had a tattoo…a pair of dice, I think, on his forearm.”

  “We’ll definitely look into that. Anything else?”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  “Okay. Thank you for your time.”

  “If you need to make a positive ID or anything, you know where to find me.” Again the nervous laugh.

  This day was long from being over.

  “Danny,” Roth asked, “before Officer Harding went missing, did you see Josh Ward in here, or close to the building?”

  Something about this question, and Roth’s tone, struck Jordan as curious. Sure, Roth’s son probably had heard about Ward on the news or in the papers, but how would he have identified him before? The only explanation was that he already knew him.

  “He wouldn’t set foot into the bar,” Danny said. “Cops, you know.”

  “That didn’t stop him that one time.”

  “Dad, stop. They’re not interested in that.”

  “Oh, I am,” Jordan said. “Ward was here? When? And why didn’t anyone tell us about it?”

  Roth sighed. “He was just back out of prison again, and Danny was going through a tough time. I didn’t want him to get involved with Ward, so I told him to get the hell out and stay away from my son. I never saw him again. It’s highly unlikely that there’s any connection to your case.”

  Let me be the judge of that, Jordan thought.

  “What did Ward want from you?”

  “We never really found out,” Roth answered for his son. “I knew for certain that he was bad news, so I sent him packing.”

  “Is that all?” Daniel Roth asked, clearly uncomfortable. “I need to go back to work.”

  “For now,” Jordan said. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Ward, always in search for a job—or an accomplice?

  * * * *

  They were getting closer. He had to move, and fast. As Danny returned to labor over the books he didn’t care for to begin with, he felt calm. He could do this, in a matter of days, and finally get to a point where he no longer had to pretend. Danny had the feeling he would be up all night working on his final plan.

  It was amusing to him that they all wondered what was so special about Harding, when she’d simply been in the room when he came up with the idea. It could have been any of them. The one who had been engaged to the fallen officer. The older one who was Harding’s training officer. Everything about Harding had seemed so convenient, until, of course, Ward decided to be an asshole, and the second time she escaped barefoot and in a nightgown. He probably should have gone for something bigger right away, not waste so much time, but the moment was coming.

  After finishing up at the bar, he locked the door and, in the parking lot, sat in his car for a moment, smiling to himself.

  He could still be the hero.

  * * * *

  After finding some cross references, Ellie and Casey spent the bigger part of the late afternoon knocking on door and talking to residents of the neighbourhood where Troy Haynes’ and Ward’s territory had overlapped. She still couldn’t believe Wes had anything to with her abduction, but apparently, he had asked to switch shifts often, was in the neighbourhood whenever possible.

  It gave her pause. She still didn’t want to believe that someone she’d met at the academy could have been a part of this. How could everyone believe this so easily? Then again, some people she’d thought were friends were calling Kate names behind her back.

  “One more address on the list,” Casey announced. “It’s odd that everyone seemed to know Ward one way or another, but no one believes he could be a mastermind behind any crime. Scrawny man is a ghost just as much as that second guy.”

  “Believe me, he was very real to me. I’m sorry.” Ellie sighed. “I’m tired. We’ve been at this for hours, and nothing of importance. Maybe Wes’s arrests really have nothing to do with any of this. Ward is dead. It’s a, pardon the pun, dead-end street.”

  “Yeah, and mine wasn’t a good pun either. Sorry about that. You’re doing okay?”

  “I guess.”

  Ellie didn’t share that the experience with Bethany had shaken her, the moment she’d slipped away and produced a detail that hadn’t entered her consciousness before. It wasn’t much in terms of progress for the case, since Jordan and Henderson had found it from a different angle, but it made her wonder what else might linger there.

  “I’ll be better after we’re done here,” she said. “Let’s see what Jay has to tell us and then head back.”

  “Yeah, let’s do that.”

  Ellie wasn’t especially optimistic, but at least, this would be their last stop. She could probably catch up with Jordan and Kate at the Code 7 later. She didn’t want to go to Jordan’s yet, or pack up things in her own apartment. A bit of background noise would be helpful.

  There was something about the hotel room that had freaked her out, going back to some of the most difficult moments of her life under Bethany’s guidance.

  Jay Easton, who had been interviewed regarding incidents with both Haynes and Ward, stood on his doorstep, smoking a cigarette. He shook his head when he saw them coming towards him. “Man, this is not a good sign. What do you want?”

  “Just talk, Jay, don’t worry. Before March 13th, did you see this guy around here?”

  Jay took a loo
k at the picture she held up to him. “Ward, that’s the guy who was shot in the convenience store? He hung around, looking for jobs. Not that I would know how to help him with that, but yeah, I’ve seen him around.”

  “So what did you tell him?”

  “Nothing. We hardly spoke, but there was talk about someone hiring him eventually. For what, I don’t know. As I said, we were not in touch, but he always ended up getting some job, because he was cheap.”

  “Can you tell us where that talk came from?”

  “Just folks. I’d tell you if I knew more! I can ask around a bit. I’ll let you know as soon as I find something out. If you excuse me now? It’s bedtime for my kids.”

  “Jay,” Ellie called after him. “Call us anytime, okay? This is important.”

  “I figured. Goodnight, Officers.”

  “Yeah, goodnight,” Casey said once he was out of earshot. “This is unbelievable. Why do they all have such selective memory?”

  Ellie didn’t have an answer for her. She shook herself to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling, something vague and indefinable. She had given out her cell phone number sometimes, not often, but to a few women and children mostly, advising them that 911 was the better alternative if they needed help quickly. Had her number made it into the hands of the stalker that way? Someone’s husband, father?

  When they entered the Code 7 twenty minutes later, Kate was waving to her from where she sat at the corner table with Derek. Jordan was nowhere to be seen, so she headed for her friend’s table with her drink.

  “Hey. I thought you might be heading straight home, but that’s even better,” Kate said. “I made a few calls during lunch break. Would you be free to visit a few apartments with me tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Ellie cast a quick look at Henderson. He was obviously aware of Kate’s plans, and from what she could tell, he didn’t mind. Of course, it was early on in their relationship—and complicated. Something she could definitely relate to. She remembered that Jordan’s parents had invited them to dinner on the same day. “Actually, when are we going to see those apartments? I have plans for dinner.”

  “Me too. I hope, right?”