Missing in Death edahr-36

by J. D. Robb

"You bet. I'll give you a hand." He added a warm smile. "And make it Jake."

  Eve slid into the booth. "I need to ask you some questions."

  "It was too much blood," he said in a soft voice, a voice that wouldn't carry to his children. "A fatal loss of blood. I'm a doctor. I'm an ER doctor, and that much blood loss without immediate medical attention . . . For God's sake, what happened to Carolee?"

  "Do you know her blood type, Dr. Grogan?"

  "Yes, of course. She's O Positive."

  "You're certain?"

  "Yes, I'm certain. She and Pete are O Positive. I'm A Positive, so's Will."

  "It wasn't her blood. The blood in the restroom wasn't hers."

  "Not hers." He trembled, and she watched him struggle for composure, but his eyes teared. "Not her blood. Not Carolee's blood."

  "Why were you going to Staten Island?"

  "What? We weren't. I mean . . ." He pressed his hands to his face again, breathed, then lowered them. Steady nerves, Eve thought. She imagined an ER doc needed them. "We were taking the ride over, then we were going to ride back. Just for the experience. We're on vacation. It's our second day on vacation."

  "Does she know anyone in New York?"

  "No." He shook his head slowly. "She wasn't in there. But she wouldn't have left Pete. It doesn't make sense. She doesn't answer her 'link. I've tried it over and over." He pushed his across the table. "She doesn't answer."

  He glanced toward the concession where Peabody and Jake kept the kids busy, then leaned closer to Eve. "She would never have left our boy, not willingly. Something happened in that room. Somebody died in that room. If she saw what happened - "

  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're still searching. I'm going to check on the status."

  Rising, she signaled to Peabody. "It's not her blood. It's the wrong type."

  "That's something. They're really nice kids. They're scared."

  "They're on vacation. Don't know anyone in New York according to the husband, and he comes off straight to me. What doesn't come off is how a body could disappear, a woman who we'll presume for the moment is alive could disappear, and potentially a killer/abductor could disappear. They're here somewhere. Get the wit statement, though I don't think that's going to add anything. I'm calling in more officers, ours and DOT's. We're going to need to get data, statements and do a search on every person on this damn ferry before we let anyone off."

  "I'll take care of our end before I talk to the woman. Ah, he's kind of flirting with me."

  "What? Who?"

  "The adorable inspector."

  "Please."

  "No, seriously. I am spoken for," Peabody added with a flutter of lashes, "but it's still flattering to have cute guys flirt."

  "Do the job, Peabody."

  Shaking her head as her partner went out to do just that, Eve gestured to Jake. "We're going to need more men. I can't let anyone off until we've confirmed IDs, interviewed and searched."

  "Over three thousand people?" He let out a low whistle. "You're going to have a revolt."

  "What I've got is a missing woman, and very likely a dead body somewhere on this vessel. I've also got a killer. I want somebody in here with them," she added. "I want a look at all security discs, cams, monitors."

  "That's no problem."

  "We need an e-m an to try to triangulate the signal with Grogan's 'link. If she's still got it, we may be able to locate her. What time did she go missing?"

  "As close as we can determine, right about one thirty."

  Eve glanced at her wrist unit. "More than an hour now. I want to - "

  She heard the boom, the gunfire crackle, the shouts. Before the next blast, she was rushing through the door and out on deck.

  Passengers whistled, stomped, cheered, as an impressive shower of color exploded into the sky.

  "Fireworks? For Christ's sake. It's still daylight."

  "There's nothing scheduled," Jake told her.

  "Diversion," she muttered, and began to push and shove her way in the opposite direction of the show. "Get somebody to find the source, stop it."

  "I'm already on it," Jake said and shouted into his communicator. "Where are we going?"

  "The scene of the crime."

  "What? I can't hear a freaking thing. Say again," he yelled into his communicator. "Say again."

  Eve broke through the celebrating crowd, ducked under the barricade.

  She stopped as she saw the woman arguing frantically with the DOT officer guarding the door of the restroom.

  "Carolee!" she called out, and the woman whirled. Her face was deathly pale with high spots of color on the cheeks, and a purpling knot on her forehead.

  "What? What is this? I can't find my boy. I can't find my son."

  The eyes were wrong, Eve thought. A little glassy, a little shocky. "It's okay. I know where he is. I'll take you to him."

  "He's okay? You . . . Who are you?"

  "Lieutenant Dallas." Eve watched Carolee's eyes as she took out her badge. "I'm the police."

  "Okay. Okay. He's a good boy, but he knows better than this. He was supposed to wait right here. I'm sorry to be so much trouble."

  "Where did you go, Carolee?"

  "I just . . ." She trailed off. "I went into the restroom. Didn't I? I'm sorry. I have a headache. I was so worried about Pete. Wait, just wait until I - " She stepped into the snack bar when Eve opened the door. Then slapped her hands on her hips.

  "Peter James Grogan! You are in so much trouble."

  The boy, his brother, his father, moved like one unit, bolting across the room. "Didn't I specifically tell you not to - "

  This time the words were knocked back as her three boys grabbed her in frantic embraces. "Well, for heaven's sake. If you think that's going to soften me up after you disobeyed me, it's not. Or only a little." She stroked the boy's hair as he clung to her legs. "Steve? Steve? You're shaking. What is it? What's wrong?"

  He pulled back to kiss her, her mouth, her cheeks. "You - you're hurt. You've hit your head."

  "I . . ." She lifted her fingers to touch the bump. "Ouch. How did I do that? I don't feel quite right."

  "Sit down. Pete, Will, let your mother have some room. Sit down here, Carolee, let me take a look at you."

  When she had, he took her hands, pressed them to his lips. "Everything's okay now. It's okay now."

  But it wasn't, Eve thought, not for everyone.

  Someone was dead. Someone had caused that death.

  They were both missing.

  Three

  "Inspector, I need you to locate the source of those explosives, then I want that area secured. I want a complete list of DOT and ferry employees, including any independent contractors, aboard at this time. I want those security discs. When NYPSD officers arrive, they will support those assignments. Peabody, make that happen. Now."

  She glanced toward the Grogan family. She could give their reunion one more minute. "There are lifeboats, emergency evacuation devices on this boat?"

  "Sure."

  "They need to be checked, and they need to be guarded. If any have been used, I need to know. Immediately. I want to talk to the guard Mrs. Grogan talked to when she . . . came back. For now, get his statement."

  "No problem. Lieutenant, we're going to have to deal with getting these people, at least some of these people, off."

  "I'm working on it. Explosives, employees, discs, emergency evac, secured areas. Let's get on it."

  She turned away, moved to where Carolee still sat surrounded by her family.

  "Mrs. Grogan, I need to speak with you."

  "I'd like to treat her head wound." Steve kept his arm protectively around his wife. "And check her out more thoroughly. If there's a medical kit, I could use it."

  "I'll find one," Peabody told him, then glanced at Eve. "Our guys will be on board in a couple of minutes."

  "Okay. Find the kit. Organize the team. I want another search, every square inch of this ferry. I want the sweepers in that bathroom.
I want it scoured. See if you can find out if anyone else has been reported missing."

  "Yes, sir."

  As Peabody left, Carolee shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Who are you again?"

  "Lieutenant Dallas, NYPSD."

  "The police," Carolee said slowly. "You need to talk to me? I know I got a little upset with the security man, but I was worried about Pete. I couldn't find my boy."

  "Understood. Mrs. - "

  "If you're police, do you have a zapper?" Obviously content now that his mother was where she belonged, Pete gave Eve a curious squint.

  "Don't interrupt," Carolee admonished.

  "Mrs. Grogan," Eve began again, but lifted her jacket aside to reveal her sidearm - and the boy flashed her a grin. "Can you tell me what happened, after you and your son went to use the restrooms?"

  "Actually, we were going to get drinks, then Pete needed to go, so we swung over that way. I told him to wait, to stay right there if he got out before I did."

  "But, Mom - "

  "We'll talk about that later," she said in a tone that warned of lecture, and the kid slumped down in his seat.

  "And then," Eve prompted.

  "Then, I waited a minute, watched Pete go in, and I . . ." Her face went blank for a moment. "That's funny." She offered a puzzled smile. "I'm not quite sure. I must've hit my head. Maybe I slipped?"

  "Inside the bathroom?"

  "I - It's silly, but I just don't remember."

  "Don't remember hitting your head, or going into the bathroom?"

  "Either," she admitted. "I must've really knocked it." She tapped her fingers to the bump, winced. "I could use a blocker."

  "I don't want to give you anything until I check you out a little more," Steve told her.

  "You're the doctor."

  Eve thought of a case, not so long before, where memories had been lost. Or stolen. "How bad's the headache?"

  "Between crappy and lousy."

  "If you try to remember, does the pain increase?"

  "Remember hitting it?" Carolee closed her eyes, squeezed them in concentration. "No. It stays between crappy and lousy."

  "Any nausea, baby, or blurred vision?" Steve shined a penlight in her eyes to check pupil reaction.

  "No. I feel like I walked into a wall or something and smacked my head. That's it."

  "There was an Out of Order sign on the door," Eve reminded her.

  "There . . . That's right!" Carolee's eyes brightened. "I do remember that. So I . . . but I wouldn't - I know I didn't go off to one of the other restrooms. I wouldn't leave Pete. I must've gone in. I must've, because I had to come out again, right? He wasn't there waiting. I must've slipped and hit my head, and I'm just a little shaky on the details. I'm not sure I understand why it matters to the police."

  "Mrs. Grogan, you were missing for over an hour."

  "Me? Missing? That's crazy. I just - " But she glanced at her wrist unit, and went sheet white. "But that can't be. That can't be the right time. We were only gone for a few minutes. The ferry ride takes less than a half hour, and we'd barely started. This can't be right."

  "Nobody could find you. We couldn't find you," Steve said. "We were so scared."

  "Well, God." She stared at her husband, shoved a hand through her hair as it started to sink in. "Did I wander off? Hit my head and wander off? Maybe I have a concussion. I wandered off." She looked down at Pete. "And then I yelled at you when I was the one. I'm sorry, kiddo. Really."

  "We thought you were dead 'cause there was the blood." The boy pressed his face to Carolee's breast and started to cry.

  "Blood?"

  "Mrs. Grogan, the DOT officials notified the NYPSD not only because you were, apparently, missing, but because the facilities they believed you entered had a considerable amount of blood on the floor, as well as spatter on the walls and doors of the stalls."

  "But . . ." Her breathing went shallow as Carolee stared at Eve. "It's not mine. I'm okay."

  "It's not yours. You went into the bathroom," Eve prompted, "despite the Out of Order sign."

  "I can't remember. It's just blank. Like it's been erased. I remember watching Pete go into the boys' room, and I . . . I remember seeing the sign, but then, I can't. I would've gone in," she murmured. "Yes, that's what I would've done, just to check, because it was right there and why not look? I couldn't leave Pete. But I don't remember going in, or . . . coming out. But I couldn't have gone in, or I would've come out. Probably screaming if I saw blood all over the place. It doesn't make sense."

  "No," Eve agreed, "it doesn't."

  "I didn't hurt anyone. I wouldn't."

  "I don't think you hurt anyone."

  "An hour. I lost an hour. How can that be?"

  "Have you ever lost time before?"

  "No. Never. I mean, I've lost track of time, you know? But this is different."

  "Will, how about getting your mom a drink?" Steve sent his older son an easy smile. "I bet she's a little dehydrated."

  "Actually - " Carolee laughed a little weakly. "I could really use the restroom."

  "Okay." Eve watched Peabody come back in with a med kit. "Just a second." She walked over to waylay her partner. "Go ahead and give the kit to Grogan, and take the woman to the john. Stick with her."

  "Sure. We're on board, and we've got a deck-by-deck search going. I have to say, the natives are getting a little restless."

  "Right. They'll have to hang on a little longer."

  "I wonder if maybe this whole thing isn't some stupid prank. Somebody dumps a bunch of blood in that bathroom, hangs the sign, sits back and waits for somebody to go in."

  "Then why hang the sign?"

  "Okay, a flaw in the scenario, but - "

  "And how did they transport a couple quarts of human blood? And where did Mrs. Grogan go for an hour?"

  "Several flaws."

  "Stick with her," Eve repeated. "Get their New York address. Let's arrange for them to be taken back so she can get a full check at a health center, and I want a watch on them." She glanced back. "If she saw something, someone, maybe whoever's responsible for the blood will start to worry about her."

  "I'll make sure she's covered. Nice family," Peabody added, studying the group.

  "Yeah. Welcome to New York."

  Eve tracked down Jake.

  "All emergency evac devices are accounted for." He passed her a file of security discs. "Those are from all cams on board. The list of employees, DOT officials, is labeled."

  "Good. Where the hell did those fireworks come from?"

  "Well." He scratched his head. "It looks like they were set off starboard side, probably the stern. That's from figuring the basic trajectory from witnesses. But we haven't got any physical evidence. No ash, no mechanism. Nothing so far, so I'm not sure they were set off from the boat."

  "Hmm." Eve pondered and glanced out at the wide harbor.

  "The NYPSD is crawling all over the place, and your CI team's covering the crime scene. If it is one," he added. "We've accounted for every DOT employee on board, and between your people and mine, we've been interviewing passengers, concentrating on those who are in the areas of the scene. So far, none of them saw anything. And you have to admit, hauling a body around would attract some attention."

  "You'd think."

  "What do we do now?"

  As far as Eve could determine, there were two options. The killer - if indeed a murder had taken place - had somehow gotten off the ferry. Or the killer still needed to get off.

  "Looks like we're going to Staten Island. Here's how we'll handle it."

  It was going to take time, and a great deal of patience, but nearly four thousand passengers would be ID'd, searched and questioned before they were allowed to disembark at St. George terminal. Fortunately a good chunk of that number was kids. Eve didn't think - though kids were strange and often violent entities to her mind - that the pool of blood was the work of some maniac toddler.

  "It's actually moving along okay," Pea
body reported, and got a grunt from Eve.

  "The search is ongoing," Peabody continued. "So far, no weapon, no body, no evil killer hiding in a storage closet."

  Eve continued to review the security disc on boarding on her PPC. "The body's dumped by now."

  "How?"

  "I don't know how, but it's dumped or transported. Two searches, and this one with corpse detectors. He, or an accomplice, used the fireworks as a distraction. Get everyone's attention in one direction, do what you need to do in the other. Has to be."

  "It doesn't explain how he got the DB out of the bathroom."

  "No."

  "Well, if it wasn't a prank, maybe it's a vortex."

  Eve shifted her gaze up, gave Peabody a five-second pitiable stare.

  "Free-A ger here, remember. I grew up on vortexes. It's a better theory than abracadabra." On a sigh, Peabody studied the bright, tropical fish swimming behind the glass of an enormous aquarium.

  "He didn't toss the body overboard, then dive in and swim away," Peabody pointed out. "Like a fish." Noting Eve's considering expression, Peabody threw up her hands. "Come on, Dallas. There's no way out of the bathroom, not without walking in front of dozens and dozens of people."

  "In back mostly, since they'd be looking out at the water. If the blood currently being rushed to the lab proves to have come from a warm body - one we hope to identify through DNA matching - there has to be a way out and a way off, because he used it."

  "Parallel universe. There are some scientific theories that support the possibility."

  "The same ones, I bet, that support sparkly winged fairies skipping around the woods."

  "A mocker." Peabody wagged a finger. "That's what you are, Dallas. A mocker."

  "In my world, we call it sane."

  Jake joined them. "We're about halfway through. Maybe a little more."

  "Find any vortexes, parallel universes or sparkly winged fairies?" Eve asked him.

  "Mocker," Peabody repeated.

  "Ah . . . not so far." He offered them both a go-cup of coffee. "No weapons, no blood, no dead body either, and so far everyone who's gone through the ticker and the interview station is alive."

  "I'm going back on board," Eve told him. "If we get a hit - any kind of hit - contact me. Peabody, with me."