by Jordan Dane
“Call me Kujo.”
“After the killer canine?” Ciara asked, glancing at him over her shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I have all my shots.”
The Uptons laughed, but they were the only ones who did.
“Is Six a working dog?” Mercer asked.
“He’s served his country, but I’m his handler now.”
Mercer nodded his head, noticing the scar on the dog’s left leg. He had no doubt Kujo and his dog had stories to tell about that old injury. He had respect for working dogs and their handlers.
Dolores Upton served beverages and fresh baked cookies while they spoke about Ichiro Tanaka.
“Ichiro’s personal belongings are still in his room. I can’t bring myself to pack them up. I keep hoping we’ll find him,” Mrs. Upton said. “He stays with us when Zach brings him home. We love having the boys here.”
“Could I see his things?” Ciara asked.
“Yes, if you think it will help.”
Ciara left with Mrs. Upton and headed upstairs, leaving Mercer alone with Zach, his father and their two guests.
“He’s such a good kid,” Stan Upton said. “We think of him as another son. We couldn’t ask for a better roommate for our boy. Ichiro is bright and studious, but inside he’s something special.”
“What do you mean?” Mercer asked.
“It’s like he’s older, more serene than kids his age. It’s hard to explain, but it’s as if he’s got an ancient soul living in him. We’ve never seen him go through the usual drama that some kids have in their lives.”
“It’s true,” Zach said. “He’s really cool under fire. Nothing rattles him. From the first moment I met him, I knew I could trust him with anything. It’s like I’ve known him my whole life. You have to find him. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“What do you think happened that night? Did he have a run in with anyone at the bar?” Mercer said.
“I asked my friends about that. I didn’t see anything, but other people said this girl—her name is Danielle Ackerman—she left our table in a huff. When she got back to her girlfriends, they made fun of Ichiro.”
“Did you ever find out why?”
“Yeah. Danielle had thrown herself at him. She was the bride at the bachelorette party at Chaps that night. Her friends admitted she’d picked him for sex in the parking lot and bet on how long it would take her to get him outside.”
“Did she lose the bet?” Kujo asked. With a somber expression, Kuntz asked the question as if he already knew the answer.
“Big time. That’s not Ichiro. He has this…reverence for women, and that’s not too strong a word. He respects his parents and would not dishonor them with someone about to be married. You have to know Ichiro to get it, but that’s how he thinks. I can totally see him ditching Danielle. He’s not like other guys I know.”
Mercer understood Ichiro’s respect for women and admired it.
“Do you think Danielle had anything to do with Tanaka’s disappearance? This could be a hate crime, as deplorable as that sounds. It could be someone who didn’t like seeing Tanaka with her, or it could even be a jealous boyfriend.”
“Her fiancé was in Bozeman. I had friends help me find that out,” Zach said. “But I can’t say for sure if someone else had it out for him. Helena, Montana never used to be like this, but—” His voice trailed off and he shook his head.
Mercer made a note to talk to Danielle, after Nilah would do a full background check on the woman to get her address. If Danielle stirred things up, she might know who took the bait. Maybe someone from Chaps bar followed Tanaka outside without him knowing it.
When Ciara came back into the family room, she caught Mercer’s eye. She pulled him aside to share what she’d found in Tanaka’s room, keeping her voice down.
“The kid had letters from his parents. I’m taking his overnight bag of personal belongings, along with the letters to read them in detail later, but I found an odd letter from an attorney in Bozeman, someone offering to act on behalf of his parents on matters in America.”
“Like a power of attorney, you mean?”
“Exactly. I don’t know much about immigration law, but it struck me as odd for an outsider to offer help like that, out of the blue. This woman lawyer, Rebecca Bradshaw, sent the letter soliciting them, not the other way around.”
“Did you see any evidence that Tanaka or his parents executed a power of attorney with Bradshaw‘s firm?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t sign over his rights. It’s something to look into.”
“Good work, Ciara.”
After he’d exhausted any useable leads from Zach and his parents, Mercer gave reassurances to Hank Patterson and the Uptons that he’d find out what happened to Ichiro Tanaka. He didn’t sugarcoat the situation by giving them false hope, yet blind faith could be invaluable for some folks. If it helped to pray, he could use the advantage of those in better stead with God.
“Stow Tanaka’s overnight bag with our gear in the back of the SUV.” Mercer said to Ciara as he left the Upton home, but when they got outside, they weren’t alone.
Joseph ‘Kujo’ Kuntz stood in the gravel drive with a duffle bag over his shoulder and Six by his side.
“I have my gear and provisions for Six. We’re good to go. Are you the black Lincoln Navigator?”
Kujo didn’t wait for an answer. He hauled his gear to the rear of the vehicle before he fixed his gaze on Mercer again.
“You can fill me in on your next moves while you drive. Wherever I’m bunking tonight, I should be squared away with the rest of your team. My dog Six stays with me, no exception.”
Ciara narrowed her eyes and shot a glance toward Mercer.
“I can’t believe you agreed to take this guy on.” She chuckled under her breath.
“Why are you laughing?” Mercer smirked. “He’s all yours. Say hello to your new partner.”
***
Police headquarters
Helena, Montana
Late afternoon
“I understand we have visitors from out of town, looking into the Tanaka case. Why did I have to hear about it from big mouth Doris at Charlotte’s Cafe?”
Chief Craig Myerson slouched back in his desk chair in the throes of a burgeoning headache. He recognized the voice of the town mayor, Travis Welch, after he answered his phone and the man dispensed with any semblance of a civil greeting. The mayor had ears all over town. It didn’t surprise Myerson to know that a local waitress had spread the word to the slick politician.
“I’m handling the situation. I’ve already spoken to Mercer Broderick who heads up the team. They assured me…”
Mayor Welch interrupted him.
“I don’t care what assurances they gave you. We can’t have outsiders involved in anything that sheds a bad light on Helena. That’s all we need is to get dragged into national headlines over some foreign kid who isn’t even one of us.”
Myerson didn’t like being second guessed by a man he didn’t respect. Travis Welch came from a wealthy family and had no idea what it meant to truly work for a living. His father had bankrolled him from the start and gave him a name that meant something to influential people.
His son, Scott, followed in his old man’s footsteps and carried his same air of privilege, but had been a bullying troublemaker since high school. Now a newly minted adult, Scott had become connected to his father’s government relations firm with their slick, high-end offices located across the street from police headquarters.
Welch’s kid never worked a day in his life, yet to hear his father tell it, Scott Welch would be next in line for political greatness. Daddy would see to it—despite his son’s low class, rebellious nature.
“I’m keeping a tight lid on this,” Myerson said. “You have to trust me.”
A long silence left the Police Chief wondering if the mayor had hung up.
“Well, perhaps that’s the problem.”
After Mayor Welch go
t the last word, he didn’t wait for a response before the man hung up. The arrogant bastard had sent a clear message. If Chief Myerson expected to keep his job, he had only one man to please. Heat rushed to his face as his head throbbed.
He fumbled for an aspirin and spilled pills across his desk.
“Son of a—”
***
An hour later
Gabriela heard footsteps echo down the corridor outside her shadowy cell and she cowered in the nearest corner, clutching her knees to her chest and trying to make herself small. Through the crack in the wall, she heard the faint sound of the boy in the next chamber.
“What’s happening? Someone’s coming.”
His voice unnerved her. His fears became her own. She shut her eyes tight and rocked as she prayed, hoping the feet would move past her door.
“Don’t let them come for us.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she whispered over and over. “Not us. Not me.”
When the clack of the footsteps stopped, her heart clenched. Her eyes opened in a flash. She swallowed her whispers when she saw a shadow eclipse the light at the base of her door and a metal key slid into the lock.
“No. No…please.”
The boy called for her, his voice muffled by the wall between them.
“What’s happening, Gabriela? Tell me,” he pleaded. “I would stop them if I could.”
Like her faith in God, his words gave her strength, but it did not stop her from crying. After the door opened with an abrasive squeak, two men confronted her. Their faces were obscured by the light that blinded her and she raised a hand to shield her watery eyes.
“Please don’t…hurt me.” Her voice cracked.
The men didn’t listen. They grabbed her arms and dragged her from the cell as if she couldn’t walk—as if she were garbage. Her knees and bare feet scraped across the stone to cut her skin. Gabriela writhed against the pain and she pleaded, but the men didn’t speak.
Their cruel silence petrified her.
Chapter 6
Bozeman, Montana
Saturday morning
Danielle Ackerman lived in a modest neighborhood in the suburbs of Bozeman—complete with basketball hoops in the driveways, houses crammed next to each other, and an overflow of vehicles parked on the narrow streets—but that hadn’t always been the case. Nilah filled in Mercer, Ciara and Kujo over the phone on what she’d discovered about Danielle as Mercer drove the SUV down the woman’s street, looking for her address.
“She used to have an apartment near a trendy area of downtown Bozeman, but her two roommates said she imploded, big time.”
Never an underachiever, Nilah had gone the extra yard and spoken to both roommates for the real skinny.
“Did her flat mates boot her out of the apartment?” Ciara asked. “Is that why she’s living the dream in the burbs?”
“Yeah, when she couldn’t afford her share of the rent. She moved in with her parents after she got fired from her job. She used to work as a clerk in a dental office.”
“Did you find out why she’d been fired, Nilah?”
“Too much partying.”
“You didn’t get that from her employer,” Kujo said with a smile in his voice as he sat in the backseat with his dog, Six.
“If you want to know what anyone is like, ask a roommate. That’s why I’ve never had one, not even when I was in college.” Before Kujo pressed Nilah for her personal history, Mercer noticed his computer genius maneuvered the topic back to Danielle. “Her roommates said she would show up late to work because of being hung over, or she wouldn’t show up at all, taking sick days without notice. A real gem of stability.”
Nilah laughed and went on.
“Her former BFFs said Danielle had rubbed it in when they kicked her out. She told them that she wasn’t worried about her future because her fiancé would take care of her. What a blood sucking—”
“Don’t finish that thought. We get the picture.” Mercer grinned as he drove through the tight streets of Danielle’s hood. “This is it, the two-story on the right. We gotta go, Nilah.”
“Later,” she said and ended the call.
Mercer pulled to the curb and parked the Navigator. As he turned off the engine, the big man sprawled in the rear seat spoke up.
“What do you want me to do?” Kujo asked.
His dog Six whined and looked anxious to get four paws on the ground. Mercer locked eyes with Kujo in the rearview mirror.
“Just do what comes naturally. You’re intimidating enough.”
“Did you just throw shade? I’m more sensitive than people give me credit for.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Mercer got out of the vehicle, saying “This could be fun” under his breath as he slammed the door.
Mercer followed Kujo and Ciara to the front door. As Ciara buzzed the doorbell, Six lifted his leg on a rosebush and let it rain.
Kujo rolled his eyes.
“He’s a work in progress.”
Mercer shot him a side eye.
“Right now, I think his plumbing is working fine.”
Kujo sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when a woman answered the door. Mercer recognized the face of Danielle Ackerman from her DMV photo in the file he’d received from Nilah.
“Can I help you?” she asked. “You look like cops.”
Mercer didn’t correct her assumption and made introductions.
“We’re here to talk about the disappearance of Ichiro Tanaka.”
Mercer had been careful not to admit he had seen video of Tanaka being abducted. It always helped to hold things back when talking to a key person of interest.
“May we come in?” he asked.
Danielle shoved through the screen door, glancing over her shoulder. She obviously didn’t want anyone in her family to know she had visitors.
“My family has been through enough. I don’t want them involved. We can talk on the porch.” She crossed her arms and glared at Mercer until she broke off her staring contest. “What do you want to know that I didn’t already tell your detective?”
Mercer ignored her defiant stance, when her skittish eyes sent a different message. She looked like a woman with something to hide.
“We understand you met Ichiro Tanaka at Chaps in Helena on the night he disappeared. Witnesses say you were there for your bachelorette party and joined him at his table. Can you tell me what you talked to Tanaka about?”
Danielle flipped a strand of hair behind her ear and raised her chin.
“I don’t know anything about what happened to him.”
Mercer let silence speak for him as he narrowed his eyes at the woman. When she squirmed, he took notice of her body language and kept his tone low and steady.
“That’s not what I asked. I want to know what you talked to him about.”
Mercer dared to step into Danielle’s personal space as she stood with her back to the front door. She had her chance to allow them inside for a private conversation, but she chose to answer their questions on the stoop. Her gaze shifted, unsettled, as she looked for signs that her neighbors were watching.
Mercer didn’t care about that, but Danielle clearly did.
“Come on, man.” She wrung her hands and fidgeted. “Whatever we talked about had nothing to do with what happened to him.”
“How can you be sure it didn’t?”
“I’ve already spoken to your people. A detective from Helena took my statement.”
“Now you’re talking to me. It never hurts to double check details.”
Mercer softened his tone, but took an uncomfortable step closer. Danielle backed up on instinct until her spine hit the wall behind her and she had no place else to go. She turned her head and refused to look him square in the eye.
“Imagine being his mother and father in Japan,” he said. “They’re desperate to know what happened to their only son. I’m sure you can understand they’re worried sick. No parent should live through burying a child. It’s
a gut wrenching that never ends.”
A rush of grief assaulted Mercer as he exposed his vulnerability. Danielle clenched her jaw and refused to gaze up at him.
“Did you send anyone after Tanaka when he left the bar?” Mercer didn’t give an inch. “What did you offer him that he turned down? Did he make you angry enough to do something about it?”
“What do you mean?” Her voice cracked and her eyes watered. “Am I a suspect?”
“We only want to know what really happened. Tell us something we can believe.”
Danielle bit the inside of her lip and heaved a ragged sigh.
“I came on to him. I had a bet with my girlfriends that I could get him into the backseat of my car for sex.”
“Go on. What happened?”
She hesitated long enough that Mercer didn’t know she would answer.
“He turned me down.” She rolled her eyes. “Damn, what guy would turn down a blow job?”
When Kujo shrugged, Mercer shot him a double take.
“Witnesses said you and your girlfriends jeered him until he left,” Ciara said. “Did you send anyone after him?”
“Like who? I don’t live in Helena. I had my girl posse with me. He just left, okay?”
In a brazen move, Kujo cleared his throat and joined the conversation.
“I’m sure that made you mad. A girl as pretty as you, I bet you don’t get turned down by guys, am I right?” Kujo smiled.
Mercer raised an eyebrow when he saw Danielle respond to his commiseration.
“Damned straight. He pissed me off,” she said, lowering her voice so her family or the neighbors wouldn’t hear her. “Whatever happened to him, he deserved it for what he did to me. If some red blooded alpha male went after him, considering how he humiliated me, that’s not my fault. That’s karma.”
Danielle’s face turned bright red.
“No guy has ever done that to me. I put myself out there and he turned me down like I’m a low rent hooker,” she said. “I don’t feel sorry for him and you can’t make me feel guilty either.”