The police officer tried to be nice to her. He was even nicer than the fake nice of the other social workers Janey had met before when she’d been sent to group homes. He winked at her, and rubbed her arm as he placed her in the back.
But Richard Dorkface saw. “Try that again, and I’ll tell your boss’ boss that you were interfering with the psychological treatment of a child. Your boss may not like me much, but his boss is a good friend. She and I went out to lunch just the day before yesterday, in fact.”
From that point on, the nice cop didn’t so much as look at her.
When they got to the group house, Janey looked around. It didn’t feel like the other places she’d been, where they at least tried to make it feel like a home.
This felt like a prison.
And right away, Janey was taken to a room where there were no windows. Just a bed, with a chair and a desk beside it. No TV, no radio, nothing for her to do at all.
Templeton pushed at her shoulder, forcing her to go into the room. Looking around, he nodded once and then glanced back at her.
“This should do nicely. No way for you to get into trouble here.”
Janey worried that he might be right. How was she going to let everyone know what a great mom Mala was if she didn’t make things difficult here?
But then another thought came to her, a stream of ideas that floated to her on a band of color in her mind. Maybe that’s exactly what she shouldn’t do this time.
Prove to them all that Mala was an amazing parent by behaving herself with perfection. It was an idea that didn’t make a whole lot of sense at first, but the more she thought about it, the more Janey was sure it was the right thing to do.
And she’d start in just a minute.
Turning toward Richard, she reared back her leg and kicked him in the shin as hard as she could. The man howled, grabbing at his lower leg and hopping up and down on the other. He turned a glare on Janey, and she just smiled back at him as she walked over to the bed and plopped herself down.
That, she thought, was for taking Popeye.
* * *
It was a coincidence. It had to be.
The fact that Neumos was the last place one of the newest murder victims had visited before she’d been kidnapped had nothing to do with Carly going out clubbing there tonight. They couldn’t be connected.
And yet, in Mala’s heart of hearts, a different conclusion beat.
Faster, faster, the throbbing urged her on. And if she’d been the one driving, she would have found a way to respond.
Not that it would have been easy. Trey had pulled out all the stops. In addition to turning on his siren and lights, the detective had kept his foot to the floor almost the entire time they’d been in the Land Rover. And in spite of the age of his vehicle, it had more power than Mala would have given it credit for.
But still, each moment that they were not there at the club ticked away at her. It felt like every passing second stripped a sliver of skin off Mala’s raw emotional skin.
“How much farther?” she asked for the fifth time.
“We’re almost there. Less than three.”
The last estimate had been four, so apparently Mala was asking every minute on the minute. She would chastise herself for it, if there had been a decision making process involved. But when it came to Carly’s safety, all of Mala’s maternal instincts had fired on every piston.
Those instincts were already overworked. And that was half the problem here. Janey’s situation hadn’t dropped into the background for her. Mala was still overwrought with pain and remorse over the removal of Janey from her home.
At least she knew that Janey was safe. There was very little that could harm her in DSHS’s care. In truth, Mala was more worried about those who had taken the little girl. Mala didn’t envy the job they had in front of them. When Janey decided to prove a point, she did it with panache.
A car beside them honked its horn, protesting how close Trey had come when he’d switched lanes. They were approaching Neumos’ downtown location, and as they got closer and closer, the traffic became more and more congested.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Trey muttered under his breath. “Move. Don’t you see the lights?”
Every time Mala tried to think about what might be happening to Carly, her mind blanked out, not allowing her to contemplate the various scenarios that might occur. It might be a protective ploy on the part of her subconscious, but it wasn’t helping her plan out what she could do if the worst occurred.
“There!” Trey yelled, pointing out the crowds of people streaming into what looked like a dark alley. As they passed by, Mala thought she could pick out the illuminated name of the venue in a brief flash of light.
Trey pulled the car up into a loading area, blocking the entire driveway. As they climbed out of the vehicle, Mala watched the play of Trey’s lights against the grey walls around them. He’d left them on, perhaps to keep his car from being inadvertently towed.
Strange the places the mind wanted to go in a crisis.
As they rushed toward the entrance to the music venue, Mala could feel the thump of the bass through her entire body. The vibrations seemed to move up through her body from the ground.
Her attention was wrenched back and forth by the bodies surrounding them. Clubbers flowed in and out of Neumos, their bodies adorned in flashing lights and glowing accessories. Then a duller flash of blonde hair caught her gaze.
Carly.
Mala screamed for Darc and Trey as Carly’s unresisting form was manhandled into the back of a paneled van. A vague voice in the back of Mala’s mind murmured that getting into a van like that wasn’t such a good idea.
The vehicle was at least a hundred yards away, sitting idling on a side street. Mala pushed and shoved at the bodies around her, fighting against the stream of humanity surrounding her with no results. It wasn’t until Darc realized where Mala was headed that the ocean of bodies began to part.
That had always been one of his talents.
Mala and Trey followed in Darc’s wake as he barreled his way through the teeming masses. Another glimpse of blonde hair, and Mala called out.
“Carly!”
Her face turned toward them long enough for Mala to know with certainty that it was Janey’s sister. Then the side door of the van slammed shut and the engine revved.
“No!”
Darc redoubled his efforts, knocking down everyone in his path. They arrived just as the van sped off. No license plates. No distinguishing characteristics to the vehicle. Nothing to help them track where it was going.
Trey’s car was on the opposite side of the club. By the time they reached it, the van would be long gone.
Carly had been taken, and there was nothing Mala could do.
CHAPTER 5
Trey stretched out his arms, feeling his spine crack. It had been a long, long night, filled with calls to every resource they could think of, trying to find some witness or security camera that might have tracked the unmarked van that had sped away with Carly in its belly.
Tears, shouting, more tears and final exhaustion had taken every member of the team except for Darc, including Maggie who had shown up sometime between two and three o’clock in the morning with coffee and food. Bagels, cream cheese and lox, bless that woman’s hungry heart.
And around five in the morning, after every option had been taken up and examined, poked, prodded and squeezed until nothing of use was left, they had fallen into a fitful sleep. In his dreams, Trey’s failure continued to haunt him, as he ran after a young blonde woman who always managed to stay just ahead of him.
He’d woken up to Darc tapping him on his forehead.
Splashing water on his face in the restroom, Trey glanced at his watch. 8:12. They had just enough time to freshen up a bit, brush their teeth and race over to the courthouse. Captain Merle had agreed to testify on Mala’s behalf once more, and with any luck they’d have Janey back home so they could all focus on finding Car
ly.
There was a part of Trey that wished Janey didn’t have to be involved at all. She’d already lost her parents and been traumatized at the hands of a deranged priest with delusions of grandeur. Finding out that her sister had been taken by a homicidal maniac… another one… wasn’t a conversation Trey was looking forward to.
But if there was someone who had a chance of helping them on this one, it was that little girl. With the exception of Darc, no one seemed to be able to find and decipher patterns better than she did.
Trey ran his wet fingers through his hair, hoping it might do something positive for the mess that was happening on the top of his head. No such luck. His hair stuck straight up, determined to make a mockery of Trey’s status as a detective. Didn’t matter what he did, every time he showed up in court, he ended up looking like a kid that just rolled out of bed. At least Maggie liked his hair all messy.
Thinking of Maggie made him blush, so he took one last swipe at his hair and exited the bathroom. The rest of the team was in various stages of readiness as they prepped to head over to the courthouse.
And then Mala looked at her cell phone.
“No,” she whispered, then got louder and louder. “No, no, no, no, no!”
“What’s going on?” Maggie asked, tugging at the shirt that kept wanting to ride up on her belly. “Are you okay?”
“They changed the time for the hearing,” Mala said, her face pale.
“When?” Trey asked.
“Fifteen minutes ago.”
Maggie let loose a curse that would have made a sailor blush, then began pushing everyone out the door. “Come on. Move, move, move. We’ve got no time.”
Apparently, Trey’s fiancé had been a drill sergeant in a former life. He had to admit, it was kind of sexy in a slightly scary way.
He chastised himself. There was a serious case being held right now that could affect not just the lives of a woman and child that he cared about, but his own as well. What was wrong with him?
The ride to the courthouse became a blur of fear and near-misses. Trey blocked out any sense of self-preservation as he pushed his car to its limits and beyond.
As they arrived at their destination, there was an eerie sense of calm that pervaded the place. The crowds that swarmed about this place were absent, giving a sense of otherworldliness to their mad rush inside.
Passing security took seconds, rather than the long wait that it was on most days. Then their group sped toward their destination, the occasional passersby flattening themselves against the walls in fear. What must their group look like to the random people they passed? Trey pushed the thought out of his mind, trying to focus on what was coming now.
When they arrived at the courtroom, the doors swung wide, and Trey watched as those inside began to disperse. Was that Captain Merle?
The captain moved toward the exit with his typical lumbering gait, his face even less animated than was normal. As he caught sight of Mala and the rest of the group, a frown appeared, turning that heaviness into something approaching the weight and density of a black hole.
“Where were you?” he grumbled, his bass voice resonating through the now almost empty hall. “The judge had to decide without any input or testimony from you.”
“Were you able to say anything?” Trey asked.
“Without Dr. Charan there, I wasn’t given the opportunity. The social worker presented DSHS’ case and that was pretty much it.” He paused, seeming to sense the discouragement of the group. “I… ah… It was pretty damning stuff.”
Mala’s face was blank, her face was pale, and her head was bobbing up and down in what looked like an unconscious nod. When she spoke, her voice trembled.
“This was no accident. This was rigged.”
Captain Merle’s frown deepened. “That seems unlikely. The amount of people involved would be quite high. Difficult to keep that kind of conspiracy a secret.”
“But, sir,” she replied, seeming to come to herself. “Look at when the message was sent.” The timestamp on the message read 2:47 am.
The captain glanced at her phone and then shrugged. “That does seem like late notice, but is it possible that there was something wrong with your network? That it was sent earlier but didn’t come through until that point?”
“The timestamps do not function in that way,” Darc said in a flat tone, stepping in between the captain and Mala. “The message was sent in such a way as to keep Mala from the hearing.”
The captain shook his head. “Again. That seems…” As his voice trailed off, his expression changed. “There is another possibility. Who sent the message?”
Mala peered down at her phone. “The email appears to have been sent from a generic address within DSHS.”
“Not much we can do with that,” he said with what seemed a certain amount of compassion. More than Trey was used to seeing from the man, truth be told.
“How was it that you knew to be here, sir?” Trey asked.
Merle raised an eyebrow. “I always try to be early when there’s so much at stake.” The remainder of what he might have said was left unsaid, but still reverberated through the air between them. “I’m sorry.”
Then the captain left without another look back. Trey knew the man well enough to understand that he didn’t want any part of the emotional scene that was coming.
But it never did. Mala stood as if stunned, her face slack.
“It can’t be over. That can’t have been it,” she said, her tone sounding more like Darc’s typical flat delivery. Then her head jerked up, and her eyes focused. “Where’s Janey? She has to still be here. I have to say goodbye to her. She has to know what happened.”
Trey looked into the interior of the courtroom. There didn’t appear to be anyone there, but when he stepped inside and looked around the corner, there was a group of people clustered around the rear of the room.
There was a weasel of a man with a dour-faced woman standing at his side. The man was someone that Trey recognized from the last time he’d given testimony on Mala’s behalf. The woman was unknown to him.
Flanking them on either side were several officers of the court, looking for all the world as if they were standing guard. Trey was almost positive that he knew one of them.
And there, in the middle of the group, sat Janey. Trey expected to see her dejected and forlorn, but when she noticed him a large smile crossed her face and she waved.
“I found her!” Trey called out to Mala, who rushed in so fast she almost bowled him over.
She ran over to greet Janey, only to be met by the social worker with the rat face. The man had a smug smile plastered across his face. The expression was one that Trey would love to remove with a crowbar. In fact, he began sorting through ways he might be able to make that happen.
“I’m sorry,” the man purred. “The court has suspended your guardianship of Caitlyn. You are not allowed to have contact with her from this point on.”
“Please,” Mala begged. “I just want to say goodbye to her.”
“I’m afraid--” he began.
The woman at his side cut him off. “I don’t see how that would be a problem. Do you, Richard?” She gave him a rather pointed look.
“No, of course not,” he said, his smile turning a bit forced.
Mala scooped Janey up into her arms and held her tight for a long moment. Then she began speaking to her, fast and fierce.
“Janey, I love you. I won’t let this be the end of this. They…” Mala glanced up at the social worker, and Trey could see the rage there. “They didn’t tell us the time had changed for the hearing. We would have been here. I would have been here.”
“You weren’t informed of the change in time?” the hard-faced woman asked, surprise coloring her tone. “Richard, is this true?”
“Regina, I emailed her,” he responded. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
“I received only one message, and that was this morning around 3 am.”
&nbs
p; Regina looked at Richard. “What is she talking about?”
“I have no idea,” the man said, his eyebrows climbing up his forehead. “I contacted her yesterday afternoon, just like you asked me to.” Then his brow furrowed for a moment. “You know, it’s possible I got the email address wrong.”
The social worker flashed a look at Mala, and Trey could have sworn he saw both venom and a certain dark enjoyment there. Trey felt sure that if that email surfaced, Mala’s email address would show up, minus a vital letter or symbol.
There was a glint in Mala’s eyes, and for a moment Trey was worried that she would snap. But before he could even move, Darc appeared at her side, his hand on her shoulder. At first glance it might seem like a gesture of support, but Trey could see from Darc’s white knuckles that he was exerting some real pressure.
How had Darc understood what was happening? And how had he moved so freaking fast?
In the meantime, the two social workers had exchanged a significant look. Regina spoke to Richard, her tone lowered but still audible.
“You were supposed to call her.”
Richard didn’t even have the good grace to look embarrassed. “Oh, I tried, but it went straight to voicemail. So I emailed her instead.”
Glancing down at the little girl still in Mala’s arms, Richard’s superior urged Mala to join her off to the side. From what Trey could tell, it was to keep the conversation out of Janey’s earshot.
“Dr. Charan, I’m sorry,” Regina said. “I assumed that since you weren’t there at the hearing that…” She averted her gaze for a moment and cleared her throat. “Well. I have significant issues with some of the parental decisions you’ve made. But you should have the chance to present those in court.”
“Seems a bit late for that,” Maggie chimed in. There were moments that Trey was so proud to be with that fiery woman. “What are you going to do about it now?”
“I may be able to talk to the judge,” she responded. “I can’t promise anything. But we’ll see.”
“Thank you,” Mala murmured, her eyes filled with what looked like gratitude.
The 2nd Cycle of the Darc Murders Omnibus (the acclaimed series from #1 Police Procedural and Hard Boiled authors Carolyn McCray and Ben Hopkin) Page 37