What Burns Within

by Sandra Ruttan

  Tain took the bag and held it up. “What do you think?”

  “That’s some sort of religious symbol,” Ashlyn said.

  “Sacred Heart,” the other officer supplied with a shrug. “That’s what it’s called. The Sacred Heart.”

  “That’s Catholic, right?” Ashlyn asked, looking at Tain. “Catholic girl, Catholic group. We’ll need to check with the kids, see if it’s hers. Where did you find it?”

  They pointed out the exact place on the ground, between a tree and a parking spot in a secluded area in the back of the complex, well away from passersby.

  “If our guy parked back here he knows this place.” Tain looked at Ashlyn.

  She nodded. “Fits with him knowing about the broken fire door.”

  “Good work,” Tain said to the uniformed officers.

  “We still have a few patrols combing the area, just in case,” the shorter, chubbier of the two officers said. His radio crackled, and the message came through loud and clear. Lindsay Eckert’s parents were waiting for them.

  “Tell them we’re on our way.” Tain watched Ashlyn’s face fall and felt his own shoulders sag as they turned back toward the building. It felt like he’d already dealt with enough distraught parents for one lifetime.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Eckert. My name is Ashlyn Hart. This is Tain.” Ashlyn paused when she saw the Eckerts looking at their soot-covered clothes. “We were at an arson scene when we were called here.”

  The Eckerts nodded as though that made perfect sense to them. As though they were seasoned veterans, used to having the police get pulled off one case to come deal with their family tragedy. Ashlyn sat down across from them, and Tain sat beside her. “We want to assure you that we’re doing everything possible to find Lindsay,” he said, hoping his words didn’t sound as hollow as they felt to him. The Eckerts appeared to be already well past denial.

  “And what is that, exactly?” Mrs. Eckert asked. Her face was blank, emotionless as she looked at Tain.

  “We’re canvassing the area. Constable Hart and I have already spoken to all the witnesses, and we’ve got membership lists for the recreation center, the security footage from the cameras, and we’ll follow up with every single person who was in this building today. This is a very public place. Someone will have seen something that can help us.”

  Mrs. Eckert’s expression didn’t change. “In other words, you’ve got nothing.”

  Tain glanced at Ashlyn. She reached into her pocket and extracted the bag.

  “Do you recognize this?” she asked, holding it up.

  The blank mask on Mrs. Eckert’s face cracked as she gasped and a tear rolled down her pale cheek. “That’s Lindsay’s necklace. Her grandmother bought it for her. Sterling silver. She wore it everywhere.”

  Mrs. Eckert reached for the bag, and Ashlyn pulled her hand back.

  “I’m sorry. Right now, this is evidence. We’ll make sure you get it back when—” She looked at Tain. “Well, when we close the case.”

  “And when will that be? There have been other children. Just yesterday, another girl, and now our Lindsay…”

  “Mr. Eckert, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you this will be easy.” Tain sighed. “The only thing I can tell you is that we’re going to do everything we possibly can to find your daughter.”

  He stood up and Ashlyn did as well. Tain handed Mr. Eckert a card. “Day or night, you call me if there’s anything I can do.”

  For a moment, Ashlyn and Tain both leaned against the wall of the recreation center outside the manager’s office.

  Then Ashlyn pushed herself off the wall and started walking back down the hallway toward the change rooms.

  “What is it?” Tain asked.

  “What if our guy was waiting for an opportunity? Wouldn’t this be a good place to watch from?”

  She stepped beside the vending machine. “I can see about two-thirds of the hallway from here, and if I move just a bit, I can see the entrance to the ladies’ change room.”

  “It would be concealed, easier for him to stay unnoticed.”

  “Now that we have the necklace identified as our victim’s, it gives this theory about her coming into the hallway a lot of strength.”

  “Maybe we should have asked her parents if she had a boyfriend.”

  “There’ll be time for looking through her diary and such later.” Ashlyn rubbed her temples. “Did you see her parents? If Lindsay was the type who might have snuck off to be with a boy, I doubt she told them anything.”

  “She’s a bit like you, then.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I bet you never told your parents anything you were up to.”

  When she’d first met Tain their fights had been real and continual. She’d taken him for a sexist jerk, and he was happy to let her think of him as such. Time and experience had proven he wasn’t like that, but he was still arrogant, opinionated, and he’d defy authority on a moment’s notice if he believed he was right.

  Others knew him to be aloof. In the early days Ashlyn would have maintained he didn’t know a damn thing about women, yet he had her pegged. She suppressed the grin that was rising, and then her face fell. “Shit. What now?” she murmured.

  Tain turned as Sergeant Daly approached. It looked like all the blood had drained from Daly’s face.

  “You’ve worked the scene, talked to the witnesses?”

  They both nodded.

  “Informed the parents?”

  “Yes, sir,” Tain said.

  “What else do you need to do?”

  “We need these vending machines and the walls here, as well as the fire door, dusted for prints. The forensic identification section ne—”

  “I’ll deal with the FIS. I want you both to go home.”

  “But Steve—”

  “But nothing, Ashlyn. When was the last time either of you slept?” He paused. Their inability to answer spoke for itself. “You’re no good to anyone if you’re exhausted.”

  “We’ve already got the security tapes, membership lists, staff list and maintenance logs for the recreation center. We talked to all the kids who were here with Lindsay, as well as the chaperones. We also found this,” Ashlyn pulled the evidence bag from her pocket again. “The officers located it out in the back parking area, in a reasonably secluded spot between a parking stall and some trees. We think our guy grabbed her, took her out the broken fire door and to his vehicle.”

  Daly frowned. “It sounds like this guy was familiar with this facility.”

  “We hope so,” Tain said. “It might give us our first solid lead.”

  “Okay, go. I don’t want to see either of you until nine tomorrow morning.” Daly looked them over. “And try to dress up a bit. We’re having a sit-down with Burnaby. The officers working the Darrens and Bertini cases are coming to review all the material from our two girls and compare it with the two from their district.”

  Ashlyn groaned. “That should be fun.”

  Daly glared at Ashlyn. “They weren’t too happy we went ahead and informed the family about Isabella Bertini without contacting them. I know,” he said as Tain threw his hands in the air, looking as though he was about to protest. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “But we can’t look a gift horse in the mouth either, right?” Tain scowled.

  “At the end of the day, there’ll be some hard questions about our inability to stop someone from preying on young girls in this area. This guy started off on Burnaby’s patch. Now he’s on ours. We’re not going to let him go any further, but we’re also not going to let people point fingers at us. If more headway had been made on the disappearance of Julie and Isabella before, we might not even have two more missing girls to look for now.”

  Tain shook his head. “They’ll be quick to remind you that you only assigned one officer from the Tri-Cities to work the case with them, despite the apparent connection between jurisdictions.”

  “You let me worry about that, Tain. Until two days ago
, this was still a Burnaby case. Now it’s ours. We can’t cut it in two like Solomon’s baby and each take half. We have to look at the whole thing together and find out how this guy is working. And fast. And that’s why I want you both to go home, have a shower and go to bed.”

  “Let’s go, Tain. Before he offers to come tuck us in.”

  “Ashlyn.” Daly practically growled her name.

  She smiled back. “Don’t worry. We’ll be ready tomorrow.”

  “Nine AM. Don’t be late.”

  Lori’s planned glass of wine had turned into a full bottle retrieved from the kitchen and ready to be discarded into the recycling bin. The water had long since lost its warmth. She pulled the plug and started the shower, felt the tension in her muscles ease with the pulse of the spray against her back.

  After she finished she walked into the bedroom and pulled a towel over her arms.

  The bedroom was filled with shadows, from the dresser and wardrobe, the floor lamps in the corners. The curtains were thick enough to shield those inside from view but not so dense that they masked the external light completely. She couldn’t see clearly outside, but she could hear the patter of raindrops against the roof.

  It must be later than she’d realized. Lori turned to toss the towel back through the doorway, onto the closet floor, and felt the movement before she saw it. For a second it seemed as though her heart had stopped beating, and then it kicked into overdrive. A black form had sprung forward and grabbed her hard by the forearms. Now she was being twisted around, but not before she’d glimpsed the unconcealed portion of the face, the hard, angry line of the mouth, the way the eyes bulged.

  Whatever strength she thought she possessed until that moment was proven useless within a matter of seconds. Her body was contorted, her torso twisted away from the intruder, her legs still facing the direction of the closet. She kicked at him and heard a groan. He let go of her arms, and then she felt the sharp pain of impact against the side of her head.

  “Bitch,” the voice hissed. This time, he grabbed her by the hips and forced her down against the bed. She tried to reach up behind her to claw at his skin. The click of a blade being popped open echoed in her ears, and she put her arms down as the blindfold was pushed over her head.

  MONDAY

  “You’re late.”

  “Some of us were working last night.”

  Craig felt his eyes widen. “Why? Isn’t that what you have subordinates for?”

  Daly sank into his chair, collapsing against the structure. “I can’t expect them to work forty-eight hours without sleep.”

  The skin between Craig’s brows puckered, and then he nodded. “The child abductions. I thought that Burnaby—”

  “The last two kids went missing here in Coquitlam. We can’t tell those parents that just because this guy started on the other side of city lines that we’re going to let them handle it.”

  “No, of course not. Two kids in one weekend. Whoever’s working that case has their hands full.”

  “Speaking of having your hands full, what about your cases?”

  “Nationwide reports of unsolved rapes are starting to come in, as well as anything that looks similar to our guy’s method.”

  “Right. Lori told me she’d made a call asking for that material yesterday. I told you she’s sharp.”

  Craig glanced away, at the bookshelf behind Daly. He could feel his jaw clench.

  “Your face always twists like that when you’re angry.”

  “What difference does it make? All that matters is that we solve this.”

  “But it still pisses you off that she wants to take your credit.”

  “You’re the one who told me I needed to work on being a team player. It doesn’t seem to me like I’m the one who has a problem with that in this partnership. The pull down is always stronger. Don’t you think you should give me a partner who’s going to make me work with them?”

  “Like I don’t have enough problems already. Talk about mission impossible.”

  “I’m not that bad.”

  Daly leaned back, rubbing his forehead, eyes closed. “Name one partner you’ve had that you’d like to work with again.”

  “Ashlyn.”

  The bit of color exhaustion hadn’t claimed already started to ebb. “Have you two kept in touch?”

  Craig opened his mouth to speak and then drew a deep breath. “No.”

  “So what makes you think she’d like to work with you again?”

  Craig shrugged. “I didn’t say she would. The question was which partner would I like to work with again, and I’d like to work with her.”

  Daly glanced down at his desk for a moment, his face unreadable, even to Craig’s experienced eye. “I imagine that case must bring up a lot of painful memories for all of you.”

  “It wasn’t all bad.” Craig forced himself not to look away, to block out the memories.

  “Good Lord, that’s like the equivalent of you saying you had a good time.”

  Craig frowned. “Getting back to Lori, though, she’s late.”

  Daly glanced at the clock on the wall. “And I have a meeting to get ready for. Surely you didn’t come in here to tattle on her?”

  “No, that wasn’t the point.” Craig sighed, lifted his tall frame up from the chair, pushing his tousled hair back from his face. “But I’m not happy to be working with someone who knocks off early, shows up late and wants to take all the credit when they do decide to come to work.”

  “Noted. I want a progress report by noon.”

  “You mean you’ll be out of your meeting by then?”

  Daly closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as he leaned back in his chair. “If I’m still in one piece, yes.”

  “Okay. Noon it is. Are you buying?”

  “Breakfast wasn’t enough? And you need a haircut, Craig,” Daly called after him.

  Craig smiled as he walked away.

  Ashlyn and Tain sat down across from their counterparts from Burnaby. She noticed they barely glanced at Tain, but she felt eyes lingering on her as she sat down and tried hard not to scrutinize them back.

  Of course, they would have already met Tain. She glanced up with a polite, fleeting smile and turned her attention to the end of the table.

  “Tain, have you met Sergeant Quinlan?” Sergeant Daly asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Then I think I just need to introduce Constable Hart. Ash—”

  “Constable Ashlyn Hart?” Sergeant Quinlan asked her, a warm smile spreading across his face. Fit, short brown hair, she guessed about twenty years older than she was, but nothing about him that really stood out, other than that he was the mirror image of the fire chief.

  “That’s right, sir.”

  “I’ve heard good things about you.”

  Ashlyn quickly averted her glance from Daly’s face. “You must be Chief Quinlan’s brother.”

  “That’s right. He’s been very impressed with your work on the arson investigation.”

  Ashlyn forced herself to avoid looking at Tain. “Thank you, sir.”

  “And this is Constable Urquhart and Constable Mullins,” Sergeant Quinlan said. Both constables nodded at her.

  The woman, Mullins, had short dirty-blond hair and dark eyes. She frowned. “Have you been reassigned from the arson investigations?” she asked Ashlyn.

  Urquhart, who looked every bit the average guy with absolutely nothing unique about his features, from his regulation-length brown hair to his average height and brown eyes, said nothing.

  Ashlyn looked at Daly, who cleared his throat. “That’s part of what we’d like to address here. Ashlyn was already on the scene of the arson fire on Saturday when Isabella’s body was recovered. It may seem tenuous as this point, but both Julie Darrens and Isabella Bertini were recovered from the scene of arson fires that have been linked. One of the things we want to look at is a connection between the arsons and the abductions.”

  Mullins’s eyes narrowed. “I t
hought there were now six arsons that were linked.”

  Ashlyn nodded. “That’s right.”

  “But we’ve only recovered two children, and two more are missing. The numbers don’t exactly add up.”

  “Let’s not be so quick to jump to negative conclusions.” Sergeant Quinlan held up his hand. “It’s definitely worth checking to see if there’s a connection.”