“What are the possible reasons a band of girls would be in a warehouse? And it was very obvious they were living there.” Mick tried to think of reasons, but there were holes in every scenario.
“Theft ring,” Paige said. “There were multiple IDs found for each girl. And they looked like wholesome all-American girls because that’s the kind you expect to see in a mall or middle class store. They choose less noticeable clothing, no gang symbols or anything that will make a clerk suspicious. They may have even carried backpacks and textbooks in with them.”
Something in her voice had him looking at her more closely. What was up with her? “How do you know?”
She hesitated for a long moment. “I just do. I’ve seen it before, several times. They steal something, collect enough to repackage, then sell it to a supplier, who returns it to another retailer. Or they pick wallets, credit cards, whatever they can take that will make a quick dollar. Thirteen is a big group, too. We can get Hernandez to check with local stores and malls.”
“So that’s what they were doing there, but where did they come from?”
“It’s hard to tell. Sometimes they are street kids, recruited for whatever reason. For whatever skills they possess.” There was a bitterness in her words that surprised him.
“What’s going on with you? How do you know this is a theft ring?”
“I’m not completely certain. But…the signs are there.” She looked at him, with a world of hurt in her eyes. “I’ve seen it before.”
“How? Where?” He knew her history, or at least what her brother had shared. What had been whispered about in the halls of the PAVAD building months ago. She’d been a runaway for a while, but he’d never asked the details, never probed too deeply. He hadn’t wanted to know. Hadn’t wanted to think of what she might have gone through out there. “You are going to have to talk to me if we’re going to be partners.”
“We’re not really partners, we’re just sort of stuck to each other for this one.” She headed toward the exit of the warehouse. Mick followed. “Look, it doesn’t leave you and me, ok? Carrie and I were a part of a similar ring when we were sixteen. But we didn’t like the direction it was taking so we ran.”
“I see. We’ll talk outside.” Mick made a decision. He stepped in front of her. She stopped short of bumping into his chest. “Here’s the deal. We need to solve this case. You have information and experience that will make solving it faster. I need you. So whatever you tell me will stay between the two of us. I know you were out there for a while, I know you probably went through some pretty nasty shit back then, but I need you to look past that and help me. Can you do that without going crazy? Because if this case is one that’s going to push your buttons, you need to step back in a hurry, now. Before your fingers get any deeper in this pie.”
“I can do my job. And what do you really know about it?” Her temper was there, in the snap of her words, the brightness of her eyes, and the red in her cheeks. She was very pretty whenever she snapped at him. He’d noticed that many times before. “You with your perfect life…”
“You know that isn’t true.” He shifted, blocked her from all the people surrounding them. Whenever the two of them got within range of each other, gawkers started staring. Mick knew they were waiting for the show. He and Paige had had a few notable exchanges publicly, especially before Christmas. He wasn’t going to deliver today. “I didn’t mean to sound like an ass. Sometimes—hell, quite a lot of the times—I say things the wrong way. I always have. I didn’t mean I thought there was a reason why you couldn’t do your job, just that it might be best for you if you didn’t handle this case. There is a difference.”
“Are you… apologizing? For something you said to me?”
She had a real way of making him feel like an asshole, did she realize that? “I’m not—I’m explaining what I meant.”
“I can do my job, and I will do it. Like you said, I can help find the answers faster, so why shouldn’t I? We both know this job involves dealing with the nasty part of life.” Her chin rose and she stepped away from him. “This happens to be a nasty part that I’m intimately acquainted with. I can deal, Agent Brockman, I can deal. You don’t have to worry about me.”
But maybe someone should? Her sister was busy preparing for her new baby, her brother Luc was busy with his new wife and his businesses. His sister Al was all but being consumed by the ‘wedding-of-the-century’, Paige’s landlord Dan Reynolds had an entire basketball team worth of redheaded kids to worry about, including two under six months. Who did Paige have?
A dog the size of a Buick? He’d met the beast a time or two. The mastiff mix wasn’t exactly soft and cuddly. “Let’s get going. We’ll grab something to eat on the way.”
She nodded, then looked away. Lost in thought. What was she remembering?
Why did he suddenly want to know everything that was going on in her head? He’d never found her intriguing before, never wanted to know all her secrets.
When he’d first met her, she had just been her sister’s annoying partner, Al’s best friend that was somehow always around. And mooning over his brother Mal. That had been his first impression of her when he’d met her. But that had changed over the years.
She’d not been mooning over Mal, she just cared a great deal for him. And for Al, and Jules, and his niece Ruthie. Even his mother and father loved her. Though she’d not seen them much since last Christmas.
He waited until she was in the passenger seat of his SUV before saying anything else. “Mom and Dad mentioned they’ve missed seeing you.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“With what?” PAVAD agents had an erratic schedule, but Dennis required regular downtime.
“With life. And it was too weird, to know that the reason why Jules almost died was because of me. You, too.”
“It wasn’t because of you, it was because of him.” Where had she gotten such as stupid idea? She’d been the least responsible party in the entire ordeal. Didn’t she realize that? The only reason she’d been targeted had been because of his family.
“Because I did something to make him think that…”
“Paige, that’s stupid. You’re not stupid, so quit acting like it. No one made him do anything that he did. He was stalking Mal long before you were in the picture. It just as easily could have been my sister he focused on. Or Georgia Dennis or Ana Sorin, or any other woman my brother worked with.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I couldn’t look at all of you and not remember what happened. At least for a while. And then you were blown up with my brother back in March. You could have died, remember? There seems to be a lot of crap associated with me or my family where yours is concerned. I figured it was better for all involved if I just stayed away, especially your parents.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard you say. Maybe the truth is by looking at us, you’re reminded how our family nearly got you killed.” Equally as stupid as what she said, didn’t she realize that?
No one had ever blamed her for any of it. If anything, they were responsible for not seeing the stalker for who he really was. She and Jules had both been dragged through hell because of their association with his family, not the other way around. “I can understand that. And I was doing my job when your brother and I were in that explosion. Same as you were.” She’d been injured that day, too.
She really had more than her fair share of trouble in the last few years. Didn’t the woman deserve a break, now and then? It had him softening toward her. “No one is responsible for the actions of another. That person made choices. Everyone made choices. They may have been shitty ones, but they were made.”
“You’ve never been in a situation where there weren’t any safe choices to make, have you?”
He searched her face for a hint of what was behind the question. There wasn’t any rancor, just sadness and possibly old memories. “I’ve been in a few. Facing a friend holding a gun on me, knowing that because I trusted him when I shouldn�
�t have that I was going to die, yeah. That one tops the list. I saw Jules pull in that day, and couldn’t do a damned thing to protect her. I couldn’t move, couldn’t do a fucking thing. I’ll never forget that.”
“I don’t remember any of it. Not even a minute. The only thing I remember is waking up in the hospital that next day. Al was there, and Carrie. A few other people.”
“I think everyone was taking turns—your room, Jules. Even mine. And I know I’m not the most favored member of my family.” I.A. had set him apart from his friends the moment he’d accepted the assignment. It hurt; but he did it for a reason. To protect the friends and family he had on the job. They needed someone watching their backs from friendly fire. He could handle the barbs; the payout of keeping his loved ones safe was worth it. “They were worried. From what I remember, you were pretty out of it.”
“No more than you were. We were both really, really lucky.”
“Yeah, we were.” Lucky that she hadn’t been raped or killed or anything else. Lucky that Jules had fought back, too, until help could arrive for all of them.
“I still have nightmares.” The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop them. “I expect that I always will.”
She just looked at him. Her surprise was there for him to see. They’d never spoken so freely with each other before. What had made her so open? Something was different about her lately, but he’d been unable to figure out just what it was. Of course, he’d gone out of his way to avoid her whenever possible.
“Why? I’ve never really understood why someone would be like that. I asked Sebastian, but even he couldn’t tell me the answer.”
“I don’t think even the profilers understand every aspect of behavior. God knows I don’t. Just something inside him was all fucked up, and he acted on it. In the wrong way.”
“That’s a good way to put it. Wonder what kind of crazy we’re dealing with now?”
“One who is remorseless, but can plan things out. This guy had enough drug to knock out thirteen people, without anyone suspecting. He had to wait and watch, and then kill.”
“One by one, without caring what he was doing.” She sighed again after she said it, then looked out the window as he maneuvered the SUV down the busy streets to PAVAD clear across town. “Did he have something to do with them being there in the first place? Or her. Can’t rule that out yet, either. Although…”
“What?”
“I’m not sure a woman would kill like this.”
“How?”
“It was so bloody; I’d expect something far cleaner. Maybe just drugging or poisoning? It’s obvious there was plenty of opportunity. I just don’t think it was a woman. I’m almost certain of it.”
He saw her reasoning, but he preferred facts to hunches. “This guy planned this and he stuck around to wait while the drugs worked. And how do you think it took him to kill each girl?”
“Jules will have to tell us that.”
“I wonder if he just started at one end and killed, or did he stop and wait until each girl was dead before going on to the next?” He couldn’t imagine such slaughter. But that might very well have been what they were facing. What did it tell him about the killer? Was it a typical mass murderer, if such a thing existed? Or was it something else?
He’d ask his brother when he got back to the house. Mal always had an insight into serial killers; as a profiler, it was his brother’s specialty. Unlike Mick, whose only real specialty with the FBI was watching others do their jobs, and making sure those jobs were done correctly.
He knew the real reason why he’d been pulled to the CCU for this case—Dennis could have put his sister in charge of this case, and they’d discussed doing that very thing in the private meeting they’d had over lunch that afternoon.
Ed wanted him in place in the CCU to investigate the entire division. Wanted him on the very next case to come into the division through Team Three. With the leader of that team about to go on paternity leave, it gave Mick the perfect opportunity to step in.
To find the traitor that had been undermining Ed Dennis since the early days of PAVAD. Ed knew it wasn’t Al or Mal, his daughter Georgia or son-in-law Hellbrook. Jules or Paige, and a few others. That was the only certainty they had. It was Mick’s job to find others that could be cleared.
He looked at it as his way of protecting the CCU from those that would harm it.
“That’s not just a killer, that’s evil.”
Mick couldn’t help but agree.
They both knew that evil definitely existed. It was their job to find and stop it.
Chapter 5
They stepped away from the doors and walked toward the gate—the now unlocked gate. Mick waited until they were clear of the crowd before voicing his question. “Do you believe Smith?”
“Yes. I’ve been in tons of warehouses used for just those purposes.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and snapped a few shots of the simple lock—cut open now by the local law enforcement. “It’s a plain lock. I could pick it in less than thirty seconds—fifteen on the second try.”
“A handy skill you’ve had for a while?”
“One I’ve had since I was about twelve.” Dark eyes met his. “You know the story, I’m sure, Mick. I know my brother told you about my history. One thing you learn quick as a runaway—if you want to eat, you need to get into places you’re not meant to get.”
“So you think they just what? Picked the locks whenever they wanted in?”
She slipped into a fresh pair of gloves, then turned the lock over. “No real scratch marks. Whomever did the picking was either really good, or they didn’t pick it at all. Someone may have a key. We’ll need to check the girls’ personal belongings. See if we can match it.” She turned back toward the crowd of techs. “Kelly! Can you bag the lock for me?”
Dan Reynolds’ oldest daughter came over. “Of course. Pretty crappy case you pulled, Paige.”
“I think it’s going to be a pretty nasty day all around.”
“They’re almost ready to move the bodies. After that we’ll hit the scene doubly hard. I already talked to Ally and Mariana—they’re moving this case to the front of the pack. Director Dennis ok’d it—wants to get a good jump before publicity hits.”
“We’ll keep in touch.” Paige slipped her gloves off and the technician put them in an evidence bag as well. It was procedure, in case something vital had transferred to Paige’s gloves when she’d touched the lock. “Mick? I want to walk around the neighborhood, see if anything jumps out. We’ll need Josh and Therez to as well. Canvass, see if anyone’s willing to talk to us.”
Mick had to admit, he was just as glad to let her take the lead on this. She dealt with these types of situations all the time and he wasn’t foolish enough to think that he had a better idea of what to do than she did.
He knew the real reason Dennis wanted him on this case. He wanted Mick close to the action, close to the PAVAD agents, so that he could start the process of flushing out the traitor. They were this close to finding the guy. Mick knew it in his gut. “You think we should go east or west?”
“West. I’ll tell Josh to take the east.” She started walking.
“What exactly are we looking for out here?” he asked after they cleared the block that the warehouse occupied. It was just another metal building in a field of metal buildings. Each was encircled by a chain fence, each showed its age. There were a million and one places for a killer to hide—but only a few a witness could be found in.
“Anything.” She looked at him, then sighed. Paige raised a hand to her eyes and shielded them from the afternoon sun. “I’m definitely not a profiler, Mick, but I know enough about life out here to tell you what their days were like. But I need to get back into the feel of those days. The mindset…it’s different from what you know. What I live in now.”
“And how are you to do that?” What had she been like? Smaller, definitely, vulnerable.
“Back then…your every thought i
s escaping detection. Because if you get caught, you get sent to social services. And for some—most—that can be far worse than life out here ever could.”
“You really believe that?” The words sounded harsher than he intended, and he waited for his volatile partner to snap back at him. This time she didn’t.
“Unless you’ve walked those shoes, Mick, you will never know how they fit. Being in the system, it leaves its scars. I know you’ve spoken with Luc.”
“He’s made a few comments.” He’d never expected to be friends with her brother, but he liked the other guy a lot. Luc wasn’t afraid of anything, was loyal to his friends, and had a good sense of humor. “About his past. Not yours.”
“I never wanted PAVAD to know. But after what happened with Carrie and then Luc, I guess it couldn’t stay quiet forever.”
“It wasn’t your fault what happened to you.”
“Do you even know why I was out there?” There was a challenge in her eyes, the one he’d expected. “What rumors are going around about that, I wonder?”
“None.” He’d not have her thinking that, not at all. “I’ve never heard anyone say one word about you…at least not your childhood. There are some rumors that you’re involved romantically with Josh Compton—or Kelly Reynolds. No one knows for sure.”
“Really?” She smiled, the beautiful smile that always irked him for some reason. “I’ll have to share that with them—they’ll get a kick out of it.”
“There’s also a strong belief that you and my brother had something going on…before Jules, of course.”
“Really?” This time it was a full smile and a small laugh out of her. “That’s great. Mal is one of the sexiest men alive. That’s awesome.”
“So there isn’t any truth to those rumors?” Why did he suddenly want to growl at her? Because of his brother? He’d always known the two were close—it was hard to miss. But he’d always just discounted the rumors before. Mick had thought he’d known his brother better than that.
Revealing Page 3