No Safe Place

by Mary Head

  “Do you know if she went to class?”

  David thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said finally, sighing again as he shook his head. He pointed at the books and journals still lying in a heap on the floor. “Those aren’t her textbooks, and she didn’t have them this morning. Her morning class was canceled, so I assume that she was assigned something new in her afternoon class after she turned in her paper and she brought those home after.”

  The detective noted this down. “Do you know the name of her professor?”

  David frowned again, closing his eyes against the beginnings of a headache.

  “Dr. John McKenzie,” he said, raising a hand to his forehead. “He’s also her advisor.”

  “What kind of relationship does she have with him?”

  David looked at the detective, feeling slightly confused.

  “Do they get along?” he prompted. “Does she like him? Has she ever complained about him to you, have they ever had any disagreements?”

  “I’m sure they have,” David said, running his hand through his hair, “but I don’t think – she likes him a lot, and I’ve met him, he’s a nice guy, he wouldn’t –”

  “It’s very likely he’s the last person who would remember seeing her, so I’m sure you understand –”

  David nodded quickly, feeling his agitation beginning to increase. He hated just standing around answering a bunch of questions; they needed to be looking for Hannah.

  There was a sudden commotion by the front door and David looked up, hearing a sharp female voice before Juliet appeared around the divider, slipping her badge into the back pocket of her jeans as she stared at the scene in front of her, her mouth open slightly.

  “Jules,” David called, sudden relief sweeping through him. She looked up at him, her brow knitting together as she made her way over to him.

  “Who are you?” she asked the detective.

  “Detective Blackburn,” he replied with a frown. “Who –”

  “Has the office been cleared?” Juliet interrupted, raising her eyebrows.

  Blackburn’s frown deepened, but he nodded.

  “Then why don’t we move this in there?” she said, and then headed for the other room without waiting for an answer.

  David and Blackburn trailed after her, and David moved to stand beside her when they were all inside, the two of them facing the detective.

  “Who’s this?” he asked rather bluntly, seeming annoyed at his brief loss of control.

  “Juliet Grayson,” David answered. “She’s my – she’s my partner.”

  “Partner?” Blackburn raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know there was a girlfriend.” He shifted his focus to Juliet and asked, “Do you live here too?”

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” David said quickly. “Work partner. We – we work together, and she’s – she’s a friend.”

  “Can I see some ID?” Blackburn asked Juliet, who looked more than a little flustered as she pulled her badge from her pocket.

  As the detective copied down the pertinent information, Juliet’s hand brushed against David’s and his fingers curled suddenly around her palm. She looked down at their hands, vaguely startled, and then shifted her own until their fingers locked together, giving his hand a squeeze.

  “Agent Cole,” Blackburn began as he handed Juliet back her badge, “does your daughter have any enemies? Anybody who might want to hurt her?”

  David shook his head, feeling a little stronger with Juliet standing by his side.

  “Hannah’s always been well liked, I don’t know of anybody who could hate her enough to do something like this.”

  “What about boyfriends?”

  “She’s not seeing anybody right now –”

  “Exes?”

  “Seth,” Juliet said quietly, and David glanced at her.

  “Who’s Seth?” Blackburn asked, his eyes moving from David to Juliet and back.

  “Seth Thompson,” David replied with a grimace. “They started dating in high school, but broke up three years ago when she caught him cheating on her. She walked in on him and some other girl, they fought, and he hit her, but that was the only time –”

  “That you know of,” Blackburn interrupted.

  David fixed him with an icy glare. “She would’ve told me, and she wouldn’t have stayed with him. She wouldn’t have put up with that.”

  There was a tense silence in the room for a moment, and then Blackburn cleared his throat.

  “We’ll definitely be talking to Mr. Thompson,” he murmured, making a notation on his pad.

  “You do that,” David muttered, and Juliet squeezed his hand gently, sweeping her thumb over his knuckle.

  “Has she seen anybody since him?”

  David shook his head. “A few dates but nothing serious.”

  “What about her mother?”

  David sighed. “Her name’s Karen Maddox. She lives in New York. We divorced when Hannah was four, and neither Hannah nor I have spoken to her in six years, not since Hannah graduated high school.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Hannah would have no reason to call her,” David said firmly. “She has no relationship with her mother.”

  “Have you called her to tell her Hannah’s missing?”

  “I didn’t see the point.”

  “Maybe she knows something, maybe your daughter called her.”

  “She lives in another state. I already told you, Hannah would have no reason to call her.”

  “We’ll need to talk to her. We can call her, if you prefer.”

  “No!” David snapped. “There’s no –”

  “David,” Juliet said softly, squeezing his hand again.

  He looked over at her and took a breath.

  “Look, I’ll just call her right now,” he said, letting go of Juliet’s hand as he walked over to his desk. He pulled open the top drawer and withdrew a small address book, flipping through it until he found what he was looking for. He reached for the phone and tucked the receiver between his ear and shoulder as he punched in the number.

  “Karen?” he said after a minute. “It’s David.” There was a brief pause, and then he heaved a sigh. “Your ex-husband.”

  Juliet rolled her eyes. She’d only met the woman a handful of times, but she knew enough about her from those few meetings and from what David and Hannah had told her to dislike her intensely. She also knew it was unlikely she’d really care about what had happened to Hannah.

  “Listen, I was just calling to see if you’d heard from Hannah lately. She’s –” He hesitated, lowering his head for a moment as he raised his hand to rest on his hip, and Juliet watched him, wishing he didn’t have to do this.

  “She’s missing,” he said, taking a steadying breath and then pausing for a moment. “So she hasn’t called you? I didn’t think – no, no, you don’t need to come here. Really.” David sighed and leaned forward, resting his hand on the desk. “Stop pretending to care, Karen,” he said, pitching his voice low. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  Juliet could hear his anguish just under his anger, and she closed her eyes, hating to see him in so much pain.

  “I said you don’t need to come down here, so don’t bother.”

  There was a click as David hung up, and Juliet opened her eyes, watching as he stood still for a moment, his hands braced on the desk before he straightened and turned.

  “No. She hasn’t heard from Hannah. Satisfied?”

  Blackburn cleared his throat and didn’t answer, his pen scratching across his notepad as he jotted down more notes.

  David wandered to stand next to Juliet again, and she raised her hand to his shoulder. He covered her hand with his, squeezing her fingers lightly.

  “Is there anybody else we should talk to besides her professor and her ex-boyfriend?”

  “Her best friend is Madison Cartwright; she lives here in Arlington, Colonial Village apartments. If anybody other than John would’ve seen her, it would
’ve been Madison.”

  Blackburn nodded again, adding her information to his list as David read her address and phone number from her contact entry in his phone.

  “Has Hannah mentioned anything strange to either of you, or have you noticed anything? Anybody that’s made her uncomfortable, or maybe somebody following her, weird phone calls, anything like that?”

  “She hasn’t said anything, no,” David said, glancing at Juliet, who shook her head. “And I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Okay, well, I think that’s all I have for tonight,” Blackburn said when he finished, glancing over his notes before snapping the pad shut and slipping it back into his pocket along with his pen. “You’ll have to leave the house, Agent Cole, while CSU works. I’ll have someone escort you upstairs if you’d like to get some things.”

  A short while later, David and Juliet were standing in the driveway in front of the open trunk of David’s car. Though the rain had stopped some time ago, there seemed to be a persistent mist hanging in the air and clinging to the streetlights, making them glow with an eerie dreamlike quality.

  “Where are you gonna go?” Juliet asked with a small frown as she shivered slightly in the damp chill.

  David shrugged. “Some hotel.”

  Juliet gave him a look and tilted her head to the side. “That’s stupid. Come stay with me.”

  David shook his head, muttering something about not wanting to be an imposition, and Juliet rolled her eyes.

  “You wouldn’t be an imposition. You’re my friend, David. And you shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

  David looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “All right.”

  “Good,” Juliet said, smiling encouragingly at him as she tugged his bag from the trunk. “You’ll ride with me; I don’t think you should drive.”

  The drive to Juliet’s apartment was silent, David staring out the window with his fingers pressed to his lips. Juliet glanced over at him every so often, wishing she knew what to say, but she was having enough trouble trying to control her own emotions.

  Propping her elbow against the door, she rubbed her forehead with her fingers. The images of the chaos in David’s house, the broken laptop and scattered contents of Hannah’s purse in the living room, the shattered glass and trail of blood in the kitchen, kept flickering through Juliet’s mind. Over the years Juliet had grown to love Hannah almost as fiercely as David did, and the thought of anybody wanting to hurt her made Juliet physically ill, her stomach churning as she grimaced. She fought the unexpected sting in her eyes, but was unable to keep a stray tear from slipping out, and she quickly brushed it away, taking a breath and hoping David didn’t notice.

  They reached her building, and as they rode the elevator up to her floor, she tried to remember the state of her apartment. She realized, quite suddenly, that in the almost fourteen years she’d known David, he’d only been inside maybe four times. They saw each other outside of work often, but it was always at the bar near the FBI building or at David’s house. When Hannah was younger it had just been easier for Juliet to go to them, but she also preferred it; her apartment was small, and David’s house was far more comfortable.

  A rather obnoxious flutter of nerves twisted in her stomach as she pushed open her door, and she inwardly chastised herself for thinking David would care or even notice if her apartment was a little messy right now.

  She set his bag on the coffee table and hurried into her bedroom to grab sheets and a blanket from the closet so she could make up the couch for him.

  He was sitting on it when she returned, staring down at his hands where they rested in his lap, and she looked at him, hugging the linens to her chest as she chewed on her bottom lip.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked after a moment, stepping forward to set the sheets on the arm of the couch.

  He shook his head, as she expected, and she dipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out her phone.

  “You should eat anyway,” she said gently, calling up the number of a nearby pizza place she used often, knowing it would be open.

  David managed one piece of pizza, though he seemed far keener on the beer in her refrigerator and worked his way through two bottles, staring listlessly at the TV and clutching his phone in his hand all the while.

  It was close to midnight when Juliet stood, clearing the coffee table of the pizza box and empty beer bottles. Once everything had been put away or disposed of, she stood in the entryway to the kitchen, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the wall.

  “I’m going to bed,” she said softly after a moment. “Try to get some sleep.”

  David glanced at her and nodded, his lips twitching in a hollow smile.

  “Night, Jules,” he murmured.

  “Night, David,” she replied, returning his smile. She looked at him a moment longer before disappearing into her bedroom, closing the door behind her with a gentle click.

  Chapter 10

  Hannah opened her eyes, blinking a moment. The light was off now, but the room was still softly illuminated, and she could see what she thought was early morning sunlight beginning to creep through the small windows set near the ceiling. Her head still ached, but it wasn’t the insistent throbbing from before, and the nausea was gone.

  There was a faint murmur of voices coming from somewhere, and she sat up carefully, realizing for the first time she was on a mattress in what seemed to be a basement. She looked around, but could see nothing that might be usable as a weapon, or any immediate means of escape. The mattress underneath her, she noticed, was brand new. The tags were still crisp and smooth, hanging off the end, and she shivered. It seemed as though this had all been planned.

  She pushed slowly to her feet, ignoring the soreness that seemed to reside in every joint of her body, and took a tentative step forward, wincing at the pain in her thigh. A needle, she thought, remembering the pain the older man had jabbed it into her leg. She felt a brief wave of dizziness and froze, closing her eyes in an effort to maintain her balance. Clearly whatever they had given her hadn’t completely worn off.

  Her foot hurt too, but she was more interested in what the voices were saying, and she limped forward, grabbing the railing on the stairs and pulling herself up. The voices grew louder and she continued up a few more steps until she could make out the words.

  “You gave her too much, that’s why she got sick,” said the first voice. “You’re lucky it didn’t kill her.”

  “What, you’re a doctor all of a sudden?” a second voice replied snidely.

  “No, but I didn’t figure this shit out just for you to ignore it. You said we weren’t going to hurt her –”

  “She’s fine, Jackie,” the second voice said dismissively, and there was the softest of sighs. “Is she still out?”

  “She was last time I looked –”

  “Well, check her again. Last thing we need is for her to wake up and start screaming her head off.”

  Hannah heard footsteps moving closer, then the jangle of keys and saw the doorknob shake as it was grabbed from the other side.

  Turning quickly, she made her way back down the stairs as quietly as she could; she didn’t want them to know she was awake. She made it to the mattress, curling onto her side and closing her eyes just as she heard the lock give and the door swing open.

  There was the thud of footsteps on the stairs and then the scuff of shoes on the concrete floor, and she tried to breathe deep and slow so he would believe she was still asleep. The footsteps stopped right beside her and she felt somebody kneeling over her, followed shortly by the gentle press of fingers against her neck. She fought the urge to pull away, trying to keep as still as she could, and after a minute the fingers left her neck and she heard the scuff of shoes as they returned to the stairs.

  The door opened and then closed again, and there was a rattle as it was locked once more. Hannah opened her eyes and stared at the dim light trickling into the room, pulling her arms and legs in
closer to her body as she curled into a ball again.

  She knew her dad would be looking for her. Either he would find her or she’d escape on her own, but one way or another she’d get out of this place.

  Chapter 11

  When Juliet left for work, David was sound asleep on the couch, his phone still clutched in his hand where it rested on his chest, so she was surprised when she saw him step out of the elevator later that morning, his expression dark as he approached her.

  “David –”

  “Why didn’t you wake me up?” he asked angrily, his blue eyes intense.

  “I – I didn’t –” Juliet stammered, taken aback. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t think – I assumed you wouldn’t want to come in today.”

  “What else was I going to do today, Juliet? Sit around, twiddling my thumbs?”

  She stared at him, her brow knitting together as hurt blossomed within her. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d used her full first name, but it was a clear indicator of his anger.

  “David, I’m sorry,” she said, reaching for his arm, but he pulled away from her.

  “I have to talk to Harry,” he muttered, brushing past her as he continued down the corridor. She turned to watch him go, sighing as Chris appeared beside her.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see him here today,” he murmured, sounding surprised.

  “Neither was I,” Juliet replied, glancing at Chris before moving to head back to her office.

  David strode down the hall, aware of the looks he was receiving but ignoring each person he passed. He wasn’t in the mood for pity, and thought the first person who told him they were sorry would get to see the smoldering end of his rapidly burning fuse.

  Harry’s secretary was startled to see David, and opened her mouth as she stood, looking as though she wanted to stop him, but he swept past her, pushing into Harry’s office

  Harry looked up, surprised. “Agent Cole?”

  Special Agent-in-Charge Harry Greene was a tall, broad-chested black man, with a knack for discipline and an intense love for justice. He was five years older than David, and had been at the FBI almost that much longer; he’d been David’s boss in some capacity since David’s first day, and they’d been friends from the moment they’d met.