“He was the last person seen with Becca.” He reached forward and fanned out the pictures in the file so all three were visible. Three photos of three different missing girls taken from various traffic cameras in the city. All with the same man. All with the man’s face conveniently covered. He hadn’t been able to obtain the bastard’s identity until the call came in from Becca’s mom this morning. “I’ve been investigating Pete for the past month. He has a connection with a sex-trafficking ring that recently moved here from Mexico.”
A high-pitched laugh bubbled from Mickey and morphed into a hysteric groan. She shook her head, but her gaze never left the photo of her goddaughter. “This is all wrong. Pete’s a good guy. He’d never do anything to hurt anyone, especially Becca. He adored her.”
Graham waited a beat, studying her reaction. He wanted to believe she was telling him the truth, but he’d never been in this situation before. Instead of wanting to badger her with questions about her possible involvement, he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right.
“This has to be a mistake. I’m sure Pete lost track of time and will bring Becca back any minute.”
Graham raised his brows and glanced behind Mickey at the clock on the wall. “Becca was supposed to be home five hours ago.”
She grabbed her phone and her fingers flew over the screen. “Did you call Pete? Maybe they went to a movie or something.”
He reached out and placed a hand on her arm. Jolts of electricity shocked his hand and he yanked it back. Mickey dropped her phone and stared at him. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Are you going to ask about the other girls in the pictures?”
“It can’t be true. There has to be another explanation.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. She dropped her gaze to the pictures and swiped the tips of her fingers over Becca’s face.
Ring, ring, ring.
He grabbed his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen. “I have to take this.” He stood, turning away from Mickey, and talked to his partner. “What have you got?”
“Harper called and wants to see us as soon as possible.”
Shit. He didn’t have time to waste dealing with his boss, but if Harper wanted them in his office he didn’t have a choice. He pressed his lips together and sighed. “I’m on my way.”
He hung up the phone and faced Mickey. Digging in his pocket, he grabbed a card and threw it on the table. “I have to go. Here’s my card. Call if you think of anything I should know. I’ll be in touch soon.”
“Can I call Suzi now?”
The slight tremor in her voice tightened the knots in his stomach. He nodded. “Yes. If you think of anything that will help us find Becca, call me. The longer we go without finding her…”
She waved away his words and tears streamed down her face. “She’s going to be fine. I know it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He turned and walked out of the apartment and back into the steaming heat of summer. The sun shone bright in his eyes, and he lowered his shades to hide the glare. His gut told him Mickey was telling him the truth, but his head knew he needed to keep an eye on her. Too much shit had happened around her in the last week. He couldn’t ignore that. Either way, he’d just dropped a bomb on her.
Now it was time to watch and see how she picked up the pieces.
Chapter Three
The door clicked shut behind her and a shaky breath rattled from her throat. Finally, he was gone. She could breathe a little easier without him staring at her across the table with his accusing gray eyes. He’d be back, though, she was sure of it. But if seeing Agent Graham Grassi again meant he’d found Becca, then she’d welcome the opportunity.
She retrieved her phone, unlocked the screen, and pulled up Pete’s number. Maybe she could clear this mess all up. She didn’t blame Suzi for panicking and calling the police if Pete was so late in getting Becca home, but there’s no way he took Becca for some sex-trafficking ring. Pete could be an ass sometimes, but he was a good guy. He’d always been so kind to Becca.
And she’d never be able to live with herself if she’d been blind to who he really was. The pizza she’d eaten for lunch churned in her stomach.
No way he could have carried on such a charade for four months.
No way she could have let a pedophile into her life…into her bed. Unshed tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and she sniffed them back.
No, Agent Grassi had to have mixed up his facts. That was the only explanation.
Pressing Pete’s contact information, she held the phone to her ear. Her heart pounded as it rang. One…two…three times.
Come on Pete, just answer the damn phone.
“The number you’ve dialed is no longer in service. Please hang up and try your call again.”
Apprehension sent chills up her spine. She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. She’d dialed the number programmed under Pete’s name. The same number she’d called for months. Maybe he’d forgotten to pay his bill or something. She’d send him a text instead. If he was connected to Wi-Fi, it should still go through.
Hey Pete. Call me when you get this. It’s important.
A small ding sounded from her phone and she glanced at the screen. Red letters appeared under the green box.
Message failed to deliver.
Her heart slammed against her chest. Her mouth got dry and tears burned her eyes. Doubt spiraled through her mind. She had to call Suzi. Clicking out of her messages, she pulled up Suzi’s name and waited for her to answer.
Ring, ring, ring.
With every second that passed, Mickey’s heart raced faster and faster. Why wasn’t Suzi answering? She set the phone down beside the pictures. Her hand trembled as she picked up the one of Pete and Becca. They stood outside Becca’s favorite frozen yogurt shop. The side of her mouth hitched up in a small smile. Becca’s loose curls hung around her cherub face and her upturned nose wrinkled as she squinted toward the sky. Leave it to Becca to talk him into frozen yogurt so early in the day. She laid it back down and then picked up another picture. Her blood turned to ice.
A young girl around Becca’s age stared up at Pete with a bright smile on her small face. The coloring of the girl was hard to identify in the grainy picture, but there was no denying Pete was the man who held her hand on the busy street. Even with the baseball hat pulled low over his face and his body turned at an angle. She’d bought him that hat when they’d went to their first Cubs game together. Disgust swirled in her gut and bile slid up the back of her throat. What was Pete doing with this girl?
She glanced at the time stamp in the upper right-hand corner. August 12, 3:25 p.m. Her sharp gasp rang loud in the empty kitchen. The day after her birthday. Pete had told her he’d be out of town that day. He’d booked a lavish suite at the Hyatt where they’d spent a romantic evening together, and he’d left before she’d even woken up the next morning.
Nausea rolled in her stomach, but she pushed past it and picked up the next picture. Another girl no older than eight held Pete’s hand. This time he wore a different baseball hat and his back was to the camera. But it was him. She was sure of it. She forced her gaze to the time stamp. August 20, 5:45 p.m. The day before she flew back from Mexico and almost died. The day before she’d met Agent Grassi.
She dropped the picture on the table and picked up the card he’d left. Graham Grassi. Special Agent, FBI. What were the odds they’d been on the same plane that almost ended their lives, and now he was investigating the disappearance of Becca? She should have asked him why he’d even been on the plane in the first place. Usually, the crew was aware when law enforcement agents were on board. No one had known about Agent Grassi. And now her goddaughter’s life was in his hands.
Becca.
Mickey hung her head in her hands and memories of her goddaughter assaulted her. Suzi had been her best friend since the third grade, and the day Becca had been born was still one of the happiest of Mickey’s l
ife. She loved her like she was her own and had been a part of all of Becca’s milestones. Her chest tightened and pressure built inside her. Each shallow breath she drew in became more painful than the last. Gasping for air, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead to her knees.
She needed to get it together. Falling apart wouldn’t help anything. Straightening in her seat, she filled her lungs with a deep breath and then slowly released it through parted lips. Each breath slowed her rapidly beating heart and brought clarity to her frazzled mind. She had to talk to Suzi.
Mickey picked her phone up again and called Suzi. Still no answer. Tears slid down her face, splattering on the pictures and soaking through the glossy paper. Sniffing back her tears and wiping the wetness from her cheeks, she beat back her emotions and straightened her spine. She couldn’t just sit here; she had to do something. Grabbing her purse off the counter, she slung it over her shoulder and ran out the door.
The humid air smacked her in the face as she stepped out into the sun. The curls around her neck tightened and sweat gathered at her temples. She pushed her hair back and rounded the corner to sprint the two blocks to Suzi’s apartment. Her pace quickened as the building came into view, and she pushed past the fast-paced pedestrians to get to the door.
The setup of Suzi’s building was similar to her own. She jogged up the three steps to the top of the stoop and pressed the buzzer connected to Suzi’s apartment to get let into the building.
Crackling sounded through the speaker before a voice spoke. “Who’s there?”
Mickey tilted her head, trying to pinpoint the high-pitched voice. She reached out and pressed her finger against the off-white button for the intercom. “It’s Mickey.”
A beat passed before more crackling split the air. “How dare you show your face here! This is all your fault. Get out of here before I call the police.”
Suzi’s mom.
She took a deep breath but couldn’t keep the quiver from her voice as she pressed down on the button. “Mrs. Stanley, there’s been a misunderstanding. I really need to talk to Suzi.”
Seconds ticked by, but no other sounds came through the dirty speaker that sat flush with the weathered door. Mickey took a step back and shielded her eyes as she stared up at Suzi’s third story window. The curtains were closed tight, the window shut. She pulled out her phone, but the door groaned open and Suzi’s gaunt face and haunted blue eyes stared out at her before she needed to use it. The same blond curls Becca had inherited stuck out in all directions, as if Suzi had just rolled out of bed.
“Have you talked to him? Where did he take her? What has he done to my Becca?” As soon as she uttered Becca’s name, Suzi’s voice broke and a muffled sob escaped her twisted mouth. She took a step forward and pounded her closed fists on Mickey’s chest.
Pain and shock rooted Mickey to the spot. She tried to grab Suzi’s arm, but Suzi jerked away. Mickey wrung her hand around the strap of her purse and bit back a sob of her own. “I tried to call Pete, but his number’s been disconnected. But I’ll find him. I promise.”
A strangled snort huffed out of Suzi’s nose and the ice in her blue eyes sent a shiver down Mickey’s spine. “You’ve done enough. You brought that sick bastard into our lives. And now he has my baby.”
Suzi’s words slammed into her much harder than her weak fists had and she staggered backward, nearly tripping down the top step. “I didn’t know,” she said, shaking her head.
“You dated him for four months. You didn’t see any red flags? No gut feeling telling you that you’d let a monster into your bed?” Suzi’s breath hitched and she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. The dam burst and the flood gates opened. “How could you do this to us? Becca loves you.”
Mickey’s pulse raced in her ears and her stomach turned. “Suzi, you can’t honestly think I had anything to do with this.”
Suzi’s shoulders slumped forward and defeat clouded her irises. “I can’t think about anything right now except getting my baby back. Please, just leave.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but the door slammed shut before anything came out. Her knees buckled and hot metal scorched her palm as she steadied herself with the rail. She’d lost her best friend and her goddaughter in one day. How had she not seen who Pete really was?
Guilt gnawed at her gut like a dog on a bone. Suzi was right. She’d brought Pete into Becca’s life. She’d encouraged the girl to open up to Pete. Male role models were nonexistent in Becca’s life, and Mickey had stupidly thought Pete could be the one. If it hadn’t been for her, Becca would be home right now driving Suzi crazy with her constant chatter.
Reality crushed down on her. Suzi wasn’t the only one who thought she knew the truth about Pete—so did Agent Grassi. Why else would an FBI agent have been waiting for her to get home earlier? The FBI didn’t notify godparents about missing children. He had wanted to find out what she knew. Or in her case, didn’t know.
Digging around in her purse, she searched for the card he’d left her. She needed to call him and straighten this out. Hell, maybe she had some information that could be helpful in finding Becca. A snippet of information Pete had mentioned that hadn’t meant anything to her at the time.
Dammit, she hadn’t grabbed the card. She stepped down the stairs and rushed toward home. Mickey rounded the corner toward her apartment, and goosebumps tickled her flesh. Stones scattered across the sidewalk behind her. She stopped and glanced around. The back of her neck tingled as though someone were watching her.
Get a grip. No one’s watching you.
Quickening her pace, she closed the short gap to her building and hurried up the steps. She reached into her purse and rummaged around the bottom of her bag for her keys. Her heartbeat pounded and her fingers brushed against everything but her damn keys. The jagged outline of a small piece of metal skimmed the pad of her thumb and she clung to them like a lifeline.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she struggled to unlock the door. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and relief flooded through her as the key slid into the hole and she opened the door. The muscles in her thighs screamed from her earlier workout, but she pushed past the pain and ran up the two flights of stairs to her apartment.
She tried the handle, hoping her roommate had made it home, but no such luck. She jammed the key in the lock, yanked open the door, and hurried inside. Once the door was closed, she flipped the lock and leaned her back against the solid wood. The clawing sensation of fear subsided. She shouldn’t be spooked. Becca was the one in trouble. But all of this had hit too close to home.
Pushing off the door, she walked into the kitchen and picked the business card off the table. She turned the white cardstock between her fingers as an image of the FBI agent with the cocky smile and intense gray eyes flashed in her mind. She’d actually been stupid enough to think he’d found her because he’d wanted to get to know her. Hope had bloomed in her for an instant, and then he had smashed that hope until it was nothing more than a swirling mist of nonsense. He didn’t know a damn thing about her.
But that was about to change. No matter how big of an ass he’d been, he was looking for Becca. If she wanted Becca home safely, she needed to tell him everything she’d learned about Pete in the last four months. She grabbed her phone from her purse and then set her bag in front of her on the table. Her thumb swiped across the blank screen and she put in her password to unlock it before bringing up the call button. Her eyes darted between the card and her phone as she pounded in Graham’s phone number.
Hard metal pressed against the back of her head and every muscle in her body stiffened. Warm breath skimmed over her bare shoulders.
“Don’t move, or I’ll blow that pretty little face of yours off.”
Chapter Four
A dull ache pulsed behind his eyes and he rolled his head back and forth to ease the tension in his neck. Graham had chosen six years ago to join the human trafficking task force, but it didn’t mean the cases
didn’t weigh on him.
Especially this one.
Something was different about how Pete Bogart handled himself. Graham and Eric had found next to nothing about the guy until Graham had interviewed Sanchez. He might be a slimy bastard, but he was smart. They couldn’t find a name, a location, a fucking whisper in the wind about who he was. Not until Sanchez had given him a name…and not until Becca Stanley went missing.
Graham had looked at the other case files and spoken to the families of the other missing girls. None of the families had known Pete’s name. None of the girls had spent time with Pete. So what was different about Becca? For a man who didn’t mistakes, this had been a big one. Becca’s mother could give them information about Pete and she could give them the name of the woman Pete had dated. A woman, once again, Pete had revealed his identity to.
The biggest question now was whether that woman was aware of everything Pete Bogart was or whether she was just another victim in his sick little game. It made his skin crawl.
He picked up a copy of the picture he had left with Mickey, the last picture taken of Becca with Pete from this morning. She’d been missing for five hours, and the more time that went by, the less likely they were to find her. He couldn’t let that happen.
A sharp rap on the doorframe had him glancing up and staring into the deceptively calm brown eyes of his partner. Eric had been with the bureau for over twenty years and had been with the human trafficking task force since its inception. Graham considered himself lucky to be partnered with him and learned long ago not to underestimate his easy-going demeanor and receding hairline. His wrinkled shirts and slightly overweight build made him seem unassuming, but his mind was sharp and his instincts were usually spot on.
“Harper’s ready to see us.”
Graham groaned and fell back against his desk chair. The tension in his neck doubled. He hadn’t been on the best terms with his boss the past month. “Can’t you brief him while I keep working? We don’t want to waste any time.”
Bound by Danger Page 3