Case reports and notes from my investigation covered my desk. It all looked familiar, but I diligently went through the information again. In between sips of tea, I studied the reports from House and Kang. I looked over the ME’s report and the reports from the park rangers and the FBI field office out of Cleveland. Nothing chipped away at the mental wall that had erected itself.
It was a tough day at the office. Question after question fished for answers in my head, but they all came up empty-handed. When I find myself in a situation like I did that day, I bury myself in the information. I continue that approach until somehow, someway, I punch through.
“Agent Kane.”
I looked up and saw Tucker walking toward my desk, bright-eyed and eager.
“Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to update you with my progress on accessing the surveillance cameras at the docks.”
I pushed back from the desk a bit. “What did you find out?”
“Getting access was easy. I’ve already pored over the footage that coincided with the timeframe you gave me.”
“And?”
“I captured footage of Piper Taylor at the San Francisco ferry building, but she was alone. Well, she looked like she boarded the ferry by herself. The footage in Sausalito also showed her exiting the boat but again, by herself.”
“Are you sure?”
Tucker’s shoulders rose, and his voice softened. “I’m pretty sure, but I think it would be a good idea for us to both look at the footage.”
I followed Tucker back to his desk where he played the video footage on his desktop.
“This is from the ferry building in the city.” Tucker scrolled slowly until we saw Piper enter the frame.
“Keep going,” I said.
The angle of the camera was from behind her, slightly off to the side. I could make out part of her face, but the clothes and the backpack were what confirmed it for me. I watched her move slowly toward the ticket taker.
“She doesn’t talk to anyone,” Tucker said.
“Hold on. Back the footage up until right before the ticket handler.”
Tucker did as I said.
“Right there. The ticket handler—Piper doesn’t turn over a ticket to him.”
“Huh?”
“Rewind a bit farther and watch everyone in front of her.” Sure enough, everyone in front of Piper handed over a ticket except her. The man behind her handed over a ticket but not the woman and two kids. “You see that? He paid for the woman and two kids. My guess is that person in front of Piper is our woman and she turned over both of their tickets. That’s our Cotton Candy Killer, and they met before the trip.”
We watched the footage of them exiting the boat in Sausalito. Piper and that same woman were together again, except this time, she had removed her large raincoat and hat. Our suspect’s clothes and hair now matched the description from the owner at the sweet shop.
“You mentioned that she left the hostel alone,” Tucker confirmed.
“According to the young woman at the front desk, she left alone, and as far as that girl knew, had planned on traveling to Muir Woods by herself. She said it was ‘an easy trip.’ There wasn’t much time from when she left the hostel to the departure of the ferry, about an hour and a half.”
“If she stayed in a hostel, she walked,” Tucker said. “It’s not that far, and as a tourist, it’s another opportunity to see the city.”
“So, a twenty-five minute walk.”
“At the most, unless she stopped somewhere.”
“Do me a favor. Pull up Google Maps and let’s take a look at the obvious routes. Let’s see if there’s anything worth making a stop for outside of a coffee.”
Tucker moved his fingers over his keyboard and a map of San Francisco appeared in his browser. He zoomed in so we could see both the hostel and the ferry building in frame.
“Well, the most direct route is to take Sacramento Street down to Drumm Street. From there, she could travel south to Market and cross over Embarcadero Drive to the Ferry Building or go north to Clay and cross over.”
“She passes The Embarcadero Center on the way,” I noted. “What girl doesn’t like shopping?”
“I’ll find out if the Center has cameras on the property and get access. We might get lucky.”
I thanked Tucker for his help and returned to my desk, thinking how grateful I was to have a young agent who put everything he had into whatever I asked of him. Even though I knew Piper could have met this woman earlier in the week, my gut told me that wasn’t the case. With time racing, I wondered whether this woman was a local resident or someone passing through town. If it was the latter, every day was a day she could wrap up production on her show and take off. Flushing her out of hiding was my best shot and the only way I would find her. I had to keep squeezing.
30
Kang was sitting quietly at his desk and reviewing his notes when Sokolov took a seat at the desk opposite him. “What’s the word, boss?”
Kang straightened his tie before leaning back and giving his partner his full attention. “We’ve made progress but not enough to where I think we have a handle on it and are closing in.”
“The Cotton Candy Killer. I saw it on the news. Catchy.”
“That was Abby’s doing.”
“Abby? You two are on a first-name basis?” Sokolov raised his eyebrows, furthering his curious response.
Kang waved off his partner’s insinuation that something other than work was taking place between him and Abby. “It’s not like that. We’re friends. No need to keep it so formal.”
“Friends…” Sokolov pushed up his lower lip as he nodded, his smile growing.
“Yes. Friends. You know, like you and me.”
Sokolov coughed out a loud laugh.
“What?” Kang raised his shoulders, his palms held out.
“That’s a weak rebuttal.” Sokolov squeezed his eyelids tighter. “You like this woman, yes?”
“Don’t you have some dried fish to eat?”
“I’ve known you a long time, my friend. You can’t pull the wool over this Russian,” Sokolov said as he jabbed his index finger into his own chest.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The bald detective lowered his head and steadied his eyes. “I’m like KGB. I know everything.”
Kang wasn’t interested in any more Abby talk. “How’s your task force coming along?”
Enthusiasm returned to Sokolov’s voice. “I’ve put together a good group of men—five altogether. We were able to rent a small office in Inner Richmond for our base of operations.”
A surprised look settled on Kang’s face. “How did you manage that?”
“Important case. I didn’t question when the captain suggested it.”
“What’s the plan of attack?”
“We focus on rebuilding a list of the players and start surveillance. We’ll see where this takes us.” Sokolov leaned back in his chair with both hands behind his head. “How close are you to finding this cotton lady?”
“Not very close,” Kang said, still futzing with his tie.
“You still think she killed our two vics?”
“Good question. I’m more confident that she killed that hiker. It’ll either pan out, or it won’t.”
“Maybe you keep coming at it from another angle. The captain expects both cases to be solved.”
This time, Kang saw none of the playfulness in Sokolov’s eyes he had seen earlier. His partner, as always, was a solid sounding board. As much as he liked working with Abby, he had an obligation to make progress on his two cases.
Kang stood up. “I’m heading out for a walk. Need to clear my head.”
“My time is limited,” Sokolov said. “But if you need anything…”
“I’ll let you know.”
Kang exited the precinct and headed toward Chinatown. A walk through his favorite part of town never let him down, and it usually helped him work through his cases. But that day, he
also wondered if it would also help him work through the feelings he had begun to have for Abby.
31
I looked at my watch; it was quarter to four. I had agreed to have coffee with Dr. Green at the Starbucks on Bush Street. He had sent me a text asking if we could meet Thursday afternoon. I liked Green and knew he had developed a crush on me, but romantically, he wasn’t my type. On the other hand, I didn’t want to keep making excuses. It’s coffee. What’s the big deal? So I said yes. Plus, the top medical examiner in the city wasn’t a bad guy to have on my side. I may need a favor or two from him down the line.
Green was already inside waiting for me and waved from a table in the far corner.
“Hi, Dr. Green. It’s nice to see you again.”
He stood up and pulled my chair out for me. “Oh please, this is a personal meeting. Let’s use our first names, Abby.”
Okie dokie. I smiled and took my seat.
“May I get you something?”
I removed my tin of loose-leaf tea from my purse. “Hot water. I kind of have an addiction,” I said with a shrug. I sensed Green’s attempts to make this feel like a date. It was, but not the kind of date he had pictured in his head.
“Well, I’ll get us some pastries to share.”
Before I could object, he had popped out of his seat and taken off.
I sat quietly, spinning my tin can around between my index finger and the table. I wondered what we would talk about. Would we resort to the expected and discuss the case or work in general? Or would he surprise me and hold a conversation that didn’t have anything to do with a dead body?
Green returned with a chocolate brownie and one of those everything bars, along with my cup of hot water. He had already ordered himself a large coffee ahead of time. I fixed my tea and picked up a fork. There’s no way I would let a chocolate brownie sit in front of me without a taste. No can do.
“I heard through the grapevine that you like to box,” he started off.
Wow, that came out of nowhere. I can’t remember mentioning it. “I do. My father taught me how when I was a young girl. I got away from the ring for some time, but since my move to San Francisco, I’ve fallen back into it.”
“It’s a great way to keep the body in condition.”
“That’s mostly why I picked it up again. I run as well, but boxing tends to give me a more balanced workout. And you? What do you like to do for exercise?”
“I wish I could say something impressive like muay thai fighting, but sadly, I can’t. I enjoy hiking. I love being out in nature. Not only is it beautiful, it’s very peaceful.”
“I’ll agree with you there. I try to get the family over to Golden Gate Park as often as I can. I know the nature found there is nothing like hiking, but it does the trick.”
“Oh, it certainly does. I love the park. In fact, I live nearby.”
From that point on, the conversation steered itself all over the place. At one point, we exchanged embarrassing stories about our childhood. Green’s were particularly entertaining. He had hippie parents who liked taking him on weekend camping trips to Bolinas with other families. He said there was a lot of nudity, pot and music. I laughed, hard.
“Oh my, I can’t believe you had to endure that.”
“At the time, I thought it was normal.” He laughed. “I didn’t know otherwise. My parents were, and still are, big-time nudists. That fun, magical place where we vacationed was a nudist colony.” We giggled. “I liked swimming in the pool and roasting marshmallows over the campfire at night. What about you?” he asked.
“My mother thought I was a lesbian from age sixteen to age twenty-eight, the year I married my late husband.” We both laughed as Green tried to get an apology out about my husband’s passing. Thankfully, he didn’t ask more about it.
I had a nice time with Green. It felt like we could talk about anything, and I was a bit surprised when I looked at my watch and saw that an hour had already passed. I told Green I’d had a very nice time talking to him, but I needed to get back to the office.
We were still chatting when we exited the coffee shop and I heard someone call my name. I spun around and saw Kang walking toward us.
“Kyle, what are you doing here?”
“I took a walk through Chinatown and decided to loop back on Kearny Street.”
“You know Dr. Green, right?”
Kang looked down at my coffee date without his usual smile. “Green,” he said with a quick nod.
Green looked up at my temporary partner without the smile I’d seen all afternoon and returned the same abrupt reply. “Kang.”
Methinks they know each other. Fun had left the room, and awkward had taken over. I didn’t know what to say, so I excused myself to go to the bathroom.
“How do you know Abby?” Green asked when he and Kang were alone.
“We’re working on a case together. I assume that’s what you’re doing?”
“Oh no, quite the opposite. We’re on a date.” Green beamed and pocketed his hands.
Kang jerked his head back. He wasn’t expecting that.
“Cat got your tongue? Yeah, don’t look so surprised. Abby and I hit it off. I know you’re thinking I’m not her type, but I’ll have you know, it’s all fun and laughter when she’s with me.” Green had puffed his chest out a bit.
“How… how long have you—”
“Been seeing her? Well, let’s see…” Green began a count on his hand. “This is the third time.” I’m not lying. Everything I’ve said is true. “Things are really moving along for us. I’m pretty serious about her, just so you know. You’re not interested in her, are you?”
“We’re partners on a case. That’s all.”
Kang looked away. He hadn’t gotten the impression that Abby was involved with someone. To think he had spent the last half hour thinking about her, even working up the guts to ask her out. Kang actually thought she might even be out of his league, but seeing her with Green… well, not only was it a shock; it actually made him jealous. It didn’t help that it was Green.
Kang and the medical examiner had a history. Their relationship had been fine until he worked the Top Chef Killer case a few years ago. It was during that time that Green had met Inspector Leslie Choi and had become smitten with her. Kang didn’t think her feelings had been mutual. Anyway, Green developed a jealous streak over all the time that Kang and Choi spent together and how well the two got along. From that point on, Kang and Green’s relationship had deteriorated. This was yet another case of Abby/Leslie déjà-vu.
“Yeah, she probably wouldn’t be into a guy like you anyway. Plus, I already have dibs on her.” Green bounced his eyebrows at Kang.
You smarmy little shit. Kang took a deep breath, forcing his face to relax. Calm down, Kyle. You’re not dating her. Don’t get upset because someone else had the balls to ask her out while you pretended not to like her. He straightened up to his full height to make Green feel tiny. “Tell Abby I’ll catch up with her later.”
32
Jerry had been looking forward to the night tour of Alcatraz he had booked a few days before their arrival in San Francisco. But now, with the situation with his wife, it dampened the excitement. If the Cotton Candy Killer news piece blew up, they would have to flee the city before completing their five objectives—a no-go in his mind. The entire situation angered him.
They had a list of precautions they’d agreed to follow. In fact, it had been all Vicki’s idea. She was the one who had implemented layers of planning to lessen their chances of being caught. Over the last couple of years, she’d spent measurable amounts of time refining the way they would complete their kills. For this trip especially, she’d thought of everything from fake aliases and passports to dummy prepaid credit cards and bank accounts that were replenished through their bank accounts offshore. They had disguises packed in their suitcases, even a plan for what to do should they find themselves on the run and separated.
Jerry had been against it all from the
very beginning. He preferred to slice and dice on a whim and couldn’t care less about a trail that led back to him. But over time, she had slowly helped him change his methods. Now, he had become obsessed with following the rules to a T.
He still hadn’t mentioned to his wife that her picture had made the late news. They had stayed in the hotel all day, contentedly lying in each other’s arms between screwing and ordering room service. A threesome always seemed to bring them closer.
Jerry turned to the night table and peeked at his watch. It was encroaching on half past four. They would need to get ready soon.
“Why are you watching the clock?” Vicki asked playfully. “Don’t you like being stuck in bed with me?”
“We have tickets for Alcatraz, remember? I don’t want to miss the ferry.”
“Oh, that’s right,” she said absently. Vicki had no interest in visiting the prison. She thought it strange that Jerry wanted to visit a place that could become a reality in their line of business.
Jerry looked at his wife. “You still don’t want to go, do you?”
She pouted her lips and lowered her chin. “No.”
“Tell you what; stay here and relax. Order more room service. I’ll go by myself. It’s not a big deal.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” The less interaction you have with the news-watching public, the better.
Jerry kissed his wife reassuringly. He slipped out of bed and stepped into the shower but not before asking her to join him. Keeping her in the hotel seemed easy enough, but how would he stop her from watching television or surfing the Internet? She might discover what he had been hiding from her. And then what?
[Anthology] Abby & Sei Thriller Starter Page 11