by A. J. Thomas
Ray felt weird riding in Elliot’s car. He was used to being in the driver’s seat, in every sense of the word, and watching the freeways of northern San Diego pass by from the passenger’s seat of the little silver Honda felt surreal. Awkward as it was, it gave Ray ample opportunity to stare at Elliot when he was too distracted to glare at him. In the cockpit-like driver’s seat, Elliot’s tall body reclined against the seat back in a pose that screamed of confidence and power. His long arms stretched to the steering wheel and stick shift, guiding the car through traffic at speeds that would have had most people clinging to the seat cushion. Elliot’s focus and effortless confidence eased Ray’s anxiety over not being in control a bit, but it also increased the tension he’d been battling since he impulsively kissed Elliot that morning.
Watching another man drive wasn’t supposed to be sexy. But it was. Every time he tried to pay attention to something else, Elliot downshifted and the movement drew Ray’s gaze to his lanky body. At first, Ray had thought Elliot looked too damn skinny, but he’d quickly realized that half of his skinny appearance stemmed from having to buy larger sizes because of his height. His slender build made the loose fit look relaxed and approachable, touchable. Knowing that the tight muscles beneath the loose jacket were so defined that Elliot looked like he was chiseled from a block of pale marble made it impossible for Ray not to stare. He remembered the way it felt to run his hands over Elliot’s arms and shoulders, remembered the way Elliot’s pale skin held a hint of pink everywhere Ray touched him. Ray shifted to try to hide his hard-on, but from the way Elliot smirked at him, Ray suspected he wasn’t fooling him at all.
That morning had proved Elliot was still attracted to him, too, no matter how much Elliot wanted to deny it. Now just wasn’t a convenient time to do anything about it.
He pushed the memories of their week together aside and tried to focus on Sophie. Once he found her, he could devote his full attention to stripping that loose suit off Elliot’s body. Elliot’s insistence that he wanted to find someone special flashed through Ray’s mind, but he told himself it was irrelevant.
Elliot’s goal was naive at best. Ray had watched everyone in his life fall in love at some point, but no one ever fell in love, built a relationship, and managed to make it last. Even his own parents had only managed a peaceful marriage while his father was assigned to a ship and deployed a lot. The few shore tours he had served had each been eighteen months of shouting, arguments, and miserable afternoons being shuffled off to his grandmother’s house so his parents could shout at each other without holding back. By the time Ray was twelve, he’d spent more time at his grandmother’s house than his own. They’d divorced when he was thirteen. He’d watched his older cousins go through the same cycle, and then his sister too. A happily ever after was the stuff of fairy tales and soap operas, and if that was what Elliot was waiting for, he’d likely be doomed to spend his entire life waiting. It’d be a damn pity to waste that creamy skin and delicious body waiting for a happy ending.
The address listed for Luca Garcia with the California Department of Motor Vehicles turned out to be a dorm room, and its current resident told them he’d never heard of Garcia. Visits to two different administration offices followed before Elliot finally got a current address—a student apartment complex reserved for upperclassmen, six blocks from the north end of campus.
The young man throwing up gang signs on Sophie’s Facebook page opened the door, except that he was wearing nothing but a pair of plaid boxers and a threadbare white undershirt. The boy’s fierce glare looked more like terrified bravado in real life.
“Mr. Luca Garcia?” Elliot flashed the man his ID and shifted his weight, setting his foot against the half-open door.
Instead of trying to slam the door on Elliot, the young man backed up into the apartment, shaking his head.
“Are you Luca Garcia?”
“I….” The young man shook his head again, his eyes dancing from Elliot to Ray. “Yes! I mean, yes, I’m Luca Garcia. You’re with the FBI?”
“That’s right. I’m Special Agent Elliot Belkamp. I was hoping to ask you a few questions about a Miss Sophie Munoz. May I come in?” Elliot shoved his way into the apartment without waiting for an answer. “Thank you.”
Ray followed behind him, keeping his face set in a neutral mask while he scanned the entryway, looking for any immediate threat and assessing as many details as he could. The apartment was a mess. The thin brown carpet was stained, and every inch of it was littered with garbage, clothing, pizza boxes, and empty beer bottles. No matter how much his cousin liked to party, he couldn’t picture Sophie walking into such a mess and responding with anything other than disgust.
“Where are you from, Mr. Garcia?”
“Texas.”
“Texas? You came a long way to go to school.”
“I didn’t get into UCLA.” Garcia rolled his eyes. “You said you wanted to ask about Sophie?”
“Yes,” said Elliot seriously. He pulled a small notepad out of his breast pocket. “Your girlfriend. Sophie Munoz. Her family is concerned because they haven’t seen her in nearly two weeks, and she hasn’t been attending classes. When was the last time you saw Miss Munoz?”
The man opened his mouth, stuttered, and ran his hands through his hair. “I guess… it was a few weeks ago.”
“Why don’t you sit down and tell us about it?” Elliot smiled and steered the boy to an unfolded futon. Ray watched Elliot begin to question Garcia, but he stayed by the door, listening while he tried to pick out anything of his cousin’s within the filth.
“Okay. Uh, we dated for most of this year. The school year, I mean. Then about three weeks ago, she said we were done. She left. I haven’t seen her since. But I haven’t exactly been looking to run into her, either.”
“That was the last time you saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Where was this?”
“Right here.” Garcia gestured around at his apartment. “We got into a fight on our way to class, we came back here to try and work things out.”
“Aren’t you in a couple of the same classes? You haven’t seen her in class? Around campus?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t sound all that concerned about the fact that she’s disappeared.”
“I’m not.” He shook his head slowly. “She said we were done. She said she was tired of pretending, as if the entire last year was nothing but bullshit. I don’t know, maybe it was. It seemed like the only reason we even got together was because she wanted my help in class, and when she found out fucking that old hack would get her an easier A, she was done with me. That bitch used me. So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t think she’s worth being concerned about right now.”
“Easier A?”
Garcia huffed and dropped his head into his hands. “Professor Holland.” He sneered at the name. “She was always going on and on about him, as if she didn’t notice the way he stared at her. She was willing to string me along for help with her homework, but he could offer her an automatic A and money and shit….”
“She’s involved with Dr. Holland?”
Garcia rolled his eyes. “She has to be. There’s no way she could get the kind of grades he’s been giving her. She’s….” The boy shrugged and reached for a half-empty package of cigarettes. Rather than pulling one out, he turned the pack over and over in his hands. “She’s just a girl. She never got even the basics of Java programming, no matter how many times I tried to walk her through it. Eventually, I just let her copy my assignments, but apparently that was too much work, too. I don’t know how she got as far as she did, but now that she’s got that rich prick taking care of her, maybe she decided she doesn’t need to bother with class anymore. Either way, I don’t care. She’s more trouble than she’s worth, and she’ll fuck him over too.”
Elliot scribbled a few quick notes. Ray strolled toward the futon and tried to make out what Elliot was writing, but the notes were jus
t a random line of loops and scribbles as far as he could tell. Less than ten minutes of questions and nervous answers followed. Elliot managed to get Garcia to tell them how he and Sophie had gotten together, how their relationship had progressed, and finally, hit the young man up for the names and contact information of any friends she might go to if she was in trouble.
“Friends?” Garcia sneered. “She didn’t hang out with anybody. She was never exactly social, even though she was totally hot. There were a few people from her other classes she would argue with, but they weren’t friends.”
“Can you think of anyone she’d go to for help? Other than Dr. Holland, perhaps? Family she was close to?”
“Family?” He barked out a laugh. “Yeah, right. If you knew the first thing about her family, you’d know she would never go to one of them for help.”
Elliot took more notes, including copying down the young man’s full name and phone number. “Until I’ve located her, I’d like you to stay in the area in case I need more information. Here, I’ve got a business card that has my office number on it. If you see her, if you talk to her on the phone, see any sign of her—give me a call.”
“Yeah, sure.” Garcia took the card and added it to the top of a stack of Playboy magazines.
“May I use your bathroom really quick?” Elliot tucked his notepad away.
“Yeah, whatever. It’s the first door on the right.” Garcia nodded toward the hall.
Ray wanted to curse, but he kept his mouth shut. Elliot obviously wanted to look around the rest of the small apartment, but Ray wasn’t comfortable being left alone with the disgusting young man Sophie had apparently dated. After the fuss Elliot had made about Ray not interfering during this interview, the last thing Ray expected was to actually have to deal with the younger man.
“So….” Garcia stood up nervously. “Do you think she’s okay?”
Ray shrugged. He glanced down at the pile of magazines and papers where Garcia had placed Elliot’s card. The magazines had shifted enough that Ray could see the black matte finish of Sophie’s laptop peeking out beneath the stack. “How much stuff did she leave here?”
“Huh? Stuff? She didn’t leave anything here.” Garcia shook his head fast. “She lived on campus.”
He watched Garcia try to shift the stack of magazines and he moved fast. “This is her laptop.” Ray scooped up the heavy computer.
“No it’s not. That’s mine.” Garcia reached for the laptop, but Ray held it back, turning his side toward Garcia to put more distance between the young man and the computer.
“It’s a custom-designed unbranded laptop running a Unix-based operating system with a custom user interface. It’s one of a kind. And I let her recycle my old laptop case to build it. Since you broke up, I’m sure you won’t mind if I take it with me. I’ll be sure to return it to her when we find her.”
“It’s not hers! I don’t care if you are with the fucking FBI, you can’t come in here and take my shit without a warrant!”
“FBI?” Ray raised a single eyebrow at the young man. “I never said I was an FBI agent. You couldn’t pay me enough to put up with those fuckers. No, Mr. Garcia, I’m just a concerned member of Sophie’s family, and I will be taking her laptop. Did she leave anything else here that I should know about?”
Luca Garcia’s eyes bulged as he stumbled backward until his knees hit the edge of the futon. “You’re one of them?” He tried to crawl backward over the futon.
“I’m her cousin. What else?”
“Nothing!” He shook his head frantically. “She didn’t leave anything else, I swear! And I never touched the damn thing! It’s just been sitting there! I thought… I thought I could pawn it, you know?”
“Pawn it?”
“That’s right.” The boy’s frantic nod was almost funny. “I never even turned it on.”
“Then you won’t mind if I take it?” Ray forced himself to smile.
“Take it! Take it, go ahead!”
Ray glanced up when he saw movement in the hallway. Elliot leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. “We’re done here. Thank you for your time, Mr. Garcia.”
Ray followed Elliot out of the apartment with the laptop in hand. As soon as the door slammed behind them, Ray heard the scrape of a deadbolt clicking into place.
“Seems like you made quite the impression.”
Ray knew Elliot was going to be angry, and he had every right to be. Ray had promised he wouldn’t interfere at all, just observe. He’d already blown that, so he might as well minimize the damage. “Take this now,” Ray insisted. “Do you have an evidence bag?”
“Hmm?”
“It’s Sophie’s,” Ray explained. “If she was the one who stole that money from the Tijuana cartel, that laptop might have the only evidence to prove it. He said I could take it, and you weren’t gone long enough for me to even turn it on.”
“There is no fucking way I can construct a secure chain of custody for anything on that laptop.”
“Take it and try! I won’t set another finger on it! My prints are only on the outside and top of the case, except for really old stuff, because I used to own it. If it’s clean, you can take it over to Carmen’s and leave it in Sophie’s room there.”
“And if it’s not?”
“If there is evidence that she stole that money?” Ray shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “If the evidence is there, you need to find her and arrest her. Protective custody within a prison is safer than being on the run with her brother after her.”
Elliot pulled a pair of gloves out of the case in his pocket and carefully took the laptop. “If you’re that worried about it, we’ll take it straight to the federal building, okay?”
Ray sighed. “Thank you.”
When they got back to the car, Ray placed his gun back into his shoulder harness while Elliot sealed the laptop in a large plastic bag and took a photograph of the seal with his phone. Ray studied the student apartments across the street, trying to pick out which, of the patchwork of windows, might belong to Luca Garcia.
While he was watching, he noticed a sleek gray suit jacket with white pinstripes. Flashy, the kind of thing Alejandro typically wore. He jogged back across the street, resisting the urge to draw his gun. He stopped when he reached the front of the building, watching the crowd of pedestrians.
“Ray?” Elliot was right behind him. “What is it?”
“I just… I thought I saw a gray suit.”
“A gray suit?”
Ray bit his lower lip. “I thought I saw my cousin.”
“Sophie.”
“No. But now I don’t see him.” Ray gestured up the sidewalk. “This whole thing’s made me a little jumpy.”
The drive back to the FBI headquarters just off the I-15 wasn’t nearly as much fun as the first drive across town had been. Ray was too busy replaying his conversation with Luca Garcia in his head to ogle Elliot. He was a cynic, and he was used to people lying to him, but he wasn’t sure how to sift through all the lies from these two interviews.
His first instinct was to defend his cousin, to swear that she wouldn’t get involved with either man, and that there was no reason to suspect she might steal money from her family. He wanted to believe that Garcia was just a bitter, manipulative asshole. If he knew how good of a programmer Sophie was, Ray could easily picture him conning her into stealing money from her brother’s accounts. And if he was related to this Esteban Garcia who Alejandro was so afraid of, it was likely that Sophie had just been a pawn in a sloppy bid for power on Luca Garcia’s part. He couldn’t think of any plausible reason why Sophie would waste her time on someone like Garcia, but if she thought she was in love with him, anything was possible.
He also couldn’t deny that Dr. Holland had sounded more like a man with a crush on a woman than a professor who was concerned about his student. Holland was the one who had reported her disappearance, and that alone made Ray curious. The part that kept his head spinning was the possi
bility that whether she stole that money or not might be irrelevant. Luca Garcia was bitter and angry about Sophie breaking up with him, and if she tried to leave him for their professor, his resentment could have easily exploded into violence. It might have nothing to do with the money at all.
The FBI thought she stole it because they had traced the theft back to a computer IP address on the UCSD campus, and he didn’t believe for a moment Alejandro was interested in anything but recovering the money. That was more than enough reason, as far as Ray was concerned, for her to pack her bags and disappear. Proving her boyfriend was responsible for the theft might not help Ray track her down, but it might help convince her to come out of hiding.
Ray waited in the lobby while Elliot took the laptop into the quiet federal building. It took nearly an hour, and by the time Elliot got off the elevator, Ray was going insane trying to find something to distract him from thinking about alternatives to his theory, because every alternative he could come up with meant Sophie was dead.
He was also hungry, tired, and he wanted fresh clothes. He wanted to get back to his car and go home.
He was skimming through news articles on his phone when Elliot kicked him in the foot gently. “Sorry that took so long. No crime-lab analysis without a report, so I had to type up a report from the interview. Come on, I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Lunch?” Ray tucked his phone away and stood, stretching the kinks out of his neck and back.
“Yeah. There’s a little taco place in the shopping center down the street.”
“Tacos? You think just because I’m Latino that all I eat is tacos?”
Elliot rolled his eyes. “Can you let the egotistical bit go for a few hours? The only options nearby are the taco place or McDonald’s, so all I eat is tacos. If you’d rather have a burger that’s fine too. Or I’ve got Pop-Tarts.”
“Oh.” Ray deflated. He hadn’t meant to snap at Elliot, but he was exhausted and more on edge than he wanted to admit. “Okay.”
“Okay for a burger, or tacos?”