“I swear I’m not going to bother you too long. I just have one question. I have this woman here who says she worked for a Hank, but she didn’t give me a last name. It’s probably foolish to think that…”
“Wow. Hank. I can’t say for sure it’s the same guy, but it would be a huge coincidence, right? I never met him in person. He does escort for rich folks who are in town for business. From what I heard, he’s brutal. I can try to find out more…”
Ellie already felt bad. “You have another job that I’m keeping you from. I’m sorry, forget about it, okay?”
“Are you sure? In any case, be careful. He’s very elusive, and vengeful with everyone who tries to get in his way.” So far, nothing she hadn’t seen before. Darla continued, “He runs things out of Webster, rarely comes to town himself. He doesn’t have to. His guys are extremely loyal. Oh, and here comes my boss. See you, Ellie.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
* * * *
She had barely made it inside the building when Waters found her, enraged.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
Okay, now was apparently the moment. Somehow, Ellie understood that stalling wouldn’t help her.
“The public defender, McKenzie, asked to see me first, and he had some compelling arguments why the case isn’t that cut and dried. Mr. Owens for example…”
“Oh please, Harding, let’s not go down that rabbit hole again.”
“Why not? I was right about—”
“We closed the Goddamn case, handed Esposito everything she needed, now McKenzie is going to introduce a motion for dismissal. You know what that means, Harding?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “You screwed up, badly. I’m going to ask the lieutenant to take you off the case. Hell, perhaps it would do you some good to direct traffic for a while.”
“What is wrong with you?” Ellie never wanted to have that conversation, at work, especially not with him. If she was honest, there had always been the chance for it to happen, but she’d hoped it wouldn’t be necessary before his last day. “I have the name of a pimp who works with high profile clients. There might or might not be a connection to Owens, but in any case, he didn’t see her shoot Robertson. She has gaps in her memory. Why do you think it’s acceptable that we make a mistake here?”
He shook his head. “Get off your high horse. Gilbert confessed, now she wants to plead not guilty. If this case falls apart, it’s your fault, no one else’s.”
“I did nothing wrong.”
“Don’t be surprised if IA wants to look into this. Makes a person wonder on which side you are.” He stalked away, leaving Ellie standing.
“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath. Not quietly enough, apparently, because he spun around.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
This time, Ellie was the one to walk away.
Chapter Five
Isabel Combs’ parents still lived on the outskirts of town. Mrs. Combs opened the door to them, faltering at seeing police on their doorstep again.
“After all this time—that can only mean one thing, right?” She started crying.
“Mrs. Combs, please, can we come inside for a moment?” Torres asked. Throwing a glance over her shoulder, Jordan could detect movement behind more than one window in neighbors’ houses. They were wondering too.
“We wanted to warn you that Isabel’s picture will be on the evening news. We don’t know where she is—yet—but there’s new evidence.”
“Is she alive?” Mrs. Combs asked incredulously. “Is my baby alive?”
“We don’t know.” Jordan hated having to repeat it. “We found proof that she’s been in an apartment downtown until recently.”
“What does that mean? Someone held her there? Where are they now? What are you doing to find them?”
Jordan exchanged a look with Nina, who said, “The men who rented the apartment, are dead. We are doing everything we can to find Isabel. Her picture will be shared on the TV stations’ social media, and officers are on the lookout for her.”
Mrs. Combs looked like this was far too much, overwhelming information for her.
“When is your husband coming home?” she asked.
“He should be on his way here. God, what did they do to her?”
“We shouldn’t jump to any conclusions,” Jordan said, though she had to admit it was hard not to. She hoped that Isabel, wherever she was, had gotten away from her captors rather than gotten caught up in something even worse.
* * * *
The employees of the Chinese restaurant, a man and a woman, confirmed that Dinkins and Oswald had bought takeout on the night of the murders, and that they had frequented the restaurant, sometimes having their meals there.
While Isabel Combs was locked in the closet? Jordan wondered. Neither of them had seen, or remembered her.
The smell of food was almost overwhelming. There had been no lunch break earlier as they dug into Combs’ story, and she was glad they could leave the restaurant soon after. Earlier, they had gotten a call from the lab that confirmed the presence of a fourth print, only partial, too smudged to be worth something for them. They were still working on evidence from the scene. The fourth person could be the killer.
“Four years. That’s a long time to resurface. Why here and now, why with those people?”
“If we knew that, things would be a lot easier,” Nina said. “I don’t think we’re going to find out tonight. Say, could you recommend a decent place for a drink and some bar food?”
“Sure. You want to check in and go after? I’m starving.”
“Sounds great.”
Torres was driving, so Jordan used the time to text Ellie and Derek to direct them to the Night Shift. Kate, Ellie’s best friend and Derek’s girlfriend, might join them too.
Neither Ellie nor Derek were at the station, but they had both checked in and confirmed they’d meet them at the bar.
When they walked through the doors of the Night Shift, both were there, sitting at a table in the corner. Ellie was holding her head in her hands. Derek looked sympathetic.
“Hey guys. Agent Torres was looking for a place to eat, so I told her about this one…is everything okay?”
Ellie cast a quick look at Torres, and then mumbled, “Yes, sure. Hi. Sorry about earlier.”
“No problem,” Torres returned.
A rather awkward pause ensued. “All right. Let’s get drinks? Ellie, would you come with me?” Jordan waited until everyone had made their choice, and the two of them were out of earshot. “Okay, what’s going on?”
“McKenzie introduced a motion for dismissal, based on the conversations we had.”
“Ouch. Did the judge go for it?”
“No. There was blood on the woman’s shirt, and residue on her hands. She doesn’t remember…I think there’s some prolonged trauma at work, and the psychiatrist said the same. Judge didn’t go for that either. I think Waters is happy, but he badmouthed me to the lieutenant first.”
“Wow. I’m sorry. That’s not something you should tough out until he’s gone. What did Carroll say?”
“Not much. He tried to be diplomatic. What I’m hearing between the lines is, he’ll be glad once Waters retires, too. He is the senior detective, and I should consult with him, but how am I supposed to do that when he’s either dismissing me, or not present at all? How is that going to teach me anything?”
“You are absolutely right. Don’t let this go. Ask to talk to Carroll, ask to be partnered with someone else. I could—”
“No,” was Ellie’s categorical answer.
“Okay, fine. I’m sure Doss would love to work with you.”
“She loves her freedom, but yes, I’d so prefer her…You know what I mean,” Ellie added after realizing her words were open to different interpretations.
“Yes, I know what you mean,” Jordan assured her, glad Ellie was able to have a sense of humor about the situation. She didn’t think Waters could truly
harm Ellie’s career, but he had become a nuisance. “And I’m really sorry about your day. I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.”
Ellie smiled. “I’ll take you up on that—even though it wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t even all bad. So, it’s going well with Torres?”
“So far, so good. I have a bad feeling about the case, like it’s one of those that could be growing heads. If we could at least find the missing woman…”
“Yeah. I hope you can.”
Their drinks finally arrived, and they went back to the table where Derek and Nina were engaged in what looked like a pleasant conversation.
Jordan wasn’t too happy with what Ellie had revealed regarding Waters. While she knew Ellie could handle herself, she would keep an eye on the situation. Everything else seemed to be moving forward. As they sat back down at the table, it crossed her mind that there were some striking similarities between hers and Ellie’s case, both involving women in desperate situations that might or might not have taken justice into their own hands.
Coincidence?
She caught Nina’s curious glance, wondering what the reason was, until she picked up her glass and realized it was her wedding ring that had caught the agent’s attention.
“I guess we should try to get something to eat,” she said. “I promised Agent Torres some decent food.”
* * * *
Ellie called Natalie first thing in the morning, and they made a date for lunch at a bistro in the Mason tower. Part of her wondered about what could have been if they had met as children, but she never spent a lot of time with hypothetical questions. Natalie’s mom had probably sought to keep her from disappointment in a complicated situation. Not that Ellie could ever imagine her father not taking responsibility for his own child—but if he had known, that might have set a series of even more complicated events into motion.
No, Natalie had found her at the right time, when she was truly content and at home in her life. Something she would have loved to share with her parents, but now she got to share it with a sibling she didn’t know existed.
Truth be told those thoughts were also helpful distracting her from the work situation, and Jordan’s suggestion. Could she really have that talk with Carroll? Should she? Jordan had been around longer than she had, but then again, she also had years of successful work to show for. Ellie had joined the unit only recently, and she was supposed to learn from a more experienced colleague. She was supposed to fit into the team. If she couldn’t make it work, would that say more about her than it did about Waters?
Waters wasn’t there when she arrived. This was perhaps a good idea to get a quick coffee before he yelled at her again.
Everything would be easier if she got to work with Doss. She would have liked to look into “Hank” some more. Together, they could perhaps even come up with a strategy to get to him directly, except that her partner wasn’t interested, and she either had to go through him or wait it out. A lot could happen in a few weeks.
Lieutenant Carroll wasn’t in his office. Ellie decided to lay low until she could talk to him.
* * * *
Nina Torres, aside from getting Dr. Adams to prioritize their case, kept a pretty low profile, compared to Bethany, anyway. They worked on tracing the last steps of Dinkins and Oswald while trying everything possible to find Isabel Combs—as to this moment, with no success. This could mean several things. She might not want to be found, a reasonable aim considering what her experiences likely were. The other explanation was that she, too, was dead. Jordan wasn’t ready to accept that interpretation yet, and neither was Nina. They decided to go back to the area while a uniformed officer was answering calls to the hotline.
As usual, there were many calls to filter through—nothing helpful so far.
“Could you wait a second?” Jordan asked when they walked past Lieutenant Carroll in the hallway. This was probably a bad idea, but she had reached the end of her patience. She was well aware that Ellie needed to be careful, being the last detective to have been hired into the unit. And it was true that she still had things to learn, but if Waters was determined to make everyone miserable during his last weeks, nothing much would come out of it.
“Sure.” Nina leaned against the wall as Jordan hurried after her supervisor.
“Sir. Do you have a minute?”
“I hope you have something new about Ms. Combs?”
“I’m sorry, not yet. This won’t take long though. I was wondering if you had any plans to partner Ellie with Detective Doss…and if this could happen sooner rather than later. I think it would help the case.”
“You think so, Detective?”
She detected the slightest hint of impatience, trying not to cringe.
“Did Harding put you up to this?”
“No. Of course not. She would never.” Damn. Ellie would not be happy about this. Perhaps she had overestimated how aware Carroll was of the recent dynamics?
“I think that’s something we can agree on. If changes are necessary, we will make them. Is that all?”
It wasn’t very satisfying, but she wasn’t going to push her luck.
“Yes, sir. Thanks.”
“Any problems I should know about?” Torres asked when they were in the car. She was driving, her hands relaxed on the steering wheel.
“Not really.”
“All right then. Thanks for letting me come yesterday. It’s a nice place.”
“Yeah.” She wasn’t much in the mood for small talk either. Jordan had gotten up with a headache and an overall tension that could be a hint something was about to happen. Sometimes, it was just there to annoy her. At least Ellie would meet with Natalie again, which reminded her of the background check she had promised. She’d have to be less obvious about it than her earlier conversation with the lieutenant.
Across the street from the Chinese restaurant the men had frequented was a coffee shop. There weren’t many students with laptops in this area, but the few patrons looked young, a girl by the window shivering in a big sweater, even though it wasn’t all that cold. Following a hunch, she went inside. Nina went with her, waiting as Jordan showed Combs’ picture to the woman behind the counter.
“No, I’m sorry. I’ve never seen her.”
“What about these gentlemen?”
The waitress barely flinched at the photographs, even though it was obvious that both men were dead. The people in this neighborhood, including Kim Geller and Chucky Mulveney, didn’t flinch easily.
She pointed to Dinkins’ picture. “He was here a few times, with a girl. A different one each time. One time, he chatted up one of the customers. I remember, because I asked her if she was okay. She said yes.”
“Different girls, but not Isabel?”
“That’s what I said. Excuse me?” she added when a customer came in.
Jordan waited until he had ordered. “When does your shift end?”
“Someone’s coming in to take over at six, why?”
“I’d like you to come in later and look at some pictures. Perhaps you’ll recognize those girls.”
“Look, they seemed legal. There was nothing I could do…”
“Just please come by, Ms…Lewis. We’ll be waiting for you.”
Nina was suspiciously silent when they walked back to the car.
“You don’t agree that she should come in?” Jordan asked.
“No, it’s a good idea,” she said. “It’s just depressing, right? It happens right before their eyes, and no one even thinks of doing anything.”
Jordan could only agree.
Chapter Six
Natalie was wearing slacks and a sweater, with pumps. Ellie couldn’t help noticing that they were dressed in a similar way, and she was secretly excited about it. She had told herself to tone it down a bit—she didn’t want her only relative disappear so soon again. It wasn’t easy. At least Natalie seemed just as excited to see her again. She occupied a table by the window, and got up to hug Ellie when she arrived.
“Hey. I’m so glad you could make it. I assume in your line of work, emergencies happen all the time.”
“Some days are better than others,” Ellie said, unable to keep herself from smiling. “I hope you don’t mind I called you so soon. This…it’s still a little unreal.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I’m happy you called. I still have so many questions.”
“Me too. And there’s a bunch of people I’d like you to meet.” Ellie took a deep breath. “Wow, I’m sorry if that’s a bit overwhelming. We can do that slowly, too.”
“It’s fine. I want to meet the people that are important to you.”
“So a dinner party wouldn’t freak you out too much?” Ellie had meant it as a joke, more or less, but Natalie was unfazed.
“It’s no problem. I already know you have a lovely wife and home, so this should be fun. Why don’t we drink to that?”
“Oh, I can’t. I have to go back to work.”
“Just one little glass of champagne wouldn’t hurt, would it?”
“I’m sorry.” Ellie felt a little confused that Natalie would even argue about it. She told herself that she didn’t know her new-found sister well enough to judge. “But you go right ahead, I don’t mind.” Wouldn’t she run the risk meeting co-workers in this restaurant?
“I have the afternoon off,” Natalie said, “but you’re right, let’s hold off the celebrating until we can both enjoy it.”
To change the slightly awkward subject, Ellie began, “You said you and your mom traveled a lot. That sounds really interesting.”
“Oh, it was. We made friends all over Europe and South America, but of course it’s hard to keep in touch, even now with the Internet. Most of it was a long time ago. Tell me about you. Did you always want to be a cop?”
“I had been interested for a long time. After my parents died…there was a time where I couldn’t bring myself to be motivated by anything. I didn’t go back to my classes, and instead, I traveled, too.” Another thing they had in common, though Ellie’s explorations had been borne out of grief. “Not as far as you did, though. Maybe a dozen states or so. I worked here and there, and tried to make sense of life.”
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