Dark Prison: A Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller

by Lori Ryan

  “So, we get them training, set some limits, and find a way to get them on our insurance. There has to be a way to do it if we make the effort.” She didn’t stop. “And there are other things. He had a lot of good ideas. Some things that have been implemented successfully in other cities that we can copy so we’re not starting completely from scratch.”

  “I don’t have the money in our budget for body cams on all officers, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Eve bit off the sigh that was tempted to cross her lips. “Maybe we can find a way to raise the funds for those. And if we can’t, we can at least start by putting them on one officer in each vehicle. It’s a start, at least. Bodycams protect the officers as much as the public. We’ve seen that in other cities.”

  Eve knew there were plenty of people in the department who felt the community had no business butting into policing, but she thought there was room here to listen and grow with community input.

  “Can it hurt us to talk to them? To hear what they have to say?” She asked. She went with an angle she knew a politician could appreciate. “It has to be good optics.”

  “Not if we can’t take any of their suggestions. If we meet with them and then reject what they want, we’ll end up looking worse than we do now.”

  She felt a flare of anger. “Then don’t reject everything they want. If they aren’t things we can live with, we’ll talk over other ideas until we can find things we can both support. It’s called a discussion. It’s not meant to be one way or all or nothing. It’s meant to bring them to the table and to let us all talk about the options.”

  He was quiet for a long time and she thought he was going to say no.

  “Fine,” he said, “Get me a list of people you think should be in on these talks. I’m not saying yes. I want to see a list.”

  He hung up before she could say any more.

  Eve turned her chair, leaned back and closed her eyes. She should start by calling Glenn. As a former officer, he could bring a perspective to the panel that others couldn’t. And she’d call Kemal.

  She chose to ignore the way the thought of having an excuse to call him made her feel. Almost like her heart was doing flip-flops right in her chest, which was silly, really. She wasn’t a flip-floppy-heart kind of woman.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Eve didn’t call Kemal right away. She was waiting to hear back from the mayor’s office on the list of names she’d submitted before she let Kemal or her former partner know that she’d floated the idea of them all working together. She’d put others on the list, too. Religious leaders, a woman who headed an organization on mental health awareness, and a few others.

  She stood in front of the elevator three days later on her way back from a too short lunch run trying to work the tension out of her neck muscles. It wasn’t working.

  “Did you really have to go there, Scanlon?”

  Eve didn’t need to look to know who the speaker was. Adam Bursar was one of those people who seemed to growl everything he said, no matter his mood. Of course, the particular tone to today’s growl said he was actually in a bad mood.

  Eve looked at the captain of Dark Fall’s Patrol Unit.

  She didn’t dislike Bursar particularly. She liked to try to get along with her fellow captains when she could. It made things a lot easier. But Bursar made it difficult sometimes.

  “You’ll have to tell me what you’re talking about if you want me to comment on it.”

  “A community panel? You want to let activists and community members tell us how to do our job?”

  Ah. The mayor must have floated her idea to the other captains.

  “Nothing about the panel says we have to take their suggestions without judging them on the merits for ourselves. And if there are issues with their suggestions, we can try—”

  He adopted the stance he often did when he was trying to let her know he had ten years’ experience on her, so he must know best. “Don’t you get it, Eve? They don’t want to know how hard our jobs are out there. They don’t want to hear about the danger we put ourselves in every minute of every day. They just want to tell us we’re all a bunch of racist assholes who should be fired. And you just invited them into our house!”

  Eve pressed the call button for the elevator again, ignoring the fact a few officers were clearly listening into the exchange. “They have valid suggestions that are worth listening to. Just because we agree to listen doesn’t mean we have to accept everything they say as law. We talk. That’s all. Or have you forgotten we’re here to serve?”

  He only sneered, giving her the kind of look that said he thought she’d come to him simpering and pandering and telling him how she should have listened to him all along. It hadn’t happened yet and she didn’t think it would. Actually, she was prepared to put money on that.

  The elevator door opened and she stepped on. Three of her detectives stepped around Bursar and got on with her, standing in front of the doors while they shut so Bursar had no choice but to stay where he was or walk away.

  Sevier, Cantu, and Green kept their backs to her. When they were almost near the top, Cantu broke the silence.

  “Cranky bugger. I think someone needs a nap.”

  Eve bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She couldn’t laugh at her fellow captain in front of her people, but she did feel some of the tension flow out of her. She could always count on her detectives.

  She wasn’t surprised when the Chief of Police showed up in her office an hour later.

  Chief Beryl Forsythe had been with the department for a long time, and she cut her teeth as a homicide detective in New York City. She wasn’t someone to take lightly. She shut the door behind her. “I heard Bursar had something to say about your community panel idea. Anything I need to help you guys settle?”

  Eve waved her off. Bursar was an ass, but he hadn’t gotten out of line. “Just wanted to let me know he didn’t like it. And he might be right. It could turn out to be a mistake. Maybe it’ll cause more friction than there already is at times.”

  Chief Forsythe sat in one of the two chairs in front of Eve’s desk. “It’s a good idea. If it needs adjustment after it’s implemented, we’ll adjust.”

  Eve nodded. “Thanks. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you about it before I took it to the mayor. It was something that just popped up when I was talking to him. It wasn’t really even a fully formed idea in my head.”

  The chief waved Eve off this time. “I sent a few names over to the mayor. I’ve got a friend who works at a nonprofit counseling organization. I thought they might be good to bring on board. And a couple of the other retired officers. Goodwin was a good suggestion.”

  “Thanks. I haven’t asked him about it. Hopefully he won’t mind that I stuck him out there for this.” She knew the captain was thinking about Glenn Goodwin, but Eve was thinking about Glenn and Kemal. She hadn’t asked either one of them.

  And she hadn’t used the excuse to reach out to Kemal again either. Her feelings for the man confused the hell out of her. She’d always seen him as Glenn’s son. Nothing more. But after the other night and their lunch the other day, she was seeing him differently. And that bothered her.

  It wasn’t like she needed another complication in her life. She was dealing with enough pressures in her life at the moment without adding anything to it.

  She remembered the young boy who had been dropped off with Kemal when she was at the house last. Antoine was his name and there was no denying he looked a lot like Kemal. More than once, she’d wondered what the story was there. It wasn’t her business and she had a feeling the answer meant his life was a little too complicated at the moment, too.

  “Any movement on the Samantha Greer case?” the chief asked.

  For the most part, the chief didn’t get into any specific case, unless it was something major. But with the Samantha Greer case, things were different. There were people on the force who remembered Glenn Goodwin’s dogged determination to solve the case. N
o one thought he would be proved right, that she was anything more than another runaway.

  It was hard to deny a body with a suspicious cause of death.

  Still, she had no news for the chief.

  “Nothing so far. My gut tells me the church is involved, but I don’t have anything I can get a warrant with yet.”

  The chief shook her head, lips pressed together, and Eve recognized the frustration in the gesture. She was feeling it herself on the case.

  She reminded herself again and again that the child they knew was out there somewhere was likely an adult by now and not at risk. It didn’t make it any easier to swallow the fact that they had no leads. And it was possible that child was only a teenager and very much vulnerable. Samantha hadn’t been that old when she died. She could have delivered that baby only a few years before her death.

  The thought of it sickened Eve.

  “Keep at it,” Chief Forsythe said as she stood.

  Yeah, Eve would keep at it, but would that get them anywhere? Glenn had worked this case for years.

  The chief hadn’t been out of her office a full minute before the phone rang with a call coming through from the switchboard, which meant it was an outside call.

  “Captain Scanlon, DFPD.” She braced herself for a reporter or someone calling with a complaint.

  “This is Reverend Richardson, Officer Scanlon.”

  Eve tried to ignore the way her jaw tightened at his words. She knew he was intentionally calling her officer not captain. She’d gotten used to that from people who wanted to remind her of “her place” a long time ago. She didn’t call him on it. It was what he wanted her to do and she wasn’t going to give him that right now.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Richardson?” Okay, it was catty of her, but she couldn’t resist.

  “There’s a detective out here asking to interview our members, but he doesn’t have a badge.”

  It didn’t take a genius to guess who that was. “And what name did he give you?” Eve asked.

  “Goodwin. Detective Goodwin.”

  Eve looked up at the ceiling, wishing she didn’t have to deal with this. “Can you put him in a room to wait? I’m on my way.”

  She was already up and out the door as she spoke. When she got off the phone with the reverend, she dialed Kemal.

  “Eve?” he answered on the second ring. “Everything okay?”

  “Tell me, is your dad delusional?” As she said the words, she wondered if maybe there was any truth to it. Maybe Glenn was struggling with dementia and she just didn’t know it. No, he’d always been sharp, every conversation they’d had, he’d been fully there and as on top of things as he’d always been. Right?

  Kemal snorted. “Not as far as I know. Why?”

  “He’s over at the Blessed Divine Church trying to interview their members.”

  She heard Kemal curse over the line and hoped he wasn’t with any of his students.

  “I’m on my way over to see him,” Eve said. “Just thought I’d check in with you first.”

  She had to wonder why she’d really called. It wasn’t like she needed Kemal to help her handle his dad. Had it just been an excuse to reach out to him? Maybe.

  Probably.

  Totally.

  “I’m finishing up at the campus now, maybe I can—”

  Eve cut him off. She didn’t want him adding to the scene at the church and she was perfectly capable of handling things. “No, it’s fine. I’ll let you know if there’s anything to worry about. Honestly, I just think this case has haunted him for years. Knowing what we do now, that Samantha was out there all this time and in trouble, that has to be killing him. I’ll talk to him.”

  Kemal blew out a breath. “Thank you, Eve.”

  Eve liked the low timbre of his voice a little too much. Liked the way the sound of her name on his lips felt almost like hands whispering over her skin. Damn, she needed to get some distance from this man. This was a phone call, for Christ’s sake.

  She was probably gruffer than she needed to be when she said goodbye and ended the call without waiting for an answer from him. She had only minutes to get her response to Kemal Goodwin under wraps before she went into the Blessed Divine Church and hauled her old partner out of there.

  The front of the church was quiet again as she walked through to the back. “Hello? Reverend Richardson?”

  Laughter announced the arrival of one of the younger kids in the church. She recognized the young girl from when she’d been here last. The girl had interrupted the meeting with the reverend and his family, and if she remembered right, she got the impression the eight-year-old in front of her was another of the reverend’s children.

  “Hi! I’m Anne.” The girl made the announcement as though she expected fanfare to follow. “You’re wearing pants.”

  Eve blinked and looked down at her pantsuit. She couldn’t argue with the girl. She was in fact wearing pants.

  The girl went on and Eve knew she was quoting the bible, though she couldn’t say what verse it was.

  “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Anne crinkled her nose and leaned closer to Eve. “Lila’s mom lets her wear pants because they don’t live in the church compound.” Her look became wistful. “She gets to climb trees and everything.”

  Eve opened her mouth to speak, but the reverend entered the room, his voice cutting through the large space and the conversation.

  “Thank you for coming out so quickly, detective.” He angled a look to the young girl. It wasn’t unkind, but it did send her immediately from the room, a hot pink flush on her face as though she’d been caught doing something she knew she shouldn’t.

  “I’m sorry for the trouble,” Eve said, then realized she wasn’t at all sorry. Sure, Glenn was way out of line coming to the church and trying to interview its members, but this had given her another chance to interact with the reverend without a warrant.

  They walked down a hall, passing a room where ten or more women sat with sewing in their laps. The low hum of conversation stopped as she passed by and eyes avoided her gaze.

  They really spent their day sewing?

  She spoke to the reverend once they’d passed the room. “I’ve seen the church’s cheese booth over at the farmer’s market. Do you also sell other goods? I noticed the women were sewing.”

  He gave her a bland smile. “Idle hands. I don’t have to tell you where that leads, do I?”

  As he spoke, he did that thing she’d seen him do with his hands before, one thumb pressing a circle into the palm of the opposite hand.

  Her return smile was just as bland.

  The reverend went on. “The cheeses we make provide much of the income our family lives on.”

  Eve wondered if he meant his family or the church family as a whole. She had a feeling it was the latter. The place had the feel of a commune where all were expected to work and all shared in the bounty of that work. Wow, she was using words like bounty like the church’s outdated ways were rubbing off on her.

  Reverend Richardson didn’t seem to notice she wasn’t contributing to the conversation as he went on. “Our days are filled from morning till evening here. The men of the church work the fields and care for the cattle. The women are in charge of the milking and making the cheese, but they also make and sell quilts. Of course, all of our clothes are made by hand here, so there’s a lot to do in that sense, too.”

  “So their hands are never idle, then?” Eve asked, unable to resist. Heaven forbid the women have a day where they read for pleasure or relax.

  They stopped in front of a door. “Exactly,” the reverend said, and Eve realized he’d taken her quite seriously.

  Glenn didn’t look the least bit surprised to see her when the reverend opened the door. He was pacing the small room he’d been put in. He had to have realized they were killing time until she got there.

&nbs
p; She did notice he was decidedly cleaned up from the last time she’d seen him. His hair was back to its trim, neat cut and he wore clean slacks with the kind of buttoned-down shirt and blazer he’d worn when he was on the force.

  Eve didn’t say a word to Glenn. She turned to the reverend and thanked him for his time before gesturing to Glenn to follow her.

  Of course, the reverend wasn’t about to let them find their own way out. Eve tried to take advantage of the chance to talk as they wound their way back to the front of the church.

  “Has your brother remembered anything else about Samantha’s disappearance that might help us locate where she went all those years ago?”

  She saw the way the man tensed by her side, but he immediately relaxed and continued as though nothing had happened.

  “We’ll be sure to call you if anyone remembers anything that might be useful.”

  “And your daughter is looking up the records of Samantha’s arrival for me, right?” Eve reminded him.

  He nodded. “I’ll remind her to get that information to you.”

  Eve stopped and turned toward him as they entered the church nave through a door just behind the sanctuary. “Are there any women who were friendly with Samantha who might remember something? Maybe someone she was close with and might have confided in if there was something going on in her life?”

  Reverend Richardson’s jaw ticked. It was subtle but it was there.

  Eve kept her eyes locked on his as she waited for an answer.

  “Well, I’ll have to ask Faith about that.”

  “Is Faith here now?” Eve asked, looking around as though his wife might pop out of nowhere to answer Eve’s questions.

  “No, I’m afraid she’s overseeing the women in the cheese house today.”

  Eve wondered about that. She would give anything to get further into the compound and see what it was like. Was there really a whole house devoted to making cheese, or was it more like a one room shed they used to make the cheese? Or maybe a room in the barn?

  Eve made mental notes. Some of the women were here sewing, while others were out making cheese. She wondered who was in charge of the kids during the day. Anne had been wandering here when she’d come in. Did the church have a school or did each of the families homeschool?