They had just gotten on the road when Senora’s phone rang from its perch on the dash. Senora looked at the caller ID, then cast a sidelong glance at Ty.
“That’s my boss,” she said.
He nodded.
“Not a peep,” he promised, settling back into his seat and stretching his long legs out.
Senora pressed the green button on the screen and put him on speakerphone as she drove down the road, glancing at the map on the upper half of the wide screen as the GPS on her phone guided the tiny dot that was her rental car through the streets and onto the highway.
“Edwards,” she said.
“Senora. Any news?”
“Her body was found this morning,” Senora reported, trying to keep her voice neutral. She didn’t want J to sense that she was emotionally invested in this case, even if it was just a little. “She was violently murdered, and I’m not sure that she was a single target.”
“Do you think it’s possible that the murderer could still pose a danger?”
“I do. I know that violent murders are usually personal, but the way the body was dumped showed no remorse and no care. She was disposed of without any thought, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more women disappear.”
“Do you have any proof of that, or just a hunch?”
“No proof yet, but I’ve only just begun talking to her family and friends.”
“Did the file help?”
“Not much. There’s a lot more missing than just her juvenile record. Sir, I don’t want to be dramatic, but I have a feeling that this case is bigger than just one woman.”
“You rarely lean toward the dramatic,” J said warmly. “I don’t have anything for you on my desk, so if you want to stay in Glenview-”
“Glen Rose,” she corrected before she could stop herself.
“My apologies; Glen Rose. If you want to stay there and run the murder investigation until you have another case, I don’t have an issue with it. We don’t want another case like Miss Thompson’s, and the area relies almost one hundred percent on tourism; they can’t risk losing that revenue. Take all the time you need, and I’ll contact you if I have anything more pressing come across my desk.”
“Thank you, Sir,” she said.
J disconnected before she could finish, and Senora let out a long breath.
“Did you think that he was going to deny your request?”
“It was a possibility. At times, J thinks I’m too emotional about the cases, even though that makes me more driven than many investigators. I work tirelessly because I feel for these people. There’s nothing worse on a family than not knowing if their loved one is dead or living somewhere in captivity.”
“Or living another life entirely after creating a fresh start.”
“There’s that option, too. You would be surprised by the number of missing that have simply walked away from a life that no longer served them. It happens more than I ever imagined before I started this job.”
Ty nodded, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it, looking pensive. He was silent for a few more blocks, but Senora could feel his eyes on her as he tried to form his next question. Senora could guess what it was.
“What’s up with the computer-generated voice?” he finally asked. “I could hear him typing on a keyboard as you guys spoke. Isn’t that a little weird?”
“J’s job is about anonymity. His calls come through a secure line that is routed through so many different countries that even the most adept hacker that the FBI has to offer can’t pinpoint the origin of his call.”
“He’s not calling from an FBI field office?”
“No. He’s higher up than that. He works from his home, and he has several agents that work remotely and report solely to him. I’m one of the few that have my own office in D.C., but I’m listed as a consultant of sorts. I don’t report to anyone that’s physically in the office, and aside from the occasional request for support from the SSA, I work on cold cases and I check up on my old cases, even if they were solved.”
“SSA?”
“Supervisory Special Agent. That’s the rank of the highest ranked agent in the office that I work out of.”
“But you don’t report to him?”
“Her,” Senora corrected. “And no, I don’t report to her. I’m not ranked higher or lower than she is. I’m just ranked as the only agent in my division at that location.”
“How does that work?”
Senora shrugged.
“I’ve never done it any other way, so I couldn’t even begin to tell you how it compares to how other agents work. This is how I was recruited, and as long as I get paid, I’m not really worried about someone who wants to use the keyboard to stay anonymous. I stay busy, and I’m salaried, so if I have downtime, I take a vacation. In fact, I’m encouraged to take as much personal time as I can because personal time is so hard to come by.”
“So, you don’t even need to go into the office?”
“Not at all. Having a space in the field office was my request. I need the structure and the camaraderie of people who see the same things that I’ve seen and have the same security clearance. I can’t share the specifics of my cases with just anyone, and that can be very isolating. Other agents work together, then hash out the details and decompress over a beer. Working alone, I have no way to blow off steam.”
“And harboring that kind of secret can eat away at you,” Ty finished.
“Exactly. I’m doing it for my mental well-being and to avoid burnout. J was resistant at first, but he eventually saw the wisdom in it.”
“Your destination is on the right,” the GPS called out, cutting off their conversation.
Senora was somewhat relieved. It was nice to talk about her work with someone who understood, but Ty was practically a stranger, and she didn’t know how much information she could trust him with. His easy demeanor and his sexy, southern drawl had her divulging more than she usually did, and she needed to rein herself in before she went too far.
Went too far with what? Senora thought with an internal eye roll. She didn’t have many secrets, and the ones that she did have were lame at best. There wasn’t anything she could share with Ty that would shock him or likely even amuse him. But Senora was, by nature, a private person, and their chat between Mabel’s house and the therapist’s office had unsettled her. She hadn’t meant to share quite so much.
She would have to be careful around this smooth talker.
“I need you to let me do the questioning with the therapist,” Senora said.
“I didn’t interfere with Mabel, did I?” he drawled, a single arched brow challenging her to say otherwise.
“You didn’t, but this is different. I have a feeling that the therapist is going to be harder to crack, and I don’t want you getting in there acting all macho.”
Ty threw his head back, his laughter warm and genuine.
“You saw that?”
“I did.”
“He started it.”
“I’m not surprised. I’m glad you finished it, though. He’s a horrible person, and the more he talks, the more I want to slap him. I’m glad to see his attempt at being macho was thwarted.”
“Thwarted?” Ty drawled. “Now, that’s a word I’ve never heard used in a sentence before.”
“I’m sure I know a lot of words that you don’t know,” she teased, getting out of the car and stepping into the sunshine that was already beating down on her shoulders. “Enough chit chat; we have work to do.”
They hurried into the building and out of the heat. When they made their way into the lobby, Senora was surprised to see that the waiting room was nearly empty.
“It’s only nine o’clock,” Ty offered as if reading her mind. “They just opened.”
“I feel like it’s been a lifetime since Addie was found. I didn’t realize it had only been a few hours.”
“I know what you mean.”
There was a woman at the front desk watching them intently as they bantered back and forth. Senora walked up to the window, smiling at the woman and sliding her card through the opening in the glass that encased her little cubicle in the lobby.
“I need to see Doctor Harris, please.”
“Do you have an appointment?” the woman asked.
“No, I don’t, but he’s going to want to see me.”
“She,” the woman corrected smugly. “Robin Harris is a woman.”
“My apologies,” Senora said after running several witty retorts through her head and settling on the only polite option. “I need to see Doctor Harris, and it’s urgent.”
“Is it life or death?” the woman asked without an ounce of concern.
“Not anymore,” Senora said bluntly.
The woman gave a start, but Senora could tell that she didn’t know whether Senora was playing with her or not.
“She’s getting ready for her day, and after that, she has a full schedule. If you’ll come back tomorrow with an appointment-”
Ty stepped forward, bumping Senora with his hip and using his hand to guide her to the side a little so that he was standing right in front of the circle of tiny holes drilled into the glass to let voices pass through.
“Miss Clara,” he said with exaggerated warmth. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”
Senora watched in disgust as Miss Clara blushed like a school girl, her entire demeanor changing right before her eyes. Clara all but simpered and purred with delight at his attention, and it was all Senora could do to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
Is she serious? Senora thought angrily, but it was obvious that she was. Clara was putty in Ty’s capable hands, and her earlier haughtiness had all but vanished.
So much for asking Ty to stay out of her way.
“Clara, we need to speak with Robin as quickly as possible. If you could make an exception this once, I would be personally grateful.”
“Robin likes to start her day with restorative yoga and some tea while she prepares herself for the day.”
“And I prefer to start my day without investigating the sudden death of a young woman, but we can’t always have what we want.”
Clara leaned forward, whispering even though Senora and Ty were the only other people in the lobby.
“Is it the Thompson girl? I heard she was missing.”
“Unfortunately, it was,” Ty said.
“I always knew that girl would end her life. I always had a feeling, you know? She loved attention and what’s more attention seeking than-”
“She was brutally murdered,” Senora said without caring about the anger in her voice. “Whatever you thought you knew about that girl isn’t reality.”
Clara’s cheeks turned bright red, and she looked at Ty, then back at Senora while she clamored to find the words that would erase the ugliness that had just escaped her mouth. But there were no words that would fix what she’d insinuated about Addie without the facts, and Senora was beginning to see why Addie was so desperate for people to see the real her. It seemed the entire town had made up their minds about Addie Thompson, and Senora was sure that very few people actually knew Addie. The real Addie. It was no wonder that Addie struggled with her self-worth. Senora didn’t know if she could survive a week in this town if people treated her the way that they treated Addie.
“I’m pretty sure that it’s frowned upon for someone in your position to make snap judgments about a dead patient,” Senora continued. “As much as I’d love to watch Ty flirt with you until you fall over yourself to get us an audience with Doctor Harris, I don’t have time for this and I could drag you down to the station for questioning right now if I wanted to.”
Clara recoiled at the horror of being publicly embarrassed by the rumors that would surely fly if she ended up at the police station for questioning. Not that Senora thought for a second that the Sheriff would let her use the facilities to question anyone in town, but Clara didn’t have to know that.
“I’ll see if I can get her to answer the door,” Clara said as she all but ran out of the back of her cubicle and down a hall.
“That was fun,” Ty said.
“You look much too amused.”
“You’re pretty when you’re feisty.”
“I’m angry. I can’t believe that woman had the gall to suggest that Addie killed herself.”
“You have to remember that this isn’t the big city. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone has an opinion about what everyone else is going through. She doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“I don’t care.”
“I can see that.”
There was the sound of a buzzer and a lock opening on the door near where they stood. Ty opened the door and motioned to Senora that she should go through first, ending their conversation for now.
Senora caught sight of Clara disappearing around the corner ahead as she and Ty went down the long hallway and stopped at the open door. A tall woman in her late thirties stood a few feet back to let them into the room, her straight blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail, blue eyes glassy with unshed tears.
“Is it true?” she asked softly. “Is Addie gone?”
“I’m afraid so,” Ty said before Senora could say anything.
She shot him a look, but he ignored her, stepping into the room and taking a seat on the couch as Robin closed and locked the door.
“Do you know what happened to her?” Robin asked, her hands shaking as she picked up her tea and took a sip. “Does this have something to do with her disappearance?”
“We’re trying to figure all this out,” Senora said. “But we’re going to need your help. I have a few questions, and I’m hoping that you have some information that might help send us in the right direction.”
“I can’t do that,” Robin said. “I can’t tell you anything that Addie told me. I’m sure you know that.”
“Murder negates patient-doctor privilege; you know that.”
Robin shook her head.
“I don’t care. I’m not going to do that to Addie. There are things she told me that I promised would never leave this room.”
“But things have changed,” Senora said. “Addie is gone, and you’re no longer bound by ethics. In fact, you have a duty to tell me anything you know that might lead me to her killer. If you refuse and I find out later that you had valuable information, you could be charged with obstruction of justice.”
“That’s fine,” Robin said tersely.
“I’m a federal agent. This wouldn’t be a slap on the wrist,” Senora lied, knowing full well that the local courts would probably let the obstruction slide since she wasn’t invited to run her own murder investigation.
Robin didn’t have to know that.
“I’d rather go to jail.”
“You’d rather go to jail than help us find Addie’s killer?” Senora asked, incredulous.
“What if I’m more afraid of being next if I reveal what I know? Jail isn’t so bad if that means that I’m alive. I don’t want to die.”
Senora was startled.
“What?”
“If I tell you what she told me, I could be the next victim. I’m not sure I’m willing to take that chance. She revealed everything she knew to me. In the beginning, it wasn’t much, but just recently, there was a lot coming out in our sessions.”
“We can protect you.”
“Like you protected Addie?”
“Addie was already gone when we were called.”
“And what about when she was picked up after her abduction? Her real abduction. What about then? If that case would have been investigated thoroughly, perhaps we would have the person who held her captive all those years.”
“I wasn’t around to investigate that case, but I can assure you that I’ll be looking into that as well. But I have almost nothing to go off of, and it seems as if you’re the only one who might know what happened to Addie.”
“I know enough to know that I don’t want to know more.”
“And you might have the key piece of information that helps me find her first abductor, and maybe even her killer. Don’t you want to do that? For Addie?”
Robin was silent, but Senora could tell that the guilt was eating away at her. She could see already that the woman was leaning toward doing the right thing. She just needed a little push.
“Do you think that Addie’s death is related to her first abduction?” Senora asked.
“Of course, I do. It’s part of the reason that Addie kept disappearing.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Addie wanted to set things right. In her fragile mind, she thought each time she disappeared would be another chance for the authorities to get things right and actually figure out what had happened to her. Yet every time she was found, they wrote her off as unbalanced. Even when she brought them more evidence, they scoffed at her and shooed her away.”
“More evidence?”
“When Addie disappeared, she would hide herself away and go into these deep, dark places trapped inside her mind. When she came out, she would remember a tidbit from her real abduction, and things would fall into place a little at a time. But the Sheriff ignored her, claiming that she was making things up in an effort to get attention.”
“And you think the fact that she was starting to remember was what got her killed?”
“Of course. The more she remembered, the more insistent she became that the Sheriff needed to investigate. The Sheriff had already written her off as a flake, and he wouldn’t listen to her. But everyone in town knew that she was trying to get the cold case reopened, so it’s not like her killer wasn’t aware that she was getting closer and closer to the truth. He probably did it to shut her up before she said too much and got him arrested.”
“This is why we need you to tell us everything you know,” Senora said, her tone almost pleading. “You know things that no one else could possibly know. If we solve this case, you won’t have to worry about being the next victim. And you won’t have to worry about someone else’s child being victimized. You can end this and save the town from a monster.”
Senora let the words hang in the air. She knew the instant when Robin finally gave in.
“I have to cancel my appointments for today and close up,” she said, her voice distant as she looked out the window toward the pond in the park behind the building she shared with so many other businesses. “There’s a lot to cover, and I don’t want anyone to know that we spoke.”
“I understand,” Senora said.
“I need a moment to gather the files. I’ll meet you down the hall in the large conference room around the corner.”
Senora nodded.
“Take all the time you need. Is there a bathroom?”
“Right across from the conference room, and there’s a small kitchen in the corner of the conference room if you want some coffee. This may take me a few minutes.”
Senora nodded again, and she and Ty left the room, heading down the hall.
“Coffee?” Ty asked.
“Black with just a touch of cream,” Senora said, then stepped into the bathroom.
She caught sight of herself in the mirror and shook her head. Her hair was a mass of unruly curls that had made their way out of the braid. She ran her hands under the water, trying to smooth the errant strands down but failing. Giving up, she hurried to finish her business, washing her hands again without giving her hair a second thought.
Ty was in the conference room, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, and one beside it, a look of concern on his face.
“What?” Senora asked.
“Something isn’t right,” he said. He set the cup down and started walking to the door. “I’m going to check on her.”
His urgency got to her, and she felt that familiar rush of adrenaline.
“I’ll go with you.”
He nodded, leading the way. Senora’s hand slid to her service revolver in the holster on her hip, just in case.
Ty knocked on the office door, then turned the handle.
“It’s locked,” he said.
“Robin!” Senora said through the door, knocking loudly and turning the handle, though she knew it was locked. “Robin, are you alright?”
“Something is wrong,” Ty said. “I can feel it. Step back.”
“Are you going to kick the door down?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
She didn’t.
“No,” she admitted. “But you can’t just kick the door in because she locked you out. We don’t have a warrant.”
“We’re not going to need one.”
“I hope you’re right,” Senora said as she stepped back.
“I don’t,” he said, his voice glum.
She felt the same thing he did, but she didn’t want to believe it. It didn’t make sense. They were only after information on Addie and nothing more. They hadn’t told Robin she was in trouble, but the woman had to believe that. Which meant that she knew something.
He stepped back, kicking the door forcefully several times until it cracked and splintered, then finally went inward. It bounced back, and Ty pushed it out of the way and went inside.
“Damnit, no!” he said, angrily dropping to the floor and pulling Robin onto her back.
He felt for a pulse, listened for her breathing, then cursed and began CPR. He counted under his breath, going through the motions calmly, though his face was frantic. Robin was their only link at this point, and she was slipping away in front of their eyes.
Senora offered to step in and take over, but Ty wouldn’t budge as he worked on the woman for what seemed like an eternity. Senora watched as her lips turned blue, then gray. She knew the instant that Robin was past the point of no return, and she knew that any hope that they had of Robin giving them some insight was gone.
Robin was gone, and there was nothing that they could do about it.
Senora put her hand on Ty’s shoulder, squeezing gently at first then more forcefully as he continued the futile efforts to save her.
“We left the room ten minutes ago,” she said gently. “She’ll be a vegetable even if you manage to save her.”
“I have to try,” he said, still working on Robin’s limp body.
Senora stood, pulling out her phone and calling 9-1-1. She gave the address then hung up, going to the files that were open behind Robin’s desk and pulling out the ones marked with Addie’s name on them.
There were a lot of them.
She tucked them under her arm and left the room, Ty still giving Robin CPR on the floor in front of the large desk.
She hurried down the stairs and out the side door, jamming a brick in the doorway to keep the automatic lock from engaging and running the files to her car. She hid them under the driver’s seat and locked the car with the remote as she rushed back to the door and up the stairs. She kicked the brick out of the way as she rushed by, reaching the office just as she heard the first wail of the sirens in the distance.
“Where did you go?” Ty asked, still working on Robin even though the look on his face said that he had given up hope.
“She was willing to take her own life for what was in those files. Don’t you think we should hold onto them?”
“I do,” he said. “I’m just surprised you thought the same thing and took them without a warrant.”
“I’m not about to let the Sheriff get ahold of them,” she said. “I have a feeling the Sheriff’s hatred for Addie has more to do with a secret he’s trying to keep than anything Addie had done.”
“Do you think he’s our killer?”
“I don’t, as much as I’d love to put him away. But he knows something, and I need to find out what it is. It has to be something big. Did you see her shaking when we were talking to her? Robin knew something, and it was big.”
The first paramedic arrived a few seconds later and took over for Ty as the others worked on getting Robin onto a stretcher and to the elevator while one paramedic continued to perform CPR.
The Sheriff arrived then, looking at Senora, then Ty, his face unreadable.
“Did she say anything to you before she jumped?” he asked them both.
Before Senora could say a word, Ty spoke, his voice calm and firm despite the chaos around them.
“We found her like that,” Ty said. “We never got a chance to talk to her.”