Chapter 9
At the odd silence, she glared at the men. “That was not Tammy. Even though Tammy is beautiful, slim, would easily have been the most popular girl at school. And she was the most popular girl at work. Still she didn’t have to pull any kind of stunts to get her promotions.”
“Maybe if she had, she would have gotten the promotion over Daniel,” Merk said.
She studied Merk’s face, seeing an understanding of how life worked and often didn’t work. “Yes, quite possibly. But she and Gordon got along very well without any of that.”
“And the new supervisor?” Stone asked.
“Well, Tammy just wasn’t into that kind of a thing.”
“What kind of thing?” Dakota asked.
“You know, when you’re at a job, and there’s a clique, a group of the in-crowd, where they all fawn over the one in power just like high school all over again? The department slowly diverged into that. Daniel was on the inside.”
“Tammy was on the outside, I presume.” At Rebel’s nod, Saul asked, “And who else was on the inside?”
“A couple others. Both men.”
“Of course, since the new supervisor is a woman, Samantha.”
She shot Saul a bright smile. “You got it.”
Saul exchanged glances with Dakota. “Sounds like we need to talk to Samantha.”
“Good luck with that,” Rebel said. “She’s perpetually unavailable. Unless you’re law enforcement, she won’t say anything to you.” She pulled out her phone and hit the proper contact name. “I’ll call her right now.”
They all waited as the phone rang and rang then went to voice mail.” She didn’t bother leaving a message. Pocketing her phone, Rebel said, “Like I said, she’s hard to talk to. She’d have seen my number and said, hell no!”
The men nodded. “We’ll get her to talk. But first things first. Where will you stay for the night? And you should call the insurance company in the morning to deal with this.”
She grimaced. “I’ll sleep in my car downstairs in the secured parking lot. Then start fresh in the morning.” She watched Saul’s mouth open and shook her head. “I’m fine in the car. It’ll be safe and secure down there. It will allow me to get a few hours of sleep and recover from the shock,” Rebel said, hopefully in a pragmatic, reasonable tone of voice. “In the morning, I’ll start cleaning up this mess.”
Saul shook his head. “Look around you, Rebel. You can’t stay here, and you can’t stay in your car anywhere.”
Rebel, not liking what he had to say, glared at him and snapped, “Why not?”
“Because whoever was here might still be keeping an eye on the place and will know you came back. They have already checked out your vehicle and will be watching it too.”
“That’s a big assumption,” she protested.
“We have to assume that,” Saul said, his tone steady. “And, if you weren’t dealing with so many hits one after another, you would see that. Right now you aren’t thinking straight. It’s up to us to make sure you don’t get hurt or any deeper into trouble.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “Are you saying I got myself into trouble thus far?”
He glared at her. “Don’t twist my words around,” he snapped. “You’re not staying in your car overnight. That’s final.”
“Where do you suggest I stay? Should I go to Tammy’s place? But, if they trashed my place, then they should have trashed hers.”
“Tammy’s apartment is a possibility but not alone.” Saul frowned. “Actually that’s not a bad idea.” He glanced at the guys, all silently agreeing with him. “We never did get much time to search her place.”
“Search for what?”
He shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Well, I know her very well. There was nothing hidden about Tammy. She was very open. Very stable, nonconfrontational. She’d never do anything dangerous.”
“And yet she’s in trouble,” Merk said. “So you’re a little more confrontational, a little more living on the edge. What’s next for you?”
She glared at him.
“Note the evidence,” Merk said in exasperation. “Look around you. This is hardly something we’ve made up.”
She raised her hands in frustration. “What am I supposed to do then?”
Stone stepped forward. “Go to a hotel for the night. One you’ve never been to before. Give a fake name. Pay cash for the room, for anything related to your stay,” Stone said. “If you don’t have enough cash on you, do not go to an ATM. We’ll give you enough cash to cover tonight’s lodgings. From the safety of your hotel room, using the hotel phone, contact your insurance company. In the meantime, get ready to speak to the police once more. They should be here anytime now.”
“Like they’ll care.”
“Yes, they will,” Saul said. “It’s all related to Tammy’s disappearance, now Daniel’s, plus we have the murderer of the homeless man involved too. I believe this has all just escalated in the police’s eyes.”
“How wrong is it that Tammy’s disappearance alone didn’t take priority?”
Saul glared at her. “It’s not like Tammy is the only case the whole police department is working right now. Stop being difficult. Just because they couldn’t find her right away doesn’t mean they weren’t trying to all this time.”
She groaned. “I understand that in theory, but it’s so damn frustrating. I just want her home safe and sound.”
“And we don’t want you to come face-to-face with the men who did this to your apartment or who killed an unarmed homeless man,” Stone said, his voice solid, unmovable. “So, until we resolve this, you shouldn’t be alone.”
“Even if I go to a hotel, I’ll be alone.”
Just then a knock came at the door. Saul opened it to admit the police. The detective assigned to Tammy’s case stepped in. He looked at Rebel. “Glad to see you’re still okay.”
She nodded. She didn’t know what to say to him anymore. Still she couldn’t stop asking the same question, “Anything new on Tammy?”
He shook his head. “It was her locket that you found at the warehouse. It had smudges of fingerprints but none clear enough to get anything from, so we don’t have any further leads.”
“Is anybody tracking the homeless man’s area to see if maybe he happened upon Tammy’s body?” Rebel asked, choking up a bit on that last word.
“We have cops out canvassing the area. But it will be hard to see anything until daylight.”
“True enough.” Rebel shook her head. Time was against her and Tammy, who would go through another night in whatever situation she was in. It so wasn’t fair. “It should’ve been me,” she said suddenly.
“What should have been you?” the detective asked.
“I should’ve picked her up. I should’ve insisted. Then she wouldn’t have been traveling alone on the bus that night.”
“That doesn’t mean it should’ve been you,” Saul said quietly. “It means, maybe it would’ve warded this off temporarily, or maybe both of you would’ve been taken that night.”
She shot him a look. “I just can’t help wishing I’d done more.”
“And that’s a sentiment every family member and friend of a deceased or missing person feels,” the detective said. “We’re doing everything we can. This appears to be connected to Daniel’s disappearance and now to potentially our latest victim. But don’t think we’ve forgotten about Tammy’s disappearance, because we haven’t.”
She turned her gaze away. She wanted to believe him, but it was hard. She may appear selfish, like Tammy was the only one she cared about in this mess, but that wasn’t true. She didn’t like to think Daniel’s brother was going through the same turmoil over this as well. Or that the homeless man had a family, maybe searching for him for months, wishing to save him from a life on the streets and the increased risk it brought. She nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be difficult, but I’m so damn tired and frustrated.”
The detective nodded. “With good reason. So tell us what happened here?”
“Not a lot to tell. Saul drove me home as I was still in shock after seeing the dead homeless man, realizing Tammy was connected, what with her locket in his possession. We got here and found the apartment like it is.”
“Did you touch anything?”
She nodded. “I went to my room and packed a bag. I moved that kitchen chair. Other than that I haven’t done a thing. The place is a mess.”
The two policemen he came with wandered through the apartment. The detective continued with his questions. “I’m sure you’ve already discussed this, but maybe you can fill me in on any ideas you have as to what they would be looking for?”
She shook her head, all the fight gone. “No,” she said softly. “I have no idea. Tammy didn’t give me anything for safekeeping. I didn’t think anything was wrong in her world, and I have no idea if she may or may not have left something here on purpose and how the bad guys thought I would have it.”
“If somebody kidnapped her, looking for something she might’ve taken, it’s only natural they would look at her best friend to see if she had passed it on,” the detective said.
“No. That’s faulty reasoning. She wouldn’t put her best friend in danger.”
“Unless you didn’t know about it,” Merk said.
“In which case, you’d be in more danger,” the detective continued. “If she thought her place would be searched, she’d hide whatever it is somewhere else. Like here.”
“In that case it could be anywhere, and it could mean whatever was here has already been found,” Dakota suggested.
“As to what to look for—we are talking about a notebook, USB key, an SD card,” Merk said.
She shook her head. “The options are way too numerous to even consider.”
“We’ll look around and see if we find anything,” the detective told her.
She stood up and walked to the front door. “I’ll sleep in my vehicle downstairs.”
The detective turned to look at her. “Don’t do that please.”
She glared at him. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Go to a hotel for the night,” the detective said, echoing Stone’s earlier words. “Everything will look very different tomorrow.”
Her gaze landed on the dill pickles and the top of the busted jar of mayonnaise. “It looks like shit no matter which way I see it.”
She turned and walked out of her apartment. In the hallway, she pushed the button for the elevator. She didn’t know why she was so resistant to a hotel. It was a reasonable answer. She could afford it. If it was just one night. Where else could she go? Nowhere. So why not do that? She figured it was one thing she could control amid a massive state of chaos she couldn’t control. She was too damn tired to explore her psyche further or to drive too far. Plus what if the bad guys were following her or her car? She knew of no hotels or motels or bed-and-breakfasts in walking distance. Plus it was still dark outside.
The very circumstances Tammy had disappeared in.
She stepped into the elevator. Someone stepped on beside her. She shook her head. “You don’t get tired of following me?”
“Not really. Some people need a little more babysitting than others.”
She shot him a look. “You better not mean me. I didn’t ask for any of this, and I’m doing the best I can to minimize the effect on others.”
“True enough,” he said cheerfully. “At the same time, loads of shit are going down. I can’t get past the feeling that you must know more than you think you do.”
“Then ask your questions because I have no idea what I might know.”
“Did she give you any gifts in the last few months? Did she hand over something she wasn’t using anymore but that you liked? Was there anything she bought for you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“That was a little too fast. At least think about it.”
*
The trouble was, Saul knew she just wasn’t in any kind of mental state to process what he said. He also knew, so often, girlfriends exchanged clothing, bits and pieces of household items and never thought anything of it. That was way too possible in this case as well. The girls appeared to be close to each other but no one else. He couldn’t see Tammy deliberately hurting Rebel nor framing her. So maybe Tammy just needed a place to temporarily hide something where she knew it would be safe until she could come after it again.
He knew he was grasping at straws, but it was all they had at the moment. Nothing else made sense.
Downstairs he waited for her to catch up. She was dragging her feet, like she was ready to collapse in the car as soon as she got in. It would be a shame to wake her up when she didn’t seem to be getting much quality sleep.
But he knew she’d have a much better sleep if she went to a hotel for the night. He grabbed the bag from her hand. “I’ll carry it. You’re too tired.”
She didn’t even argue, and that said a lot about where she was mentally. He understood. She’d had a rough week.
He knew Ice would have to tell Benji something soon, and so far there wasn’t much to say. They found no sign of Daniel, no definitive answers as to what could have happened. Saul wasn’t feeling exactly positive about the whole event either.
Too many scenarios were possible, and most of them didn’t make Daniel come out as the good guy. Nor did it sound like he was alive, but Saul wasn’t willing to guess on that one. He’d seen guys supposedly dead yet return alive many times. Just too much was going on here.
As they walked to the street, she pulled out her keys to unlock the vehicle and to prestart the car. He heard a strange shuffling sound. His mind reacted slower than his body. His body was already in motion, racing sideways, snatching her up and racing with her. He was around the side of the building before he stopped.
Gasping for breath she cried out, “What the hell was that about?”
He slipped his hand over her mouth and whispered, “Shh.”
Above his hands her eyes opened wide. Then she nodded.
Sure now that she was committed, he released her and signaled that she stay behind him.
He wasn’t sure what he’d heard, but it was too close to a sound he knew all too well—somebody coming in for an attack. The so-very-distinctive sound of footsteps in the grass. He waited but heard nothing further. He peered around the corner but didn’t see anything. But he didn’t trust his eyes or his ears.
The trouble was, his friends were still upstairs. If they came out, they could just as easily be taken by surprise. He pulled out his phone and texted them a warning. Having done that, he stilled for a long moment, waiting for noises, clues. When none came, he figured her stalker had left in the commotion of Saul moving Rebel to safety. He again motioned for her to stay where she was and then snuck around the corner, headed toward the front entrance to her apartment building.
Then remembered how two separate intruders had been at the warehouse.
He glanced back and saw her. Reassured, he jogged forward a few feet.
And the destruction to her apartment indicated more than just one guy had been there too.
He took another furtive look over his shoulder, glad, for once, that she kept poking her head around the corner, watching him.
If her car had been downstairs and locked in the parking garage, they would’ve gone to the basement. But, as it was, Saul hadn’t known about the underground parking, so he had just parked on the street. The killer must have seen them arrive. That meant someone was watching the apartment or tracking her; either theory made sense. And, if the bad guy saw only one male exit the building with Rebel, maybe her stalker decided those were odds he could handle.
Saul found no sign of anyone lurking at the entranceway. Feeling a little foolish, but aware his instincts were normally sound, he made his way back to her and said, “Come on. We can get out of here now.” He unlocked the passenger door of her car and helped her inside.
Within seconds he was in the driver’s side of the vehicle, pulling away from the building. As they left, he kept an eye out to see if anybody was on the grounds in the middle of the night. But he couldn’t see anything. By the time he did reach the end of the block though, he knew why. A vehicle waited for them. Bright headlights shone in his rearview mirror.
In a low voice he muttered, “Shit.”
She looked at him in alarm. “What do you mean, shit?”
“We’re being followed.”
She spun around to look out the back window. “Oh, my God. We have to lose them. We have to lose him,” she cried out.
And, as that would be the best option, it certainly wasn’t an easy one. The roads were deserted at this time in the early morning hours, and it would be hard to get ahead fast enough that the pursuers wouldn’t see their taillights. He pulled his phone out, brought up his Contacts and tapped on the Stone icon.
When Stone answered, he said, “We picked up a tail as soon as we left the building.”
“We’re in the jeep. Where are you?”
He waited a few seconds until he came to the next block and a street sign. “On Redding Road—we passed the corner of Balsa Street.”
“Be there in five.”
“I’m still moving, looking for a place to pull around and maybe catch them. I see a hotel parking lot up ahead. If I can pull in there, maybe I can turn around in the parking lot and come up behind them.”
“You’re not very far ahead of us. No need to go without us.”
“You got two minutes.”
Saul laid the phone on the seat beside his leg and did several right turns, coming back up on the same street. He knew he couldn’t lose his tail, but at least they knew he was on to them.
He slowed down to give his buddies a chance to catch up, the car tailing them slowing too. By then the hotel he had mentioned loomed ahead. He took a right at the corner and drove into the parking lot and around to the back. He was just ever-so-slightly ahead of his tail. It was a big hotel, and it was peak season, so there should be no shortage of vehicles in the rear parking area.
As soon as he rounded the corner into the parking lot, he killed the lights and drove slowly through the aisles of vehicles. At the very back he turned and waited. Almost instantly headlights came in behind him. He could feel the fear coming off Rebel beside him. “It’ll be okay. Just take it easy.”
She shook her head. “How can you guys do this all the time?”
“Ultimately what we do is helping people. We just happen to be particularly good at dishing out this kind of help.”
“I’d rather bake cookies and deliver cupcakes,” she muttered.
He let out a low bark of laughter. “There is a place in the world for that too.”
“I think that’s been the hardest thing about this whole mess. I just feel so helpless.”
“That’s to be expected. We feel the same way. We have a lot of skills, but, if there’s nothing to find, there is nothing to find. If we have no target, we have no one in particular to fight.”
The vehicle came toward them again. Saul said, “Slide down to the bottom of the seat so your head is lower than the window. We don’t want them to see us.”
She crouched lower into her seat. He slid down so he could see out the topmost portion of the window. The vehicle drove down the aisle, went around beside them and back up along the far side.
He looked at her. “I would love to leave you here, locked in the vehicle, while I go after them.”
She snorted. “Like that’s safe for me.”
“They didn’t see you or even your vehicle parked here, and, if they don’t know you’re here, it might be safe. It would be worse for us if we let them get away. If I can at least get the license plate or, even better, stop them from leaving the parking lot, then we’ll have actual suspects to question.”
Just then another vehicle pulled into the parking lot.
He unlocked his door and said, “That’s my jeep. The rest of the guys are here. Lock the doors after me.” He opened the door and stepped out, very quietly shutting the door behind him. And then he ran.