Tuesday
Wee Hours
From behind the glass of the observation room, Keri, Ray, and Hillman watched as Auggie paced back and forth in Interrogation Room 1. Nobody had said a word to him in the forty-five minutes since Keri had promised him that his health depended on his cooperation. Multiple detectives, black-and-whites, and CSIs were down at the Blue Mist Lounge, processing the alley where a suspect had shot at an officer. Auggie was screwed. He was facing about a dozen charges, not the least of which was attempted murder. Everyone wanted to make it stick.
Hillman looked at Keri. She knew he was pissed about having to come back to the station in the middle of the night.
"You got five minutes, max. If the guy even says the word "lawyer," I want you to immediately stop talking and leave the room. I want this guy off the streets and that means we're going to play it strictly by the book. Just having him here right now instead of at the ER is a risk. I don't want some sleazy defense lawyer wiggling him free. Do we understand each other?"
"Yes, sir."
Keri took a second to tuck in her shirt and make sure the hair was out of her face. She had a massive headache and possibly a cracked rib. But she didn't want Auggie to think he'd made even a dent.
She walked into the interrogation room and said, "Remember me?"
Auggie started to say something but Keri waved him to a halt. "Don't say the word lawyer. If you do I have to stop talking and then I can't help you."
Auggie scoffed at her.
"You two never identified yourselves," he said. "I thought you were there to rob me or something. That's why I ran. Out in the alley, when I shot, that was total self-defense. I have a license for the gun. You can check it out. I didn't do nothing wrong."
Keri rolled her eyes.
"Look, you're going to spend some time in jail, that's just the way things are. But whether that time turns out to be five or fifty years may very well depend on how many friends you make around here in the next five minutes. So here's your one and only chance. Tell me about Ashley Penn."
Auggie didn't need to be told twice.
"I never personally sold anything to her, or to anyone, for that matter."
It was a lie but Keri let it slide. She sensed there was more coming.
"But…?"
"But I heard a rumor that she did frequent the neighborhood now and then, if you know what I mean. I also heard a rumor that she recently made a very large purchase because she was going to head to a different state. She wanted a reserve until she could find a hook-up there."
"Which state?"
"I don't know."
"Who was she going with?"
"I don't know."
"Was it a long-haired guy?"
"I know who you mean. That rock star guy," Auggie said. "No, it wasn't him. Rumor was that it was with one of her girlfriends."
This is new. Did Ashley have a side piece and Walker found out? He wouldn't like that.
"Can you describe this girl?" she asked.
"Nah, man, all I know is rumors. That girl had a lot of rumors about her."
Keri left the room. Hillman had given her five minutes and she'd used less than two.
Her mind raced.
Could Walker have learned about the plan and tried to put a stop to it? Could he have pulled Ashley into the van, initially just to talk her out of leaving, but then, maybe things escalated afterward? Maybe things got violent? Walker didn't have an alibi. But he didn't have a van either.
She stood outside the interrogation room, turning the options over in her head until Hillman and Ray came out of the observation room to join her.
"There you go. She ran away," Hillman said.
Keri doubted it.
"Maybe she was planning to but I don't think that's what happened."
"Why not?"
"The girl who got in that van didn't look like she was going on some big trip," she said.
Hillman shook his head.
"Maybe she and this mystery girl were headed to the place where they loaded up for the trip. Didn't Walker Lee say she was considering faking her own abduction?"
"He did. But he said she wasn't serious. It's not impossible but it just doesn't feel right. Everything about this case feels like an abduction."
Hillman sighed deeply. She could tell he was trying not to lose his cool.
"It's almost three in the morning. We've been going at this thing nonstop for over ten hours and we don't have anything firm to indicate that she was taken as opposed to leaving on her own. Unfortunately for you, Detective Locke, we don't pursue cases based on how they feel. So this gut feeling you have isn't enough to go on."
She needed him on her side so Keri fought the urge to come back at him too hard.
"It's more than just my gut, sir."
"Then what?"
"I don't know," Keri said. "I can't think right now."
"Exactly," Hillman said. "We're all zombies. What that means is that we're all going home now to get some rest, which is what you should have done in the first place. That's an order." He focused on Keri and repeated the words. "That's an order."
"Okay," she said.
"Sleep," he repeated, before adding, "but I want everyone back here at seven in the morning."
*
Before heading home, Keri made a quick stop at her desk. She wanted to run both Thomas "The Ghost" Anderson and the defense lawyer, Jackson Cave, through the databases to see if anything magically popped up. She was curious about Anderson but time was short so she decided to focus on Cave, who was more immediately relevant right now. There was lots of info but nothing immediately incriminating.
Still, she couldn't help but suspect that Cave might have information on the Collector. He might even have a real name. Keri had to find out. But how?
Even if she broke into his office it wasn't like he'd have a file in a cabinet labeled "abductors for hire." This was the kind of information that he kept safely tucked away in his head. And she needed to find a way to access it. Maybe she could find some dirt on him, something that would get him disbarred if he didn't cooperate with her. Blackmail was a useful tool.
She sighed heavily and lost her focus briefly. Almost instantly, thoughts of Evie flooded her head. She saw the expression of terror on her daughter's face as she looked back at her mother that day in the park, her little body clutched in a stranger's arms. She heard the cries in her head.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
She felt tears coming to her eyes and rushed to the restroom before anyone could notice. Once in a stall, she let go, allowing the silent sobs to wrack her body. She sat on the bathroom floor for five minutes before she trusted herself to get up.
When she stepped out of the restroom, Ray was waiting for her. He put his arms around her.
"I thought you went home," she said.
"Well, it looks like I didn't. You want me to stay with you?"
She considered it for half a second.
"No, I'm okay."
"You sure?"
"No." She smiled and said, "Ray, am I ever going to be okay?"
"You're already okay," he said. "It's just going to take some more time to work all the way through it."
"I don't want to work through it. I want to find Evie."
"You will," he said. "We will. What you need to do is stay strong until then. Okay?"
She leaned into his hug.
"You're good people, Jolly Green Giant."
"You too, Thumbelina," he said. "Did I say thanks for stopping me before I killed Auggie?"
"No."
"Thank you," he said.
Five minutes later Keri was in the Prius. She was both exhausted and tingling with raw energy. She knew she had to go home to crash for a couple of hours if she was going to make any sense of this case. But before she did, there was one small thing she needed to do first.
