Tuesday
Early Morning
Keri racked her brain all the way back to Venice. Everything pointed to Ashley having run away, just as Hillman and Ray believed. Factually, it fit all the evidence. Still, it didn't feel right. Back in the city, she didn't go to the station. She didn't want to deal with the condescending looks and hushed whispers she knew would be waiting for her there.
Instead, she drove aimlessly by all the spots she rushed to last night-Ashley's school, the Blue Mist Lounge, through the art district where Walker Lee lived, anywhere familiar. An hour into it, she called Mia Penn and said, "Do you believe that Ashley ran away?"
"I don't want to. But I have to admit it's possible."
"Seriously?"
"Look, based on everything I've learned in the last day, it's pretty obvious that I had no idea who my own daughter was," she said. "How does something like that even happen?"
"Kids hide things," Keri said.
"Yeah, I know, but this was like…I don't know, so extreme, all the things she was doing. I thought I had a good relationship with her. In the end, though, it's like she didn't trust me enough to tell me anything. I've been trying to figure out what I did to alienate her…"
"Don't blame yourself," Keri said. "I've been there. I'm still there. I don't wish it on anyone."
"Look," Mia said. "I'm choosing to believe that Ashley left on her own. She'll call us sooner or later and we'll find out what we did wrong. I'm prepared to wait and give her space."
"I can come over-"
"No."
"But-"
"It's not a good idea," Mia said. "Between you and me, Stafford's gone into a rage over that Amber Alert. He trashed our bedroom this morning. He thinks he's going to lose his Senate seat over all the negative publicity, he's convinced of it."
"He blames me?" Keri said.
"Just stay away. It'll pass, but for now, keep your distance."
"We could review the evidence," Keri said.
"Keri, nothing personal, but stop!"
The connection died.
Up the road, in a school zone, a black van was abruptly pulling away. Keri saw movement in the back window, what looked like blonde hair bouncing up and down.
Ashley floored it and managed to get alongside. The driver was a pockmarked man in his mid-thirties with long greasy brown hair and a cigarette dangling from the hand resting on the window. Keri motioned for him to pull over. He gave her the finger and sped up.
She pursued him, reaching over to put the siren on her roof. Just as she was about to turn it on, the light ahead of them turned red and the van screeched to a halt. Keri swerved to the right to avoid ramming him from behind. She hit the brakes hard and threw the car into park. Stepping out of the Prius, she held up her badge for the man to see through the open passenger side window.
"When I give you an order to pull over, you comply!"
The man nodded.
"Now get out of the goddamn car and walk around to this side."
The man complied.
Keeping him in one eye, Keri swung open the side door of the van. No one was inside. There were flowers, nothing else. She glanced at the sliding door and noticed something she'd missed before: a sign reading Brandy's Floral Delivery.
The man had come around the front of the vehicle and was standing in front of her.
"Open the back door," she demanded.
He did. There were no children inside. Just more flowers. She realized that what she thought was blonde hair was most likely a bunch of sunflowers at the very back of the van.
I am completely losing it.
Keri looked at the driver and could tell he was deciding whether he should be confused, scared, or angry. She decided she had better make the choice for him.
"Listen to me," she growled. "You pulled out of that side street like a bat out of hell in the middle of a school zone. And then, when I order you to pull over, you flick me off? You're lucky I don't bring you in just on general principal."
"I'm sorry about pulling out like that. But I didn't know you were a cop. Some lady in a Prius with a crazy look in her eyes wants me to pull over, I'm not automatically gonna do it. You gotta see it from my side."
"That's the only reason I'm letting you go with a warning. I was this close to ramming your ass. Drive slow-got it?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. Now get out of here."
He did as he was told. Keri returned to her car and just sat in it for a minute, contemplating how close she'd come to assaulting another random person. And this wasn't a drug dealer or a pimp or even a preening wannabe rock star. It was just a flower delivery guy. She needed to reel it in but couldn't seem to figure out how. She still had an itch she needed to scratch. And until she'd gotten satisfaction, she knew she'd never be able to calm down.
The moment she realized that, Keri knew there was only one place to go and it wasn't home or the station. In fact, it was less than a five-minute drive from her current location.
*
As Keri parked her car on the narrow residential street overrun with news vans, reporters, paparazzi, and rubberneckers, she finished up her call. She'd been talking to the Child Protective Services officer assigned to Susan Granger's case. The woman, Margaret Rondo, assured her that Susan would be sent to a secure women and children's shelter. It was in Redondo Beach on a neighborhood street and looked like any other house from the outside, except that the exterior walls were a little high and there were a few unobtrusively placed cameras. Susan's pimp, whom Keri had learned went by the name Crabby, would never be able to find her.
And thanks to Detective Suarez, Crabby's paperwork had mysteriously been misplaced and he'd be stuck down at the Twin Towers facility for another forty-eight hours, more than enough time for Keri to write a report that would ensure he didn't get a reasonable bail.
After some prodding, Rondo reluctantly let Keri speak to Susan briefly.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"Scared. I thought you would be here."
"I'm still looking for that missing girl I told you about. But when everything settles down, I promise to check in on you, okay?"
"Uh-huh." Susan sounded deflated.
"Susan-I bet a lot of people have made you promises and broken them, haven't they?"
"Yes."
"And I can tell you think I'm going to do the same thing, right?"
"Maybe."
"Well, I'm not a lot of people. Have you ever seen anyone take care of Crabby like I did last night?"
"No."
"Do you think someone like that, who had a huge, smelly guy on top of him and ended up with him on his stomach in cuffs, do you think someone who did that can't find her way to visit you?"
"I guess not."
"Damn straight, forgive my language. I will be there when I can. And when I get there, I'll show you some of the moves I used. Sound good?"
"Yeah. Can you show me the thumb in the eyes thing?"
"Of course. But we only use that one in emergencies, okay?"
"I've been in a lot of emergencies."
"I know you have, sweetie," Keri said, refusing to let her voice crack. "But that's all over now. See you soon, okay?"
"Okay."
Keri hung up and sat quietly in the car for a moment. She allowed herself to imagine all the horrors Susan Granger had been through, but only for a few seconds. And when she felt thoughts of Evie in the same situation sneaking into her brain, she pushed them away. This wasn't the time for wallowing. This was a time for action.
She got out of the car and walked briskly toward the Penn residence. It was almost eight in the morning-late enough for a house call. Truthfully, she didn't care what time it was. Something about her most recent phone conversation with Mia didn't sit right. It had been eating at her ever since. And she was about to get some answers.
The second she was spotted, a swarm of reporters surrounded her. She didn't break stride and a few of them tripped over each other trying to keep up with her. She fought the smile at the corner of her lips. Once she passed through the mansion's gate, the reporters stopped, as if there were some sort of force field preventing them from going any further.
She banged on the door. The security guard from her first visit opened it. When she barreled past him into the house, he hesitated, obviously briefly considering stopping her. But one look in her eyes and he stopped himself.
"They're in the kitchen," he said. "Please let me lead the way. If you just storm in, they'll think I'm useless and fire me."
Keri did him that courtesy and slowed enough to let him take the lead. When they entered the kitchen, Keri saw Mia sitting at the breakfast table in her bathrobe, weakly sipping some coffee. Stafford Penn's back was to her as he flipped from channel to channel on the kitchen television. Every station was covering Ashley.
Mia looked up and the tired expression on her face vanished. Her eyes flashed with-not anger-something closer to fear. She started to speak.
"I thought I told you-"
Keri held up her hand, and something about her bearing made Mia stop mid-sentence. Senator Penn turned around to see what the commotion was. He opened his mouth, but seeing the look on Keri's face, he too stopped himself.
"First off, you should know that I'm going to be dispensing with the polite formalities. One, there isn't time for it. And two, I don't have the patience."
"What are you talking about?" Senator Penn demanded.
Keri focused on Mia.
"I know you don't think Ashley ran away any more than I do. All yesterday and into the night, you pushed for us to investigate. You were certain she was abducted. Then I call you this morning and suddenly you think she left on her own? You want to give her space? I don't buy it. Not for a second."
"Frankly, I don't care what you believe," Stafford Penn said. "I told you all along that this was a teenage girl sowing her oats. And now it turns out I was right. You just don't want to look bad."
Keri studied him closely. The man was a politician, clearly a successful one to reach his current position. And he was adept at making people believe him, whether it be constituents or reporters or teenage girls he knocked up in his law office.
But Keri wasn't any of those. She was a detective with the LAPD. And she was pretty good at spotting a liar, even one as practiced as Senator Stafford Penn.
"You're lying to me. And so help me God, I don't care if you're a senator or the president of the United States, I don't care if it costs me my job. I will take you in for impeding an investigation. And I'll do it by walking you out those doors in cuffs in front of all those reporters and tossing you in the back seat of my tiny, dented hatchback. Let's see you get reelected after that."
Out of the corner of her eye Keri saw the security guard cover his mouth to hide his wide grin.
"What do you want?" Penn hissed through gritted teeth.
I want to know the exact thing you're hiding from me.
Stafford didn't hesitate, "I'm not hiding anything."
Mia looked at him. "Stafford-"
"Mia, stop."
"Come on, Stafford, enough already."
"We're done here," the senator said, staring at Keri. She stared back for several seconds.
"Apparently we are," she agreed, pulling out her cuffs and stepping toward him.
Mia stood up.
"Tell her," she said in a forceful tone Keri had never heard from her before.
He shook his head.
"She has no right."
"Stafford, tell her or I will."
He exhaled, then shook his head as if astonished at the stupidity of what he was about to do.
"Wait here." He headed upstairs. A minute later he came back down and handed Keri a piece of paper. "This was in our mailbox this morning." The paper was plain white and the words were typed.
You have wronged me. Now you will be wronged.
Payback is a bitch. Prepare to face the music.
"I can't believe you were sitting on this," Keri said.
Stafford sighed. "It's not legit."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I'm ninety percent sure who sent it."
"Who?"
"Payton Penn; he's my half-brother," Stafford said. "We have the same father, different mothers."
Keri said, "I still don't get it."
"Payton, to put it mildly, is a loser," Stafford said. "He hates this family. He hates me, because of some events that occurred when we were growing up. Plus, he's obviously jealous of how my life turned out. He hates Mia, because he could never get someone like her. And he hates Ashley, mostly because Ashley hates him. He knows stuff about our family, including something the public doesn't know and which I'm sharing with you in confidence: I'm Ashley's real father."
Keri nodded solemnly, pretending to be flattered and surprised by his big reveal.
"I appreciate you trusting me with that information, Senator. I know your privacy is important to you and I won't violate that. But I'm waiting for the part where you explain why your half-brother shouldn't be a suspect."
"We've been paying him hush money ever since I became a senator to keep quiet about Ashley and…a few other things we don't need to go into now. So it makes no sense for him to rock the boat now. He's putting his guaranteed money at risk. Plus it's not even really a ransom note."
"What do you mean?"
"It's typical Payton. He's not willing to go all the way. Look how vague the letter is. 'You have wronged me'? That could be from thousands of people here or in Washington. He never even actually asks for money."
"So what do you think is going on?"
"Knowing my brother, he heard about Ashley being missing and thought he could capitalize on it by writing this letter. But he didn't have the balls to actually demand a ransom. He just sort of left the option open for the future if he was able to screw up his courage. It's either that or he figured this was a good time to twist the knife in, when I'm at my lowest point. He doesn't get many chances to stick it to me. So he didn't want to waste this one."
"Okay. But what makes you so confident that he didn't discover his balls and actually take her?"
"Because when Ashley went missing yesterday after school and Mia started flipping out, I called a private investigator I use occasionally, just to check on him. Payton was at work all day yesterday until five. As you know, Ashley got into the van a little after three."
"Are you positive he was at work?"
"Yes. The investigator sent me a copy of the building's surveillance footage. He's all over it."
"He could have hired someone."
"He doesn't have the money for that."
"I thought you were paying him."
"Not enough to hire someone to steal my daughter."
"Maybe his partner is planning on getting a windfall from the ransom."
"The ransom he hasn't asked for? Enough, Detective. I've answered your questions. This is a dead-end. And just so you know, I'm calling Lieutenant Hillman to report that you threatened me. With your service record, I'm not sure how well that will go for you."
"Oh, shut up, Stafford!" Mia yelled at him. "If you cared half as much about your daughter as your career, none of this would be happening!"
He looked like he'd been slapped in the face. His eyes rimmed slightly with tears and he turned away quickly without responding, focusing his attention back on the television.
"I'll walk you out," Mia said. As they headed for the front door, a thought occurred to Keri.
"Mia, did Payton ever have access to the house?"
"Well, we tried to reconcile with him a few times over the years. We even let him stay with us for the long weekend last Easter. It didn't go well."
"Was he always supervised?"
"No, I mean, that would have defeated the point. We were trying to resolve all these issues. Having security tail him all weekend would have undermined that trust a little, don't you think?"
"And it ended badly?"
"He and Stafford got into a screaming match and he left early. That's the last time we saw him."
"Thank you," Keri said and quickly left. The press was still outside and she didn't want to look suspicious so she tried not to sprint to her car.
But she came close.
There was something she needed to do urgently.
