He frowned, studying her face. “You don’t look fine.
You look pale.”
“I’m
fine.
Really.” Then she huffed, frustrated
as the city bus pulled away. “Except now I’ve missed my bus. The next one isn’t
for twenty minutes.”
Wasted time. Dammit.
She started walking fast and he walked beside her,
ambling easily. “Did you come out of the smoker’s door?” he asked.
She glared up at him. “Are you gonna turn me in?”
“No. But, well, why are you ditching? You don’t look
like the type.”
“And what
type
is that?” she asked between her
teeth, thinking of the way that officer had dismissed Lindsay as a missing
person because she was a… prostitute.
“The type to take AP English. Your paper on
Heart
of Darkness
,” he added. “Most advanced students I knew would never ditch
class. Plus, your eyes are red. You’ve been crying.”
“Allergies,” she snapped.
“In February?” He shook his head. “Try again.”
“I have someplace to go.” She glared up at him again.
“Do you mind?”
“Where are you going?”
Liza rolled her eyes. “None of your business.”
“Well, I feel bad that you missed your bus. Can I give
you a lift?”
She stared up at him, appalled. “No. If you don’t
leave me alone, I’m going to call the cops. In fact, I’m going to the police
station now and I’ll just report you.”
“Are you going to the police station because of your
sister?”
Liza stopped short. “How did you know that?”
“Just guessed. One of the papers I grabbed was a
police report. Barkley, Lindsay. The name on your English paper was Liza
Barkley and you look like the mug shot.”
Liza shook her head. “What are you? Some kind of CSI
wannabe creep?”
He smiled. “No, but you look like you need help and I
feel bad that I’ve kept you from where you’re going. You can take a cab to the
police station from here.”
“Yeah, right.” She started walking again, muttering
under her breath, “Can’t even afford lunch and this idiot wants me to get a
cab.”
“No, I’ll pay for it.” He was walking beside her
again, holding out a twenty. “Get yourself something to eat while you’re at it.
You don’t look so good.”
Liza stopped again and stared at the money in his
hand. “You scare me.”
“Tell you what,” he said when she didn’t move.
“There’s a sandwich place across from that bus stop. I’ll buy you some food and
you can wait for the bus where it’s warm.”
She hesitated. “I don’t want your charity.”
“But you’re hungry. Come on.” He took the bag from her
hand and started walking.
“Hey.” She stumbled trying to catch up. “That’s my
bookbag.”
“Liza, trust me as far as that sandwich shop, okay?”
“Like I have a choice?” she asked, and hurried behind
him.
True to his word, he went into the sandwich shop and
put her bag on the table. “Sit. I’ll be back.” She obeyed, and a few minutes
later he brought two sandwiches and fries. “Eat,” he said. Again, she obeyed,
ravenous. “Slowly. How long since your last meal?”
“An egg this morning. Before that, lunch yesterday.”
She said nothing more until she’d eaten her sandwich, fries, and his fries,
too.
He was impressed. “Girls usually pick at food like
it’s a disease. I’m Tom Hunter.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Tom. Thank you for the food. I
was hungry.”
“Why did you ditch class?”
Now that she was no longer hungry, she could think.
“It was just an assembly. They took us out of class to tell us to stay in
school. How stupid is that? And jocks… like they know anything about school.”
He was smiling at her. “What?” she demanded.
“I’m one of the jocks from the assembly. I graduated
with a 4.0,” he added helpfully.
Liza’s face burned. “God. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Mostly you’re right. But that’s why I come
to the schools. If the kids will listen to me, even one, it’s worth it. Why are
you going to the police station?”
She studied him. He was handsome, blond with clear
blue eyes. A basketball player, she remembered from the assembly announcement.
A big-time college player. Some of the boys in class were drooling at the thought
of seeing him. “Why do you care?”
He shrugged. “My mom’s something of a social worker.
It’s ingrained. Look, I have a baby sister. Her name is Grace. If she were in
trouble, I’d hope someone would help her. I won’t hurt you. If nothing else,
I’m a damn good listener. So why were you crying, Liza?”
She let out a breath. “My sister’s missing.” And she
told him the whole story, everything except living alone. “Yesterday I got that
police report and last night I asked every hooker I could find and nobody knew
her. I started thinking today that maybe somebody was arrested with her, in a
raid, or maybe somebody bailed her out.”
“So you want to know if the police can tell you that?”
“I have to try. Nobody’s going to look for a missing
hooker. Nobody but me.”
He frowned. “You went looking for your sister? Where
did you find hookers?”
“Internet. I googled and found where they hang.”
He looked pained. “O-kay. I know a few cops. Let’s
take a cab to the station, see what we can find out.”
“The city bus goes to the station. Give me the cop’s
name and I’ll ask him.”
“You missed the bus again. But you were eating, so I
didn’t want you to stop.”
She sighed. “You’re not going away, are you?”
“Not just yet. Come on, let’s go.”
Tuesday, February 23, 4:45 p.m.
Noah stopped in front of the fifth
and last waffle house on Jack’s list. It was a diner off the interstate, next
to a gas station. He hoped this had been Christy’s last meal.
They’d missed Donner and Lyons. Neither had been at
their desks, nor at home. They’d go back later, now turning their attention to
Christy’s last movements. Four waffle houses had been busts and his partner had
been silently surly.
Noah’s patience was fraying around the edges. “Let’s
just get this done.”
But Jack didn’t move. He sat, staring at the waffle
house. “I’m sorry, Web.”
The quiet words were the first his partner had uttered
in hours. “About?”
“I was out of line. I knew Eve wasn’t trying to save
her own skin.”
“That apology should go to Eve. I don’t understand why
you said it in the first place.”
“It’s not that complicated. I told you I’d been trying
to get her attention for months.”
“Let me get this straight.
You
are jealous of
me
?
You told me to ask her out.”
“Thinking she’d say no. I never expected her to fall
all over you in less than a day.”
“That was just an act.” No, it wasn’t.
Not for me.
And when Eve was able, she’d say it hadn’t been for her either.
Jack opened his car door. “Not from where I was
sitting. Let’s go.”
Noah followed him into the waffle house, forcing his
mind to think about killing, not kissing. Jack had Christy’s driver’s license
photo in his hand, showed it to the hostess.
“We’re with the police, ma’am,” Jack said. “Have you
seen this woman?”
“No, but I’ve seen you.” She pointed to the magazine
rack. “You’re Phelps.”
Jack winced. “Can we talk to the manager or some of
the other servers?”
“Have a seat, Detectives. Can I get you some coffee?”
“No, ma’am,” Noah said. “We’ll wait.”
The manager hurried out. “I’m Richard Smith. Please
come back to my office.”
“We’re looking for anyone who saw this woman early
Monday,” Jack said.
“This shift wouldn’t have been here during the night.
You should come back tonight.”
It was what they’d heard four times before. “Thank
you, we’ll do that,” Noah said.
“Or,” Smith continued thoughtfully, “we have security
video of the cash register.”
They’d also heard that four times before, but three of
the cameras were pointed toward the cashier, management more concerned about
employee theft than robberies. The fourth video quality was so bad they
couldn’t see anything.
“That would be a big help,” Jack said. “Thank you.”
Smith went to his computer and began typing. “Sunday
between midnight and four?”
Noah and Jack exchanged impressed glances. “You have
it digitized?” Noah asked.
“We just invested in a new system about a year ago.
There was a robbery next door. A kid was shot pretty bad. They had an old
system and you couldn’t see the shooter’s face. We’re open all night, too. All
of our people were at risk. So me and the manager next door went in together,
got a better system and made sure everybody knew it. So far so good. Nobody’s
hit us again.”
After a few minutes of stopping and starting, Smith
looked up. “This might be her.”
“It’s Christy,” Noah said, when he looked at the
screen. “Time was 3:24.”
“Here’s the crew that was on that night, with their
phone numbers, in case you can’t wait until tonight to interview them. You’ll
want the original digital video file, I assume.”
“Thank you,” Noah said, with relief. “Not many shops
put this much into security.”
Jack’s eyes lit. “You have cameras in the parking lot.
Here and the gas station?”
“Yes, sir,” Smith said proudly. “We sure do. You want
video of the same time?”
“Plus two hours on either end, please,” Jack said,
then turned to Noah. “If somebody followed her home, we’ll be able to find
them.”
Tuesday, February 23, 5:00 p.m.
“Tom.” Olivia stood with a big smile for the young man
crossing the bullpen. He was the son of one of her sister Mia’s best friends,
accompanied by a girl with a sober, terrified look, and Olivia was instantly
curious. “You played a great game on Sunday.”
“Thanks. We need your help. This is Liza Barkley.
Liza, Detective Sutherland.”
“Pull up some chairs,” Olivia said and listened as
Liza told her story, haltingly. Heartbreakingly. “It must have been hard to
learn your sister was in the life.”
“I am so scared,” Liza whispered. “What if one of her…
customers hurt her?”
Olivia weighed her words. “Liza, you seem too smart
for me to try to sugarcoat this. Prostitutes have a high mortality rate. If
she’s been missing for two days and she hasn’t called when she always did
before, it’s not good. After two days, her trail may be cold.”
Liza had gone paler, if possible, but her chin went
up. “Do you have a sister?”
“Yes, and I wouldn’t take no for an answer either if
my sister was in trouble. Let me check for you. I’ll find out if she was
arrested in a group and who posted her bail, but I want something in return.
Your promise you will not go hunting at night.” Liza nodded dutifully. “You’re
going to do it anyway, aren’t you?” Olivia asked.
Liza nodded and Olivia sighed.
“Olivia?” Tom asked and she knew what was coming.
“No. I’m not going with you.”
“Why not?” Tom asked. “Come on,” he wheedled, then
shrugged. “Mia would.”
Olivia shook her head. “That is a low blow.”
“But effective,” he said.
“If I can, I’ll go with you. Once. But I want your
promise, Liza.”
Liza nodded. “I promise.”
Tuesday, February 23, 5:30 p.m.
Tom took Liza’s bag and hailed another cab. “I’m
taking you home.”
“What if I don’t want you to know where I live?”
“Too late. Your address was on the police report. I
won’t leave the cab. I promise.”
Liza believed him. She was too tired not to. “I keep
saying thank you.”
“Then don’t, just get in.” He followed her into the
cab, gave the driver her address.
“You’ve helped me, when you didn’t need to.”
“When I was little, my father knocked my mother
around. People helped us when they didn’t need to. I learned a long time ago to
pay it forward. So stop thanking me.”
“Okay.” She fixed her gaze out the window and made
herself accept the truth. “I think Lindsay’s dead. But I can’t give up looking
for her.”
“I understand. What time did you start hunting last
night?”
“Eleven.”
“My uncle’s in town and I’m meeting him for dinner. I
can’t cancel because he’ll get suspicious and I don’t think he’d like me
hunting hookers with you tonight.” He said it under his breath so the driver
wouldn’t hear. “It’ll be eleven or twelve before I’m back in the dorm. Do not
leave without me. I will come and get you in my car. Promise me.”
“What about your cop friend? Will Olivia tell?”