What Burns Within (15 page)

She’d grabbed her shirt and bra, but the necklace wasn’t there. It wasn’t clipped to her jacket either, and it hadn’t fallen into her pants or shoes.

Lindsay had crouched down, looking around under the bench. There was no sign of her chain.

“Come on, Lindsay,” Joanne had called from the other side of the partition, the one separating the showers from the change room.

“Just a minute,” she’d called back, knowing she would be in serious trouble if she lost her necklace. It had been a special gift from her grandmother. She’d been bugging her mom to take her to get the clasp fixed because it seemed to always come undone if someone bumped it. Every time they came to the pool it was the same old story, with Marvin fiddling with the clasp. And every week in church, same thing.

Last time she’d gone to get a gift engraved for a baptism she’d asked about fixing the clasp. They couldn’t do it that day, and she hadn’t wanted to part with the necklace when she had a special church event coming up. She’d decided to wait to have it repaired. Big mistake.

She’d stepped out into the hallway, guessing it must have come off again and she hadn’t noticed. Lindsay had turned right, working her way back toward the entrance….

The car jerked again, and her head bumped against something hard and cold. Then the humming stopped, and she lay still, heart pounding in her ears as she wondered what was going to happen next.

Ashlyn and Tain walked down the hall toward the change rooms. It looked like any generic hallway in a rec center: concrete walls, white paint with stripes, nothing that stood out.

“They were horsing around here, as they walked down the hall,” Ashlyn said.

“And the girls went in here.” Tain turned and went into the ladies’ change room. Ashlyn followed. “According to Joanne, their group would have been here.”

Ashlyn flipped back a few pages in her notebook. “Yes, that looks right. All the other girls were ready, except Lindsay. They went around here, to shower and go out to the pool. Joanne stood at the door.” Her voice trailed off to silence for a moment before she returned from the shower area. “And everything checks out. She had a clear line of sight to exactly the point where everyone was waiting, and she should have been able to hear Lindsay from where she was. There’s nothing obviously wrong with the statements so far, at least, not that I can see.”

“Me neither. So we have an honest church group that’s been telling us the truth.”

Ashlyn rubbed her forehead. “Or we really should go to bed and come back to this when we’re thinking straight.”

“Tempting.”

An officer stuck his head in the doorway. “I think we’ve found something,” he said. “Out back, not too far from the fire escape that’s broken.”

Tain nodded. “Keep it where you found it. We’ll be right there.”

“So, either someone came in and grabbed Lindsay…” Ashlyn’s mouth twisted while she tapped her pen against her notebook.

“And nobody saw them, and they managed to get Lindsay without her making a sound.” Tain shook his head. “Not buying that as the most likely scenario.”

“Or Lindsay went back out into the hall for some reason.”

Ashlyn walked back out into the hallway, Tain at her heels. She looked around on the floor and then up at the ceiling. “There. Security footage. We should check that tape first.”

“Good thinking. But why would she come back into the hallway?”

“Sneak a kiss with a boy? The charming Marvin, perhaps.”

Tain nodded. “Not sure about the charming bit, but a boy could explain it. The video should prove it one way or the other.”

“Let’s assume Lindsay came to the hallway herself. Whatever she was doing or planning to do, someone grabbed her. They took her here.” Ashlyn walked down the hall, past the door to the men’s change room, past the vending machines, into a little used corridor. “And went out there.”

“The broken fire door. Walk right through and nobody even notices it was used.” It was propped open now, an officer standing there. He pointed at some officers about thirty feet away. One was the officer who’d spoken to Tain and Ashlyn only a few minutes before.

“If they really did find something the theory holds water,” Ashlyn said.

“What have you got?” Tain asked as soon as he and Ashlyn had covered the distance.

The other officer held up an evidence bag with a necklace in it. “Could have belonged to the girl.”

Tain took the bag and held it up. “What do you think?”

“That’s some sort of religious symbol,” Ashlyn said.

“Sacred Heart,” the other officer supplied with a shrug. “That’s what it’s called. The Sacred Heart.”

“That’s Catholic, right?” Ashlyn asked, looking at Tain. “Catholic girl, Catholic group. We’ll need to check with the kids, see if it’s hers. Where did you find it?”

They pointed out the exact place on the ground, between a tree and a parking spot in a secluded area in the back of the complex, well away from passersby.

“If our guy parked back here he knows this place.” Tain looked at Ashlyn.

She nodded. “Fits with him knowing about the broken fire door.”

“Good work,” Tain said to the uniformed officers.

“We still have a few patrols combing the area, just in case,” the shorter, chubbier of the two officers said. His radio crackled, and the message came through loud and clear. Lindsay Eckert’s parents were waiting for them.

“Tell them we’re on our way.” Tain watched Ashlyn’s face fall and felt his own shoulders sag as they turned back toward the building. It felt like he’d already dealt with enough distraught parents for one lifetime.

“Mr. and Mrs. Eckert. My name is Ashlyn Hart. This is Tain.” Ashlyn paused when she saw the Eckerts looking at their soot-covered clothes. “We were at an arson scene when we were called here.”

The Eckerts nodded as though that made perfect sense to them. As though they were seasoned veterans, used to having the police get pulled off one case to come deal with their family tragedy. Ashlyn sat down across from them, and Tain sat beside her. “We want to assure you that we’re doing everything possible to find Lindsay,” he said, hoping his words didn’t sound as hollow as they felt to him. The Eckerts appeared to be already well past denial.

“And what is that, exactly?” Mrs. Eckert asked. Her face was blank, emotionless as she looked at Tain.

“We’re canvassing the area. Constable Hart and I have already spoken to all the witnesses, and we’ve got membership lists for the recreation center, the security footage from the cameras, and we’ll follow up with every single person who was in this building today. This is a very public place. Someone will have seen something that can help us.”

Mrs. Eckert’s expression didn’t change. “In other words, you’ve got nothing.”

Tain glanced at Ashlyn. She reached into her pocket and extracted the bag.

“Do you recognize this?” she asked, holding it up.

The blank mask on Mrs. Eckert’s face cracked as she gasped and a tear rolled down her pale cheek. “That’s Lindsay’s necklace. Her grandmother bought it for her. Sterling silver. She wore it everywhere.”

Mrs. Eckert reached for the bag, and Ashlyn pulled her hand back.

“I’m sorry. Right now, this is evidence. We’ll make sure you get it back when—” She looked at Tain. “Well, when we close the case.”

“And when will that be? There have been other children. Just yesterday, another girl, and now our Lindsay…”

“Mr. Eckert, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you this will be easy.” Tain sighed. “The only thing I can tell you is that we’re going to do everything we possibly can to find your daughter.”

He stood up and Ashlyn did as well. Tain handed Mr. Eckert a card. “Day or night, you call me if there’s anything I can do.”

For a moment, Ashlyn and Tain both leaned against the wall of the recreation center outside the manager’s office.

Then Ashlyn pushed herself off the wall and started walking back down the hallway toward the change rooms.

“What is it?” Tain asked.

“What if our guy was waiting for an opportunity? Wouldn’t this be a good place to watch from?”

She stepped beside the vending machine. “I can see about two-thirds of the hallway from here, and if I move just a bit, I can see the entrance to the ladies’ change room.”

“It would be concealed, easier for him to stay unnoticed.”

“Now that we have the necklace identified as our victim’s, it gives this theory about her coming into the hallway a lot of strength.”

“Maybe we should have asked her parents if she had a boyfriend.”

“There’ll be time for looking through her diary and such later.” Ashlyn rubbed her temples. “Did you see her parents? If Lindsay was the type who might have snuck off to be with a boy, I doubt she told them anything.”

“She’s a bit like you, then.”

“Excuse me?”

“I bet you never told your parents anything you were up to.”

When she’d first met Tain their fights had been real and continual. She’d taken him for a sexist jerk, and he was happy to let her think of him as such. Time and experience had proven he wasn’t like that, but he was still arrogant, opinionated, and he’d defy authority on a moment’s notice if he believed he was right.

Others knew him to be aloof. In the early days Ashlyn would have maintained he didn’t know a damn thing about women, yet he had her pegged. She suppressed the grin that was rising, and then her face fell. “Shit. What now?” she murmured.

Tain turned as Sergeant Daly approached. It looked like all the blood had drained from Daly’s face.

“You’ve worked the scene, talked to the witnesses?”

They both nodded.

“Informed the parents?”

“Yes, sir,” Tain said.

“What else do you need to do?”

“We need these vending machines and the walls here, as well as the fire door, dusted for prints. The forensic identification section ne—”

“I’ll deal with the FIS. I want you both to go home.”

“But Steve—”

“But nothing, Ashlyn. When was the last time either of you slept?” He paused. Their inability to answer spoke for itself. “You’re no good to anyone if you’re exhausted.”

“We’ve already got the security tapes, membership lists, staff list and maintenance logs for the recreation center. We talked to all the kids who were here with Lindsay, as well as the chaperones. We also found this,” Ashlyn pulled the evidence bag from her pocket again. “The officers located it out in the back parking area, in a reasonably secluded spot between a parking stall and some trees. We think our guy grabbed her, took her out the broken fire door and to his vehicle.”

Daly frowned. “It sounds like this guy was familiar with this facility.”

“We hope so,” Tain said. “It might give us our first solid lead.”

“Okay, go. I don’t want to see either of you until nine tomorrow morning.” Daly looked them over. “And try to dress up a bit. We’re having a sit-down with Burnaby. The officers working the Darrens and Bertini cases are coming to review all the material from our two girls and compare it with the two from their district.”