A Trace of Death (A Keri Locke Mystery--Book #1) Page 7

  In the closet off the main bedroom, Ray spotted a shoebox on an upper shelf. He started pull it down when they both heard a noise below them, sort of a scurrying sound. They froze, staring at each other.

  “Ashley?” Ray mouthed silently.

  “Or maybe Cotton, hiding,” Keri whispered back.

  Keri pulled back the area rug in the living room, revealing a trap door. There was a snap lock on it but nothing else to prevent them from opening it. Keri holstered her gun and put her hand on the lock while Ray trained his gun on the door. She silently counted down from three with one hand while bracing herself to open the door with the other. At the end of the count she yanked open the door so that it lay flat on the floor, then stood aside.

  For a second there was nothing. Then they heard the scurrying again. As it got closer it sounded more like a gallop. And then something shot out from the basement below, almost faster than the eye could see.

  A huge German shepherd landed on the floor on all fours, growling. Its fur was matted and Keri could smell it from halfway across the room. The dog swiveled its head around and caught sight of Ray in the closet. He growled again and bounded in that direction, his clawed paws scraping noisily on the wooden floor.

  “Shut the door!” Keri yelled. Ray did as he was told, managing to slam it closed just before the animal reached him. The shepherd turned around immediately, looking for the source of the voice. His eyes locked on Keri. She saw his muscles tense as he prepared to leap.

  Unlike Ray, she was in the center of the living room. There was no way she’d make it to a doorway before the dog got to her.

  What am I going to do?

  She realized her hand was already resting on her holstered gun. She didn’t want to use it but feared she wouldn’t have much choice. It was clear that the dog had been trained to attack and she doubted he’d go easy on her. Suddenly a voice called out from the closet.

  “Hey, ugly! Come and get me!”

  The dog turned to glance at the closet door briefly. Keri used the reprieve to glance quickly around the room.

  Nowhere to go. He’s faster than me. I can’t outrun him. I can’t outfight him. I don’t even know if I can pull my gun before he reaches me.

  The dog lost interest in the voice and returned his attention to Keri. Then an idea popped into her head. But to make it work she’d need another distraction. It was if Ray had read her mind. He opened the closet door a crack and shouted again.

  “What’s the problem, Cujo—scared?”

  The shepherd barked and tried to shove his nose through the door, without success.

  That was all Keri needed. She knelt down quickly. The dog gave up on Ray and focused on Keri. Ray continued to yell but the animal ignored him. A long strand of saliva hung from his open mouth. His teeth seemed to gleam in the dull lamplight. There was a beat of stillness and then he leapt, a canine torpedo headed straight for her. Out of the corner of her eye, Keri saw Ray open the closet door, his gun pointed at the fast-moving dog.

  “No!” Keri shouted as she yanked the trap door upright to create a barrier between her and the dog. The animal, already in the air, could do nothing to avoid it and slammed into the door before falling down the basement stairs. Even as she started to push the door shut, Keri saw the shepherd scrambling back up the stairs, apparently unhurt. She slammed the door closed a fraction of a second before the dog smashed into it. She heard it slip down the stairs again for a second, then gather itself again for another leap.

  She lay down on the trap door, pressing all her weight against it, and braced for the next collision. When it came, it knocked her in the air a few inches. By the time she caught her breath, the dog was roaring up the stairs for a third time.

  But by now, Ray had reached her and dove on the trapdoor as well. This time, when the dog slammed into it, there was no movement. They heard a loud yelp, then the soft patter of the dog retreating down the stairs, apparently finally defeated.

  Keri rolled over, snapped the door locked, and let out a huge sigh. Ray lay next to her, breathing heavily. After a few seconds Keri sat up and looked at him.

  “Cujo?” she asked.

  “It was all I could think of.”

  They both slowly got to their feet and looked around. Keri noticed that the shoebox in the closet that Ray had been holding had fallen to the ground, spreading hundreds of photos on the floor. They were all of naked girls ranging in age from five or so to the late teens.

  Without even thinking, Keri started tearing through them, looking for Evie, until Ray put his hand on her shoulder and quietly said, “Not now.”

  “Ray!”

  “Not now. That’s not what we’re here for. Besides, they’re not going anywhere. Come on.”

  She hesitated and then snatched the box from the closet floor and ran with it into the living room, closer to the light of the lamp. There she dumped the remaining pictures on the floor before Ray could stop her and began to rapidly shuffle through them.

  Evie’s in here. I know it.

  Ray tried to grab her wrist but she twisted free.

  “She’s in here, Ray! Leave me alone!”

  “Look!” he hissed, pointing at the driveway.

  Suddenly the front of the house lit up.

  Headlights were coming at them, still a ways off but approaching fast. It was Cotton, coming home.

  “Come on!” Ray insisted.

  They got the pictures back in the box and in the closet, straightened out the carpet over the trap door, and somehow managed to step out the back door just as Cotton entered through the front. They stood there, motionless, wondering if he’d heard the door shut. A second passed and then another. The back door didn’t open. No head peered out to see if anything was there. Ray tugged softly on Keri’s arm and they quietly worked their way through the darkness further back onto the property.

  At the two-story structure, a metal prefabricated building, Keri said, “Let’s go back.”

  “No.”

  “Ray—”

  “No, you’re going to shoot him.”

  “Only if he gives me a reason.”

  “He’s already given you a reason.”

  “Ray, come on.”

  “No, it’s for your own good. Remember why we’re here—to find Ashley. We’re Missing Persons, not vigilantes. Besides, the strike force will be here in a few minutes to take care of him.”

  Keri nodded silently. He was right. She needed to stay focused now. There was time to review the pictures later. They turned their attention back to the building before them. The front door was unlocked. Inside, it was completely dark.

  Keri softly called, “Ashley!”

  No response.

  “Stay here and cover me,” she said. “I’m going to check it out.”

  “Don’t turn on any lights.”

  “Don’t worry. And let me know if Cotton tries to bail.”

  Ten steps inside, she was totally blind. She pulled out her tiny flashlight and slowly waved it around the room.

  “Ashley!”

  No one answered.

  There’s no way this can be a dead-end. She has to be here somewhere.

  She checked around corners and behind doors but found nothing. The place was huge and there were too many places to hide—or be stashed away. They needed some real light.

  Just as she had the thought, the building was bathed in light. Keri ducked, unsure of what was going on. Ray hid behind a fifty-five-gallon drum near the entrance. Then she realized that headlights had been turned on from a vehicle next to the house. The lights swung around and then disappeared down the long gravel driveway to Santa Fe Road.

  Keri sprinted back to Ray but by the time she reached him, he was already on the phone.

  “Suspect is driving a black van, headed north on Santa Fe Road.”

  He paused to listen to the speaker on the other end of the line.

  “Copy that. No evidence of missing girl in the house. Unknown whether suspect is arme
d. We’ll remain at the location in case he returns. Sands out.”

  He turned to face Keri.

  “That was Brody. He’s with the strike team. He says they’ve got Cotton under surveillance. Hillman’s apparently dealing with some other secret crisis right now but he was conferenced in on our call. He doesn’t want to use the strike force until he has to. If Ashley’s not anywhere here on the property, he’s hoping Cotton will lead them to her location.”

  Keri started to respond but he interrupted.

  “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry. There are six vehicles trailing him and he’s driving a big black van. He’s not getting away, Keri.”

  “That’s not what I was thinking.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Okay, yes, it was. But you don’t have to be so condescending about it.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I forgive you. Now let’s take advantage of the situation.”

  They headed back to the two-story metal building. Keri felt around for the light switch and flipped it on. The place sprang to life. It was full of fabrication machinery and tools. A quick search revealed that Ashley wasn’t there. They found a crowbar and proceeded to pry open every shed on the lot. They searched them all. Every one of them was empty.

  They shouted at the top of their lungs.

  “Ashley!”

  “Ashley!”

  “Ashley, are you here?”

  She wasn’t.

  Keri headed back to the house at a fast walk with Ray right behind her. She pushed hard through the back door and went straight to the closet and swung open the closet door.

  The shelf was empty.

  The shoebox was gone.

  Keri hunted around briefly for it before her frustration got the better of her. She grabbed the lamp from the living room end table and threw it against the wall. The ceramic base shattered all over the floor. The dog below the floorboards began to bark. He’d found his courage again.

  She slumped down on the couch and hung her head. Ray, who’d been standing quietly by the back door, walked over and sat down next to her.

  He was about to speak when Keri’s phone buzzed. She picked up. It was Mia Penn.

  “Detective Locke, where are you?”

  “Looking for your daughter, Mrs. Penn,” she answered, trying to hide how deflated she felt.

  “Can you come over here right now?”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Please, just get here as fast as you can.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Monday

  Night

  The Stafford residence was in chaos. Keri and Ray had to fight their way through a media circus to get in the house. Even inside, they could hear the shouts from reporters. A different security staffer from before led them into a massive kitchen, where they found Mia in tears and Stafford pacing back and forth angrily. When she saw them walk in, Mia wiped her eyes and cleared her throat.

  “We had a long visit from a guy who apparently runs everything at Pacific Station,” Mia said. “Cole Hillman.”

  “I guess we know what the secret crisis was,” Keri said to Ray. Then to Mia, “Yep, that’s our boss.”

  “Well, he said he had this huge experienced team in place and that he’d personally be leading it and that you did a great job but now you were off the case.”

  “That’s true,” Keri said.

  “I told him no way,” Mia said. “Then he said you didn’t have the experience.”

  Keri nodded. It was true.

  “I’ve only been a detective for a year now.”

  “When I didn’t back down, he also said you weren’t ready for the pressures of a case like this, that you had a daughter abducted five years ago and that you never really recovered. He said that sometimes you just drift off for minutes at a time or think that every little girl is your daughter.”

  Keri exhaled.

  Who in the hell did Hillman think he was talking to a civilian like that? Wasn’t this some kind of HR violation?

  Still, she couldn’t deny it.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much true also.”

  “Well, when he said it, he made it sound like a bad thing,” Mia said. “But I can tell you something right here and now. If Ashley is still missing in five years, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing—seeing her face everywhere I look.”

  “She won’t be—”

  “Yeah, hopefully, but that’s not the point. The point is, you get it—you get what’s going on here—and he doesn’t have a clue. I told him point-blank that I not only want you back on the case, I want you heading it up. Stafford backed me a hundred percent.”

  The senator nodded.

  “There wouldn’t be a case right now if it wasn’t for you,” he said.

  Keri felt her stomach twist in a knot.

  “I think you’re underestimating Lieutenant Hillman.”

  “Regardless, Stafford and I want you on the case and we made our opinion clear.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said it was a complex matter, he’s been in law enforcement a long time, and he has a far better understanding of who to bring into the case to get things done than either of us did. He was polite about it, but in the end he basically took the position that a couple of civilians, even one who’s a senator, weren’t about to tell him how to run his department.”

  “There’s a lot of merit to that.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t care. We want you handling this and we told him so.”

  Keri considered it and then shook her head.

  “Look, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but—”

  “But nothing. You’re heading it up as far as we’re concerned. We’re not even going to talk to anyone else.”

  “What about me?” Ray asked with a smile, trying to lower the tension in the room.

  “Who are you?” Mia asked, seemingly noticing him for the first time.

  “This is my partner, Ray Sands. He taught me pretty much everything I know about being a cop.”

  “Then I guess you can stay,” Mia replied in what sounded like a slightly lighter tone. “Now, tell us what’s new—anything?”

  Keri brought them up to date on what happened at Denton Rivers’ house, and how they got the license plate of the black van and had just now searched the premises of the van’s owner, an ex-con named Johnnie Cotton, only to find Ashley nowhere around. She didn’t mention that the guy was their daughter’s drug dealer or anything about the surveillance. She didn’t want to raise false hopes.

  Stafford looked hard at her and said, “If you were in charge, what would you do, right this minute?”

  She considered it.

  “Well, we’re following up a few leads I can’t discuss yet. But if they don’t pan out in the next hour, I think I’d get an Amber Alert out. That way, a description of both Ashley and the black van would be broadcast throughout the media. Sometimes we hold off on that if we think it would put the child at greater risk. But I don’t really see a downside in this situation. Ray?”

  “No, if our current leads don’t shake out we’d blast out all relevant information and see what came back.”

  “Including the license plate number?” Senator Penn asked.

  “Correct,” Ray said. “But as Detective Locke mentioned, we need to see how a couple of leads develop before taking that next step.”

  “I understand it was you two who found the black van in the first place?” Mia asked.

  “Right,” Ray answered.

  “And not Cole Hillman and his huge, experienced team?”

  “Mrs. Penn—” Keri started.

  “Mia. I think you can go with the first name under the circumstances.”

  “Okay, Mia, and please call me Keri. Yes, Ray and I found the van. But Lieutenant Hillman is just doing what he thinks is best. We’re all doing everything we can to get your daughter back. Let’s try to work together rather than at cross purposes, all right?”

  Mia nodd
ed.

  “How long does it take to get the Amber Alert out?”

  “Once it’s approved, only a matter of minutes,” Ray told her. “I can get the preliminaries started now so that we can pull the trigger immediately once we get approval.”

  Mia looked at Stafford for his support.

  He hesitated.

  “Stafford?”

  He had a look of doubt on his face and said, “We’ve suddenly got all this craziness going on in her life. Lieutenant Hillman mentioned a fake ID, photos showing pot and alcohol and…nudity. He mentioned some new guy who’s way older than she is. Part of me still wonders if she just went off to party with some guy in a van and is too wasted to get in touch. If she wanders home in the morning drunk, after an Amber Alert goes out, my career, quite frankly, is over. Hell, considering the press frenzy, it may be over anyway.”

  Mia pressed his hand.

  “She’s in serious trouble, Stafford, I can feel it. She won’t be wandering in drunk. She needs us now, right this second. She needs everything we can give her. Forget about your career and think about your daughter. If it turns out that she was taken and we didn’t do this, you’d never forgive yourself.”

  He exhaled, weighing the options one last time, then looked at Keri and said, “Let’s get it going then, if we can.”

  “Okay,” Keri said, “let us track down these last few leads. If nothing materializes, we’ll post the alert within the hour. We should head out.”

  “Can I at least offer you something to eat before you go?” Mia asked. “When’s the last time you had a meal?”

  Almost immediately upon hearing the question, Keri’s stomach began to growl. She’d had nothing since lunch, almost nine hours ago. Plus, the shots she’d had at the bar had given her a dull headache. She glanced at Ray and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

  “Maybe some sandwiches, if it’s not too much trouble,” he said. “It’s not like we can do anything else until we hear back from Brody.”

  “You’re not able to tell us what these leads you keep referencing are?” Senator Penn asked.

  “Not yet. They could be useful. They could be nothing. We don’t want you riding any more of an emotional roller coaster than you already are.”