Altercation (18 page)

C
arl stood in the forensics department of the police station, studying the typed up page of results for the third time.

He had hardly been able to eat lunch. Butterflies flew amok in his stomach, making it impossible to think about anything except the report. And now he held it in his hands. But instead of providing answers, it only left more to be desired.

A lab tech came in and took off his plastic gloves. “Questions?”

Carl stared at the lab tray in front of him. “Not sure.”

The tech shook his head. “They must’ve cleared out right before the police got there. Police said the place was a mess.”

Carl wished he had gone inside. Maybe he would be able to figure out what was missing. “Fingerprint matches for Jaci and Amanda.”

“There were several other sets of fingerprints.” The tech looked smug. “I’m pretty sure we got The Hand’s prints on file now. If only we could figure out which set is his.”

“But not Sara’s.”

“No, not her prints.” He gestured to plastic bags on the tray with bits and pieces of hair and other material. “These could be hers.”

Carl looked at the strands of hair. “When will the FBI have the samples analyzed?”

“Probably by tomorrow. They’re pretty quick.”

If Sara had been there, her prints would’ve been on the wall and floor just like the other girls. Which begged the question: Where was Sara? Had The Hand taken her somewhere else?

The Hand must have another hiding place. It infuriated Carl not to know.

The girls had told him in their interview that The Hand planned to sell them. Carl was sure that plan was still in place. If he didn’t find them before that happened, chances were he never would. “Thanks.” He put the typed report pages on an empty gurney. “I’ll stop by tomorrow to see if the FBI report is in.”

“No problem.” The kid picked up the papers and tapped them on the flat metal surface.

Carl settled into his borrowed government car, looking for a pizza chain as he drove to the hotel.

His phone rang and he pulled it out. It took him a moment to recognize the area code as local to Cincinnati.

“Hello?” Just in case it was more foe than friend, he refrained from using his name.

“Detective Hamilton?” A young male voice drifted through the line.

Carl frowned, trying to place it. “This is.”

“It’s Neal.”

“Neal!” As expected, the boys had run. While the news was concerning, it wasn’t Carl’s case, and he had other things to focus on. “Where are you?”

“In Cincinnati. Detective, we’ve been trailing the case. We have some news; we need your help—”

“Hang on,” Carl interrupted. “You’re in Cincinnati?”

“Yes.” The boy sounded more hesitant. “Please don’t call the police on us. We need your help.”

“Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”

“You’re—” The boy paused. “Are you here?”

Carl allowed a soft chuckle. “Yes. Where are you?”

Carl pulled his black sedan into the McDonald’s parking lot, out of the way of the security camera attached to the light post in the corner. His phone rang again. Neal. “Hello?”

“Is that you, Detective?”

“I just pulled in, yes.”

A green Ford parked in the back flashed its lights at him. “We’re here.”

Carl pulled up to the car and got out.

Neal rolled down the window and gave him a grin. “Hi.”

Carl shook his head. “I told you to stay put.”

Neal’s eyes hardened. “You forgot to mention that Sara had disappeared.”

“And Jaci,” Ricky added from the passenger seat.

Carl couldn’t blame them. Since the death of their parents and grandmother, the boys were used to making decisions for themselves. “I’ll take you back to my hotel and we can talk. Follow me.”

Ricky swiveled around to the backseat. “That good with you?”

Carl raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t noticed anyone else in the car. “Who’s with you?”

Neal didn’t answer. Carl opened the back door. “Seth!” He took in the girl with reddish brown hair and blue-green eyes. He didn’t know her, but she had to be Agent Reynolds’ daughter. He let go of the door frame for a moment, shocked, and then recovered. “You’re not in Vegas.”

Seth shook his head. “No, sir.”

Carl nodded as understanding dawned on him. “You two didn’t get married.”

“Married?” Ricky exclaimed.

The girl’s cheeks turned bright pink.

Again Seth shook his head. “No.”

“Explain at the hotel.” Carl’s gaze swept over Neal. “Follow me. I’ll go slow.”

The Millennium Hotel was in a ritzy part of town. They parked in the underground garage, and then stood in awkward silence in the elevator until it reached the seventeenth floor. Seth stared at each number as it lit up.

“Here we are.” Carl exhaled and opened the hotel room. He could think of so many reprimands for these kids. In all honesty, he ought to call the police and send them packing. But his hunger to learn whatever they knew won out.

The girl tossed a handbag on the bed and went into the bathroom. Carl looked at Seth.

“What’s her first name?”

“Megan.”

“And you guys pretended to get married?” Ricky quirked an eyebrow and grinned at Seth.

“We had to get her dad off our backs,” Seth murmured. His olive skin didn’t blush easily, but Carl thought he detected a reddish hue.

“Uh-huh,” Ricky said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m going to have to call her father,” Carl said.

That stopped the ribbing.

“Oh, but . . .” Seth’s gaze probed the room. “But we’re getting somewhere on this case.”

“I’m not calling
your
mother,” Carl said. “You’re an adult, Seth. You can do what you choose.” He turned to Neal and Ricky. “I’ll have to call the group home, too, you know.”

Neal leaned back against the sink. “We know. Can you just wait—a few days?”

“Tell me what you’ve got.” He wasn’t making any promises. Megan came out of the bathroom, her eyes and nose red. She sat on the bed, head down. Carl kept his eyes trained on Neal.

“We found a little girl who told us she saw Jaci and Amanda.”

Carl leaned forward.

“She lives in the trailer park by the overpass. She saw them get moved from one car to the other.”

“But no Sara?”

Neal shook his head. “Sara wasn’t with them.”

This fit with the forensics results, as well. No sign of Sara in the warehouse. “What did the cars look like?”

“She wasn’t good with descriptions. A little car and a big car. But it was definitely Jaci and Amanda. She could describe them.”

Carl nodded. “All right. That all?”

Neal glanced at Ricky. “No. There’s a warehouse in town we want to look at. Close to McKelvey Street. That’s where we need your help. We need to find it.”

Carl’s brow furrowed. “Where did you get information about a warehouse?”

“We bought a police scanner,” Seth said. “It mentioned a warehouse close to McKelvey Street.”

“But a warehouse could mean anything. Usually it means a drug bust. What makes you think this has anything to do with the girls?”

Neal gestured toward the bed. “Megan heard the report. What did they say, Megan?”

Megan lifted her aqua eyes and fingered the bed spread. “Um. I just—uh . . .” she stammered off.

“Did you hear anything specific?” Neal asked.

She shook her head.

Ricky’s shoulders sagged. “Was it a guess?”

She nodded, tears pricking her eyes.

Ricky sighed.

“Megan knows what to look for.” Seth frowned at Ricky. “She’s been watching her dad do this her whole life. It’s like instinct.”

“Well.” Neal shrugged. “That’s all we have, I guess.”

Carl remained where he was, contemplating the four youth. “How did you kids meet up?”

“We saw Megan at McDonald’s and followed them around town.”

“And the phone you called me from? You didn’t steal it, did you?” If they had broken the law, the gig was up.

Neal shook his head. “No. We bought it.”

“All right. I know what warehouse you’re looking for. I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“Warehouse?” Ricky sputtered. “You mean we found the right one?”

“Yes. I was there last night. So were the girls.”

“All of them?” Neal gripped the edge of the sink.

Carl shook his head. “We’ve not had any sign of Sara. We found fingerprints from Jaci and Amanda. We don’t know where Sara is.”

“Can we go now?” Ricky asked. “The longer we wait, the colder the trail gets.”

“We’ll find them. Sometimes people are missing for months before they’re found. The Hand won’t kill them. They’re worth something to him.” He left out the part about what would happen if The Hand succeeded in selling them.

“He killed Callie,” Seth said.

Carl had no response for that. “We won’t go tonight. It’s dark already and the temperature’s dropping. We’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

“Do you have the address?” Neal pulled out his phone.

“Here.” Carl wrote the address on a napkin and handed it to Neal. “Now relax. I’ll get a couple more beds brought up. TV’s all yours. I’ve got some work to do.”

J
aci recognized the heavy footfall of the
Grandón
coming down the stairs and froze. She hadn’t seen him since the night when The Hand made her write the awful letter to her father. Almost forty-eight hours ago.

Her skin prickled. Time was running out.

Amanda poked her head out from under the desk where
she was carving a message in the drywall. “That’s the big guy.”

Jaci nodded. “Yeah.”

The door knob rattled, and the
Grandón
yanked it open. His fair features were twisted in anger, his lips quaking. “Bathroom,” he snarled. His hand snaked in and grabbed Jaci’s arm.

Jaci ignored the fear that rolled around in her belly. He dragged her over to the bathroom and shoved her inside. He entered with her, closing the door behind them.

“Don’t say a word,” he hissed. He grabbed her by the hair and pressed her back against the bathtub.

Jaci didn’t think. She placed her hands on top of his, then grabbed his wrist and swiveled. She bent his wrist backward until he swore and jerked away from her.

The next step was to stomp on his foot, hit him in the groin, and run. But she could hardly do that, locked in the bathroom.

He held his wrist and growled at her. “Bitch!” He dug his fingers into her shoulder and shoved, then slapped her so hard she fell to the ground. His boot connected with her ribs, sending a lance of fire through her body. Jaci cried out, curling her knees up to her chest. He pushed his rough hand over her mouth. “Not a sound from you, little whore, or I’ll break your neck. You earned what’s coming.”

Her heart pounded in her ears. What had she done? Did he think she’d taken the necklace?

His thundering eyes met hers. “What, don’t you recognize me?” He leaned in closer. “We met once before. In the woods.”

Jaci’s breath caught. That’s why he looked so familiar! The two camouflaged men had tracked them down and attacked them in the woods. Jaci flinched at the memory of the panic that had overwhelmed her at the sight of the men.

“That’s right.” A triumphant smile slashed across his face. “You might remember my little brother, Danny?” He pressed his lips to her ear. “Did you see his face after you were done with it? Did you see what was left of his body after you killed him?”

“What?” Jaci gasped, rearing her head back. “That’s not what happened!” She specifically remembered Neal and Ricky confessing to killing one of the men. She forced herself to replay the events. After the first man found Sara, Sara screamed. From there, everything got blurry. Jaci picked up a branch and swung it at him. And then Neal was there, sending her back with Amanda while he and Ricky took off in pursuit of the second man.

The
Grandón
grabbed her jaw and pushed her head back. “I was there, you bitch! I saw!” He yanked her down, banging her head on the tile floor. Heaving himself on top of her, he squeezed her neck with one hand while the other groped with his pants.

Everything happened in slow motion. Jaci closed her eyes as something hard pushed against her thigh, and then they shot open again. The razor!

It wasn’t until she raked the razor over his cheek that he noticed her. He howled in pain as blood from two thin cuts sprang out. He grabbed her by the hair and bit her neck.

Gripping the razor like a lifeline, she attacked his throat.

He pulled her up, slamming her into the bathtub and punching her face. She shook her head, stunned from the blow. Then he lifted her by her shoulders and threw her into the wall.

The bathroom door banged open.

The
Grandón
whirled around. Jaci shrank into the corner, shaking.

The Hand stood in the doorway. His cold blue eyes took in the scene in a split second. “Move,” he said to Jaci.

She threw herself between the toilet and the bathtub.

The
Grandón
lifted his hands. “It’s not what you—”

He never got a chance to finish his defense. The Hand shot the man in the chest. The dead man’s hot blood splattered around the bathroom and over Jaci. She gasped, the air rattling in her lungs.

The Hand put the weapon on the floor. He pulled a towel from under the sink and stepped toward her. She wedged herself against the wall, prepared to kick and fight.

“I won’t hurt you.” He didn’t meet her eyes, but used the towel to wipe the blood from her face. Finding her fingers tightly clutching the razor, he unhooked them and put the razor on the rim of the bathtub. Leading her back to the office, he opened the door.

Amanda’s face was white. She jumped up, wrapping her arms around Jaci and glaring at The Hand. “What did you do to her?”

“Keep that towel on her,” he said. “It’ll help with the swelling.” He closed the door on them.

“Jaci?” Amanda sat her down and pressed the towel to Jaci’s face. “What happened? I heard a gunshot. I was so—so scared.” She shook her head, her lips tightening.

Jaci didn’t answer. Scenes clicked through her head like a slide show, each image in surreal detail. She could barely think about what the man had tried to do to her. “Amanda,” she said, very slowly, “remember in the forest when those two men attacked us?”

Amanda pulled the towel away from Jaci’s face. “I wasn’t there. Neal and I were too far behind you.”

“But Ricky went and got you.” Jaci pushed Amanda’s hands back, suddenly impatient. “Neal and Ricky ran after one of the men, and you took me and Sara further into the forest to wait for them.”

“Yes,” Amanda said, her tone wary.

“Was the
Grandón
—” Jaci swallowed. “Was he that man?”

Amanda paused, her eyes unfocusing for a moment as she thought. “I’m not sure, Jaci. He could be. I didn’t really see him. He was running away by the time I got there.”

“But Neal and Ricky didn’t catch him.”

“No.”

The pieces were sliding into place now. “So who did they kill?”

“The other man,” Amanda said, too quickly. “The one we left on the forest floor.”

Jaci met her eyes. “They came back and killed him?”

Amanda opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out.

“They didn’t,” Jaci said softly, certainty gripping her. “They didn’t need to. I had already killed him.”

“It was self-defense, Jaci.” Amanda locked eyes with Jaci’s. “You were protecting yourself. You were protecting
Sara.
”

Jaci barely heard her. How could she have killed a man and not even known it? Where had her mind gone in that moment? “Why didn’t you guys tell me?” She remembered the way everyone except her had known that the man was dead. As if they had talked about it and decided to conceal the truth from her.

“We were afraid of how you’d react, Jaci. And then after you shot the policeman—we couldn’t tell you.”

Jaci pressed a hand to her forehead. This was too much. “I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

“Look at me, Jaci.” Amanda’s voice was steely. “It doesn’t matter what we want. Sometimes we have to do it. You didn’t want to, but you’d do it again. To protect me, or the boys, or anyone else you love. You keep that fire in you.”

“How?” Heat rushed to Jaci’s face, and she swallowed back tears. “How, when there are men stronger than us leading us around like pet monkeys?” She looked down at her hand, still clenched as if she had the razor.

Amanda dropped her voice. “I want to show you something.” She pulled from her pocket a crumpled napkin. “This came on the breakfast tray. I didn’t notice till a little while ago.”

Notice what?
Jaci uncrumpled the napkin. Amanda took Jaci’s finger and traced over it.

Jaci felt it. Lines etched in the paper. She held it up to the light, trying to read the grooves. It looked like someone had pressed down hard with a pen that was out of ink.

HELP IS COMING.

“Who brought this?” Jaci whispered, ripping up the napkin into tiny pieces.

“It came on the tray.”

Someone was trying to help them. She leaned back against the wall, wondering which of The Hand’s men was secretly on their side.

“What happened back there, Jaci? In the bathroom?”

Jaci swallowed hard. “He attacked me. He told me I killed his brother and he would make me pay. I cut him with the razor, and The Hand came in and shot him.”

Amanda gasped. “Are you okay?”

It seemed like a stupid question. Jaci had no answer, so she just shrugged.

The door swung open. The Hand tossed two piles of clothes at them. “Showers.” He beckoned to Jaci.

She stood, clutching the clothes to her chest. The Hand led her to the bathroom and locked her inside.

Someone had cleaned it up, though the red spots on the wall and the maroon in the grout were probably permanent fixtures. She let out a sigh and ran a shaky hand through her hair. Remembering how she and Seth kept the bathroom door closed at home, she pulled out the drawer attached to the sink.

Jaci gave the shower a quick perusal and turned on the hot water. The razor was gone.