Best Laid Plans (31 page)

“It’s not until the detective arrives at the hospital, has to wait out surgery—she was shot twice, once in the arm, and once in the upper shoulder, right in the back, that he recognizes the girl from my BOLO. Calls me, I come down to confirm, then call you.”

“Has she said anything?”

“She got out of surgery early this morning. They had her in recovery, and I texted you as soon as I cleared with the doc that we could talk to her. But then they decided to move her, so we have to wait. I ordered a cop on the door—since we don’t know exactly what or who we’re dealing with. All I know is she didn’t give the medics any information except her name is Elise Hansen.”

“You’ve run it?”

Tia nodded. “No pops on the name, might not even be real and she has no identification on her, but I’m going wider on it. My contacts at NCMEC are working on it, going through all missing girls with the first name of Elise who would now be between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, regardless of when they were reported missing. But my gut feeling is she’s been on her own for a long time.”

“She was on Guadalupe?” Barry asked. “That’s a long avenue.”

Tia pulled out her notes. “South Laredo and Guadalupe. Only a couple blocks from the White Knight Motel. Rabb was driving west on Guadalupe and Elise was running north on South Laredo. The cops canvassed the scene and found blood along a walkway between a closed business and a motel a block from the White Knight. I sent my guys back out looking for more evidence, because the first team found shit at night.”

“And the driver didn’t see anyone?” Lucy asked.

“No, but he admitted he wasn’t looking. He pulled her body around to the other side of the car because he was scared and didn’t know where the shooter was. Several other cars stopped, and her attacker fled. My guys are still out there, but so far nothing.”

“Evidence?”

“Not much. A partial shoe print, no bullet casings. Likely a revolver. I’ll let you know what else we find.” She looked pointedly at Barry. “Unless you want to take over?”

“No, Tia, just keep me in the loop,” Barry said.

“The first wound was superficial—a lot of blood, but not fatal. The second bullet went through the meaty part of her upper right shoulder. I saw the x-ray—it didn’t fragment, we should be able to get ballistics from it. Plus we have the bullet from the car. My guys already took both into evidence. Anyway, if that bullet was an inch lower, it would have hit her lung, two inches to the left and it would have lodged in her spine. But shooting her in the back? That’s just fucked.”

They went inside the hospital and Tia took them to the third floor. She met up with the head nurse. “Elise Hansen. The gunshot victim. Her surgeon said we could talk to her as soon as she was settled in her room.”

The nurse nodded curtly. “Two only. And if she gets agitated or upset, I’ll remove you. Understood?”

“Yes.” Tia looked from Lucy to Barry. “I’m going in there,” she said. “Which of you is joining me?”

“I’ll observe,” Barry said. He looked at Lucy. “This is why Juan wanted you on this case, right? Your work with victims.”

“Thanks, Barry,” she said. She recognized his tone—he didn’t want to regret letting her take the lead on this interrogation.

Lucy followed Tia into a private hospital room, past the SAPD officer manning the door.

Elise was drawn and pale in the hospital bed, her limp blond hair against the white sheets making her look even more ghostly. She was reclined at an angle, and her right arm was in a full sling.

It was hard to pin down her age, because her injuries made her look younger. If Lucy had to make a guess, she’d say fifteen. She was of average height, underweight, and her face still held a faint bruise from where James Everett had hit her.
Allegedly
hit her on Friday night. There were other scrapes and cuts, but those were fresh enough to be from the events last night.

Elise glared at them. Though both Lucy and Tia were in plain clothes, Elise clearly had them pegged as law enforcement.

Tia spoke. “I’m Detective Tia Mancini with the San Antonio Police Department. This is my colleague, FBI Special Agent Lucy Kincaid. We’d like to know what happened last night. Do you know who shot you?”

Elise stared at them. “I’m not talking.”

“Okay. That’s your right, but someone shot you in the back. It would help us find him if you cooperate.”

“Go away.”

“We’re not going away,” Tia said. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“I didn’t do anything. I was the one who was shot.”

“And we want to find the person who did this to you.”

Elise snorted. “Right. Like you care.”

“I care,” Tia said. She sat in the lone chair. Lucy sat at the end of the bed, on the corner. Tia said, “Let me explain my job. I specialize in special victims.”

“Special? Like retards? I’m not stupid.”

“Special, like women and children who have been abused.”

“Just because I’m shot you think I’m abused?”

“How old are you?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“It really doesn’t matter, because you’re underage and we have evidence that you’ve been soliciting.”

“Meaning, I’m a hooker.” She laughed weakly. “Fine me. So what?”

“I can help you. It’s what I do. Just tell me you want out, and I’ll make it happen. It won’t be easy, because you’ll have to change your lifestyle. But it’s possible. School. Graduation. A safe job.”

“Look,” Elise said, “thanks, but no thanks. I’m happy with my life just the way it is. I’ll bet I make more money in a week than you do in a month.”

“You might. But I’ll bet, even being a cop, my lifespan is longer than yours.”

“You can’t arrest me for prostitution because you have no proof. And even if you did, I’d be out like this.” She snapped her fingers, then winced. She reached for her water. Her hand was shaking as she brought the straw to her lips. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” She closed her eyes.

Tia took the glass when Elise was done and put it on the nightstand. She nodded to Lucy.

“We can’t leave you alone because you’re wanted for questioning in a murder investigation.”

Elise’s eyes flew open. She stared at Lucy. Defiance and fear, all mixed together. Tia was right: this girl had been on her own for a long time. She trusted no one.

“Bullshit,” Elise said. “You’re setting me up.”

Lucy said, “We have a witness who places you at the White Knight Motel exiting a room where a dead man was found. How did that happen, Elise?”

She shook her head. “No. No, no, no. I’m not talking. You have no proof of anything, I’m not saying a word.” She turned her head and closed her eyes as if that would make them go away.

The machine next to her bed started beeping. The nurse came in and gave Tia and Lucy a dirty look. She checked Elise’s vitals and had her drink more water. Then she checked her bandages under the sling.

“I warned you both about this. She needs rest.”

“Five more minutes,” Tia said.

“If you upset her again, you will leave.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tia said.

When the nurse left, Tia said to Elise with a tone that was both firm and kind, “Elise, you have two options. You come clean now, and we’ll help you. Cooperation goes a long way with prosecutors. I give you my word, Elise. You tell the truth, and I’ll be by your side for the entire process.”

She didn’t say anything at first, didn’t look at them. Then a little squeak came out. “They’ll kill me.”

“We can protect you.”

Tears leaked from her eyes. “No one can protect me.”

“Who shot you?”

She shook her head.

Tia looked at Lucy. Lucy realized what Tia was doing—Tia was being the good cop, she wanted Lucy to be the big bad federal cop. Lucy didn’t like that role at all—she didn’t want to browbeat this poor girl. But she said in a stern, calm voice, “Elise, we have more than enough evidence to turn over to the prosecution for a first-degree murder charge. You will be tried as an adult. Even if you were granted leniency because of your age and mitigating factors, you wouldn’t see the outside of a jail cell for at least twenty years.”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ll get to me in jail.” She stared at Lucy. “The only way I’ll be safe is if you let me go. I can disappear and they’ll never find me.”

“We can and will protect you if you tell us the truth,” Lucy said.

“You can’t!”

“Then I’ll have to charge you with first-degree, premeditated murder.”

“No, no! It was an accident, he wasn’t—”

She stopped talking. Her eyes darted back and forth between Tia and Lucy. She reached for her water again with shaking hands.

“What was an accident?” Lucy asked.

Elise put the water down and stared at the ceiling, tears streaming down her face. With the back of her free hand she wiped them way. She bit her lip and was obviously weighing her fears—was she more terrified of the people she worked for or the police?

“Okay—just this. It was an accident. It was supposed to be easy. Just—go in, seduce this old guy, take pictures. And if I couldn’t seduce him, well, shoot him up with a little happy juice. He wouldn’t remember anything, and I’d still get the pictures. I didn’t know he would die! I didn’t know, I just thought it was, you know, something that would make him sleepy and forgetful. I didn’t even know he was dead until yesterday, when—” She stopped herself. “Anyway, it was an accident.”

“It’s still murder.”

“It was an accident,” she whispered.

“Did you take pictures?”

She nodded.

“You took pictures of Harper Worthington,” Lucy said specifically.

“Y-yes.”

“Where are they?”

“I gave everything to the person who hired me.”

Everything? That sounded like more than just pornographic photos of Harper Worthington.

“Were you hired to take pictures of anyone else? Anyone other than Mr. Worthington?” Lucy asked. Tia shot a confused glance at her, but Lucy focused on Elise’s reaction.

“I—I—you don’t understand.”

“You’d be surprised at what I understand,” Lucy said. “Who hired you?”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”

“He’s the one who shot me. And he’s just a middleman, I don’t know who really wanted them.”

“Who is he?” Lucy pushed again.

“I don’t know!”

“We know you got this job through Mona Hill.”

She frowned but didn’t say anything.

“Mona told us that you are new in town and called her up looking for work.” Lucy turned to Tia. Tia nodded. “We have enough to get a warrant to search Mona’s apartment and bring her in for questioning.”

“She doesn’t know anything. I just called Mona because I was bored, and I had to wait around until they told me this guy would be at the motel. They just wanted the porn shots. Probably to blackmail him, I don’t know, I don’t care! I did my part and got paid and that’s all, but—” She stopped talking.

“But?”

“I fucked up, okay? I grabbed his phone because I thought I could sell it, but then I lost it and they were so angry. That’s why they shot me, okay? That’s why I have to disappear.”

“Who.”

“I. Can’t. Tell. You! Leave me alone! Just leave me alone, please?”

The machines started beeping again and the nurse walked in and told Tia and Lucy to get out. “If I see you here again tonight, I’ll have security remove you.”

Tia said to the nurse, “Try it. If we need to talk to her, we will, and I’ll get a warrant to transfer her to a prison hospital.”

Tia turned back to Elise. “Everything I said still holds. Think about it tonight, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

She and Lucy walked out.

Barry approached them. “I listened from the nurses’ station,” he said. “Good job, I think you both got more out of her than anyone else could have.”

Tia winked. “High praise coming from you, Crawford.”

The nurse walked back. “Take the conversation elsewhere, please. Now.”

“No one goes in that room except for your nurses and her doctor,” Tia said. “An officer will be on the door at all times. If she needs to be moved, the officer goes with her. If she goes for a scan or x-rays, the officer will be outside her door.”

“Is she a prisoner or under protection?”

“Both.”

“If she’s a prisoner, you need to cuff her.”

Tia glanced at Barry. “We haven’t placed her under arrest yet,” she said to the nurse.

“Then I’ll consider the officer her protection. But if she’s dangerous—”

“Call us if you have any concerns.” Tia handed the nurse her card. She excused herself to talk to the officer at the door.

Barry and Lucy walked to the end of the corridor, to the side of the nurse’s station where they wouldn’t get in anyone’s way as well as have some privacy. Barry said, “Do you think she took photos of James Everett as well?”