Gone Unnoticed: A Kate Reid Novel (The Kate Reid Series Book 3) (5 page)

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Georgia set the dishtowel down at the sound of her doorbell and walked to the front door of her downtown apartment, only minutes from the field office. She was almost close enough to walk, or take the subway down one station.

“Hey. Come on in.” She leaned in to kiss Nick as he entered.

“Sorry I’m late. It took longer than I expected.”

“That’s all right. I put the warmer on. Dinner will survive.” She turned again to the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Sure, that’d be great, thanks.”

Georgia began to pour his favorite, Jack and Coke. Hers was Jim Beam and she didn’t mind pouring them each a double. She held the two drinks in her hand and walked over to him as he stood facing the enormous window. In the distance was the Washington Monument. It was a spectacular view and his own apartment paled in comparison. He was at a higher pay grade than Georgia, but she’d been left a fairly good sum of money after her father passed away a few years ago. She invested the money wisely.

“Here you go, babe.” She handed him the highball glass.

“Thanks.”

“You want to sit down for a minute? The food will keep.”

Nick took a seat on the edge of the stylish grey sofa sectional. He began to circle the rim of the glass with his finger.

“You seem preoccupied,” Georgia said.

He inhaled deeply and tilted his head. “Sorry. It’s just this case. I had Kate run a report for me earlier today. That’s part of the reason I’m so late. She’d just finished with it and brought it to me.”

“I actually ran into her earlier and she mentioned she was helping you out with some research.” Georgia did her best to disguise her tone. She’d felt irritated that he had failed to mention the fact that Kate was working with him as if he was hiding it from her.

“Anyway, there’s a suggestion that this could be crossing over into other communities. Still mostly from immigrants of eastern and southeastern Europe, but I think we’re going to find it to be a much broader net.”

“I am sorry to hear that. You sure that’s all this is about?” Georgia continued.

Nick took to his feet and walked towards the glass doors that spanned nearly the entire distance of the room. He took in the view of the city lights.

Georgia knew how much he loved his job, but she began to suspect that it was tearing down some of his defenses and in a way that might make him careless.

He swallowed down the last of his drink. “Mind if I have another?”

FIVE

T
he sun fell
behind the trees and the skies turned the color of fire. Kate admired the beauty from the chair on her front porch and, for a moment, shed the images that still lingered in her mind from the day’s demanding task. Learning coping mechanisms helped her to stay focused on the case, rather than focus on the victims, and the Academy emphasized the importance of maintaining distance. Marshall, she once believed, had been the best at that. In the end, the discovery of who he really was only came after he was gone. It was a mistake that still chiseled away at her thoughts, but with the passage of time came perspective and so she tried to cut herself some slack.

Her thoughts turned to Will Caison. He was very kind, but she suspected he felt slighted by the fact that Kate had been given an opportunity to work on what was becoming a very significant case. There were times when Kate did feel privileged; given opportunities for which most would sacrifice their right arms. And really, what had she done to deserve them? Nothing except having been a victim herself. It was a double-edged sword.

Kate pulled the throw over her shoulders as the temperature lowered. She was still used to the warm southern California weather, but here, it seemed that early summer felt more like spring with its chilly night air. The lights inside the house began to glow through the windows as the outside darkened. Kate figured she should probably go inside, maybe fix a sandwich and settle in front of the television. She needed a break from the case, a break from her training, and a break from her own thoughts.

Just as she pushed up from her white painted rocker, a glimmer of light sparked in the distance. The front drive was long and it appeared to have come from the end of it, near the mailbox. She stared at the spot, but it didn’t happen again. It was the second time she’d seen a sparkle of something and yet found nothing. “Now I’m starting to see things.” She shook her head and walked back inside, locking the deadbolt immediately.

Maybe Nick had been right. Maybe she needed to talk to someone. Kate had hardly given herself a chance to recover from the life she left behind. Perhaps the flickers of light was her mind’s way of telling her that something was there, still flickering in her mind and she needed to see to it.

Once back inside, Kate tucked her legs beneath her on the couch and watched TV. It didn’t matter what was showing; she wasn’t paying any attention to it. She’d have to get up early to get back into the field office tomorrow. Nick wanted to meet with her and Agent Jameson. It was the only day she could spend working entirely on his case. Sunday was her only day off from the Academy. Better to be working than sitting here in her empty home.

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Madlena’s father tried her cell phone again. Still no answer. It had been two days and he’d not seen or heard from his daughter. He didn’t know many of her friends, but those he was able to contact hadn’t seen her either. So far, his other daughter was unaware of her sister’s disappearance. Instead, he did what any father would do and shielded her from it—for now.

“I need to call the police,” he told his friend, who’d come over last night to help look for her.

“You can’t, Alek. They’ll send you and Marica home. Then what happens when Madlena returns?”

“She’s never been gone this long. I don’t know what to do. I have to find my daughter.” Alek slammed his fists against the table in his small kitchen. “I knew what she was doing to get the money. I knew and did nothing about it. Nothing! We needed it for food and clothing. You know how hard it’s been.”

“You can’t blame yourself.”

“Who else is there to blame, then? Madlena is probably dead in some alley.” His face turned red and his eyes pooled with tears. He was a large man who was unaccustomed to feeling such pain. He’d lost his wife, but that was after his youngest was born, almost fifteen years ago. Not since then had his heart hurt so much. “Moja djevojčica.”
My baby girl.
“What can I do, my friend?”

“We’ll find her. We’ll ask everyone we know, but Alek, you can’t go to the police.”

Alek pulled open a drawer in the kitchen. “This is all I have.” He showed his friend a recent picture of Madlena. “We must go and find her now. I cannot live like this. What am I to tell Marica?” He grabbed his keys and walked to the front door. “Are you coming or am I on my own?”

The two men began walking through the neighborhood in the north part of Richmond. Run down houses with boarded-up windows, power poles with lines hanging precariously low and cracked sidewalks with weeds and grass poking through. This was where Madlena called home. Alek and his friend walked up to each home that appeared occupied and knocked on the doors. They were greeted with mostly unfriendly people who had no desire to so much as look at the photograph Madlena’s father held in his hand. No one knew her, no one had seen her, at least, that was what they told him.

Hours had passed and Alek needed to go home. His other daughter would be home soon from school and with Madlena missing, he didn’t want to leave her alone. “She’s gone.” His face was masked in anguish. “I have to tell the police. They’ll find her.”

“No. You can’t, Alek.”

“I won’t just sit here and do nothing.”

“Then let me go. I’ll call and I’ll be anonymous. It’s the only way. You have to see that. They’ll have her description and when she went missing. Will you let me do that?”

Alek looked at his friend, another expatriate who understood their options were limited. “Okay. Okay, thank you, my friend.”

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The task of filing the updates that would be sent to the multiple jurisdictions already involved in the investigation had been handed off to Kate. She’d spent the better part of the morning on the assignment.

Nick began to approach her and stopped short when he got a call. He raised his index finger, indicating he’d be just a moment. “Agent Scarborough here.” A brief pause before he continued. “Yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thank you.”

When Nick started towards her again, Kate noticed a change in his appearance. Whoever had been on the other end of that call had revealed some upsetting news. She looked at him with anticipation.

“That was Moreno. He got a call from Richmond PD. You want to drive down there with me? It’s a long way, at least an hour and half, probably more. They got someone in custody they think could be a link to James Corbett.”

“Of course. I haven’t finished with the reports yet.”

“They can wait, or better yet, see if you can get Vasquez to finish them. We need to get down there and talk to this person.”

She’d compiled the information and asked Agent Vasquez for the favor.

“Reid, we’re leaving. Get your things.” Nick pulled on his suit jacket and reached for his keys, which rested on his desk.

Once they reached the garage, Nick began, “We’re heading into the north side of Richmond. That’s where the girl turned up at the police station.” He pressed the remote, unlocking his Infiniti SUV.

Kate slid into the passenger side, onto the camel-colored supple leather seat. She knew Nick’s career extended twelve years and his choice of vehicles was proof that longevity in the FBI must pay well. “And so you got the call because she gave a description that matched James Corbett?”

“Moreno did and he called me. Now, I have to warn you, this isn’t exactly a good part of town we’re heading into.”

“I can handle it.” Kate buckled her seatbelt.

“Just giving you a heads up.” He turned the ignition and pulled out of the parking garage.

They’d made it in just under two hours. There were flights, but it would have taken just as long, and Nick wanted to get down there as quickly as possible.

As they neared the local precinct, Kate began to realize that he wasn’t exaggerating with regards to this being a shady part of town. She hadn’t traveled much apart from her small rented house in Woodbridge to the Academy to the FBI field office. So, coming into this part of Richmond was nothing like she would have expected. Run down houses, several abandoned. People standing on corners looking suspicious at the sight of them rolling along their street. No matter what one’s political party affiliation, Kate was becoming convinced with each passing derelict home that the poor were not living a life of leisure on the welfare system and seemed to in fact be becoming even poorer. And she’d seen her share of down and out neighborhoods in San Diego. This was infinitely worse.

The station was just ahead about two more blocks. It would have been impossible for them to stand out any more than they already did. The sleek, silver luxury SUV flashed by like some sort of neon dollar sign glowing in the night. And the stares of the local inhabitants were pretty hard to ignore.

Nick pulled around to the back of the building, behind a gate where an officer stood watch. The man closed it again after they drove inside. “Come on.” Nick reached into the back seat and retrieved his laptop bag.

Kate stepped outside into the warm and sticky air. She was used to humidity, but what usually accompanied it was a cool ocean breeze. There was no such breeze from any ocean or otherwise right now.

A rear entrance was just in front of them and the officer who let them inside the gate unlocked and opened the reinforced steel door. Was this place Richmond, Virginia or Belfast, Ireland?

“Detective Garrett? Special Agent Nick Scarborough and this is Agent-in-training, Kate Reid.” Nick extended his hand.

“Pleasure.” The detective returned the greetings and proceeded to his desk where four other officers were sitting. “Ms. Sala is in the back in our interrogation room.” Garrett picked up a sketch from his desk. “This is what she gave us. Look familiar to you?”

Nick examined the picture and handed it to Kate. “No.” He looked back to the detective. “Can we speak to Ms. Sala?”

Garrett nodded and led them to the small interrogation room near the back of the old building that had bars on all the windows.

The detective opened the door and inside was a young woman, not more than twenty, sitting at a table. When she looked over at the new arrivals, Kate briefly cast her eyes away. The woman had suffered abuse at the hands of her captor and it was a sight for which she was not prepared. “Has this woman seen a doctor?” Kate immediately asked.

“Yes, ma’am. She was taken to the local hospital before coming here. I can get you the report from the doctor, although we don’t have the results of the rape kit tests.”

“Thank you. We’ll take what you’ve got,” Nick replied. He stepped towards the too-thin woman who’d been given someone’s spare clothes to put on by the look of her. “Hello, Ms. Sala. I’m Special Agent Nick Scarborough and this is Special Agent Trainee Kate Reid.”

“You an FBI agent?” the woman asked Kate in what sounded to Kate like a Russian accent.

“I’m working towards it.”

“That’s cool.” The woman returned her attention to Nick. “I already told them everything I could. I just want to go home now.”

“Where’s home, Ms. Sala?” Nick asked.

“Ukraine.”

“You’re a long way from home.”

“They come and tell us we can make lots of money here. I had nothing back home. None of us do. And so I came here.” She turned away for a moment. “But then they put us in this old shithole of a house. Told us we had to stay there until we were needed. And I thought, needed? Needed for what? Work? Except it wasn’t no kind of work I was looking for.” She wiped away the swell of tears in her eyes.

“Ms. Sala, what can you tell me about the man who held you captive?”

“Men. There were many men, but only one who mattered. They would take us, me and another one or two girls, and make us wear, eh…” It was clear she was trying to find the English word and began making gestures of flowing garments. “Pretty underwear, and we’d have to parade in front of these men. And if we were not chosen, we went back to the house.”

“What happened when one of the girls was chosen?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know. They never came back.”

Kate looked to the detective and then to Nick. It seemed they all understood what it was this woman was intimating and it fit in with what they already believed this investigation was really about.

“How were you able to escape?” Nick asked.

“I told the detective that I waited until the man who was guarding us, I waited until he was, you know, with one of the other girls, because that’s what he would do. And the drugs were starting to wear off and so I started feeling better and I knew if I didn’t get out of there, I might never get out.”

“You were drugged?” Kate asked.

“We were all being drugged. To keep us from running.”

“We’ve already sent our guys to find the place,” Garrett began. “She was able to give us the address, but when my men got there, it was empty.”

“They moved ‘em,” Nick replied as he pushed up from the chair. “No doubt the moment they realized Ms. Sala was gone. Son of a bitch.” He looked at the detective. “We’re going to need to get her someplace safe and try to run this composite sketch through the database, see if we can find out who this man is.” Nick turned back to the woman. “We’re going to put you someplace safe, okay? We’ll get you cleaned up and something to eat too. You’re going to be fine, Ms. Sala.”