InsistentHunger (4 page)

Paige swallowed. The last time she’d seen Brady, he’d been
in her bathroom, his back marked with strange scars and his wrists still red
from having been tied so tightly that the ropes had dug into his skin. “We were
working the neighborhood around Sixth and Dogwood,” she lied.

“Was there anything that didn’t land in the report? Anyone
who just gave you a bad feeling?”

Paige leaned back into the rough bark of the pine as she
realized why he was asking. “You think someone related to the case did this?”

Foley didn’t answer right away, but his expression answered
for him.

“Captain?”

“Uniforms have found two different witnesses that remember a
blue sedan sitting outside the apartment last night. They thought Officer Ross
had company.”

The air left Paige’s lungs. Witnesses had described a blue
sedan at several of the rape-murders. But that implied that the rapist was a
vampire. Paige thought about the way the few witnesses had refused to talk,
their stark terror and the way they sought Brady’s protection. Usually rape
victims were more likely to turn to her. She was less physically intimidating
and she was old enough that the young victims would look at her like a mother
and the older ones would see her as a potential friend.

But these victims had been drawn to Brady with his broad
shoulders and strength. Had they seen something that scared them more than a
rapist? Is that why they turned to Brady?

“Silver, you look like shit. Take the day off.”

Paige shook her head. “I would rather work.”

“You can’t work this case.”

“Then I can go over old reports,” Paige practically snapped.
She could see the worry in the captain’s face and she struggled to rein in her
emotions. “I could work the tip line,” she offered in her best conciliatory
tone. “Captain, I don’t want to be home when my partner is out there
somewhere.”

She also didn’t want to be at home when the forensics came
in and the clues started circulating around the bullpen. Cops gossiped. They
never called it gossip, but they did it. It was like they had to try out every
theory, discuss every bit of evidence and run alternate theories of the crime
by everyone. The detectives did it to try to get ideas for cases and the
uniforms picked up the habit.

For a long time, Foley just stared at her. Standing up, he
took a step closer to her. “Silver, you’re not going to be doing anyone any
good if you come in to the station. Your head isn’t here.”

“I’m not going to be doing myself any good sitting at home
wondering where my partner is or if he’s alive.”

“Run your old reports,” Foley offered.

“Yes sir.” Relief washed through her.

“And Silver, we will find him.”

“But not alive,” Paige said softly. She still hated that he
had died alone. Worse, she couldn’t talk to anyone about her guilt because she
couldn’t exactly explain how she knew for a fact that he was dead. She really
couldn’t talk about him being the walking, talking sort of dead.

“Did you do something to your arm?”

Paige reached for her sore arm. When her hand was halfway
there, she realized that the bite mark had bled just enough to leave a brownish
rust stain on her light blue uniform sleeve.

“A dog. I got bit by a dog that was going after the
chickens.”

“The chickens?” From Foley’s tone of voice, it was pretty
clear that he thought Paige had just slipped one or two mental gears.

“Chickens. I keep a few chickens and sometimes stray cats or
dogs will try to get into the coop. I got caught by a dog last night. I thought
the bleeding had stopped.”

“You might want to go get a rabies shot or a tetanus shot or
something before you come down to the station. Have one of the others drive
you.”

“My car….”

“Paige.” Foley stopped and just sighed. “Just have another
officer drive you. Ross was your partner and no one expects you to be okay.”

“Is my partner. He still is,” Paige said firmly. Foley laid
a hand on her shoulder.

“He still is, Silver, and you will be the first one to get
any news when we find him. Okay?”

Paige swallowed her frustration and forced herself to smile
at his offer. “Thank you.”

The captain gave her a sympathetic look and then he turned
and headed back toward the sea of police still filling the small apartment
complex’s parking lot. He talked to one or two officers before heading over to
Daniel Kim, one of the first detectives to show up. Paige wanted to hear what
they were saying, but as she started toward them, John Kalani intercepted her.

“How about we get a coffee?” he offered. She gave him a weak
smile and started to turn him down when Rick Lewis and Veronica Lee and Alex
Harris all started coming her way. All she wanted was to be left alone and
allowed to eavesdrop on the investigation and it looked like half the
department was suddenly determined to be her best friend. Paige sighed as she
realized that not only did they mean well, but they were also not going to be
put off. A brother in blue was down and they were going to close ranks around
her whether she wanted it or not.

“Sure,” she agreed. “But let’s get it at the station so we
don’t risk missing any news.”

“Deal,” John said as he gestured toward one of the cars.

Chapter Four

“So, what do you think of the black gum tree leaves?” Alex
asked as he leaned over one of the desks. Paige hated that the rape
investigation had lost a half-dozen good people to Brady’s case, but she didn’t
hate it enough to protest.

“There are a lot of those down on Cedar Dam Road,” John
said.

“Those trees are scattered all over the place. Hell, Brady could
have tracked them in from one of the neighborhoods him and Silver were working
yesterday.” Veronica ignored the half-dozen dirty looks she got from all the
other cops who were busy pretending they had good leads.

“Newer neighborhoods don’t have those. They aren’t exactly
the sort of trees people plant on purpose. Were there any black gum trees
around where you and Brady were canvassing yesterday?” John asked before Alex
could tell Veronica to shut up. Alex looked ready to blow and he wasn’t the
most diplomatic man in creation. It was all getting so annoying that Paige was
two seconds away from telling them all to just leave her the hell alone.

“No,” she answered. “I didn’t see any, but then I wasn’t
looking at the trees.”

“No one looks at the trees. Face it, we’re grasping at
straws,” Veronica said. Paige stood up so fast that her chair went scuttling
backward. “But they’ll find something,” Veronica hurried to add. Ignoring all
of them, Paige headed for the coffeepot. If she drank too much more, her shakes
were going to start shaking, but coffee and the bathroom were about the only
places she was getting any privacy, and when she went to the bathroom, Veronica
had a bad habit of following.

“Seriously, Lee, shut the fuck up,” Alex suggested in a low
whisper that Paige probably wasn’t supposed to hear.

“I’m just talking about the evidence,” Veronica defended
herself.

“Don’t. Really don’t. You make me want to grab the Prozac
and Silver doesn’t need to hear that shit right now.” Alex glanced over and
Paige focused on her coffee cup. Brady said he’d been held at an old house and
now the detectives were talking about black gum tree leaves tracked into his
house. That was still adding up to about half the county.

Paige dumped a package of sugar into her cup and stirred
slowly. They must have taken Brady out in a van or something big enough to
handle a body over six feet tall. Even scrunched up, Brady wouldn’t exactly fit
in the trunk of a VW. And again, that gave her nothing.

She headed back to the cluster of cops waiting to torture
her with emotional support. “Has someone gone out to talk to Brady’s folks?”
Paige had only met them once, but they seemed like pretty decent parents—better
than anything she’d had growing up. They deserved to hear from someone who would
break the news gently. Hell, they deserved to know that even dead Brady was up
and walking around, but she didn’t want to be the one to break that news.

Alex nodded. “The captain went out there to tell them
himself. Remember? He said he was going.”

Paige frowned. “Oh yeah. I think I’ve had one too many cups
of coffee.”

The group all nodded and got thoughtful looks on their
faces. “Do you think this could have been some fight over a girl?” Veronica
asked. Alex and John both looked like they might pop a vein from trying to not
explode. It was funny, but Paige figured Veronica was about the most oblivious
person in the station. She had less femininity to her than most of the guys,
but then women still had a point to prove when they went into fields like law enforcement,
and showing their touchy-feely side didn’t exactly prove much in a testosterone
pit like a police station.

“I think Brady had more sense than to get in a pissing match
over some girl,” Paige said firmly.

“I agree.” John sat on the corner of the desk and propped a
boot on one of the chairs. “He was focused on the job and getting a good review
from Silver. Besides, the fight was inside the apartment, and if you’re
fighting with someone over a girl, you don’t invite them in and then let them
jump you. You have the fight right at the door.”

“Harris, Kalani,” one of the detectives called, “you’re
canvassing 9th for victims.”

John frowned, and from his expression, he was about to try
to talk his way out of it, but Paige shook her head. “John, don’t. You and Alex
go work the canvass. Hell, I’m feeling bad enough about the fact that resources
are getting pulled off this rape case. Don’t make it worse.”

Alex reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “They’ll find
him. You watch—Ross is a tough kid and they’re going to find him.”

Paige nodded and bit down on a stupid, desperate desire to
just tell them everything. Instead Alex and John grabbed their caps and headed
over to the detective who had called them. The state police had sent down a
profiler and he was in the corner watching everyone with a sharp gaze that made
Paige want to escape. “I’m hitting the bathroom,” Paige announced before
putting her coffee down and heading for the ladies’ room. Unfortunately, the
detectives had called John and Alex away, leaving her with Veronica.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Paige said without even trying to hide the
sarcasm. Veronica wasn’t stupid, so she probably knew exactly how Paige felt,
but she followed anyway—either out of some ridiculous sense of solidarity or just
out of a desire to be in the center of the action. Who knew.

They were barely inside the door when Veronica leaned back
against it as if someone was going to try to push his way in. “Johnson said
that the captain thinks that Brady’s disappearance might have something to do
with the rape case. Have you heard that?”

“Considering we’ve spent the last two hours sitting next to
each other, you’ve heard everything I have,” Paige pointed out without
mentioning what the captain had said to her.

If that was true, then this rapist was going to be harder to
catch than anyone expected. Hell, she wasn’t even sure what these things were.
If they were vampires, she’d expect them to kill and move on. Shit. She had a
serious screw loose because she had an almost overwhelming urge to go ask the
state’s profiler to figure the possibility of a vampire into his fancy
equations and geographical surveys. He’d have her committed.

“It’s a theory.” Veronica leaned against the sink as Paige
headed into the stall. “He was a nice guy. Cute. Alex thinks he might have had
a thing for you.”

“Alex what?” Paige demanded over the sound of her peeing.
She seriously needed to cut back on the coffee.

“He thinks Brady liked you. I mean, he wasn’t saying
anything because you were training him, and you like that rulebook of yours too
much to bend it for a man, not even someone as cute as Brady.”

“He’s ten years younger than I am.”

“And? Geez, Paige, that’s something to brag about, not
something that would keep him from liking you. Besides, you’re not exactly
chopped liver.”

“I’m not exactly a beauty queen,” Paige pointed out.

“By your age, lots of women have just given up and you’re
still in shape.”

Paige pushed the door to the stall open. “My age?” She
fastened her uniform belt and glared at Veronica at the same time.

“You’re not exactly young,” Veronica said.

“I’m not Methuselah. I only recently turned forty.”

“So, he wasn’t too young for you. He was twenty-nine or
thirty.”

“He is.” Paige closed her eyes and the image of Brady with
those pleading eyes and pale face assaulted her. “He is twenty-nine or thirty.
We don’t have any evidence he’s dead.” Well, beyond the lack of a pulse or any
body heat, anyway.

“Paige,” Veronica said softly.

Paige shouldered her out of the way to get to the sink. “And
women don’t actually have to go to the bathroom in groups, you know.”

“I know. Look, I know I’m not good with saying the right
thing, but if you need something, I’m here, okay?”

Paige stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were almost
as bloodshot as Brady’s. “I know,” she agreed. “Hey, you should organize the
casserole flood that’s about to descend on Brady’s parents. There’s nothing
worse than having five tuna casseroles show up on the same day.” When an
officer went down, cops gossiped while cops’ wives, partners, parents and
significant others cooked. It was a rule.

“Don’t one of the wives usually do that?”

“Yeah.” Paige shrugged. “But if you’re doing it, you’ll be
too busy to say stupid shit to me and maybe I can get through the day without
crying.” Paige gave Veronica a small smile to soften the bitchiness.

“Fair enough,” Veronica agreed after an awkward pause.