Authors: Jamie Craig
“And miss all the excitement?” She looped her arm through his, stretching up to kiss him. “Not on your life.”
Rolling his eyes, Isaac turned his back on the display and headed out. “First time I catch either of you groping under the table, I’m kicking you both out.”
“What makes you think you’ll catch us, Detective?” Nathan smirked. “After all, you never have before.”
“Don’t make me duct tape your hands to the chair.” He held the door open for them. “I’d suggest cuffs, but something tells me you two would enjoy those too much.”
“Well, honestly, I’ve been a bit wary of trying them after your experience with the blonde in San Diego,” Nathan countered, leading Remy past him. “God knows we wouldn’t want a repeat of that.”
Isaac swore under his breath when Remy brightened and set to taunting him about this newfound kink. He blocked her out as he tossed the keys back to Carl, and he held his tongue as they walked down the hall. She finally broke him at the stairwell.
He jabbed a finger toward her face. “Duct tape works even better over big mouths.”
She laughed and blew him a kiss.
Shaking his head, Isaac followed them up the stairs. Nathan’s arm bent possessively around her waist while Remy leaned into him with her cheek rubbing his sleeve. Some of Isaac’s annoyance evaporated. It was hard to stay mad at her when she made his best friend so obviously happy. After all these years, Nathan deserved that.
“Excuse me.” An unfamiliar redhead stepped into his line of sight. “Excuse me, Detective McGuire?”
He stopped at the sound of his name. “Yeah?” A quick scan said the woman was official in some way. Her dark pantsuit flattered her athletic figure—an excellent cut—and she kept her dark red hair cut in an efficient bob just below her ears. Intelligent blue eyes met his without her having to tilt her head back to look up at him, and there were laugh lines at their corners. They made him want to smile too. He coughed to cover up the urge. “Can I help you?”
“I hope so. I’m Olivia Wright, I work in Cold Cases. I’m following a lead, and I was told you were the man to see.” Her eyes flickered over to Nathan and Remy. “I’d like to speak with you privately, if you have a few moments.”
When Nathan began to back up as if to leave, Isaac held up a hand to stop him. “The files should be in the in-basket on my desk,” he said to him. “Set up in interrogation three and I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
Nathan shrugged. “Sure. Come on, Remy. Let’s see if we can solve Isaac’s case for him.”
Olivia watched them go with a disapproving frown. She could probably tell neither one of them were on the force. “You’re busy. I promise this won’t take long. I just have a few simple questions about a case you’ve been assigned.”
“I’ve got a lot of cases.” He led her in the opposite direction, toward the nearest conference room he knew would be empty at this time of night. “Care to enlighten me as to which one’s heating up a cold case?”
Olivia waited until he closed the conference door behind them before handing him a file. “Stacy Montenegro was abducted from her home in Los Angeles five years ago. There were no witnesses and, after three months of searching, no leads and no body. The case went cold. Quite frankly, it seemed unsolvable until three nights ago when a young woman matching Stacy’s description showed up at the ER.”
The face staring up at him was straight out of a high school yearbook. Stacy Montenegro had been an attractive Hispanic girl, dark-skinned and even darker-eyed, aged nineteen when she’d gone missing. Good student, no boyfriend, no known enemies.
Isaac’s stomach clenched. The one nice thing about dealing strictly with gangs was the bad guys were a dime a dozen. Any dead bodies he dealt with usually had it coming to them. If he had to deal with the mysteries of why good people got fucked over, too, he would’ve quit the force years ago like Nathan had.
He pushed the file back toward her. “I don’t see what this has to do with me.”
“She’s been unresponsive to questioning. However, she did give us a name. Gabriel de los Rios.”
Isaac regarded her without blinking. Gabriel’s dirty work showing up twice in one night. This was turning into a merry Christmas, after all.
“If she’s unresponsive, how’d you get the name?”
Olivia pulled a small piece of paper out of the file and handed it to him. Gabriel’s name was scrawled in purple ink, almost illegibly. “She wrote this the night she was hospitalized and gave it to one of her nurses. It’s been her only attempt to communicate with anybody.”
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. Kidnapping meant felony charges. Gabriel might be able to play fast and loose with his drugs and weapons to keep the stink away from him, but if a damaged, respectable girl was pointing her finger straight at him for fucking her over, it would be a lot harder for him to slither through the cracks in the system.
“Looks like this is your lucky night, then.” Scooping the file back up before she took it away, Isaac rose to his feet. “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ll call you if anything develops.”
She stood up as well. “I didn’t come all this way to bring this to your attention, Detective. I’m trying to solve a case and I need information.”
“The girl’s back, isn’t she?”
“My job is to find the person, or people, responsible for kidnapping her five years ago.” She came around the table to block his way to the door, her gaze icy. “My job isn’t done. It’s barely started. You’ve been working on several cases involving Gabriel de los Rios, and I’m going to need your cooperation for my investigation.”
He folded his arms over his chest and straightened to his full height. “Looks to me like you’ve already found the person responsible. And in case nobody’s made it clear to you already, anything involving Gabriel is mine.”
Olivia didn’t seem the least intimidated by his posturing. In fact, she took a step forward. “I don’t have enough to make an arrest, and I certainly don’t have enough to make any charges stick. I can think of a dozen reasons right now why she’d write his name and none of them have anything to do with kidnapping charges.” She narrowed her eyes. “If this is how you treat all your cases, then I must say it’s not a great surprise Mr. de los Rios is still out on the streets.”
“And if you’re too afraid of ruining your manicure by going after a bad guy, then it’s no wonder somebody stuck you out in Siberia with Cold Cases.”
Olivia smiled as if he’d made a particularly good joke. “Oh, I understand. You don’t actually have any helpful information.” She grabbed the edge of the file he had tucked beneath his arm and pulled it out. “Six other young women went missing in the two months prior to Stacy’s kidnapping, none of whom have been found yet, and I have enough circumstantial evidence to link the cases, but nothing concrete to link them to Gabriel. I know it’s there. It’s just a matter of digging it out. I was told, and my source was obviously very mistaken, I could save some time and energy by coming to you, since both are critical right now. But what’s another week or two of waiting after five years, right?”
Seven missing girls. Six still unaccounted for. At least he understood her persistence now.
“Your source was right on the money.” Deliberately, he opened his posture, relaxing again. “Your best chance at nailing Gabriel comes through me. Nobody in this state on our side of the law knows him better than I do. But if all you’re after is information, you’re out of luck.” He cut her off when he saw her mouth open to argue with him again. “I want on the case. You want to put this bastard behind bars, you gotta let me help. I haven’t spent most of my career trying to catch this guy not to be part of the collar now.”
“Fine.” Her agreement came without hesitation. “This is just the recent file on Stacy. If you’d like to come to my office, I can show you everything we have on the other abductions as well.”
“I’ve got a better plan.” Walking to the door, he opened it and then stepped out of the way for her to exit first. “I’m going to introduce you to the guy who’s going to get your girl to talk. Nothing like a victim’s accusation to really put a spark into an investigation, is there?”
She opened her mouth to protest but knew she’d be wasting her breath. Isaac McGuire didn’t work well with others. He might be built like a linebacker, with the collegiate good looks to match, but he was not a team player. She had been warned about it before she approached him, and the fact he did not have a partner only leant credence to the claim. She would have told him to go fuck himself as soon as he’d copped an attitude, but she was desperate.
She’d never admit that to him, but she could admit it to herself. She needed help and she needed it now—yesterday, even. If it meant finding those girls, she’d put up with McGuire for as long as necessary. What mattered was putting that piece of shit de los Rios behind bars.
She matched his long strides with ease, glancing at him curiously more than once. Did he really think he would outrun her and lose her in the precinct?
Outside an interrogation room, he stopped and opened the door, moving aside to allow her to enter first. She took one step and jerked to a halt. The couple who’d been with McGuire when she’d tracked him down sat in a single chair, wrapped around each other in a rather impassioned embrace. Grabbing the handle, she slammed the door shut and whirled to face him. “No. This is a delicate situation and the last thing I need is to bring more people on this case.”
His eyes were dark and steady as he regarded her. “I thought you wanted my expertise.”
“Yes.
Your
expertise. That’s all I asked for.”
“So, you wouldn’t be interested in the woman who out-bluffed Gabriel de los Rios last summer? Or the man who worked at my side for years—who still puts his ass on the line every time I ask him to, just because he wants that bastard behind bars?” Isaac shrugged. “Your loss. But I thought you were interested in nailing Gabriel to the wall. If you’re not…”
Olivia didn’t budge. “Is the woman who out-bluffed de los Rios an officer of the law? I know your former partner is not. Look, if talking to them is necessary, I will. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it. But I need to have some sort of guarantee they can be…discreet. And sucking face in an interrogation room doesn’t give me confidence they know the first thing about discretion.”
“Talking to them
is
necessary.” He paused, a slight frown creasing his brow as his gaze flickered to the door. “The sucking face part…is a side effect of them being within touching distance of each other, unfortunately. But sucking face doesn’t mean they’re not serious about this. You have my word. The second their behavior interferes with the case, I’ll pull ‘em. Or at least one of them.”
McGuire was not going to change his mind. She was left with no choice but to trust him and hope she didn’t regret this later. Well, didn’t regret the entire meeting more than she already did. “Fine.” She pushed the door open behind her and stepped aside.
“Break it up,” Isaac complained. As the pair reluctantly parted, he passed Olivia to go around to the far edge of the table. “Olivia Wright, this is Nathan Pierce and Remy Capra. Guys, this is Olivia Wright. She works in Cold Cases, only one of them’s not so cold anymore. She’s got a girl in the hospital who’s pointing a finger straight at Gabriel de los Rios.” He caught her disapproving frown. “Well, maybe not straight at. More in his general direction. But still. Gabriel. Felony kidnapping charges. What’s not to love?”
Their sudden tensing said both of them were interested in Isaac’s announcement, but it was Nathan who held his hand out for the file. Everything about him screamed
detective
. He may have gone into early retirement, but he had clearly never left the game. She handed the file over to him without protest and quickly repeated what she had told Isaac.
“Obviously we’d like to interview Stacy, but it’ll be difficult. Her injuries are both physical and psychological in nature, and we can’t count on getting information from her. Not right now.”
“That’s why I thought you could go and talk to her,” Isaac said to Nathan. “Considering your unique perspective and everything.”
Nathan looked up from the file. “Has she had a psych eval?”
“They think she’s suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which would explain why she won’t talk.”
“But she
can
talk, physically?”
Olivia nodded. “Her throat’s injured, but not to the extent she can’t vocalize.”
“When can I see her?”
She held up her hands. “Mr. Pierce, with all due respect, I’m not sure I agree with Detective McGuire on this one. Why are you any more qualified than anybody else to speak with her?”
“Because he knows better than you or me or even Isaac what your girl’s probably gone through.” They were the first words she’d heard come from Remy’s mouth and an undeniable challenge flashed in the woman’s eyes. “What’s more, he’s got the scars to prove it. You really think Isaac would jerk you around by not bringing in the best man for the job?”
Six missing girls. There are six missing girls
. She had to make that her mantra if she didn’t want to snap. Her shoulders already ached from the tension of dealing with these three. The trio might have history, as well as a personal stake in the issue, but she did not appreciate the attitude both Isaac and Remy gave her over simple questions.
“I do have personal experience with that sort of injury.” Nathan’s soft voice directed her attention back to him. “And the frustration that accompanies it. There’s a chance she really does want to communicate, but doesn’t know how.” He offered a lop-sided smile. “Plus, I usually take the finesse jobs. Isaac isn’t exactly known for his…nuanced approach.”
“Hey! I can nuance with the best of them!” All heads turned to Isaac. After a moment, some of the stiffness in his shoulders eased, and he rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Maybe nuanced isn’t exactly the word to describe how I work.”
“It works if you’re a bull in a field of cows,” Remy offered with a grin.
He looked pointedly at her revealing top. “And I suppose you tiptoed through a few tulips to get your ass dragged into lock-up.”
Olivia cut in quickly before the conversation derailed even more. “It’s early enough we can see her tonight. Unless you have something else on your plate?”
Nathan shook his head. “No, tonight is good.” He looked at Isaac. “We’ll follow in the Mustang.”
She expected Isaac to argue with him. After all, it wasn’t his suggestion and he seemed to harbor some serious control issues. He surprised her by nodding then scooping up the file and handing it back to her. “It’ll give us time to talk strategy. Without having to listen to the slurping noises from the back seat.”
Nathan merely smirked before leading Remy out of the room. Olivia waited until they were gone before announcing casually, “I’ll drive.” She didn’t really care whose car they took, but Isaac probably did. He’d thrown enough of his weight around already tonight.
After he’d retrieved his coat from his desk, he followed her out to the parking lot, matching her stride for stride until they reached her car. Then he stopped a few feet short, head tilting as he looked the vehicle over. A low whistle filled the crisp night air.
“The Toyota Sequoia. I’ve been looking at these. It’s a nice SUV.” He shot her a ready grin. This one actually seemed like it might be genuine. “Siberia pays better than I thought it did.”
The headlights flashed as she unlocked the doors. “Excuse the dog hair, Tiberius likes to ride in the passenger seat.” Once she settled behind the wheel, she turned to face him. “Can you not refer to Cold Cases as Siberia, please? It’s annoying.”
His attention was focused on the door, long fingers skimming along the arm rest before he leaned down a little to check out the storage compartment that ran along the bottom. “I thought it was funny.” He straightened, twisting to look at the back seats, and ignored her muttered
no, it really isn’t
. “Besides, who actually asks to work in Cold Cases? Getting assigned there is career suicide. What kind of mileage do you get with this?”
She arched a single eyebrow. “I don’t know, maybe eighteen or twenty miles.” He was still caressing her car. “And I actually asked to be assigned to Cold Cases.”
Her announcement did the trick. He sat back and finally redirected his gaze back on her. “You did? Why?”
“Because for the families and the victims, the cases never really grow cold.” She backed out of her parking spot and put the engine into drive. “Families don’t stop waiting for their phones to ring. You’ve seen what? Hundreds? Maybe thousands of cases, since you started? They probably all blur together for you. But the people who are waiting on us to bring kidnappers, rapists, and murderers to justice don’t care how many cases the detectives have to deal with. They care about the girl, or the boy, or the brother, or the mother who’s never coming home.” She shrugged, suddenly self-conscious about her speech. “I think it’s important they’re not forgotten.”
He fell silent, but when she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, the darkness prevented her from seeing anything more than his gaze directed through the windshield in front of him. They traveled several blocks before he uttered a word.
“I know what it looked like back there.” His tone was subdued and infinitely less confrontational. “With Nathan and Remy. But believe me, they will do everything they can to help you with this. He might not have a badge anymore, but Nathan’s one of the best investigators I’ve ever known. Smart. Tenacious. And Remy, well, let’s just say she’s got a soft spot for girls in trouble. If Gabriel is responsible for your girl’s kidnapping, we’ll help you get him. I promise.”
“I’m sure he is responsible.” She didn’t know how to explain the subtle shift in his attitude, but she appreciated the alleviated tension. The pain that had been crawling from her tight shoulders up her neck began to abate. “I feel it, you know? But DAs tend to frown on gut feelings.”
“That’s why they have desk jobs and we’re out here busting our asses catching the bad guys.” He brushed stray hair from his pants leg. “Tiberius, you said? A name like that’s either for a very big dog or for a very small one trying to compensate.”
Reaching over, she flipped the visor down to expose the picture taped on the mirror. Tiberius was looking at the camera with a huge doggy-smile, his giant head taking up most of the frame. “German Shepherd and Rottweiler mix. That was taken before his final growth spurt, so he’s a bit bigger now.”
“No, no compensating necessary there. Remind me not to surprise him in a dark alley.”
“Don’t tell anybody I told you, but he’s as gentle as a kitten. If you surprised him in a dark alley, he’d probably lick you to death.” The image of Tiberius on his hind legs, front paws propped on Isaac’s shoulders as the two fought over whether or not Isaac would be getting a kiss made her stifle a grin. She worried her bottom lip for a moment, then shifted to the more serious topic. “There are some other leads on Gabriel I’d like to follow up on tomorrow. I could give you a report on what I find, or you could—”
“I’ll come with. I’m usually at my desk by seven, but if you want to meet up earlier and hash out the details over food, I get breakfast at five-thirty at this great little hole in the wall near my place. Best sausages in town. I guarantee it.”
The suggestion threw her. Streetlights cast shadows over his face, making it impossible to get a read on him. Was he asking her on some sort of date? Or was this just how he worked? She wasn’t necessarily a breakfast person, but she did want to be on Isaac’s good side.
“Five-thirty is good for me. I have a meeting with one of Gabriel’s former gang members at eight.”
“At the station or somewhere else?”
“Somewhere else. Do you think anybody would agree to talk to me if I dragged them down to the station?”
“What I’m thinking is Gabriel’s men know me. We show up together and one of two things is going to happen. If we’re lucky, they see me and get scared shitless because they know this is serious business. If we’re not, they clam up, because they figure out with me on the case, too, it’s more serious than they thought.”
Isaac McGuire might have history with Gabriel. He might also have a stellar reputation. But apparently, he also had an ego worthy of floating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.
As tempting as it was, she squelched the desire to bring it crashing back to earth. “Well, I don’t want Rico to clam up, or be scared shitless. So I guess you can stay at the station.”
“If you’re meeting someplace I can watch from a distance, you’ll have back-up in case something goes wrong. It’s not like I need to hear what he has to say. But better to be safe than sorry.”
She thought of the short man with the crosses, the Jesus tattoos, the Bible, and the desire to be a youth pastor. Rico had seen the light, found Jesus, changed his ways, and now he had no greater goal than to bring his former friends to God’s Kingdom. She also thought of the dozens—maybe even hundreds—of men who assumed she needed them to do her job. She wasn’t opposed to back-up, but she hated people thinking she always needed it.
“It’s not necessary.”
“I want to help.”
“It’s not like I’ve never talked to him before.”
“The stakes are higher now.”
He wasn’t going to let this go. “Fine. From a distance. Rico is my best informant right now. The last thing I want is to give him a reason to get jumpy.” A Mustang changed lanes two cars ahead of them, flashing a brief glimpse of a couple that could have been Isaac’s erstwhile partner and his girlfriend. “You said Remy out-bluffed Gabriel? When did she do that?”
“Last summer.” It might have been her imagination, but his voice got distinctly more professional, like he was reciting facts instead of relaying a story. “He tried to snatch her because she had this coin he wanted, but the goon he picked to do the job had a bone for Nathan too. Got him instead. She stared Gabriel down while I went in and got Nathan out.”
“A coin? You know, in all my research, I must have missed the part about Gabriel’s renowned coin collection.”
Isaac snorted. “It’s a family heirloom, apparently. He wanted it bad enough to take the deal Remy offered.” Grim respect darkened his features, even in the dim light of the car. “Nathan wouldn’t be around today if it wasn’t for what she did.”