I pitched my voice even louder. “Nona Zuerst, Ashley Drugs, and Rosa Portador are missing. Kam has a connection to all three of them. If you think that hiding him is necessary, it proves to me that he has something to do with their disappearances.”
She stopped, her eyes flicking over her shoulder for half a second before she gave a negligent shrug. She didn’t speak, instead stepping away in a relieved way like I was freaking her out or something.
I was kind of freaking myself out as well. I hated allowing my temper to have control of me. It was so hard to curb and even harder to reel in once it had been released.
With everything going on around me, it was a wonder I hadn’t spontaneously combusted or something. My brain felt like it might burst into flames at any moment. The idea that the woman had been willing to hide Kam from us had compounded the fury inside me.
The guy who opened the door again looked like he couldn’t decide who he was. He was in his mid-twenties and a little chubby with a sweet, pleasant face, a guy who looked like he’d be everybody’s friend. Then there were his clothes. He wore a skull and crossbones t-shirt and baggy jeans with chains, though he held a book of the most difficult crossword puzzles. He was like a nerd, wrapped around a hoodlum, with a dose of sweetie-pie thrown in for good measure. I had no idea what to make of the guy.
He didn’t meet my eye as he beckoned us in, his shoulders saggy as he slumped into a ratty desk chair. He didn’t speak but his body language spoke volumes. Worry radiated off him in waves.
“I’d like to know the last time you saw Nona, Ashley, and Rosa.”
He hunched in a little further. “Ashley is my neighbor. I haven’t seen her in several days.”
“Is that because she’s been sold?” I snapped out, taking a menacing step closer to him.
His eyes flicked to meet mine for half a second before he turned them down again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I pass Ashley in the hallway occasionally. I’ve never sold anything to her.”
I didn’t know if he was playing dumb or if he was really clueless, so decided to push him further just to see. “I don’t think you’re a girl-scout who’s selling cookies. I’m thinking you might be the spotter in the sex trafficking ring. You find the girls that nobody will look for. You don’t even have to get your hands dirty. All you do is locate them, probably spy on them to be sure nobody really cares about them.”
And the sweetness faded from his face completely as he stood up, meeting my eyes full on for the first time. “Sex-trafficking? That is a sick joke. I’ve been attracted to Ashley since the first time I saw her. I was trying to work up the nerve to ask her out despite how aloof she was. It was like you could see the wounds from her past shining in her eyes. The idea that some villain might have taken her makes me want to weep. I would never do anything to cause her a moment of discomfiture, let alone the torment that kind of thing would cause.”
I stared at him, surprised both by his vehemence and the intelligent way he spoke. He seemed genuinely outraged at the idea of anything happening to Ashley. Did that mean he was innocent or that he was a good actor?
I stared him down, waiting to see if he would flinch. It was something Ian had done to intimidate me when we were little. I figured it would work well enough on Kam.
He gazed at me for a few seconds before he looked at Erkens. “Are you the police?” he asked, apparently thinking that Erkens was the reasonable one of our little group.
He didn’t answer that immediately. What he did was take a business card out of his pocket and slam it down on the table next to Kam. “We were hired to find a teenage girl who has been missing for a week. That was when we found that six other girls have been abducted in the last two weeks. Neither of us is willing to allow these girls to endure anything more. If you know anything, I want you to tell me . . . now.”
Kam flicked his eyes down and hunched in again. “I didn’t recognize the other names you said. It’s true that Ashley is my neighbor. I wasn’t aware she was absent. We don’t communicate on a regular basis.”
“Rosa Portador is a patient at one of the doctor’s offices you have a contract with. You mow their grass every two weeks. Nona Zuerst is a student at Point Park, where you also mow the grass every two weeks. It’s too big a coincidence that you have a connection to three of the seven missing girls.”
He met my eyes again and there was derision written all over his face. “There are around four thousand students at Point Park alone. I would be willing to wager that I have met several of them in other locations throughout the city. I also mow the grass at two separate hospitals. Do you intend to accuse me of injuring them?”
Erkens leaned down so they were eye to eye. “You claim to care about Ashley. Your attitude tells a different story. Most people—” he broke off with a grimace when his cell phone rang.
I had set up the phones at the office to call his cell phone if a call came in there. He hadn’t been happy about it but because he got so few calls at the office, it hadn’t seemed like a problem. According to the look on his face, it was not a call he wanted to take.
He shot me a baleful look and stepped away, motioning me to the door as he answered it.
I gestured to the business card Erkens had left on the table. “If you’re innocent, that’s fine. It’s great, in fact. I can promise you that if you are involved with these girl’s disappearances, I will hunt you down myself,” I promised and turned to leave as well.
“I’ve seen your face in the news, in association with the murder case of Emma Gregory and the other three males,” Kam said, his formerly pleasant expression turned to one of sheer fury. “My friends and I have this theory that you’re the one who actually murdered all those people. Interesting that you’re now working for an investigator. I can’t say your investigation skills are impressive to judge by the death toll. I suppose we’ll find out soon since the girl they arrested was released on bail. I would say that we’ll all know the truth soon enough.” He smirked a little and turned his attention to his crossword.
My heart started to pound. Adrian was out on bail? Why hadn’t anyone let me know? Who would have bailed her out? Why?
I wanted to plant my fist in the guy’s gut but decided my temper had seen enough daylight. I would have to get it under control and trust he was jerking me around.
I allowed the door to close quietly behind myself and turned to walk to Erkens’ truck. I counted to three, then six, then nine . . . it didn’t work. Adrian was out of jail. What did that mean?
SIXTEEN
My eyes bugged as Erkens pulled up in front of the apartment building where his office was located. The police were all around, their red and blue strobes almost blinding me. I hadn’t been able to get a word out of Erkens. The moment we pulled up in front of the building, he started to speak.
I had no idea what he was saying. It sounded like some other language entirely. All I could identify was the fact he was worried.
“Sir, you’re going to need to stay back,” a police officer said, raising his hands to stop him as Erkens tried to barrel past him.
He didn’t even look at the guy, his eyes fixed on the building.
“Let him through,” another voice called.
I knew that voice. I looked over to find Detective Bukowski exiting the building, his face utterly expressionless. I had the crazy urge to run away and hide, as though he was the danger.
Instead, I stepped up next to Erkens and waited for Bukowski to tell us what had happened.
He gave me a frustrated look, his jaw tightening as he turned to look at Erkens. “It’s hard to tell if the place was demolished or if that’s the way you left it,” he said snippily, making it clear he’d been in the office before.
Erkens moved to push past him until Bukowski stopped him. “Let the guys go through it before you go in,” he said and tipped his chin in an imperious pose. “We need to talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
&
nbsp; “I’d say there is. Are you aware that Adrian Ezra is out on bail?”
Erkens glanced at me before he looked at Bukowski again. “That girl doesn’t have the skill to get into my office.”
Bukowski grimaced and folded his arms. “That girl is a manipulative sociopath. She has the skill to con someone else into breaking into the pigsty you call an office.”
I took in a shaky breath and raised my brows. “Do you believe that’s what she did?” I asked, not sure what to think.
Bukowski turned his eyes to meet mine and gave a slow shake of his head. “I have no opinion. All I know is that Adrian Ezra was released on bail earlier today and the main witness against her is working for the guy whose office was just broken into.”
My spine had yet again been turned into an icicle. “What could she hope to find in Erkens’ office?”
Bukowski sighed. “Madison, you are the main witness against her. You’re working for a guy who was asked to retire from the police force because of a failed psych evaluation. All she has to do is discredit you and any evidence you give against her is discredited as well.”
“How does breaking in here discredit me?”
“It will depend on what was taken. It’s also possible she might do something to try to hurt you or anyone else that can bring evidence against her.”
My mouth fell open. “Ian,” I whispered and took out my phone to send him a text. He had to be careful. I didn’t know what was going on. There was no way I would take even the slightest chance with Ian’s safety.
Erkens blew out a breath. “What aren’t you telling me, Joel? What else has happened?”
Bukowski, whose name was apparently Joel, tipped his chin up and looked up at the darkening sky above us. “The head of a pig was laid out on your desk,” he said in a quiet way that somehow made the horror of that idea even worse.
Tears filled my eyes. Could it be Adrian? Could she have done it? What was the point, though?
My phone beeped to indicate I’d received a reply from Ian. I didn’t look at it. My eyes stayed fixed on the building. It was a horrible, painful thing to think of the girl who had masterminded the murder of my best friend being free. Even worse was the idea she was working to scare me into silence.
That didn’t make sense. Why would she have gotten out on bail and gone right out to do her nefarious deeds? I didn’t remember her that well from school but I knew she wasn’t a stupid girl.
“What if it’s not Adrian?” I asked, my mind turning to the missing girls. “We’re working a case right now that has to do with a sex trafficking ring. People like those would have both the reason to break in and the lack of morality to make mutilation of an animal acceptable to them.”
Bukowski groaned as he looked at Erkens. “Sex trafficking? Is this another one of your crazy stories or is this one that my guys need to be looking into?”
Erkens glowered at him. “Why don’t you pull your head out of the sand, Bukowski. You worked the same case I did eight years ago and refused to tell the truth in your report. That makes you a coward in my opinion. I’d rather gnaw off my own arm than ask help of you,” he snapped, his bulldog’s expression in place.
Bukowski rubbed a weary hand over a bald spot on his head and frowned at both of us. “I’ll be looking into your files as soon as we can clear a path into your office.”
Erkens looked ready to explode yet he didn’t speak. He shot Bukowski the dirtiest look I had ever seen and turned away.
I moved to follow him until Bukowski stopped me. I wasn’t sure what the issue was between him and Erkens. I was totally on Erkens’ side in that situation. Bukowski had been a serious jerk.
He gave me a hard look and sighed deeply. “Madison, you need to be careful. The case against Adrian Ezra is tenuous at best. The only charges that aren’t based on circumstantial evidence are on attacking you. If she can discredit you, there will be no case at all and she will never see the inside of a prison. Tying yourself to Erkens is a bad move.”
“Tying myself to Erkens is what saved my life last time. You seem to forget—”
“I haven’t forgotten anything, Madison. I’m telling you that working for a guy that most of the police force sees as a crazy man will ruin your credibility as a witness.”
I furrowed my brows and gave him a full-on Erkens glower. “Then maybe you should be trying to find evidence of what she has done instead of standing around badgering a good man about what he believes.” I turned to walk away, glancing over my shoulder at him. “What I’m saying is that no, I will not quit my job. If you can put aside your closed-mindedness and help us figure out how the sex-trafficking ring works, I’ll send you the information I’ve found so far.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face and groaned. “There’s an FBI agent that has been looking into a few cold cases in our files. It’s possible—” His eyes turned to look at something behind me and he made a ‘gah’ noise as he started to flee. “Be careful, Madison,” he said and turned to walk away.
I glanced around, not sure why he would have left so quickly. That was when I saw the black SUV pull up in front of the building. The blue strobes that shone out of the grille told me it was an FBI vehicle even before the guy who wore an FBI jacket stepped out of the driver’s seat.
He was a very attractive black guy who only appeared to be a few years older than me. His slim build looked tough and ready for anything, his eyes scanning the area in a way that made me wonder what all he’d seen. There was something cautious about him like he’d seen far more of the darkness in the world than most people had seen.
He walked to the back of his vehicle and opened the door to release a dog. I had no idea why a canine unit had been called in though it hardly mattered. What mattered was to figure out what was going on.
I looked around for Erkens, not sure where he’d gotten to. I didn’t have a problem with law enforcement. I was mostly looking to be sure Erkens hadn’t been arrested or something.
“Miss Meyer?” the FBI guy asked as he and the dog stepped over.
I raised my brows, confused about how he would know my name. “That’s me,” I said, still scanning the area to find Erkens.
The guy held out his hand between us. “I’m Agent Dio Simms of the FBI,” he said in a formal way.
I placed my hand in his and sighed. “I’m Madison Meyer and if you don’t mind, I really hate being called ‘Miss Meyer’,” I said, trying to keep my expression neutral.
He squished his eyebrows together and motioned to the building. “Have you been able to look around yet?” he asked, his eyes still scanning the area.
“We’ve been asked to stay out until—”
Agent Simms motioned for me to follow him. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to know if you can identify what might have been taken.”
I furrowed my brows at him. “How do you know my name?” I asked, wanting clarification before I followed the man anywhere at all.
He glanced at me and nudged his chin toward the building. “We’ve been keeping an eye on TC Erkens for the last few months. When he hired an associate, we did some research. We’ve tried to find out what cases you and Erkens have been working but have been unable to track your movements.”
I furrowed my brows. “Why do you care what cases we’re working?” I asked, suspicion beginning to move its way through me.
Simms stared me down for a few uncomfortable seconds before he stepped close to me again. “Because in the last ten years, the number of paranormal creatures who have appeared in the Pittsburgh area has increased to a level it can’t be shrugged off. From the audio file that was brought into evidence in the Adrian Ezra case, it’s clear that you have seen at least one of those creatures. A woman in white was our guess. Again, the fact you were able to cover your tracks made it difficult for us to find that out for sure.”
My jaw nearly hit the ground. Holy 404! The FBI knew about the paranormal world? I wasn’t sure my brain could handle the crazy shock of that infor
mation.
Simms looked like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to cover my mouth or laugh at me. What he chose to do instead was simply wait for me to collect myself.
It took me a few uncomfortable moments. After I’d pried my jaw off the ground in front of me, I sputtered a little. “I . . . there’s . . . you know about all this? You believe?” I squeaked, never having expected anything like that.
He rubbed at his chin. “I’ve seen a lot in my life. There isn’t much that I don’t believe in,” he said and motioned toward the building again. “Really. I need to know what was taken from the office. There are files in there that—”
Erkens stomped over to us and huffed. “Agent Simms. What a pleasure,” he said sarcastically before he turned his scowl on the dog. “Roy,” he snapped in an irritable way.
Simms rested his hand on the dog’s harness and nodded to Erkens, apparently unaffected by his snippiness. “Mr. Erkens, I’m sure you know why we’re here,” he said in a calm tone.
He harrumphed and turned toward the building without responding.
I grinned and inclined my head toward Erkens. “I interpret that as a very friendly request to come with him,” I said, surprised when the dog stepped over and leaned against me. I crouched down and offered my hand to allow him to sniff at me.
Roy didn’t sniff my hand. What he did was look directly into my eyes. I hadn’t thought of a police-dog as being a social creature. I’d thought of them as nothing more than vicious. That dog was both social and obviously intelligent. I liked him immediately.
Roy let out a whine and leaned closer to me, finally sniffing like most dogs did. The closer he got to me, the more he whined. It was like something about me worried him.
I had read that animals were more attuned to the supernatural. Maybe the dog could sense the mark Spencer had told me was on my eyes. That creeped me out, a lot.
I got to my feet and moved to follow Erkens, aware that Simms and Roy were right next to me. It was annoying to be even more confused than I was before. What was going on? How did Erkens know Simms?
The Black Merchant Page 11
