by Judith Post
"That doesn't look good."
She grimaced. "The thread kept getting stuck."
"You mean jammed?"
"Maybe, but the machine didn't work right."
Enoch closed his eyes. Patience. Voronika wasn't going to learn modern skills overnight. He just hoped she'd never try to use his computer. He motioned to a stack of catalogues. "If you show me the drapes you want, I'll get them."
"That's going to make it really dark in here. Will you like that?"
No, he wouldn’t, but he liked the idea of her being able to pull them so she could be up and about whenever she wanted to.
Danny cleared his throat. “We need to go." Enoch tried to motion for him to shut up, but he didn't notice. He was too keyed up. "I thought we could talk to Paige’s roommates, her family, anyone she might have gossiped to about her new boyfriend. You ready?”
Voronika's mood turned ferocious. "What happened?"
When Enoch explained it to her, she jumped to her feet. "I can come with you. I can fly over the city and look for the pickup. I can help you find her."
"No, you can't. If you leave this apartment, vampires will show up all over the place, and I'll have to deal with them instead of looking for Paige."
"But…"
"I can't keep you both safe at the same time." His voice sounded as frazzled as he felt. "You have to stay here."
She went to the balcony doors and stared at the city below. "I feel so useless."
"So do we." Enoch shook his head. "I blew it again."
Enoch watched her struggle with herself. Finally, she said, "Get out of here. Find her. Do whatever you can."
"You'll stay here, right? You won't leave and go out on your own?"
"Like Paige did? No, I told you I'd stay, and I will."
"Promise?"
She gave him a long look. "You're pushing your luck."
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and followed Danny to his car.
“Let’s start with her roommates.” Danny rubbed the car's glass inside to clear his windshield. It had fogged up when he started the engine. “Girls talk to their friends. I think we’d have a better chance trying them first.”
But Salli and Roxy shook their heads. “Paige never talks about her boyfriends,” Salli told them. “She just tells us when she has a new one.”
“Every girl talks about her boyfriends.”
“Not Paige,” Roxy said. “She never expects it to last.”
Danny got the name of Paige’s parents, and they drove to see them next. The address was in a government-assisted apartment complex. It was kept up on the outside, but when Danny flashed his badge and Paige’s mom waved them into her home, the interior was worn and dated. Pressed wood cupboards lined the kitchen. Brown, speckled linoleum covered the floors. Throw rugs were scattered here and there, but they couldn’t compete with the drabness.
Paige’s father motioned them to a faded mustard-colored sofa. “Nice to see you. Glad you came. Have a seat.”
Enoch and Danny eyed the couch warily. They were both big men, and the couch looked unsteady. They lowered themselves carefully.
“Would you like some coffee?” Paige’s mom offered.
“We have chips,” her dad said. “Are you hungry?”
Danny and Enoch glanced at each other. This wasn’t the type of greeting they were used to. “Actually, we’re here about your daughter, Paige,” Danny said.
Paige’s father’s eyes went wide with surprise. “We thought you came with our holiday groceries. You guys bring a turkey with all the fixings every Christmas. We have the whole family over to share it.”
His wife frowned, confused. “Did we do something wrong? Are we off the list this year like Becky and her kids?”
“I’m sure someone will come later. We’re detectives, and we came to ask you about Paige.”
“A good girl,” her dad said. “She always helps us out. Is that what’s wrong? Did she give us too much money to be in the program?”
“You’re still in the program,” Danny said. “I’ll call and make sure of that, but we think Paige might be in danger. We need to find her and fast.”
The mom shook her head. “Paige? She’s a good girl. Goes to work, does her duty.”
The words made Enoch sad. This was the family’s worldview. If you worked hard and didn’t get in trouble, you should be able to scrimp by. “Paige hasn’t done anything wrong,” he said. “She’s just met the wrong person. She’s with him now.”
Paige's mother leaned closer to her husband. He put an arm around her shoulder. "Now, Mom, don't jump to conclusions. Our girl's all right."
Enoch and Danny exchanged glances. The parents caught them.
“Who is this man?” the mother asked.
“We were hoping you could help us with that.”
They looked at Enoch as if he were talking a foreign language. “How?”
“Did she mention her new boyfriend’s name, where he lives, anything that might help us?”
“We didn’t even know she had a boyfriend. She doesn’t talk to us about things like that.”
Danny couldn’t help it. “What does she talk to you about?”
“How we’re feeling, if we need anything, if her sister's doing all right.”
“Never about herself?”
They looked at each other. “She’s never had much to say,” her mother finally told them.
Private. Not used to attention. Enoch understood Paige a little better now—a girl who had learned not to expect much from life.
As a last resort, he and Danny went to the pizza parlor and talked to anyone there who might know the man who drove the black pickup.
“He never paid with a card,” the manager said, “always cash. Told Paige that he didn’t like putting things on credit. He believed in pay as you go or do without.”
A philosophy that probably appealed to Paige, Enoch thought. "He only got the pickup two weeks ago," Enoch said. "Did you happen to see what he drove before that?"
The manager shook his head. He looked at the others, clustered in the kitchen. "What about you, Glory? You go outside for smoke breaks."
But it was no use. No one had paid any attention. The only thing the manager or anyone else knew was that the guy’s name was Adam, he liked Paige’s smile, and he always turned left on State Street when he left the restaurant.
Time was running out. Out of desperation, when Danny drove away, he turned left too. He and Enoch looked at every driveway they passed, hoping to spot a black pickup. They both knew it was a pathetic gesture, but they did it anyway. Danny cruised up and down side streets in the area until it seemed pointless. Finally, he looked at Enoch and said, “Let’s go to a grocery store and buy more food than anyone would ever need for the holidays.”
“Did you look at their freezer? It won’t hold much,” Enoch said.
“You’re the cook. You can think of something. And I want to go in half on this one. It will make me feel better.”
They spent forty-five minutes wandering up and down aisles, filling their cart with a frozen turkey, a smoked ham, cake mixes and pie fillings, bags of potatoes and onions, cans of broth, yams, and cranberry sauce, boxes of stuffing and jars of gravies—anything and everything. They needed to do something to get their minds off Paige.
Her parents couldn’t believe it when they returned with bag after bag of groceries.
“Should we call and tell the nice policemen that we’re already taken care of?” Paige’s mother asked.
“No, this is extra. Make two turkeys this year if you want to,” Danny said.
Both parents stared. “Have you heard anything about our Paige?” the father finally asked.
Danny shook his head. “Nothing." The word hurt, Enoch could tell.
The mother fingered the front of her housedress. “You’ll let us know when you find her?”
Find her. Enoch swallowed hard at her word choice. Suddenly, all of his efforts seemed empty and futile. He f
elt drained, disheartened. December days were short, and soon it would be dark.
Danny nodded. “We're doing all we can.”
“That's all a body can do," the father said.
But it isn’t enough, Enoch thought. When he and Danny left the apartment, he had little hope that they’d find Paige alive.
Chapter 48
Adam drove to a Lee's drive-thru and bought a small bucket of fried chicken with two sides. Then he drove out into the country and found a small turn-off that led nowhere. They bumped down the deserted lane and stopped at the end, facing barren farm fields. The horizon lay before them, the sky lit with a slight red glow before darkness blanketed the land. The moon and stars were swallowed by heavy cloud cover, but Paige hardly noticed. Adam spread a red-and-white checked table cloth over their laps and said, "To the end of a satisfying day."
He'd want to neck after they ate, Paige knew. And necking would lead to other things. "What if we listen to your new CD?" he asked.
She took it out of its case and Bolero filled the truck's cab. The music swelled as they finished their meal. Paige smiled when Adam said, "I have something on the backseat for you. Want to get it?"
What could it be? Something sexy? Romantic? She wiped her fingers clean and turned to see a lumpy, plastic bag. Through its thin sides, she made out a Mickey Mouse hat—a long triangle of bright blue, decorated with yellow moons and stars like a sorcerer's hat. Why would a grown man buy something like that? Did he get turned on by Disney? Salli dated a guy once who was into fishnet stockings and spiked heels. Maybe Adam liked mouse ears and Mickey get up. Paige was reaching for it when her cell phone rang.
"Who keeps calling?" Adam asked.
She glanced at the caller I.D. "No one." What was wrong with Rich Guy? Why wouldn't he leave her alone? He kept leaving voice messages, but he couldn't make her listen to them, could he?
She put the phone away. She didn't want to talk to him, didn't want to ruin her day. She stretched for the bag, and Adam made a quick move. Something slid around her neck. A winter scarf? Did Adam buy her another present? Then he pulled, and whatever it was tightened. She put her hands up, trying to loosen it, but he pulled harder. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes watered. Her lungs burned. She struggled to push herself into a sitting position, to yank away from him, but he pressed a knee into her back. She choked, gurgled, but the pressure never let up. Dots swam before her eyes, and then everything went black.
Chapter 49
Danny was turning onto Brooklyn Avenue when his cell phone rang. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“We?” Enoch asked.
His voice cracked, and Danny could hear the worry there. He hurried to say, "Not Paige. A cop spotted a car that looks like the Mercedes robbed from the dealer's lot. Let’s check it out.” It would be something to do, and Danny was running out of ideas for how to find Paige. He felt like a hamster stuck on a wheel, his mind endlessly turning and getting nowhere.
There was no straight shot to the Fourth Street area, so Danny took a convoluted route. When they reached the Mercedes, it was being lifted onto the back of a tow truck. Its front, right bumper was crumpled, and the headlight was smashed in.
Danny walked to the cop who waited for them. “Someone wasn’t nice to our beautiful, old lady.”
The cop smiled. “She’s a beaut, isn’t she? Her bang-ups are all minor. A little TLC and she’ll look herself in no time.”
“What have you got for us?”
The cop glanced at Enoch and nodded. Danny knew that most of the blues knew him by sight now. They thought of him as a novelty, but a good one. He found things when no one else could. “Two kids were driving it and smashed into a parked car. They took off running, but I nabbed them.”
“You have them in custody?”
“They’re on their way to Juvenile. Their parents will meet them there.”
Danny frowned. “How old are these kids?”
“Twelve and fourteen. The twelve year old’s the one who knows how to hot wire.”
Danny ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. What the hell was wrong with the world? “How did two kids end up with the Mercedes?”
The cop gave a crooked smile. “They stole it.”
“From who?”
“Out of a garage on Second Street. The property’s vacant, been empty for a couple of months. Foreclosure. A great place to hide a stolen car…” His smile came again. “…unless someone steals it from you.”
Danny shook his head. “Did you talk to the kids? Did they see anybody, know who stashed it there?”
“Nah, they just caught a glimpse of it when they were looking for a place to hide and sneak a cigarette. When no one came for it, they got the bright idea of taking it out for a test drive.”
“Clever kids.”
The cop rolled his eyes. “Not too shabby. I’m just surprised they got it out of the garage and down the alley without crashing into something. It’s pretty damned narrow.”
“So how did they smash into the parked car?”
“It was the twelve year old’s turn to drive.”
"Crooks who share. There's a first." Danny rubbed his forehead. “At least the twelve year old’s only good at hot wiring for now. Once he learns to drive, we’re in trouble.”
The cop handed Danny a piece of paper with both boys’ names on it. “They’re decent kids. That’s my beat. I see them running the streets, but their parents are good enough. This should shake them up so that they think about the next prank with their boys' names on it.”
“Might make new men out of them. Hell, they might even grow up to be cops.”
The blue nodded. “That’s how I got started—on the wrong end of the system. Gives you a different perspective.”
"The boys are lucky they got nabbed by you. This will be a learning experience for them." When Danny and Enoch got back in his car, Danny heaved a big sigh. “Go figure.”
"Nothing to lead us back to the robbery and maybe Gail's murder?"
"No, but at least the dealer will get one car back. He looked like he needed it. And we can start knocking on doors, asking if anyone saw anything or anyone at the vacant house."
As Danny pulled out of the alley, street lights blinked to life. He glanced at the dark sky. Vampire hours. He'd never thought of those before. And the killer's time to strike. “I'm going nuts. Want to stop some place for a drink?”
“Henry’s?”
"Perfect." Danny's skin felt like it was going to crawl off his body. He hated waiting, and waiting for this was just plain torture.
It was early enough that the place wasn’t packed. Danny and Enoch found a booth and ordered two beers. Danny ordered nachos with black beans—one of his favorites, and Enoch ordered fried chicken livers. When Danny raised his eyebrows, Enoch sighed. "It's not like I have to worry about my cholesterol."
Neither of them had eaten all day and should be starved. They picked at their food. Finally Danny said what was on his mind. “My bet is she's already gone. He doesn’t like to do his dirty work in the daylight, but there's nothing to stop him now.”
Enoch’s voice was grim. “I’ve kept trying to think of something we could do, someone we could talk to, some place we should drive past…”
Danny pressed his lips together. “I hope the bastard made sure this was one wonderful day for her.”
“I've been calling her cell phone all day,” Enoch said. “I was hoping…”
“Come on. She gave you the slip. Did you really think she was going to pick up?"
Enoch finished his beer. "If she just listened to one message, she'd realize she was in trouble. You'd think…"
Danny’s cell phone interrupted them. As he listened to Derek, he could feel his face go rigid, as if his muscles turned stiff and might never smile again. He looked at Enoch. “They found her.”
“And?”
“I’ll call Paige’s parents before we go.” Enoch's coloring faded. He looked like Danny had knocked the win
d out of him. Danny kept his phone call brief. He didn't have much information to tell Paige's parents, but they deserved to know. “I’m sorry. I just got the news. I don’t have any information except that Paige is dead. I’ll stop by your place when I know more.”
Enoch laid a fifty on the table to cover their bill and they hurried from the restaurant. “Where is she?” Enoch was walking and talking, but he looked like he was operating on auto pilot. Danny felt sorry for him. He'd put a lot of time and effort into this case, and he just got smacked in the face with failure.
“Her roommates found her. They went out for a quick supper, and when they got back, they noticed that Paige’s bedroom light was on. They went up to see her and found her propped up on pillows with a big red frill around her neck and an over-sized Mickey Mouse hat on her head.”
When Danny pulled in front of Paige’s house, Derek motioned for him and Enoch to go inside. “Where are her roommates?” Danny asked.
“Down the street at a little bar. I told them we’d question them when we were finished here. They didn’t want to stay to watch.”
Danny nodded approval, and he led Enoch inside the house and up the stairs to Paige’s bedroom. As usual, Enoch stayed out of the way while the technicians did their job. He only joined Danny once everyone else had gone. When he saw Paige, shaved and painted and propped up as a display, completely naked, his expression crimped with fury. "At least before, he covered them with a sheet when he was done."
Danny motioned to a bag on the floor by her closet. “Mister Charming took her to the mall and bought her some make-up. They must have spent the afternoon shopping.”
“She can’t wear make-up,” Enoch said. “Her skin’s allergic to it.”
Danny stared. “She must not have told him that. She was probably just happy someone bought her something. Bet that didn't happen too often. There’s an empty CD case in there too—Ravel's Bolero."
Enoch's expression looked more threatening than the winter skies. "He let the music pump him up to murder her. Did your guys find anything? He was with her all day.”
