“We’ve performed a very thorough investigation.”
Mei thanked him and said she’d be in touch. She ended the call and turned to Amy. “What do you think?”
“I texted Teddy to look into Martin Ziino,” Amy said.
“Thanks.”
“You think Ziino did it?”
Mei shook her head and put the car in park. “He’s been gone eighteen months. I can’t imagine a guy going to this effort after that long.”
Amy nodded.
The two got out of the car and crossed the street toward the warehouse. There was a patrol officer posted out front. Mei showed her badge. “Officer Blanchard is inside,” he told her.
“Sydney?” Mei called from the doorway.
“I’m in the last row,” Sydney called back. Mei and Amy made their way across the floor and found Sydney on a ladder. Wearing purple latex gloves in what looked like a child’s size, she held a small yellow device similar to a stud finder.
“What does that do?” Amy asked.
Sydney looked down.
“This is Amy Warner from my department. Amy, this is Sydney Blanchard. She’s a head criminalist in CSI.”
Amy nodded then pointed to the yellow device.
Sydney glanced at her, and Mei smiled. She imagined Sydney was thinking the same thing she was. That Amy was a bit like an insolent teenager. Everything out of her mouth seemed sullen and slightly rude.
“It’s a scanner,” Sydney said, starting down the ladder.
“What does it detect?”
Sydney reached the bottom of the ladder and turned to Amy. “I was just about to tell you.”
Amy just blinked and waited.
“It detects low levels of electricity like the ones that might come from the computer we found.”
“Any luck?” Mei asked.
“No. There were three of us here, and we’ve gone through the place twice. We got another call, so I sent the others there and I’ve been trying to go through one last time.”
“No hits at all?” Mei asked, looking around.
“Oh, no. We had one. Was a box on the next row down, second shelf.”
“What was it?”
“Old transistor radio.”
“How long has it been on?”
“Case file is four years old. The radio looks completely dead, but for some reason, it’s letting off some current.”
Mei frowned.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Sydney interrupted. “But we pulled it apart. It’s just a radio.”
“What now?” Amy asked.
“Not sure,” Sydney said as they walked back down the aisle. Mei gazed across the boxes, scanned case numbers and names for anything that might give her an idea. “Walk me back through what you found the first time,” Mei said. “What evidence was here and where did you find it?”
Sydney took Mei to the middle row of files and pointed out where the box had been that held the first computer. “The first one was here.”
Mei looked around. “Any other evidence here besides the computer?”
“Footprints down this row. Men’s size nine. Sneaker tread. NIKEs we think, but we’re waiting on the lab.”
“No prints?”
“No. Someone leaned against the file cabinet here,” Sydney said and pointed to the metal support beam between the shelves. “And we found a small bit of dirt that was consistent with the soil outside.”
“Where was that?”
“On the shelf beside the box,” Sydney said. She pointed out a spot on the metal shelf. “About here. We figure it was probably carried in on whatever he used to bring in the computer.”
Mei nodded. “So he set his bag on the shelf and opened it up, pulled out the computer then opened the box and set it in?”
Sydney frowned and stared down at the ground.
“What?”
“I just realized that the soil seems weird now.”
“How do you mean?” Mei asked.
“We found soil on the shelf but no other soil deposits on the floor. If he’d set the bag down outside and picked up dirt, you’d expect him to have dirt on his shoes, too.”
“Maybe he cleaned up?” Mei asked.
Sydney shook her head. “We’d be able to tell where he’d wiped or even vacuumed. No, there was evidence of footprints all around this area, tread disturbance in the dust on the floor…”
“Is it possible that the surface on the bottom of his backpack picked it up,” Mei suggested. “Like Velcro or something.”
Sydney moved down along the shelf and pretended to hold a pack over her shoulder. “We have to assume it was heavy. That’s why he set it down there.” Sydney looked around. “But heavy with what? It might have had a weapon, but the only thing we know he was carrying was the computer and that didn’t weigh more than a few pounds.”
“Maybe he raided the gun cabinet first,” Mei suggested.
“But then he would have had more than one bag. We would have seen the imprints of those bags in the dust pattern.”
Amy sighed.
Mei and Sydney turned to look at her. Ignoring them, Amy picked up her foot and set it on the edge of the shelf and loosened the buckle on her bulky Mary Jane shoe like all this standing around was uncomfortable.
“This is a crime scene,” Sydney snapped.
Amy looked up as though she had no idea what she’d done.
“Your shoe,” Mei told her.
Amy lifted it up and set it slowly back on the ground without a word.
“You want to go check in with the lab,” Mei told her, handing over the car keys. “See if they have any results on Martin Ziino.”
Amy shrugged. “Sure.”
Sydney and Mei listened to her make her way slowly across the warehouse floor. Then the sound of the door opening and closing. “Seriously?” Sydney said to Mei.
“I keep telling myself she’s just young.”
“She’s not that young. I’ve got a toddler who’s smarter than that about a crime scene and eighteen-year-old twins with twice the work ethic.”
Mei laughed. “It’s an interesting team.” Mei noticed something where Amy had been. “Look.” A small pile of soil now sat on the edge of the shelf. “It must have come off Amy’s shoe just now.”
“Huh,” Sydney said.
Mei looked up. “Which means the soil you found before might have come off his shoe.”
Sydney followed Mei’s gaze and the two women looked at the acoustic tiles in the ceiling. “So maybe it came from…”
Mei nodded. “When he climbed up the shelving.”
Sydney pulled the step stool to the spot where the original soil had been and climbed to the top step.
“You’re going to need a taller ladder.”
“Or I could just climb up the shelves.” Sydney pulled her shoes off and handed them down to Mei. Then, she shook the shelving. When it didn’t move, she pushed herself off the stool and scaled the top shelf. Sydney was short enough that the ceiling was still well above her head. “Can you reach up there?” Mei asked.
“I think so. Get me the flashlight out of the bottom of the evidence kit.”
Mei found the heavy-duty flashlight and passed it up.
Sydney set it up on one of the boxes and turned it on, then stood on her toes and pushed the tile acoustic tile up and off to one side. Standing back, she shined the light up into the ceiling. “I can’t see. You’re going to have to pass the step stool up here.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Sydney frowned and waved for the stool. “Of course I’m not sure, but do it anyway, would you?”
Mei closed the ladder and passed it up over her head until Sydney could reach it. Sydney rearranged the boxes to make room for the step stool. The shelves made li
ttle rattling noises, and Mei held on for good measure although if they came down, there would be absolutely nothing she could do.
A few minutes later, Sydney was standing on the step stool with her head in the ceiling.
“See anything?”
Sydney looked around then called down. “I found something.” Her head disappeared into the ceiling along with her right arm and when she came out, she was holding something. “Do you know what this is?” she asked as she climbed down the step stool. She held the smallest PC available on the commercial market. On the top of it was a cell phone, strapped on with Hello Kitty duct tape.
Mei smiled. “That is called a Raspberry Pi, and I’ll bet it’s powered by the second LiPo battery.” Mei pulled a glove over her fingertips and took the computer from Sydney.
“Let’s hope this thing has some answers,” Mei said, placing the device in an evidence bag.
“That part’s your job,” Sydney said, patting Mei on the back as she reached the floor again.
Just then, Mei’s phone buzzed. The screen said, Looking forward to Akiko. What time works?
Mei had completely forgotten about dinner with Sophie.
“Everything okay?”
“I forgot I made dinner plans,” Mei said.
“You go on. I’ll get this entered into evidence. It’ll be waiting for you in the morning.”
Mei held onto the computer, but Sydney was firm. “Go, go. You deserve to have some fun.”
Mei felt herself blush, but she let go of the evidence bag.
“I hope he’s cute,” Sydney teased as Mei hurried out of the warehouse.
She texted Sophie. 6?
The reply came before she had reached the car. Perfect.
Chapter 23
Mei stopped by the lab after her last meeting of the day. Amy’s desk looked shut down for the night. She had sent Mei a text to tell her that nothing came of Martin Ziino. He was gainfully employed and was still friends with some of the people at Archer Decker, so he didn’t seem like a good suspect. Another dead end.
Teddy was gone on a different case, and she’d sent Blake down to Oyster Point to try to meet with the IT departments of the other three businesses. So far, he’d been shut out of the law office and the pharmaceutical company. In the meantime, the Raspberry Pi sat untouched. Aaron was packing up his bag, and, from what she could see, doing his best to ignore her. Mei put the machine in lockup then returned to her desk.
“Didn’t get to that today,” Aaron said without looking up.
She might have asked what he had done, but she wasn’t in the mood for a pissing match. “Sure,” she said.
Aaron did look up then as though testing her sincerity. She gave him a smile and sat down at her computer to take a last look at emails. Between the case load and the incident at Ayi’s, she was quickly falling behind on paperwork. Aaron fumbled with his computer, catching it just before it hit the ground. He winced and drew his right arm to his chest.
“Nice catch,” she said. “You drop it on your finger?”
“No,” he said, lifting his bag with his left arm. He moved quickly then, across the lab, without looking back. “Night,” he said as he pulled the door open. Then he was gone.
Mei shook her head. If he wasn’t such an ass to her, she might have felt a little bad for him. She glanced at the clock on her computer. It was already almost six. There wasn’t time to deal with the emails; instead, she scanned through the list in search of something about last night’s shooting. They’d found a print. Ryaan had texted her earlier, but she’d heard nothing else. Surely if they had a print they could find a suspect.
Mei wanted to call Ayi and tell her that they’d found the shooter, that everything was safe again. There was nothing about it in her in-box. Mei texted Ryaan to see if she had any news. An answer came back almost immediately. “No match in the database.”
Mei stared at the words. A fingerprint but no match. Just like on the electrical tape. She hadn’t thought much about that print. No print in the system meant someone without a driver’s license. A kid, maybe. But Jacob Monaghan was in the database now, so it wasn’t his.
What kid would be after her specifically? Or after Ayi? No, it had to be about Mei, but why would someone be after her? Let alone a kid. She was new to San Francisco. She only knew maybe a dozen people and most of them worked in that very building.
Mei crossed to Aaron’s desk. Clean except for a couple of Post-it notes. She tested the top drawer of his desk. Locked. What did she possibly think he was capable of?
Dragging herself back to her own desk, she shut down her computer. There was no way someone in this office had shot at her. They may not have been thrilled that she was in charge now, but gunfire? That was a huge stretch.
On her way up the stairs, Mei dialed Ayi’s cell phone. It was still ringing when Mei emerged from the department doors. She had no idea what kind of car Sophie drove or exactly where they were meeting. It wasn’t easy to stop in front of the department these days. Bryant Street was busy on a normal day, and the curb in front of the department was designated no parking. That was before Sawicki. Now, the entire block and the street across from the department were cordoned off. Two patrol officers monitored traffic fourteen hours a day. Who knew how long it would last.
To Mei, this was another police peculiarity. At the FBI, they’d have been back to business as usual within forty-eight hours. Perhaps not internally, but certainly on the exterior. For the FBI, appearance was reality. Saving the face of the department was always top of mind.
On Mei’s second try, Ayi’s voicemail picked up. Mei disconnected. No word from Andy all day. She thought about dropping him a message but what would she say? She’d asked for space. He was giving it to her. She was putting her phone into her pocket when she heard a quick double honk. Sophie pulled up in a light blue Camry. The window was down, and Sophie leaned across. “I’m glad I found you. I was afraid you wouldn’t be here and I’d have to find a place to park out here. What a nightmare.”
Mei opened the passenger door and slid into the car as one of the patrol officers started toward them.
“Just leaving, Deirdre,” Sophie called out to the tall blonde.
Deirdre’s expression shifted into a smile, and she waved to Sophie.
“Isn’t she gorgeous,” Sophie said.
Mei looked at Deirdre’s cropped hair and big eyes. “She is,” Mei agreed, feeling awkward.
Sophie headed down Bryant toward 7th. “You excited?”
Mei looked over at her. “For tonight?”
“Yes, for tonight,” Sophie said, laughing.
“I am looking forward to it. Definitely.”
“Long day?”
Mei felt herself yawn and covered her mouth. “It really was. I’m still working that Oyster Point case.”
“I thought that was a Triggerlock case.”
“It is but there is also a computer component.”
Sophie looked over. “Computer component?”
Just then, Mei’s phone rang. Ayi. “Sorry, I have to take this. It’s my aunt.”
“Don’t worry,” Sophie said, touching her leg. “Answer it, definitely.”
Mei glanced at the place where Sophie’s hand had been. “Ayi.”
“Sorry. I missed the other calls. My phone was in the other room,” she said in Cantonese.
“You’re not at home, are you?” Mei responded in English. She felt awkward speaking Cantonese in front of Sophie. As if it weren’t awkward enough to be on the phone with Ayi.
“No. I’m with Hui,” Ayi continued in Cantonese, ignoring Mei’s English.
“Okay. I got a call that the window has been replaced and they’re keeping an officer on the street again tonight.”
“I’m just going to stay with Hui tonight,” Ayi told her.
“I’
ll be home relatively early if you want me to call you. Then you can come home,” Mei suggested.
“I’m already settled in,” Ayi said.
A girls sleepover, for geriatrics. “Okay, have fun. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Probably tomorrow night,” Ayi said.
“Okay. I’ll plan on coming home from work early so I’m there when you get home.”
As Ayi said good night, Mei heard Hui in the background. Ayi had hung up the phone without waiting for Mei’s response. Mei stared at her phone, half expecting Ayi to call back. Her parents were always accidentally hanging up on her from their cell phones. But the phone remained silent.
“Everything okay?” Sophie asked.
As casually as possible, Mei explained about the gunfire from the night before.
“Where do you live?” Sophie asked.
“I’m staying with my aunt right now,” Mei said, feeling her cheeks warm at admitting that she didn’t have her own place. In her mind, it led immediately to Andy and she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about him. “Her house is at 22nd and Irving, a couple blocks from the park.”
“Wow, that’s surprising. It’s a nice neighborhood, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Mei agreed, without dispelling the idea that the shooting had been random. She didn’t want to think about it. She shifted the conversation to Sophie and asked about her family.
“I have three half brothers, all younger,” said Sophie.
“Did you get along with them?” Mei asked.
“Mostly I babysat them. They’re six, nine and eleven years younger.”
“Oh, fun.”
“A blast,” Sophie said and rolled her eyes. “I decided early that kids weren’t for me.”
“I don’t think I’m decided,” Mei said. “Although my parents would love it.”
“Do they pressure you for kids?”
“Sometimes,” Mei admitted.
“I think my mom gave up on grandkids from me when I came out of the closet.”
Mei sucked a small breath and held herself still an extra moment.
Sophie didn’t seem to notice.
“A girlfriend of mine from high school is married to her partner,” Mei said. “They’ve got two little boys—each of them inseminated by the same donor.” Only then did Mei realize how much she’d been wanting to tell Jodi’s story out loud.
Interference Page 14
