by H K Christie
"Do you need anything? Maybe some water or a banana?"
"Maybe some water."
"All right."
He let us have water and a bowl of fruit in the barn. All of the other food was locked up in the cabinets or in the refrigerator. He controlled nearly everything.
I hurried back to the kitchen area to get some water for Willow, hoping she was just tired from being a manual laborer for the day. I poured water from the jug into the cup, feeling hopeful for the first time since I'd arrived at the barn.
31
Detective Hirsch
Sergeant Jeff Kinsey stood before me with an air of superiority. The former leader had no reason to be proud. He was in charge of the department and therefore responsible for missing the connection between the women's cases. Was he incompetent or criminally negligent? Or worse?
I gave a friendly smile, although I was feeling less than friendly, but a look showing I was highly suspicious wouldn't do me any good. "Sergeant Kinsey. What luck that we ran into you. I'm Detective Hirsch, and this is my associate, Martina Monroe, a private investigator that the CoCo County Sheriff's Department has hired to help us with a few cold cases, some of yours, in fact."
We shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Detective." He turned to Martina, smiled widely. "Ms. Monroe great to meet you. I hope our detectives are treating you well."
"Yes, sir, they're top notch," she said in an even tone.
I took a quick peek at Martina's expression, and I thought I'd known her long enough to know she was suspicious as well. There was no way it was a coincidence that Kinsey came down to the station the same day we had planned to meet with Detective Smart. Was it simply the brotherhood standing by one another? Or was it because they were concerned we were investigating their shoddy police work? Was Kinsey a loyal leader protecting his underlings, or was it the other way around?
"Good to hear. I came down to the station to see if my buddy here, Detective Smart, wanted to have lunch, but maybe the two of you would like to join us? We can talk about the cases. I'd like to help in any way I can."
"That would be great." Not that I believed in his altruistic reasoning for one second. Something didn't feel right here.
"One of my favorite burger joints is right around the corner. We could go there, that is, if Ms. Monroe isn't counting calories," he said with a cackle.
Martina gave a tightlipped smile. I could tell the misogynistic undertones did not sit well with her. "A burger sounds great," she said.
Truth be told, I had never seen Martina eat a burger, but that didn't mean she wouldn't or couldn't, and it certainly wasn't because she was on a diet. She explained to me on several occasions, a healthy body was a healthy mind.
"Perfect. How about we meet you there? It's Coliseum Burgers. You can't miss it."
"Great. We'll see you there," I said with as much enthusiasm as seemed appropriate. We waved and headed out of the station toward the parking lot. Neither Martina nor I said a word until we were within the confines of my vehicle. With the car doors shut, I started the engine and pulled out of the lot. We remained silent, in case anybody was watching.
Once I hit the main road, I said, "Well, that was good luck that Sergeant Kinsey showed up."
"Luck? That man is guilty. I don't know of what, but definitely something. His file says he lives an hour and a half outside of Oakland. This was no random drop-in. Kinsey must have gotten a phone call from Detective Smart or someone else who knew we were coming. Something stinks here, Hirsch."
"I don't disagree with you. But we need to tread lightly with law enforcement. Even the retired have a lot of clout. I don't usually like to say anything bad about a fellow officer, but I don't like Detective Smart either."
"I didn't believe a word that he said. There's no way he barely remembers the cases; he's just not talking. My question is why isn't he talking?"
"I've got a feeling it has to do with our favorite retired sergeant."
"I'm with you on that," she said.
I pulled up in front of Coliseum Burgers, equipped with all the questions running through my mind. Before I got out of the car, I turned to Martina. "Play nice, really nice. Like the nicest you've ever been."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, when you're upset about something, it's not usually a secret."
"I've done undercover work before. I can be nice when I want to be."
I hesitated. "Okay."
Before Martina stepped out of the car, she turned and gave me a lopsided grin. "Don't worry. I'll be nice."
I chortled. "I'll believe it when I see it."
Martina chuckled. She was a self-aware individual. I probably didn't need to tell her to play nice, but I felt compelled to let her know that, in this instance, it was especially important.
We walked through the door of Coliseum Burgers, and the aroma of burgers and grease wafted through the air. It was euphoric. We joined the line and stared at the menu displayed on a board above the register. A few moments later, Kinsey and Smart showed up behind us. I turned around. "Hey, the burgers smell amazing."
"They taste even better."
"I'll have to remember this place for the next time I'm out this way," I commented.
"Yeah, they don't have this kind of food out near the CoCo County Sheriff's Department. Sometimes I'll stop in after a game at the Coliseum for a late-night bite. It always hits the spot," Kinsey said.
I advanced in the line. "I bet."
Martina stepped up and ordered. "Hi. I'll have the quarter pounder with cheese and a side of onion rings."
The cashier asked, "Do you want a soda with that?"
Martina grimaced. I was fairly certain that Martina thought soda was the devil's juice. "No, just water will be fine, if you have it."
I suppressed my laughter.
"Sure thing."
Martina paid and grabbed the number the young man had given her. She stepped aside. "I'll grab the table for the four of us, cool?"
"Cool."
Martina was definitely playing the role of a friendly person who eats burgers and onion rings. I thought it was hilarious she wouldn't go as far as drinking soda. I decided I'd have to tease her about it later.
The four of us were seated at a small Formica table with matching chairs, when our food arrived. I took a bite of my burger with extra bacon and cheese. It was juicy and flavorful. My belly practically did a happy dance, but I hoped I didn't regret it later. Truth be told, since I'd been working with Martina, her healthy eating had rubbed off on me. It was my first burger in over a month. I glanced across the table at Martina, who barely picked at her onion rings. "How are the onion rings, Martina?"
She squinted her eyes at me before plucking an onion ring and shoving it into her mouth. With a mouthful of onion ring, she said, "It's great. You want one?"
"Yes, I'd love one. Thanks." I grabbed a ring and popped it into my mouth. It was crunchy, and they cooked the onions just right. They were worth Martina's glare. "What did you guys get?"
"I have the patty melt and it's amazing," Kinsey said. "I miss these. Out where I live now, our best burgers are at the local fast-food joint."
Martina finished chewing a bite of her burger. "The quarter pounder is to die for."
I had a feeling Martina meant it literally, as in, if you ate one every day, it would kill you. She sure was entertaining when she was undercover as a burger-and-onion-ring-eating friendly person.
"So, Sergeant Kinsey."
He raised his hand. "I'm retired now. Call me Jeff or just Kinsey."
"Kinsey. So, I don't know if you've heard, or seen on the news, that we recently reopened the case of three missing girls that went missing four years ago. Raquel, Willow, and Layla. We've recently found that the year before that, three other women went missing. Daniela, Aria, and Iris. Martina and I found a connection between all six cases. Unfortunately, all of our witness are ending up dead before they can tell us anything, so we've started asking the original
detectives for any insight from the original investigations. Did you see any connections back then? I noticed that there were three different detectives who worked the six cases."
Picking at my fries, I attempted to act like it was a nonchalant formality asking these questions. But as the moments ticked by, I was more than a little eager to hear what kind of response Kinsey and Smart would provide.
Kinsey finished chewing on a fry. "I remember those cases. Boy, did it bring back memories when I saw them up on the TV screen. But you know, the thing is, all I can remember is that we had labeled them as runaways. I hate to say it, but runaways didn't get a lot of attention in the department. As you know, the CoCo County Sheriff's Department has their hands pretty full."
I nodded as if it made complete sense that six obviously related disappearances weren't investigated because the department was too busy. "I hear that. I've been at the CoCo County Sheriff's department for just a few months, and I've already seen enough burned-out meth labs to last a lifetime. They keep me busy for sure. That's why they brought Martina in to look at cold cases. We're so busy, we can hardly keep up with our current cases, let alone the cold ones."
Kinsey nodded. "I hear you. Man, it's so great that you're able to find a connection, though. Maybe you will be able to find out what happened to those girls."
Smart echoed the sentiment. "Yeah, that would be great."
"You can't remember anything about the six cases at the time? Nothing seems to stand out to you? The girls looked almost identical," Martina commented.
Kinsey shrugged. "Not that I can remember. I mean, it was quite a while ago, and I'm not exactly a spring chicken anymore, but I don't remember anything that stood out about them. Do you remember anything, Smart?"
He shook his head and said with a mouthful of french fry, "No, and to be honest, I'm surprised you could find a connection now all these years later."
I bet they were. "We've reinterviewed a lot of the witnesses from the original reports on the missing girls, and they've been able to provide a lot more detail than what I found in the original case files." I watched Kinsey as his body stiffened ever so slightly.
"Oh, really?" Kinsey asked.
"Yeah, significant details, like the girls had the same talent agent, and that they were all treated at the same eating disorder clinic at Delta Hospital. None of those details were in the files."
Kinsey shrugged again. "You'd have to ask the original detectives about that. As a sergeant, I wasn't looking at individual reports. I was just getting updates from my detectives. Smart, do you remember any of those details?"
It was interesting that Kinsey was pushing all the blame onto his detectives. As their leader, he should have known what was going on with those cases and should've made the connection all those years ago. Smart shook his head. "We wrote down what the witnesses told us. Back then, the department didn't have laptops like we do now; it was all hand-written notes. Maybe that's the reason for it."
"I hear you, man. It's hard to jot all the details down when all you've got is a little notepad." Although for significant details like the fact they had all been hospitalized or that they had a suspicious talent agent in their lives, it was something you wrote down. "Anything else you can tell us about these cases? Anything that you can remember about the families or boyfriends, or just anything at all, would be helpful."
Kinsey and Smart both shook their heads.
"All right. Well, thank you for your time. We can check off two boxes on our to-do list for today. Now, all we have left is to talk to the retired Detective Yates. I hear the other one who worked the case died," Martina said with a frown.
Kinsey nodded. "Oh, you're talking about Peet. Tragic. That guy was pretty messed up after his wife left him. Suicide. Terrible."
"Awful. Peet was a good detective," Smart commented.
I glanced across at Martina, who looked like she was buying their sincerity as much as I was. Like, not at all. Something was fishy here. Martina was right about that. What were they hiding?
32
Martina
The burger and onion rings sat like a rock in my stomach. Not that they hadn't tasted good, but it had been a long time since I'd had that much grease. It was delicious, but now my body was hating me for it. I didn't like that feeling in my stomach. Who knew, maybe it wasn't the burger. Maybe it was the other garbage I heard spew out of Sergeant Kinsey and Detective Smart. Once we were on the highway, I turned to Hirsch. "What did you think of those two?"
"I think they're lying about not remembering the cases. And did you see Kinsey light up when I mentioned all of our witnesses were turning up dead?" Hirsch asked.
"I did."
"We should call Jordan and see if he remembers anything about the investigation or anything that stood out about the detectives on the case."
"It's a good idea." We still had another hour back to CoCo County Sheriff's department. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the hospital where Jordan was recuperating from his gunshot wound. It rang twice before someone picked up. "Hello?"
It was Kelly, Jordan's girlfriend. "Hi, Kelly. It's Martina Monroe. Is Jordan awake?"
"He is. Do you want to talk to him?" Kelly asked.
"Yes, in a minute. How's he doing?" I asked.
"He's a fighter. I think he'll be okay. The doctor says he's making good progress."
"Good," I said.
"Do you need anything from me?" Kelly asked.
"No, I just wanted to know how he's doing. May I speak with Jordan now?"
"No problem."
I mouthed to Hirsch, "He's good."
"Hello," Jordan said with grogginess in his voice.
"Hi, Jordan. This is Martina Monroe. How are you feeling?"
"I've been better. You know, like when I wasn't confined to a hospital bed."
"I know how you feel." I hadn't been shot yet, but I'd been beaten up enough to understand the sentiment. "I hope you have a swift recovery." So he could stand trial, I thought.
"Me too. Thank you again for saving my life, Martina. My lawyer and Kelly both said I would've died if it wasn't for you, so anything I can do to help, I will. I promise."
It was music to my ears. "I'm glad you feel that way. We've been reviewing old case files and met with a few of the original detectives. Were you ever interviewed during the original investigation?"
Jordan didn't respond. I glanced over at Hirsch, who took his eyes off the road for a moment to meet my gaze. "I met with a detective and his sergeant."
"Do you remember their names?"
"I don't remember their names," Jordan said.
"Do you remember what they looked like?"
"The head guy was bald with a sizable gut. He seemed somewhat disinterested. Which I thought was odd. The other guy was younger, with dark features. The younger guy hounded me like nobody's business, but the boss told him to go easy."
I tried to process what Jordan was telling me. They'd actually interviewed Jordan Day, but it wasn't anywhere in the police reports. "Do you remember when they interviewed you?"
"They interviewed me when Iris went missing and again when Raquel went missing."
I glanced over at Hirsch. "So, I'm guessing you were talking to Detective Peet and Sergeant Kinsey."
"That sounds about right."
"Anything else you can tell us about Sergeant Kinsey—the older guy in charge."
"Not really. He kind of waved off the whole thing and told me he agreed these girls were likely just runways and that he was sorry that he had wasted my time."
"But you knew they weren't wasting your time," I declared.
Jordan was quiet. "I suppose so."
"Detective Peet was riding you hard?" I asked.
"Yep. He'd even told me he thought the cases were related. He said that both of them had me as their agent and that he thought that was too coincidental. I told him that the girls were flakes, and I thought they had run away. The old guy backed me up."
"Was the
sergeant there both times?"
"Yes."
That was interesting. Detective Peet was deceased—died by suicide, and he was the only one of Kinsey’s detectives to question Jordan Day. More interesting was that Sergeant Kinsey tried to shut it down. "Are you sure they only asked you about Iris and Raquel?"
"Yeah, I thought it was strange they had only asked about those two."
I thought it was odd too. "I agree. Well, Jordan, you've been really helpful. I'll let you know as soon as we get any breaks in the case."
"Thanks, Martina."
I hung up the phone and explained to Hirsch everything I'd just been told by Jordan Day. Hirsch agreed that the case was getting stranger and stranger. "I think we need to pay Kinsey an impromptu visit out on his farm," I said to Hirsch.
"I think so too. Let me talk to my Sarge about it first. We need to tread very lightly since he's retired police. We'll need to come up with solid reasoning for why we need to ask follow-up questions. We don't want to spook him any more than he already is, but it would be nice to know what he's hiding and fast."
"I agree."
We spent the rest of the ride talking about our game plan to reinterview Kinsey. I thought we needed to inspect his background for anything that stood out and could help us figure out what he was covering up. Was he covering up that he'd done a crappy job in his final years on the force? Or was it something more?
I stepped through the door and could smell the scent of roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. Getting home in time for dinner was pure luck. I dropped my things off in my bedroom before heading toward the kitchen. I walked in and saw Kaylie and Zoey jabbering away at the table. "Hi, everyone."
"Oh, hi, dear, how was your day?" Mom asked.
"It was a long day. Zoey, how are you?"
"I'm great. Can Kaylie stay for dinner?" Zoey asked.
"It's fine with me, but Kaylie will have to ask her mom if it's okay. Hi, Kaylie."
"Hi, Martina. Thank you. I'll call my mom and ask her if it's okay," Kaylie said.
