“Are you hurt, Zena?” Linc asked, leaning on the desk.
“No. Please come get me. Please come quick.”
Linc’s heartbeat sped up. “Zena, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to turn in a big circle and tell me everything you see.”
“I can’t. He’ll see me.”
Every bone in Linc’s body itched to ask who “he” was, knowing Zena was more likely to be forthcoming in a moment of true fear than she ever had before, but he wanted to find her more than he wanted to bust whoever was terrorizing her.
“Where are you hiding?” he asked.
“Behind a big tree,” she whispered.
“And the ground?” Linc’s chest began to heave. “Concrete, grass, asphalt?”
“Leaves,” she whimpered. “And shrubs.”
Linc looked up at Chavez. “Kirk Forest.”
Chavez held her arms out, exhaling sharply. “Kirk is 5 kilometers North to South, 15 East to West. It could take days to find her.”
“Where are we on the signal?” Linc demanded, understanding that if Zena had any hope of surviving, they’d need to find out her exact location or at least get within a mile of it.
Right on time, the officer Chavez had just delegated to triangulate the signal poked his head out of an office in the far corner of the room, shouting to Chavez. “Lieutenant, we’ve got something in Kirk Forest.”
——
As one of the largest and most dense forests in the entire country, it was no surprise to Linc and his team when they found themselves encased in near pitch-blackness as they neared the center of Kirk Forest later that evening. The trees surrounding them, hundreds of feet high, were plump with leaves that swayed with the night breeze, blocking out the stars and moon in the sky.
Only the beams of their flashlights were there to guide the way as Linc, Sam, Chavez, and the small team they’d put together after triangulating Zena’s location spread out and made their way through the forest.
Boots crunching on fallen leaves and shrubs, Linc’s eyes followed the beam of his flashlight, searching the expanse, broken bark, and shrubbery that covered the forest floor. The scent of moss and dew permeated the forest at its deepest, most humid depths, and Linc found himself becoming short of breath as he drew in a ragged breath through flared nostrils.
His flashlight danced across the area, his voice more strangled each time he called out, “Zena!”
And every time, no response.
All around him, his team had spread out, leaving flashlight beams dancing for miles around, different voices calling for Zena with no response in return.
When a wave of guilt gurgled in Linc’s stomach, he forced himself to push it down. He’d promised Zena that he would protect her if she talked. And she had. Even if the name she’d given him, Gideon, had led to a branch of the case that was a dead end, she’d talked nonetheless. She’d held up her end of the bargain.
But he hadn’t held up the end of his. So upset at her supposed betrayal the day before, Linc hadn’t taken the time to fight harder for himself and his job. It was only occurring to him, right then, that he wouldn’t have just been fighting for his job—but for Zena too. She’d been too terrified to tell the truth, forced to lie to protect herself. He should’ve known that out of the gate. He should’ve seen it in her eyes.
He should’ve fought harder.
He hadn’t realized that he’d allowed himself to sink into his thoughts until two voices bellowed from the distance.
“I got something!” one voice screamed.
Another came right on its heels. “Call it in!”
With a sharp gasp, Linc’s heart skipped a beat and then he raced toward the voices, kicking up earth as he went, the ray of his flashlight flying haphazardly.
It wasn’t until he was within ten feet of Sam, the owner of the voice who’d just screamed that she’d found something, that Linc’s eyes widened. Sam stood, motionless, next to a large tree, looking at something on the ground before her. The tree’s trunk was so large it completely shielded whatever she was looking at from Linc’s view, but judging by Sam’s face, he knew it wasn’t anything good.
As he moved closer, and the scene behind the tree came into his view, he picked up his pace. “No, no, no…”
He kept saying it, no, over and over, louder the closer he moved, until he was right next to Sam, looking down at the forest floor where Lieutenant Chavez was on her knees next to Zena’s naked, lifeless body. Chavez’s hands were stacked on top of Zena’s bare chest and her elbows were locked as she performed compressions, counting down from thirty in a frantic, whispered voice.
Linc buried his hands in his hair, dropping his flashlight and falling to his knees, his stomach curling in a knot so tight it took everything he had not to throw his head back and scream.
Chavez continued CPR for several counts, more than most mandates called for. Still pumping, mere inches above Zena’s protruding belly, she looked up at Linc from under her tensed brow bone, her eyes darkening as she slowly shook her head.
Linc’s eyes fell closed.
A few more members of the team approached, informing the lieutenant that they’d called it in.
“Why would they take her cell phone but not bother to move the body?” One of the officers asked. “They must’ve known we’d trace it.”
“Because they wanted us to find her,” Sam spat, arms crossed tight, visibly upset from her shaken, furious voice. “They fuckin’ wanted us to find her like this.” Disgusted, Sam kicked up a chunk of leaves before turning away from the sight completely, unable to watch any further.
As ambulance sirens began to sound in the distance, moving closer with every second, Linc pulled himself together and stood, moving closer to Zena, his knees shaking the whole way.
With Chavez still pumping, Linc knelt down next to Zena’s body, already accepting the reality that Chavez hadn’t yet found the heart to, squinting at Zena’s hand.
She’d died, Linc noted, with her hand in a tight fist.
But a tiny piece of paper poking out from that fist had caught his attention. Pulling a pen from the pocket of his jeans, heart still slamming, he used the butt of the plastic stick to pry Zena’s fingers open. Just as Linc suspected, a small, folded piece of paper greeted him from her newly opened palm.
Sam bent down next to him, her long brown hair blowing in the night breeze. “Fuck is that?”
Sniffling softly, unable to speak past the fire still raging inside him, Linc reached out and seized the folded paper, careful not to touch Zena’s body.
After he unfolded it, Sam’s gasp floated into the air seconds later, and Linc clenched his teeth as the two words that had been hurriedly scribbled on the paper screamed up at them.
I’m sorry
28
“Hiiiii, Linc.”
Linc had never been to the obstetrics ward at Shadow Rock Hospital, but the reception from the nurses was just as warm as it was in the E.R.—his usual stomping grounds. That morning, however, he didn’t have the presence of mind, or the heart, to return the flirty greeting from the brunette nurse he passed on his way through the ward’s double doors. He didn’t even meet their eyes.
“Good morning, Detective Hill.”
“How are you, Detective Hill?”
“Nice hair, Detective Hill.”
Linc kept his hard green eyes trained forward, but couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly be “nice” about his hair. Hair he hadn’t bothered to comb for twenty-four hours, and probably filled to the brim with residual dirt, leaves, and shrubbery from the gut-churning time he’d spent in Kirk Forest the night before.
He swallowed heavily, avoiding all eyes and greetings in the bright hallway as he came upon the door he’d been looking for. He barreled through that door without knocking, and entered the examination room, his presence immediately felt by the two women inside it. One woman sitting on the edge of a hospital bed in a paper gown, and the other taking her blood pressure. Bo
th women’s eyes flew to Linc the moment he came into the room.
Penny Nailer’s blue eyes widened at the sight of him.
The stomp of Linc’s boots moved across the room as he raised the slip of paper in his hand. “Penny Nailer, I have a warrant for your arrest.”
Both women gasped and went to share a look, but Linc had already fished a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and was getting to work slapping them on her wrists before Penny, or her patient could say another word.
All Penny could do was sputter as Linc guided her out of the room and through the halls, abandoning her flabbergasted patient.
As they moved through the halls, every eye in the room was on Linc for an entirely different reason than they had been five minutes ago, and Penny hung her head low, her blonde bob swinging around her lowered eyes, avoiding everyone’s stare.
——
“These are records of every patient you’ve seen in the last ten years.” Linc slapped down a thick pile of papers on the interrogation table, so hard it made Penny jolt from where she was handcuffed across from him. Leaning on the table, he pressed his pointer finger to the first name on the list. “Zena Jones—the underage girl we just found dead.” He pointed to another name. “Sandra Cozzolino. Missing.” He flipped a page and pointed to another name. “Sherolyn Mullholand. Dead. Ashely Lozano. Dead. Kerry Wheeler. Missing.” He flipped more pages. “I can keep going...” One page after the other, illustrating that there was a name of a dead or missing girl on every page.
Penny spoke firmly. “If you’re out to arrest every doctor who’s treated a patient that eventually came up dead, every clinician at Shadow Rock Hospital would be buried under the prison.”
Linc smirked at her calm, cool tone. Her arrogance ran so deep that she hadn’t even yet requested a lawyer. He pressed the pads of his fingers onto the pile of papers he hadn’t even put a dent in. “Do you know that every one of your patients who came up dead… have the same tattoo?”
The color drained from Penny’s face.
Linc nodded. “I checked. All of them.” He reached across his body and tapped one finger against his back. “Blackbird on the shoulder blade. All of them. All of them.”
Penny shrugged with a roll of her eyes.
“You can roll your eyes all day long, but if you’d seen how quickly a judge issued the arrest warrant the moment I showed him this information, you wouldn’t be so cavalier. Trust me. Because there’s nothing in the world that judge loves more than denying my requests, but not even he could deny this one.”
Penny leered at him.
Linc let a long silence fall in, searching her eyes. “Are you using your position in obstetrics to procure and traffic your pregnant patients?”
Penny chortled. “That’s a stretch, Detective.”
“Ah, it’s all good. I don’t mind stretching.” He stood tall with a squint, swirling his chair around and sitting on it backward, cradling his arms on the top rail. “And if I kept stretching, Penny, I’d guess that you’re the one who made the calls to Gideon Sinclair, telling him which girls to pick up and drop off.”
“And you’d be guessing wrong.”
“Oh, yeah? I suppose it’s just a coincidence that Gideon called you “P”.” He chuckled. “Little obvious. Not the pseudonym I would’ve chosen, but that’s none of my business…” He licked his lips around his smile, leaning deeper onto the back of the chair. “Remember that judge I just told you about? The one who loves to give me his ass to kiss at every opportunity? The one who couldn’t give me his ass to kiss this time, because the evidence against you is too strong? Remember him?”
Penny took a deep breath, eyes narrowed.
Linc motioned to her. “Yeah, that same judge also cleared another warrant. A warrant allowing us to contact the phone company of all the unknown calls that came through Gideon’s phone the night Zena and Veda were found.”
Penny’s eyes zoomed back to Linc, searing from the corner, going wide.
“My partner’s following up on that right as we speak.” Linc nodded at the change he saw in her. “Whose name do you think is gonna be on that unknown number’s account, Penny? ‘Cause I really do like stretching, and I’ve got a few guesses of my own.”
A lump moved down Penny’s throat, making her voice hoarse. “I want a lawyer.”
Linc grinned, his own voice lowering, growing playful. “But we’re not done stretching, though.” He scooted closer, making the legs of the chair underneath his screech against the floors. “See, if I’m really stretching, I’d guess you used your position as an ObGyn to scope out all the vulnerable pregnant girls in the city because apparently there’s a market for that kind of thing around here…” He held his arms out. “Last I heard, a pretty prominent politician on this island likes his girls good and knocked up.”
Penny’s eyes expanded, then narrowed, and her lips quivered.
Linc didn’t miss the tiny cues, and there were many, that prickled over her face all at once. Even though Zena hadn’t given Linc that name of that politician before she’d died, Linc could see that Penny believed he knew. She believed he knew the name of the politician who was purchasing time with underage, trafficked girls. She believed he knew a name that could make her look like a traitor—a narc—and put her in grave danger.
He couldn’t blame her. If Linc did know that name, she would be in danger. Drinking in her discomfort like water, Linc leaned forward. “And if I’m still stretching, Nailer, I’d guess you made the call for Gideon to pick up Veda because the ring you’re working for was running low on pregnant women, and you knew just the one. Young black girl.” He squinted. “Beautiful. Pregnant. And most importantly, alone.” His voice lowered. “Just broke up with her boyfriend, who happens to be the only son of the island’s most prominent family. God knows his parents would rejoice to see her gone. It was a win on all fronts, wasn’t it?”
“I want my lawyer.”
Linc’s nostrils flared. “I know this isn’t all you, Penny. I know you’re reporting to someone whose hooks run deep. Deeper than you and I could even imagine. So deep, it’s not just crooked doctors like you who are caught up in the web, but also the DA… The city council… The state assembly… So deep, a dead underage hooker is just a small favor between old friends.” He smiled as if he were speaking to an old friend. “Am I right?”
Penny cringed at him.
Linc licked his lips, pressing his pointer finger onto the list of patients he’d laid on the table, fighting to keep his voice level. “If I’m really stretching, I’d guess that, if I hadn’t found her in the nick of time, Veda’s life would’ve been just a small favor between old friends too. Veda…” He took a deep breath when his voice rose. “Who saw you, and only you, before she was attacked.”
Penny lowered her eyes, finding the good sense to keep her mouth closed for the first time that day.
“I’ll call your lawyer,” Linc said. “But if I do, this is over. No deals. No bargaining. You’ll be charged with sex trafficking, kidnapping, and accomplice to underage sexual assault. If you bring in that lawyer, you will go prison for life. Because I’ve got a judge nipping at the bud to bury you under that prison you just spoke of. And he will.” He paused. “Unless you give me the name of the real boss. The real people behind this. Only then will you ever have a shot at freedom, Nailer. Not even your billionaire, philanthropic husband can save you from your fate if you don’t talk right now.” Linc clenched his teeth as he thought of Penny’s husband, Brock Nailer. It wasn’t lost on Linc that Brock Nailer, who’d just suffered an attack at the hands of The Shadow Rock Chopper, was married to the prime suspect in Veda’s attack. Married to a woman who Linc truly believed, in his heart of hearts, was a pimp in the most unorthodox way possible.
He couldn’t help but gloss back to the conversation he’d had with his mother. The conversation in which he’d insisted The Chopper wasn’t a hero. That she wasn’t going to come blazing out of the sky in the inner city, flying betwe
en skyscrapers by a web she’d shot from her fingers, eager to exact justice. The conversation where he’d insisted that what The Chopper was doing was wrong. But as Linc found himself thinking of Brock Nailer, who was married to the monster sitting across from him, he couldn’t help but wonder if The Chopper knew something he didn’t. If The Chopper was still three steps ahead of him.
He searched Penny’s eyes. What did The Chopper know about Penny? About her husband, Brock Nailer? Did The Chopper see the same coincidence Linc did? Did she see what a coincidence it was that Penny Nailer, a woman who was instrumental in trafficking vulnerable women, was married to a man who’d been a big investor in Shadow Rock’s cruise line? Who received a 1% royalty on all that cruise line’s profits—royalty that had net him millions of dollars? Somehow, Linc knew The Chopper wasn’t blind to those “coincidences” at all. He knew she saw what he saw. Were he and The Chopper really all that different? Or were they actually two people fighting for the same goal, even though neither of them seemed to know it?
Was he hunting a friend he’d mistaken for a foe?
Was The Chopper… his ally?
When Penny remained tight-lipped across from him, Linc lifted his hands in the air and clapped them back down on the chair. “Fine. I’ll call your lawyer.” He stood, making the legs of his chair disagree with the floors again, holding her eyes. “I hope you enjoy prison, Mrs. Nailer.”
29
“I can’t believe this,” Veda said, her voice soaked with disbelief. “Penny Nailer? Are you absolutely sure?”
Linc peeked over his shoulder from where he was leaning next to her on the wood rails of the pier. His hair was tied a little higher on his head than normal, the wisps that had escaped from the sloppy bun dancing with the evening breeze. The soft trickle of the marina water made music beneath the wood slats of their feet, blending in perfectly with the deep calm of his voice as it floated across to her.
Pulse (Revenge Book 5) Page 25
