by Matt Lincoln
Meisha sat with that for a moment. I felt the urge to give Redding extra encouragement so he’d remember.
“Gary.” Meisha shook her head. “Gary, we need to know who Jones sent you and Sugiyama to see. And we need to know about how the antiques came to see such high sale values.”
“They didn’t want me involved with that part.” He fiddled with the ice pack and kept his eyes on the floor. “They told me the items were worth whatever they said, and then the payouts would match our agreed-upon deal. Two hundred fifty for the loan, and a year later, with interest, I owed them four hundred. We got the client, so I was able to pay them with no issues.”
“Mr. Redding,” Stark said with more than a hint of skepticism, “did the shooting have an impact on your willingness to name this mystery antiques expert?”
Redding shook his head a little too quickly. He looked to Davis, and then me as if hoping for intercession. I raised a brow, and he looked back at Meisha.
“I want to confess to a crime,” Redding told us, “but I want my attorney present.”
Meisha stood with a sharp motion.
“You better think long and hard before you decide to stop cooperating, Gary,” Stark warned as she, too, stood. “We’ll meet you and your attorney at the police lockup.”
We left the room with one officer to keep Redding company. I was last out, and I stopped to give him a long look. The small man tried to outstare me, but he failed. I turned and slammed the door on my way out.
Meisha was already on the computer when I caught up.
“We’ll find someone,” she told me. “You and Davis, however, are going to see Jones midday tomorrow. Meet here for dinner. We’re going to plan this thing and get down to it.”
“Why not plan it now?” I asked.
Meisha gave me a longer look than I’d given to Redding. “I know you wanted to go out with that paramedic. Go ahead.” She broke eye contact. “Davis has a family thing to do this afternoon, and I am not going to make him ditch it. Since he’s leaving, you might as well go do your thing.”
“What about Robbie?” I asked.
“I don’t think he’s in the mood for fun.” Meisha relaxed her shoulder. “I’m worried, but we can’t force him to take time for himself.”
That closed the discussion. Meisha was right, but dammit, I wanted my best friend to be okay. I had to try. Sadie would understand, I was sure. I went over to where he sorted through bottles of various chemicals from a crate.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“I think Bonnie broke a few rules,” Holm said in a quiet tone. “Look at this stuff. It’s like her mini-lab but more.”
“She brought this on the plane?”
Holm nodded. “In cargo. She told me everything was sealed, and yeah, it’s heavily cushioned but…”
“It’s better not to ask.” I summoned half a smile. “You need to get out for a while. Let’s go snorkeling, just for a couple of hours, just you and me. We’ll get our own passes.”
Holm glared up at me. “Really, Ethan? This stopped being a vacation the second those CIA agents showed up. I’m not going out to play until we find Ronnie.”
“I just thought—”
“Go,” Holm snapped. He turned away and went back to studying the chemicals that would make up a Bonnie-approved lab.
I almost called off my plans with Sadie, but as I started to text her, I pocketed my phone instead. At that moment, and as much as I cared, I needed to be as far from Holm as I could get.
CHAPTER 13
Ronnie had never felt so weak. She didn’t have the energy to sit up, let alone stand. The only good thing was that she’d started catching micro-naps. She would go noise blind, drift off, and jolt awake to different hellish sounds that pulsed at unpredictable rates and decibels.
Volkov promised he’d give her a blanket and water if she’d say her name. Her soul cried out for the tiniest relief. She needed something, anything to keep going, but reasons were getting hazy.
“Veronica,” Volkov teased from the cell door, “tell me your real name, and you’ll get that blanket plus a bottle of water. Remain stubborn, and we will not have many more talks.”
Her teeth chattered without the ferocity they’d once had. She felt like crying, but her eyes were too dry. Instead, she closed her eyes and imagined her brother showing up guns blazing and the sun shining at his back.
“People are getting too close to my contact,” Volkov told her. She focused on his voice. “I imagine whoever you’re working for wants you back. Who do you represent? FBI? CIA?”
Ronnie mumbled something about soda. She wanted pizza and soda with her friends and colleagues. She imagined the scent of her favorite pizza and fizzy soda.
“You want soda?” He squatted before her face. “I make that happen. Tell me your name and who you work for. See, is easy.”
Her empty belly ached. They said a person would stop feeling the intense hunger pains after some number of hours. What they didn’t tell a person was how they’d feel after that. Desperate. Broken.
No, not broken. Not yet. How long was yet?
Her mind wandered so much that Volkov’s words slid away beneath her confusion until a familiar name broke through the stormy mental cloud.
“There is new agency in town,” he announced. “I ignored it. No harm done. But now their people talking to my people. This is problem. These agents, they say they are called ‘em-bliss.’ Strange name for persistent agents.”
Ronnie felt the sudden, unexpected hope that Robbie might be looking for her. He had never let her down. MBLIS had many offices in coastal cities, but her experience had only been with Robbie’s office in Miami. She tried to calm her trembling heart and lungs. There was no reason to expect her brother to be aware she was missing, let alone in Hawaii.
Volkov snapped his fingers before her face. She barely kept her eyes open.
“Tell me your name. Who are you?”
“Marie,” she muttered. It was her middle name, but he likely didn’t care. He wanted first and last names. If he knew that much, maybe he’d lay off, but she couldn’t be sure of anything.
“Good!” Volkov clapped once. “Veronica Marie Holm.” He set a full water bottle by her head and produced a blanket from somewhere and laid it across her body. The freshly laundered scent overrode the stink of her body and the bucket she’d been forced to use. “Next time, tell more, then you get to feel better.”
She hated that she wanted to feel better, but the blanket’s warmth soothed her fragmented mind. Ronnie never meant to say her middle name, but she had. With a teary grunt, she reached for the water bottle. The tight cap was too much for her to overcome with her weak grip.
Ronnie pulled the blanket over her head, curled around the water bottle, and cried.
CHAPTER 14
“It worked out just right.” Sadie swung her snorkel mask as we walked down the beach. “I went to the records office this morning.” She dug her toes in the sand and stretched. Her tankini, as she called it, in pink, white, and gray perfectly complemented her trim physique, and she had matching white and gray fins. “The house belonged to a few different people in the early years. The second owner was someone named Jason Hatch.”
“What makes him stand out to you?” I asked.
As I moved closer to her, the scents of shea-butter and sunblock tickled at my nose. It was a nostalgic mix that never got old. I left Sadie her space, but it was hard not to be closer.
“Two things.” She held up her index and middle fingers. “First was his name. Think about it. What if Hatch was a combination of Finch-Hatton?”
“Hatch isn’t an uncommon name,” I mused. “It’s possible, but why bother changing the name?”
Sadie shrugged. “Any number of reasons.” She waded into the gentle surf, and I followed suit. “After the ship went down, maybe the pirates went after Finch-Hatton’s descendants. On the other hand, if financial backers in England discovered that Hatton hadn’t died, the
y may have sought out any remaining family to recover their losses.” She stopped wading at the waist-deep level. “Unless something else turns up, there’s no way to know.”
“What’s the other clue that it could be Hatch?” I asked her.
“There was a small fire that required repairs in the bedrooms.” She pulled her snorkel mask over her face. “Seems to me that would’ve been a good time to hide the journal.” With a grin, she gestured me closer. “Enough talk. Time to see some reef.”
We waded a little further in and then slowly kicked out to the spot she wanted to see. The floor dropped away below us, but not so far that we couldn’t observe the vivid colors and swaying polyps. Even underwater, the intense sunlight lit the area in brilliant scapes. One of the larger sea turtles I’d seen in years swam with lazy strokes in a direction away from us.
Sadie eased closer and touched my arm. The sensation felt more like a caress than an attention-getter. I gave myself a mental slap and focused on where she pointed.
Not far away, maybe twenty feet, an adult dolphin led a calf to the surface. They breached and then swam toward a small school of fish. The mother’s calls to her calf were the music I needed to hear that afternoon.
Sadie and I explored until, according to the time on my old dive watch, I had to turn back. I had my responsibilities, and this much-needed swim helped me to clear my head. By the time we got to wading depth, my thoughts had moved on to the upcoming operation to find the antique supplier. Davis and I needed a convincing story. I liked one in which he lost a large bet to me, and I chuckled aloud as Sadie and I walked up to the showers.
“What’s so funny?” she asked with a wry smile. “Did I look ridiculous in my civilian fins and snorkel?”
“What?” I tucked the gear under my arm and put both of my hands on her shoulders. “Stop putting yourself down.”
“I’m not—”
“Yeah, you are,” I insisted. “It’s backhanded, but you are. You’re a capable, smart woman, and you looked perfectly fine swimming out there.”
Her mouth dropped open a little, and then she looked down and away. Worried that I’d gone too far, I let go of her shoulders. This woman was strong yet fragile, and for the life of me, I couldn’t see a damn thing wrong with her.
“It was a joke,” she mumbled, but I didn’t buy that for a second.
There was something about Sadie that made me see the world through less jaded eyes, and I wanted to help her look at the world with more belief in herself.
Going on instinct, I gently lifted her chin. “Sadie, I don’t know what happened in the past, but it’s affecting your confidence. I can’t make you feel better about yourself. What I can do is tell you that I see a dedicated paramedic, kind person, and a woman who is curious and enthusiastic about the world she lives in.”
Her cheeks reddened, but I saw a hint of a grin. “I do like learning things, and Grendel’s journal has been the most interesting thing that’s happened to be in a long time. Maybe ever.”
“See? There you go.” I snapped my fingers. “Come visit the office and see how Abbie’s doing. It’s on your way home, and you can tell us what you know about that leaky area.”
It wasn’t one of my better-thought-out ideas, but it seemed to me that she needed some time with new people who I knew would accept her. If she happened to still be around after the planning for our op, I would not complain.
“I don’t know…” She bit her lip for a moment.
“They’re your neighbors. Get to know them.” I spread my hands. “Better yet, help them get to know the fire station. It’s in bad shape, and I think you’d be a great person to talk with about how it used to be.”
The corners of her mouth turned up at the last part of the suggestion. Given her interest in historic properties, I had a feeling this might be a way for her to shine not only in other people’s eyes but in her own.
“Fine.” She touched her index finger to her chin and nodded. “That drop ceiling has to go, obviously, and we can look to see if there are more areas where they covered up the original ceilings. I mean, that rope-drying tower alone needs attention that could take weeks, if not longer.”
“There you go, it’s a start.” I cleared my throat. “By the way, the firefighters’ pole needs to be fixed, too. That was kind of my fault.”
Both of her brows lifted, and she shook her head. “I don’t know if I should ask how you accomplished that.” Her sparkling laugh restored my good humor. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt for them to know first-responders in the area. I can help with that.”
“True that. I know a lot of the Miami police and a few more of the fire and rescue folks than is healthy for me.”
Sadie grinned. “Okay, you convinced me. I’ll meet you there in an hour,” she told me. “As long as your people don’t feel I’m intruding…”
“Hey, quit that. You’re spunky, and they’ll like you. See you in an hour.”
I made haste to get changed into my dry clothes and drove back to the office. It had gotten later than I expected, and if I didn’t watch it, I’d be late. If I pissed off everyone in the office, chances were that Sadie wouldn’t get as kindly a reception as I hoped.
Davis’s car was already in the cramped parking lot when I arrived. I casually walked around the front of it and tapped my fingers on the hood. It was hot, and I heard a couple knocks from underneath. At least I wasn’t as late as I feared.
In the mere hours I’d been gone, the bay had undergone a transformation. The six old desks were still present, but each one now boasted a simple cubicle. These cubes were arranged into two rows of three, and that small farm took up the center of the large open space. Bundled wires ran from the storage room, across the floor, and down between the two rows. Gaffer’s tape held the bundle secure to the concrete floor, but I wasn’t sure that it’d prevent people from tripping over it.
“About time, Marston,” Davis called out from a cubicle at the end. He poked his head out and then scooted out on his wheeled chair. “We’ve been waiting for you to bless us with your presence.”
“Cut the crap.” I shook my head. “You got here no more than fifteen minutes ago. Your car hasn’t cooled down yet.”
Stark popped out of another cube. “He’s gotcha there, Kyle.” Her sling was gone, but the bandages and splint were plenty evident. She apparently saw that I noticed.
“As long as I don’t move it around too much, it’s fine,” she told me. “What stinks is that I haven’t been able to do more than hunt-and-peck on a keyboard.”
“As long as you can do the basics, you’ll be fine,” I said.
“I’m glad Sadie was able to come help.” Stark leaned against the edge of her cubicle, but the wall trembled. She startled and moved away. “Maybe she ought to move in. Who knows when we’ll need her next?”
“She lives in this neighborhood,” I pointed out. “You never know. And, uh, she’s coming over any time now.”
Davis straightened in his seat. “Say what?”
“Sadie is coming over here in a few minutes.” Before Davis could complain, I went on. “She has an interest in historic buildings, and she was the one who knew where to find the shut-off valve last night.”
“I am okay with this plan,” Stark said. “I want to thank her.”
Davis stood and pushed his seat back into the cubicle. “As long as we get our planning done, I don’t care. Yes, someone will need to help us get this place into some sort of order, but it’s going to be on a low budget like everything else.”
I hadn’t meant to suggest that Sadie would help update the look of the place, but if it was an option, it might give her something to keep her mind off of things that weren’t going well, such as job burnout. There was a light about her that I didn’t want to go out, and after the burnout I’ve seen happen to other people, I didn’t want it to happen to her.
“Where’s Robbie?” I asked.
“Upstairs?” Stark suggested with a glance at Davis.
He shrugged. “Haven’t seen him in a while.”
I went over to the hole in the ceiling and found that the pole was temporarily braced with rope and hooks. Voices floated from above, and I distinctly heard Bonnie’s lecturing tone, although I couldn’t make out the words.
“Teammates ahoy,” I called up through the hole. “Is Robbie up there?”
“Um, no.” Warner didn’t appear, but he was clearly close by. “He went downstairs at least an hour ago.”
After a quick look around without finding Holm, I went outside to see if I’d missed him when I got there earlier. Sadie was parking as I left the building, but I didn’t see Holm. I texted him in hopes of… well, I wasn’t sure.
What’s your 20? I sent.
“Hi, Ethan.” Sadie glanced at the fire station and then to me. “Everything okay?”
“I’m trying to find my partner,” I told her with a frown. “He’s in a funk because of the case we’re working. It’s personal for all of us, but I can’t explain right now.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said with her brows knitted. “Are you sure I shouldn’t come back later?”
I hesitated. My impulsive invitation didn’t come with the best timing. On the other hand, my instinct was that something good would come from Sadie being around Meisha’s team, and I’d learned years earlier to listen to my instincts.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I told her. “Not everyone is going to be in on planning my op tomorrow. You should tell them what you know about the building. Little Jo is getting her lab put in upstairs, and TJ from the Miami office is getting the Cybercrimes unit set up.”
“A forensics lab?” Sadie’s eyes widened, but then she cocked her head. “Wait, ‘Little Jo’?”
I shrugged. “My best guess is that it’s a Bonanza reference. She doesn’t seem to mind.” I strode over and held the door open for her. “Come on in to the madhouse.”
Bonnie had come downstairs since I went outside. She saw me and headed straight over.
