The Pretty Ones (A Kate Reid Novel Book 6)

by Robin Mahle

  She and Dwight exchanged an uncomfortable look as though they half-expected Nick wanted his own room to drink, but neither said anything. Some time had passed and while they couldn’t be sure he was handling his drink better, it seemed as though he was and, at some point, they would have to put their trust in him again.

  “Here’s your key, Mr. Scarborough. And yours, Mr. Jameson. Enjoy your evening.”

  The two caught up with Kate, who’d already made her way to the elevators.

  “All set?” She pressed the button.

  “All set,” Dwight replied.

  As the doors parted on Kate’s floor, she stepped off. “Good night, guys.” Her room was at the end of the hall and Kate walked inside, feeling as though she should call Nick or meet with him just to talk about things. They’d both set aside what had happened and, even tonight, she doubted Dwight had picked up on anything. But now, alone in her room, she thought about him. He wasn’t back in Virginia; he was here. And the elephant in the room had grown especially large.

  For now, though, she would slip on her t-shirt and shorts and take off her makeup. It felt as though she’d been wearing these clothes for days and wanted nothing more than to get comfortable. Then she could think about what to do.

  And while she’d scarcely had the chance to change, her mobile rang. Kate padded from the bathroom in bare feet to answer the call. “Hey. You get in your room all right?” she asked, noticing it was Nick.

  “Oh yeah, no problems. I was thinking… could we talk for a while? Unless you’re too tired.”

  “I’m not. And I think that would be a good idea. I’ll see you in a few?”

  “Be right down.”

  Kate perched on the edge of the bed, anticipating the impending exchange. She still hadn’t faced the consequences of her actions, and neither had he.

  The knock on the door sounded and when she opened it, Kate looked directly in his eyes. “Come in.”

  Nick entered and stopped inches from her. He held her gaze and placed his hand on her cheek. He slipped the other behind her back and began to kiss her.

  No words of warning, no chance for her to reconsider. Kate returned the gesture with more eagerness than she’d expected and within moments, they fell onto the bed. The t-shirt she wore rode up, exposing the smooth skin of her stomach. His lips soon rested just above her navel and the sensation forced her back to arch.

  Kate’s emotions when it came to Nick were confounding, but she knew one thing for sure. Right here, right now, she wanted him. And he wanted her.

  CHAPTER 13

  It was the light from Nick’s cell phone that roused him from his sleep; a beacon that sliced through the pitch-black room. He turned toward it and extinguished its glow with haste, but not before noticing the time. It was still early enough for him to get back to his room without eyebrows being raised by his partner, who would show up to knock on his door in a short while. Best not to have to explain his whereabouts, no matter how familiar Dwight was with the two’s tenuous relationship. Which, after last night, brought forth even more confusion and uncertainty.

  Upon glancing at her silhouetted figure beneath the covers, Kate still slept and he didn’t want to wake her. Nick pushed gently from the bed and felt around for his clothes and shoes, still blinded by darkness after the flash of light that stung his eyes.

  He dressed quietly in the bathroom and, within minutes, reemerged clothed in a wrinkled shirt that was untucked and frumpy trousers in desperate need of an iron. He smiled at her curled-up figure a final time and slipped out of the room.

  Kate’s eyes clicked open and she reached for her phone to check the time. She had been aware of Nick’s movements but chose not to acknowledge him. Not out of indifference, but out of ambiguity. And, again, there would be an awkwardness between them and yet she did nothing to prevent it or address it. “What the hell is wrong with me?” A question that would have to be sidelined for the time being because she was here to find a killer and there was still much work to be done. She rolled out of bed and into a hot shower.

  As Kate applied the final touches of makeup and pulled her hair into her trademark ponytail, she heard the knock on her door. They were already here.

  Pulling the door open, she offered a warm greeting. “Good morning. Everyone’s up bright and early.”

  Nick studied her. “Early—yes; bright—not so much. You ready to go?”

  “Yes.” Kate grabbed her laptop bag from the desk inside the room and returned. “Let’s go.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Sergeant Louis Moore appeared in Sharpe’s doorway. “I got something you might be interested in.”

  Sharpe peered over his glasses, removing them as the officer piqued his interest. “Oh yeah? What do you have?” He began to wave his arm. “Come in, come in. Sit down.”

  Moore handed Sharpe the piece of paper. “We got those names we wanted. Court order came through. These are the buyers of that particular wig.”

  “There’s a lot of people on this list. I’m going to need some help sorting through this.”

  “We’re already on it. Lopez and I started dividing it up by location and vicinity to our crime scenes.”

  “You might be tapering it down too much to start.”

  “We got a hundred names on here, Sharpe. There’s no way we can go and talk to each and every one of these people.”

  “You’re right. But what we’re banking on here is that this guy used a card to pay for it. What about a cash buyer? If he’s smart, he’s using cash.”

  “Then we might as well throw this list out the window because we have no way to track down a cash buyer.”

  “Let’s consider another approach. This list is good and it’s a start, in the event the purchase was in fact made on a debit or credit card. We can rule that out first by running the names and determining if any of them have a record, or match the description our tipster gave to the media. Now we’re still out looking for Raquel because as far as I’m concerned, we find her and we’ll find our man. She saw him and she has no idea how valuable her description would be. But in the meantime, rule out the card users. Find out how many sales were made by cash and based on when those sales occurred, we can pull video from those dates and times and see if our guy was captured on tape.”

  “It’ll take some time, days probably. And probably not soon enough to prevent another murder.”

  “We can only do what we can do, Moore. This is just a part of it. I’ve still got the gang task force looking for Raquel. And we still have the feds searching for the owner of the green car. Something’s bound to turn up on one of those fronts. It has to.”

  Moore nodded. “Understood. I’ll keep you updated.”

  He left Sharpe’s office, but only a moment later, the feds arrived at his door.

  “Morning, detective.” Nick approached.

  “Thank you all for coming in so early. We have a lot of work to do. Please come in and I can brief you on our status.” He waited for them to take their seats and began, “We have a list of buyers my team is working on. That’s a start. The gang task force hasn’t located Raquel, but I’ll be focused on that today and I was wondering if Agent Reid could help me on that front. I think if we are able to locate her, she’d be more inclined to speak to another female.” He turned to Kate. “I hope you don’t take offense.”

  “Of course not. I’d be happy to work with you on that today.”

  “Good. Agent Scarborough, I believe the captain will want you to assist with putting together a statement for the press. Apparently, we’ve got all the major networks and cable news channels arriving for a press conference later today.”

  “Happy to help,” Nick replied. “I think Agent Jameson could possibly assist your team with the list of buyers. I’m sure it’s comprehensive.”

  “It is, and yes, we’d appreciate that very much.” Sharpe slapped his desk. “Okay, then. Sounds like we all have our tasks. I’ll let you to it. Agent Reid? Whenever you’re ready
, we can head out.”

  “Sounds good. I think my team and I would like to touch base if you wouldn’t mind giving us just a few minutes,” Kate said.

  Returning to their makeshift workstation, Nick was the first to speak. “We all good with what they need?”

  “I am,” Dwight replied.

  “Same here. You’re going to be the voice of the Bureau, so whatever you deem is appropriate to disclose, I’m sure the captain will agree.”

  “Then let’s touch base later this afternoon.” Nick pulled open the door. “Good luck out there today.”

  Dwight walked ahead and Nick turned to Kate. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  She noticed Dwight turn back when they slowed and nodded to him, suggesting he could continue. “Sure.”

  “You mind if we step back inside for a moment?” Nick returned to the room. “Look, I know this probably isn’t the right time. It’s never the right time, it seems. But I just want to say something about last night and about the other night too.”

  Kate’s pulse rose slightly as she’d hoped this conversation would have taken place later. “Okay.”

  “You know how I feel about you, Kate. I laid it out there months ago and, at the time, you made it clear you weren’t ready to hear it. But then you broke up with Mike, doing the exact opposite of what I thought you were going to do. And I think doing the opposite of what you thought you were going to do.” He pulled out a chair to sit.

  Kate sat next to him, allowing him to finish.

  “I left it alone. Never brought it up once. Because like I said, you made it clear. Then I tell you I might be leaving the team and, well, we know what happened after that. And last night, I should’ve shown better restraint, but it appears I have little self-control when it comes to you.”

  “I’m just as much at fault for last night,” Kate said.

  “You regret what happened?”

  “That’s not what I mean.” She began to stumble on her words. “Nick, I know we need to hash this out. I do. But I can’t. Not right now. I think you know that.”

  “I do. It’s just—hard. Hard not to know what’s going through your head.”

  “I know. And I’m sorry for that. I don’t want to complicate this more than it already is.” She reached for his hand. “I’m confused. Unsure. And yeah, the probability that you’re leaving the team? It scares me. But for now, we have to put this on the back burner whether it’s good for us or not.”

  He pulled his hand from beneath hers. “We’ll put a pin in it, as they say.” A forged smile appeared. “Go. Do your job. You’re good at it.”

  “Consider it pinned. I’ll see you later.” She returned to the halls and made her way to see Detective Sharpe. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Great. Let’s go.” Sharpe reached for his leather jacket and slipped it on.

  “Aren’t you warm in that?”

  “No. Aren’t you cold in that?”

  She laughed. “No.”

  “Okay, then. We’re going to stop by the gang task force and have a quick word.”

  They arrived in the bullpen area where the task force was located, which was near the opposite end of the building.

  Sharpe approached one of the officers. “Anything on the girl named Raquel?”

  “Nothing yet,” the officer replied. “Her affiliation with that gang means she should reside somewhere around that neighborhood, but no luck spotting her yesterday. What do you want us to do?”

  “What about the guy you have in custody? The one who eyed her pretty hard when he spotted her in the lobby.”

  “He’s been transferred to County. He can’t get to her.”

  “No. But that doesn’t mean he can’t get the word out that he saw her talking to us.”

  “You think she could be in danger?” Kate asked.

  “It’s highly probable,” the officer replied. “It would be better to find her sooner rather than later.” He looked at Sharpe. “We can make another pass.”

  “Hang on.” Sharpe turned to Kate. “Any word back from your friend? You said he was working on getting the records last night.”

  “That’s right.” She retrieved her phone. “Let me call right now and see where he’s at with that.”

  “Otherwise we have to get a subpoena and that will take too long.”

  “I understand. Give me just a moment.” Kate stepped away and began to dial Marc’s number. “Marc? It’s Kate. What did your friend say?”

  “I’m glad you called me, actually. I wasn’t sure when you’d be up, but he said he’d send the information directly to the detective you’re working with. Ray Sharpe?”

  “Yeah. That’s him. Did he say when he could get it to him? Marc, a young woman’s life could be in danger. It’s very important we find her.”

  “What do you mean? She just gave an anonymous description. Why is she in any danger?”

  “If it’s the same person Sharpe believes it is, someone spotted her here yesterday talking to the cops. A gang member. She appeared to have known him because she freaked out and left before talking to Sharpe. Word gets out that she’s talking to us, no matter the reason, she’ll be the one at risk.”

  “Damn it. I’ll get on the horn with him now and push him along. I’ll call you right back. You gonna be around?”

  “We’re waiting on you, Marc.”

  “Got it.” He ended the call.

  Kate returned to Sharpe and the other officer. “He says the anchor agreed and was working on it. I think we should put a call in to the station manager and prod them along a little bit. But we should hopefully have something in the next few minutes. It’ll be coming directly to you, detective.”

  “Then all we can do is wait.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Dwight figured something had gone down between Nick and Kate last night, but he didn’t say anything. This was between them and it wasn’t his place. Still, it bothered him that whatever they were going through could or already had spilled over onto this investigation. He didn’t want to step in, but if they couldn’t get their acts together, he would. He was growing tired of becoming the negotiator and something had to give. Perhaps Nick’s impending promotion would solve the problem. Nick’s head was clouded and it had been for a while. The problem was, Dwight didn’t know if it was booze or Kate that was the cause. Maybe both. But for now, he’d go and help these guys track down whoever owned the wig whose fiber ended up on one of the victims.

  “Morning,” He offered his hand. “I’m Special Agent Dwight Jameson. Detective Sharpe said you all could use some help.”

  “Absolutely.” Sergeant Moore accepted the greeting. “Thanks for pitching in. Come on over to my desk. “We’ll get started. So, what’s it like working in BAU? You must see some crazy ass shit.”

  “You mean like this psycho you’re dealing with now? I suppose I do. But it seems like it’s everywhere.”

  Moore laughed. “I guess so. Take a seat.” He continued around to his desk. “Here’s the list of credit card buyers. This’ll be the easiest to decipher and so we’ll start here.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Where should I start?”

  “We’ve made it to the Ds. Can you work from the bottom and we’ll meet in the middle?”

  “Ten four.”

  “I’ve got a desk for you over there. And a login to our database.”

  “Perfect. I can have our agent back in D.C. help with this too. She can run the names through the national database as well.”

  “Can’t hurt. You guys have a lot more toys than we do. Might as well use them.”

  Dwight moved to the desk and set up shop. He scanned in the list and sent an email to Agent Vasquez, asking her to run the names through ViCAP and to check for any serious offenders on the list.

  As he started to whittle away at the names, he turned to Moore. “What if he used cash? What’s the plan there?”

  “Surveillance. Check the dates the purchases were made and ask for store video
to see if we can get a match to the description the tipster left. We’re hoping Sharpe can track down the girl who left the tip. I guess they have a name, but that’s it.”

  “From what I gather, the fiber they have didn’t match her description anyway.”

  “It doesn’t. Sharpe thinks we could be dealing with a copycat or he’s got multiple disguises.”

  “Right.” Dwight returned to his screen and continued while he waited for word back from Vasquez. It was going to take some time and that was always in short supply when it came to tracking down a murderer. This guy had the upper hand right now and they needed to change the odds.

  CHAPTER 14

  It was the message Kate had been waiting for. The moment it appeared on her screen, she hustled to see the detective. “I just got it. Should be in your inbox too.”

  “I’m looking at it now. That’s it? Is it her?” He pointed to the name on the list.

  “Seems to be. Raquel Garcia. And that’s her address.”

  “That’s got to be her, then. Right in the same area as they were looking before.” He looked at Kate. “Thank you. That’s good work. Let’s get over there now.” Sharpe marched through the building, bulldozing anyone who crossed his path.

  Kate hurried to keep up with him and on their way toward the front of the building, she spotted Nick. “We found the girl. I’m heading over there with Sharpe now.”

  “Good. Be careful and keep me posted.” Nick continued back toward the captain’s office.

  “Agent Reid? You coming or not?” Sharpe wasn’t a patient man and held the door open for her to catch up.

  “Right behind you, detective.”

  They jumped into his car and once again began driving through the streets of South LA until they reached the neighborhood where they would hopefully find Raquel. Sharpe’s unmarked SUV still appeared suspiciously like a cop car, at least around these parts.