The 2nd Cycle of the Darc Murders Omnibus (the acclaimed series from #1 Police Procedural and Hard Boiled authors Carolyn McCray and Ben Hopkin)

by Carolyn McCray

She wasn’t so sure she wanted an answer for that.

  * * *

  Cam stood across from Emma and her husband, Harper at her side. They had been invited in, if invited was the word you used when pretty much everyone there was glaring at you. So far, there had been no indication that their hosts were going to ask them to sit down.

  “You told me to do anything I had to,” Cam said to Emma, breaking the silence that had settled over the group when she and Harper entered the living room.

  “You… you called these two women?” the man seated next to Emma choked. This must be Jarom.

  “I had to. You weren’t doing anything about it,” she answered, her tone sullen.

  “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  Emma shot back, “It’s our baby! And you heard them,” she said, pointing to Cam and Harper. “We have 48 hours. How much of a chance am I supposed to give you?”

  Jarom clenched his jaw. “I told you I’d handle it. Without any help.”

  “Oh, Jarom, shut up,” Bethany interrupted. “I don’t like interference any more than you do, but Emma’s right. We should have gone to the cops to start with and just…” She darted her eyes over to Cam and Harper and fell silent.

  And so, to Cam’s surprise, did Jarom. Whatever his friendship with Bethany was, he clearly held her in high regard. He had gone from hot under the collar to cowed in the space of less than thirty seconds. Riding the wave of that respite, Cam stepped back into the conversation.

  “I’m sorry if you feel that I betrayed your trust, Emma. That wasn’t my intent at all.”

  “I know that. I can tell that you want to help,” she replied, shooting a look at her husband. “It’s not like you didn’t tell me what you were going to do. And to be honest, I wanted you to.”

  “Emma!” Jarom began, but then caught a look from Bethany and shut up again.

  Cam held up her hand. “There are things that we don’t have access to that the police do. Databases, fingerprint and DNA testing, a larger workforce.” Doing what she could to keep her voice reasonable and calm, Cam laid it out for them. “If you want your child returned to you safely, you’re going to need to involve the police.”

  “That’s fine, I guess,” Emma said, giving her husband a look. “As long as you’re here while they are. We’ve just heard horror stories about the way they treat families, coming in and…” She trailed off, giving a much different look this time to both Bethany and Jarom.

  “It’s true,” Cam confirmed. “They can and will look at close family members as suspects. That’s part of their job. But if you cooperate, and you have nothing to hide, that part will be over soon.” She made discrete eye contact with Jarom, raising her eyebrow just slightly.

  Jarom flushed and looked away. “We have nothing to hide.”

  Harper guffawed. “Oh, come on. That’s a load of horse--”

  Cam cut her off with a gesture. “Secrets, whatever they are, get in the way of an investigation. If you have any, now is the time to speak.”

  The silence was like another person in the room, obstinate and sullen. None of the three Cam was talking to would look at her or at each other.

  “I know you think that whatever it is has nothing to do with this,” Cam continued. “Everyone always does. But my experience is that it’s the very thing you don’t want to talk about that can lead us right to your baby.”

  In a small voice, Emma answered. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

  “Emma,” Jarom said in a warning voice.

  “Oh, come on,” Harper broke in. She had the attitude of a pressure cooker that had to release some steam or risk exploding. “Can we just call a spade a spade? He’s cheating on you.”

  Cam went still. Why in the hell had Harper said that? It might be true, but this was the worst possible time she could bring it up.

  Emma’s face went white. “What did you say?”

  Trying to catch Harper’s gaze, Cam shook her head violently. She had to stop this before it got any worse. But Harper refused to look at her.

  “I went out to the granite mine to see if I could get some information about the kidnapping, and when I followed him back, I saw him stop off at an apartment complex in Scripps Ranch. He stayed there for a couple of hours at least.”

  “You followed my husband?” Emma whispered.

  “No, I… Well, yes, technically--”

  “Get out,” she said with finality.

  “Listen, I was just--” Harper started.

  “She told you to get out,” Jarom said as he stood, moving to the front door and opening it. “I think it’s time for you to listen.”

  There was nothing for Cam to do at this point but to follow his directions.

  * * *

  Okay. That could have gone better.

  Harper followed Cam out of the bungalow, not making eye contact with Jarom as she exited. It was just a guess, but he probably wasn’t very happy with her at this point. She’d just popped his lascivious little cheater’s bubble. His foot connecting with her ass on the way out wouldn’t have surprised her all that much.

  What did surprise her was what happened as soon as the door shut and Cam and she were out of earshot of the house. Cam whirled around, her face livid.

  “What were you thinking?”

  “About what?” Harper asked. “You mean about calling that asshole out?”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “Well, you said it,” she responded. She was having a tough time figuring out what the issue was. “Secrets are going to keep them from finding their baby. He was lying through his teeth.”

  “Maybe, but--”

  “What do you mean, maybe? The guy went to an apartment and stayed there for two full hours!”

  “I know,” Cam said. “You’ve said that several times. Once in front of them.”

  “Well?” Harper was curious to see just what kind of excuse Cam could make this time. She was always defending the dads, when so many times that was the very person they were supposed to be looking at.

  “It’s just that there’s something going on here that I think we don’t understand. Did you see Jarom’s face as we left?”

  Harper snorted. “No. I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.”

  “That was a mistake. If you’d looked at him, you wouldn’t have seen what I did.”

  “What’s that?”

  Cam hesitated. “He didn’t seem mad. He seemed scared.”

  She couldn’t help it. Harper laughed. “Of course he was scared. He’s gonna get eaten alive in there.”

  “That’s just my point,” Cam said, not backing down from her assertion. “Have you ever seen a cheater not get defensive when he’s confronted with his affairs?”

  That brought Harper up short, but only for a moment. “No, not really. But that doesn’t mean he’s not cheating.”

  “Well, thanks to you we won’t be able to find out.”

  And there it was. The judgment, followed by Cam picking a fight. Seemed like a little drama that they had acted out so many times that the parts were way too familiar.

  Harper did the dirty work, the stuff that Cam wouldn’t do because she was too squeamish. But when things went sideways as they sometimes just do, where was all the blame going to go? Right onto her shoulders.

  Harper was tired of it.

  “You don’t like the way I do things? Maybe we should just stop working together.” She turned on her heel and stalked off toward her car, expecting at any moment for Cam to stop her, to apologize, to beg her to stay and work it out.

  It never happened.

  * * *

  Cam found herself in an uncomfortable position. The countdown to 48 hours was ticking away in her not-so-subconscious, and was giving a harsh edge to her thoughts.

  The family needed time to cool down before Cam approached them again. If she had tried to push while they were still there, it only would have made a bad situation worse.

  But Detective Sti
ckler had made it clear that Cam was not welcome on this case. So there was not much she could do at this point.

  Cam could feel her blood sugar dropping, and she realized that she hadn’t eaten anything all day. Iris’ house wasn’t terribly far from here. Maybe she could stop in for a bite to eat and a quick squeeze from her girls. The thought made tears spring to her eyes. She must be even more of an emotional wreck than she had thought.

  The girls had just eaten by the time Cam got there. They were happy and chattering away about how they’d gotten to make individual pizzas with anything they wanted on them. Then they’d cooked them over the grill, which apparently was the only way to make good pizza.

  Cam smiled at their enthusiasm and tried not to wince at the realization that their gram was a far better mother than Cam could ever hope to be. She gave the girls a hug and walked over to Iris, who was waiting on the porch.

  “Thanks again for taking them,” Cam said, giving Iris a wry smile.

  Iris gave her a long look. “I know that expression you’re wearing,” she said. “It’s the one that says I’m-a-bad-mother.”

  Cam chuckled bitterly. “Makes sense that you would recognize it. You’ve seen it enough.”

  “Yes, I have,” Iris agreed. “Mostly in the mirror.”

  Looking more closely, Cam saw that Iris’ face was gentle. Cam felt tears well up in her eyes. Man, was she a basket case today.

  “I don’t even know how you can say that,” Cam said. “You’re so wonderful with them. And I feel like I’m just barely treading water, always on the verge of slipping under the surface.”

  “Oh, sweetie, that’s everyone,” she replied, waving off the comment with her hand. “The only reason I look like I have it all together is because I can pass them back to you once your cases are done.”

  Cam searched for the words to express her love for and gratitude towards this extraordinary woman. “Iris, I… I’m so sorry that I… that…”

  The older woman held up her hand. “None of that. I wish it had worked out between you and my son. Of course I do. But I’m not blind to how hard you tried.”

  The tears that had been gathering spilled down Cam’s cheeks at that. She wanted to speak, but found that she had no words. So instead she reached out and gave Iris a hug.

  “Go on inside. Grab a bite to eat. Spend some time with the girls before they have to go to bed and you have to get going.” Iris patted her on her shoulder. “You’ll feel better. I promise.”

  “You’re not coming in?” Cam asked.

  Iris shook her head. “I’ll be in after a bit. I want to look over my roses.” She didn’t say it, but she was giving Cam her space. How was it that Iris always seemed to know the right thing to do or say at just the right moment?

  Cam nodded and moved toward the house, her spirits already lighter. When she got to the kitchen, she found that Jules and Meg were trying to convince Mickey that the Harry Potter movies were better than the books.

  “Have you read them?” Mickey asked, her tone innocent.

  “No, because books are dumb.” This statement was not new information. Meg had made her opinion on that subject well known a multitude of times.

  “Hmm,” Mickey said. “That’s interesting.”

  “Whatever, dork.”

  “Hey, Meg,” Cam stepped in. “That’s enough of that.”

  Cam caught Mickey’s eye. Her daughter winked back at her. Well, it was more of a blink, because she still hadn’t figured out how to control just the one eye, but still. Crazy. What seven-year-old winked at her mom?

  Only Mickey.

  “Did you find the baby, Mom?” she asked.

  “No, honey, not yet.”

  “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

  “It is.”

  Mickey was quiet a moment. Jules and Meg were chattering away about some boy in their class that they were going to try to chase and kiss during recess tomorrow. That was something Cam might want to nip in the bud sometime in the next five or six years.

  “Mom?” Mickey said.

  “Yes, honey?”

  “You’re going to find him. I know you will.”

  Cam searched Mickey’s face. “Thank you, Mouse. That means a lot to me.”

  “You know how I know that?”

  Cam shook her head, curious to find out what her daughter would say. When Mickey got serious like this, she’d learned to pay attention.

  “Because you understand what people care about. How they fit together.” Mickey glanced around. She appeared to be checking to see who was in the room. When she looked to be satisfied, she turned back to Cam. “Like Gram.”

  That last seemed like it didn’t fit in with the rest of the thought. “How do you mean?”

  “Well, Katie from school? Her parents are divorced too, and she complains about how she can’t see her daddy’s parents anymore. But we see Gram all the time.”

  “Well, that’s because she loves you so much.”

  Mickey shook her head. “Oh, I know she loves us, but that’s not why. It’s ‘cause you could see how much she wanted to see us and how afraid she was that you wouldn’t let her. And then you made sure and took us there. Lots.”

  Cam had never seen it that way before, but as Mickey said the words, she recognized them as being true. Yes, Iris had been a huge help to her over the years, but it hadn’t always been convenient… or comfortable, for that matter… to get the kids over there.

  Mickey’s voice intruded on her thoughts. “Oh, and Mom? Gram loves you, too.”

  Without even being aware of the fact she was doing it, Cam nodded her head. She knew that. Again, it wasn’t always an easy affection, but Iris did genuinely care for her. Love her. Maybe even in spite of herself at times.

  Something about that idea… that love wasn’t always convenient… sparked something in Cam’s head. It added to Mickey’s comment about Cam being able to see how relationships were put together. The confrontation back at the Young’s home had bothered her on a deep level. It didn’t fit.

  No one was acting the way they should.

  An idea blossomed, and Cam gave her daughter a quick, hard squeeze while she crammed another bite of pizza into her mouth. This had been a perfect side trip.

  But now it was time to get back to work.

  * * *

  The phone woke Harper up from sleep. She’d fallen asleep on the couch in front of the television. Again. It was the third time this week, but she blamed Game of Thrones. And Netflix, damn their hides.

  Thing was, it wasn’t even all that late. She glanced at the clock. 7:30 pm. Sad.

  Although this time, she was not proud to admit to herself, her binging on TV had taken a back seat to her binging on Ben & Jerry’s. Her head ached and there was a foul taste in her mouth.

  When you started downing ice cream at three o’clock in the afternoon, you knew there was a problem somewhere.

  The ringing continued, piercing a hole in her skull. Might as well answer the damn thing. She picked up the receiver and noticed the number on the caller ID.

  Cam.

  Well, at least that explained it. Although, for once, Harper was going to give her friend and partner… well, possibly ex-partner… a piece of her mind regarding the early hour of the call.

  But as soon as Harper hit the TALK button, Cam started speaking. Several sentences flew past before she even realized what was happening. By that point, she was hopelessly lost.

  “Hold on. Slow down. What are you talking about?” Harper was mildly surprised to hear her voice come out sounding like the mating call of the African bullfrog. Not pretty. Not pretty at all.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did I wake you up?”

  “No, no, not at all,” Harper croaked. Wouldn’t do to have Cam thinking she normally engaged in sugar-crash-induced naps in the middle of the afternoon. “Besides, I thought you weren’t talking to me or something.”

  There was a pause and a sigh on the other end of the line. “Yeah. Sorry ab
out that. How soon can you meet me at the Young’s?”

  “Are you crazy? They practically ran us out on a rail. They aren’t going to let us back in.”

  Cam grunted. “I think they just might.”

  Minutes later, Harper was trying to brush out her hair at the same time she swished Listerine around in her mouth. It wasn’t until she spat that she realized that not only was her headache mostly gone, but that she was excited to get back to working with her partner.

  Pathetic.

  Only a few hours of being pissed off at each other, and already Harper missed her friend. What did that say about her and her social life?

  Oh, well. At least they were back to working together.

  * * *

  “We know what’s going on here,” Cam said to Emma and Jarom from across the coffee table in the living room. She had managed to talk her way in past this evening’s gatekeeper, Rachel, who had apparently tagged out with Bethany at some point during the afternoon. Just one more piece of evidence that pointed to the conclusion that Cam had come up with.

  Jarom and Emma looked at each other and then back to Cam. “We don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Emma said.

  “See, that’s it. Right there,” Cam murmured. “You don’t act like a wife cowed by her strong alpha-male patriarch of a husband.”

  Emma looked for a moment like she was offended. “But he is the patriarch.”

  “Oh, I believe you,” Cam said. “He’s the patriarch. But tell me, who does the finances? Whose decision carries the most weight? Who makes most of the day-to-day decisions around here?”

  Jarom gave a wry half-smile and shuffled his feet. “Her. Almost all her.”

  Cam nodded. “That’s what kept tripping me up. You two look and act like super Christians. Evangelicals. But you’re not, are you?”

  Again the two shared a look. “We believe in Jesus Christ,” Jarom said, pointing to the painting on the wall. “See?”

  “Oh, I know. I noticed that when I walked in. I’m a believer, too. Mostly.” Cam said the last word under her breath. That was the problem when you believe, but you were just pissed off with your God. You had no idea how to talk to anyone else about religion.

  “So, you understand that we just want--” Emma began.