The District

by Carol Ericson

  “Including your father?”

  She thumped the legs of her chair onto the floor, and dropped her hands in her lap. “Exactly.”

  “Then maybe he’ll head to Mexico.”

  “I hope for Vivi’s sake he doesn’t.”

  “Your father’s sake, too?”

  “My father can take care of himself.” She glanced at her phone. “I’m having a videoconference call with my mom before lunch. D-do you want to join in?”

  “Yeah. It’s okay? I can, you know, stay out of view.”

  She flipped up her laptop and positioned it on the desk. “There’s no need to do that. Kendall’s going to meet you shortly anyway, so she might as well get a look at you now.”

  “Has Kendall met many...guys in your life?”

  Christina’s eyes narrowed to slits and a muscle in her jaw twitched. “I haven’t introduced Kendall to anyone. There are no guys in my life, never have been since the day she was born.”

  He dipped his head once. He could get that. From the moment Christina walked into his life five years ago, there’d never been anyone like her for him. Through all his doubts about her motives, for all his trust issues, even now, she was in his blood.

  The screen in front of her cast a glow on her face, or maybe that was just motherhood.

  “Hi, girly-girl. Hi, Mom.”

  Her mother’s voice filled the small office. “Are you working?”

  “Yes, I’m in an office at the police department. The walls are a little thin, so please keep it down.” She gestured to him. “I have Eric with me. He wants to meet Kendall.”

  “Thank God. It’s about time.”

  Eric scooted his chair around the desk. A little dark-haired girl’s face filled the screen, her wide eyes so much like Christina’s. Soft curls framed her face, and he knew that wavy hair came from him.

  “Kendall, this is Eric. He’s going to come and visit you when Mommy comes home.”

  Kendall waved her hand. “Hi.”

  “Hi, Kendall. What are you holding?” His throat felt tight and he blinked his eyes.

  She looked down at the white plush animal in her arms and then held it up so that it filled the monitor. “It’s Kitty.”

  “Is that his name?”

  She wiggled the stuffed toy. “Yes.”

  “Kendall, put Kitty down so we can see you. I’ll call Kitty later. Right now I want to see my girly-girl.”

  She giggled and dropped Kitty to the floor.

  “Tell me what you and G-Ma have been doing?”

  Christina was able to coax a few more sentences out of Kendall.

  Eric was content just to watch his daughter, a mixture of both him and Christina. A miracle.

  Kendall grew restless, and Christina’s mom placed her on the floor to play with some puzzles.

  “Good to see you again, Eric. I’d been warning Christina all along to tell you about Kendall.”

  “Ma.”

  “Now I know, and I want to be a part of her life.”

  “I never doubted you would. I figured you’d get over that nonsense of not wanting kids once you actually had one.”

  “Ma.” Christina rolled her eyes at him.

  Her mother barreled on. “Any idea when this case is going to wrap up?”

  “Wish we knew. If it drags on much longer, there’s no reason why I can’t go home for a visit.”

  “Oh, I saw that friend of your sister’s this morning, the one she was with on her way to who knows where.”

  “He’s in San Miguel?”

  “When he was here with Vivi, he mentioned he had friends in San Miguel. Probably stuck around to visit them.”

  “Yeah, he didn’t go with her.”

  “Did you ever get that all cleared up with her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Flighty girl. See what could’ve happened to you if your father had his way?”

  “Yeah, Ma. We’re going to have lunch. Can you please put Kendall back on camera?”

  Kendall’s face popped up again, a little pouty this time saying goodbye to her mother. She said goodbye to him, too, and that just about made his day.

  When Christina ended the connection, Eric slumped back in his chair. “Wow. She’s a cutie.”

  “Yeah, she is. She’s very loving and friendly.”

  “Are you trying to say she’ll like anyone? Even me?”

  “She’ll like anyone. She’ll love you.” She wrapped a strand of hair around one finger. “Did you notice the curls?”

  “Oh, yeah. We’re going to have fun taming those.” The we had just slipped out. How hard could parenting be? His number one job as a father was to keep Kendall safe. He could do that.

  “Lunch and then back to the grindstone?” She slipped her laptop into her case. “Are you going to call Rich back?”

  “I’ll call him before we head out to lunch. We should check with the P.D. to see if they can give us anything on Libby, like if half her blood is missing.”

  “It won’t be. He killed her to shut her up, not for her blood.”

  * * *

  AS SHE SAT across from Eric in the restaurant looking over the menu, she couldn’t help humming to herself. That videoconference had gone great.

  Eric had been as taken with Kendall as she knew he would be. Did it mean he’d come running back to her arms after he met his daughter? No, but the introduction of father to daughter in person would be a promising start—for all of them.

  “Is that supposed to be a song?” He broke off a piece of bread from the loaf in the middle of the table and swiped it across a puddle of olive oil. “Because I don’t recognize it at all.”

  “It’s one of those tuneless hums.” She pushed away her bread plate. “If I eat any more of this sourdough bread, you’re going to have to shoehorn me out of this restaurant.”

  He tore off another piece. “Good. More for me.”

  The waitress took their orders, and Christina squeezed some lemon into her ice water. “I think we have a pretty good handle on why these murders are occurring. Now we just need a who.”

  “It has to be someone who was at that meeting the other night. You can’t tell me the coven community is that big. He has to be a member to know who’s who and the power of Los Brujos de Invierno.”

  “If the others know, why wouldn’t they give him up?”

  “They don’t know.” He shrugged and took a sip of his soda.

  “You’d think they’d be a little more interested in helping us out.”

  “After what happened to Libby, they’re going to be less interested.”

  Christina asked, “Rich okay with the direction of the investigation?”

  “He’s not happy with the mumbo jumbo aspect, but he knows we can’t ignore it if all the victims have that in common.”

  With her fingertip, she caught a bead of moisture trailing down the outside of her glass. “Did you tell him about our personal connections to the case?”

  “No, but I plan to visit Marie Giardano in the evidence locker this afternoon to ask her a few questions about my kidnapping. She’s been there for years, knew my father.”

  Their food arrived, and Christina picked at her salad. “I meant what I told my mom. If this case drags on any longer and Rich decides to bring in additional agents, I’m going to start heading home on the weekends.”

  “How do you like San Miguel? It makes more sense to me that you’re living there now that I know about Kendall. I knew something was off about you giving up the city.”

  “I didn’t think I’d like it, but it grows on you.”

  “That’s what my brother Ryan says.”

  “So he still likes Crestview?”

  “He’s the chief of police n
ow.”

  “You Brody boys sure know how to get ahead in law enforcement.” She stabbed a piece of lettuce with her fork. “How much of that is due to your father? To making up for past sins, real or imagined?”

  Eric balanced his fork on the edge of his plate and laced his fingers beneath his chin. He gazed past her, his green eyes dark and stormy.

  She held her breath. Had she gone too far?

  He dragged one hand through his hair as his eyes cleared. “A lot.”

  Then he dug into his food again, and she let out a long steady breath through her nose. “Do you want me to come with you when you see Marie?”

  “Sure. I’d rather the SFPD think I’m working on the current case and not dredging up the past.” He leveled his fork at her plate. “Are you going eat that shrimp salad or just push it around your plate?”

  “I’m not hungry.” She shoved the plate toward him. “Do you want it?”

  “I hate to see good shrimp go to waste.”

  He demolished her salad while she checked her messages. Nothing.

  “Hey, has Nigel called you since last night?”

  Chewing, Eric shook his head. He swallowed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “He probably skipped town. He publicly acknowledged us at the meeting the other night. He’s gotta feel like he has a target on his back.”

  “Do you think he does?”

  “That depends on how much our killer thinks Nigel knows. If he’s truly a hanger-on, maybe our guy doesn’t see Nigel as a threat.”

  “Not like Libby.” She grabbed for the check when the waitress placed the tray on the edge of the table. “I’ll put this one on my card.”

  “Then let’s head back. I’ve got a date with Marie.”

  Forty minutes later when they’d made their way to the evidence room in the basement, Christina did feel as if she had interrupted a date.

  The woman behind the cage squealed when she saw Eric step off the elevator. She knocked her glasses from her nose where they swung on a chain around her neck. “If it isn’t one of the bodacious Brody boys come to visit an old lady and make her day.”

  Eric laughed and grabbed the cage, sticking his fingers through the spaces. “That’ll be the day when anyone calls you an old lady, Marie.”

  She clicked her tongue. “You always were more charming than Sean, but that one’s been loosening up ever since he started dating that pretty little blonde.”

  “A teacher, huh? We haven’t met her yet.”

  “Soft as a spring rain on the outside, that one.” She thumped her chest with her fist. “But made of steel inside. She’ll be good for your brother.”

  Christina stood in the background, her hands folded in front of her. Should she try to appear as soft as a spring rain so this formidable woman would approve of her, too? That was gonna be hard.

  Eric stepped to the side. “I’m sorry. Marie Giardano, this is Christina Sandoval—Agent Sandoval.”

  Marie stuck her hand out the window of the cage. “I’ve heard all about Agent Sandoval from that little Rita Griego. You’ve got a big fan, Agent Sandoval.”

  Christina shook the older woman’s be-ringed hand. “Please, call me Christina, and Officer Griego seems like a good cop.”

  “Oh, she is. She’ll go far.” Marie tapped the side of her head. “I’ve seen them come and go, and she’s got the fire.”

  Eric leaned on the counter. “I have to confess, Marie, I didn’t come down here just to flirt with you.”

  “That’s okay, son. I’ll take what I can get, when I can get it.” She winked broadly at Christina.

  “I’d like to see the old file on my kidnapping.”

  Marie frowned, biting her lower lip. “You’ve seen it before, right?”

  “I have, but I learned something recently and I want to check it against the information in the file.”

  Marie hunched forward, her prominent nose almost touching the mesh. “I’ll tell you what I told Sean when he came poking around here in the old file. ‘I’ll give it to you, but don’t bother signing out for it.’ That way there’s no record.”

  “Why wouldn’t I want there to be a record? It’s my own kidnapping.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t ask me that, Eric. There was no record that Sean looked over your father’s case files, and yet, Dr. Patrick still wound up dead.”

  Christina’s gaze darted toward Eric. What was Marie implying?

  Eric spread his hands. “I told Sean at the time, there was no evidence of foul play in the doctor’s death.”

  “No evidence based on the tests they ran during the autopsy, but what about the tests they didn’t run?”

  “My brother still thinks Dr. Patrick was murdered?”

  “Let’s just say he thinks the doc was conveniently silenced right before Sean planned to talk to him.”

  “There’s a lot of that going on.” Eric slid a glance Christina’s way. “Okay, I’m not signing anything. Where’s the evidence?”

  Marie pulled up a database on her computer and jotted down a set of numbers on a slip of paper.

  As Eric reached for the paper, she snatched it out of his fingers. “Get rid of this once you locate the boxes.”

  “I’ll swallow it.” He drew a cross over his heart.

  She snorted and buzzed them into the cage.

  Marie had given them the general direction of the case number, and Christina followed Eric as he plowed through the rows of shelves, stacked with boxes.

  He trailed his hand across one row, murmuring numbers, and then stopped and dropped to his haunches. “It’s down here.”

  Christina rolled a stool on wheels next to Eric’s crouching form and sat on it. “How much do they keep down here?”

  “They keep the case file and some bits of evidence. One of these days, someone’s going to transfer all the old stuff to computer, but until they do,” he said, dragging a box from the bottom shelf, “it’s all right here.”

  He knocked the lid from the box and reached in. He drew out a thick folder with dog-eared papers peeking from its edges. Dropping it on the floor, he said, “I’m going to give you half of this.”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “You’re a detective, aren’t you?” He flipped up the silver fasteners and measured out half the papers with his hand. “Look for references to the occult, examine the pictures of the evidence, read my statements.”

  “Okay, I get it.” She nudged his thigh with the toe of her pointed shoe. “If you think your back is going to get any better all hunched over like that, you’re crazy. Grab one of these little step stools. I’m sure there’s one on every row.”

  He tucked his sheaf of papers under his arm and rose to his feet. A minute later he returned, wheeling a stool in front of him.

  They perused the files, the silence broken by the shuffling of paper, the squeak of the step stools and an occasional sniffle.

  Marie greeted people at the cage window, but nobody ventured this far back into the bowels of the evidence lockup.

  Christina had done her research on the Phone Book Killer years ago and had even delved into Eric’s kidnapping, but she’d never reviewed the case file on it. Eric hadn’t been rescued. His kidnappers had released him. Joseph Brody’s defenders pegged the kidnapping as a warning to Brody from the Phone Book Killer to back off. The detective’s detractors saw it as a ploy by Brody to divert suspicion from him.

  She eyed Eric over the top of her file. No wonder he hadn’t wanted kids of his own if he suspected his own father might have had him kidnapped.

  Running her finger down the page, she skipped a sentence and then backtracked. “I didn’t know you were found in Haight-Ashbury.”

  “Yep. They dropped me off on a street corner, blindfolded.”

  “
Had they been holding you there, too?”

  “I have no idea. They drugged me before they released me. I came to in a moving car, wearing a blindfold, and they pushed me out of the car and told me to stand there and not remove my blindfold.”

  Her hand was trembling when she turned the next page as her heart twisted for the boy Eric had been. She continued scanning the recovery effort, which involved the residents of The Haight coming forward to help the blindfolded boy abandoned on the street corner.

  She skimmed the names of the witnesses and froze.

  She must’ve made a noise because Eric looked over and said, “What is it? Find something?”

  Her eyes met his above the edge of the paper now crumpled in her hand. “One of the people who came to your aid in the street that night...”

  He dropped his file. “Yeah?”

  “Liz Fielding.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Christina had whispered the name but it roared in his ears. The necklace. The necklace Liz was wearing at the time of her murder was the same one he’d seen dangling above him in his captivity.

  “It’s her, Christina. Liz Fielding was one of my kidnappers.” He thrust out his hand. “What else does the report have about her? Did the cops look into her background?”

  She handed him the paper with the witness list. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. This is just a witness list, and of course her name jumped out at me.”

  “Jesus.” He smoothed out the paper on his thigh. “What are the chances that one of my kidnappers was wearing that necklace and Liz Fielding just happens to show up during my rescue from the street corner?”

  “Pretty low, I’d say. Nigel already told us Los Brujos de Invierno were involved in your kidnapping. Now it looks like Liz Fielding was directly involved. What about the other victims?”

  “Involved in my kidnapping?” He folded the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket. “The other two women were too young.”

  “Do you think your kidnapping has anything to do with this current case?”

  “I don’t think so, Christina, except for the connection of Los Brujos.” He tugged on his earlobe. “But it makes me wonder if the Phone Book Killer was a member of the coven. He carried out the murders and his coven members worked the PR angle for him.”