Melody took the sign from him and tossed it in the trashcan nearby. Then she stepped forward, and called the woman’s name.
Chapter 12
PAIGE recognized the woman waving at her. It brought mixed feelings—the woman looked a lot like Carrie. No surprise, as it was Carrie’s real sister. Melody Beck was a detective with the Texas State Police, and they’d met a time or two before. She liked Melody, it was just weird sharing her sister with four other women.
“Carrie’s sister Melody.” She wrapped her hand around Mick’s arm. “She’s there.”
“Waiting for us?”
“I don’t know. Too much of a coincidence. She is TSP. That’s her partner Jarrod beside her.”
Paige headed toward the two. She greeted Jarrod first, then turned to Melody. “Hello, how are you?”
“We’re doing well. How are you, and Agent Reynolds?”
“We’re great. Dan’s wife just gave birth to twins a few months ago.”
“Wonderful. So, are you two working the ID case?”
“In a way. This is Mick Brockman, have you two met? He’s Al’s brother, and my current partner. The IDs connect to a mass murder investigation we’re working.”
“Wow. You look like your sister. I met your brother a few times, too.” Melody shook Mick’s hand. He gave her the full effect of the Brockman smile.
“Thank you for the help you gave Al back in March. Our family really appreciates it.”
“I received their invitation last week. I’m going to try to make it. How is Carrie doing? Dad is heading up Friday.”
“She’s out to here.” Paige motioned in front of her stomach. “She’s a little freaked, but she’ll be a great mother.”
“That she will. I’ve put in for some vacation time and Brynna and I will be heading up as soon as Sebastian calls. I think Jillian and Sydney will, too.” Melody smiled again, and Paige was taken aback once more at how she resembled Carrie. Even the gap in the front teeth was the same.
“It’ll be any time now. That’s why Mick is here. He’s filling in for Sebastian on this one. So I take it you’re the detectives on this one?”
“Have you both eaten? We can grab a bite and then talk more.” Jarrod offered to take Paige’s bag, and she let him. She’d liked him the first time she’d met him. He’d actually helped her down the fire escape of the runaway shelter after she’d been injured that day.
He wasn’t quite as big as Mick—most men weren’t—but he was definitely just as handsome. “That sounds great. Mick?”
***
Mick nodded. This hadn’t been a part of his plans, by any means. He knew of the Beck family, of course. They’d been instrumental in saving his sister and his future brother-in-law’s lives back in the spring. He’d never forget that.
But he didn’t like the idea that there was a family connection with this case, in any way. Family connections in federal investigations very rarely worked out for the agents involved. Ever.
He could count on his fingers the number that had had happy outcomes in the last three years. Yes, all had been PAVAD cases, but how much had the agents involved suffered to get to those happy outcomes? Mal and Jules certainly had been through real hell.
As had his sister. He still had to look out his office window sometimes to check and make sure she was whole and alive in her own. Had the guy who’d shot her wanted to, he could have put a bullet in her brain, rather than in her chest. He could have ended it right there for Al. They’d all been lucky that the guy had had another plan for his sister than killing her that day.
Risks every agent took, but those very risks for his siblings scared the living shit out of him. “That works for me. You had this case long?”
His words must have come out shorter than he intended. Nothing new there, was it?
“You’ll have to excuse Mick. Flying makes him grumpy. Everything makes him grumpy.”
The redheaded woman laughed and grabbed Mick’s arm. “I understand. If Jarrod isn’t complaining, he’s grumbling.”
“It’s not grumbling. It’s having a realistic perspective on the job. We can’t all be sunshine and rainbows like someone I know.”
Yeah, Mick understood the guy pretty well. Sunshine and rainbows, indeed.
They kept up the quipping at each other the entire ride to the restaurant. Mick didn’t mind; it left him time to think. The guy truly was pessimistic, but how much was for his partner’s benefit? Probably quite a bit.
The guy seemed pleasant enough when talking to Daviess. And she seemed to know and like him well enough. What was up with that?
Chapter 13
MELODY Beck and her partner were meticulous with their case. Mick could see that when they walked into the conference room where Beck and the guy’s case notes were spread over the table. One of the two had lined everything up on the large table with almost mathematical neatness. There were a series of photos clipped to the top of the whiteboard that dominated the front of the room. A half full coffee pot was on a small table, next to a fridge. “This is where we’re working.” Beck said. “Pull up a chair.”
“I prefer to stand.” Mick studied the photos—driver’s licenses, all from Texas. He recognized them. They were similar to the girls in the M.E. department, but they weren’t exact matches. “How far back do the thefts go?”
“Six months, or so.”
“Any common themes?”
Jarrod answered. “Other than being stolen, no. No commonplace, no common theme. No common victim profiles. Just stolen.”
“Interesting.” Mick thought of the thirteen girls. “Why these girls?”
Paige was showing Melody Beck the girls’ photos from her smart phone. “There are some similarities. Enough that they could have been used by the thieves. And we need to consider that our thirteen are the thieves.”
“And there are no previous arrests for these girls?”
“None that we can identify.”
“So what you’re saying is that these thieves managed to steal fifty-four different wallets, with no detection whatsoever. Somehow that doesn’t make sense to me.” Beck’s partner was skeptical.
“It would be possible. I could probably pick half the men in this precinct, and not get caught.” Paige wasn’t being boastful, and Mick knew it. “These people train for hours each day to be able to pull this off.”
“So how are our missing IDs connected to your mass murder?”
“They were found at the scene. We’re not sure what that means for either case.”
“Look at this one. Something about it is off.” Melody pointed to the last printout when Paige handed it to her. “Look at this line right here. I don’t think it’s a legit ID. Is it possible that your girls were selling the IDs? Or making fake ones off of it?”
“Anything’s possible, though there wasn’t any equipment that we could see.”
“But we’ve also still not found a secondary location that I am sure is out there. These girls would be smart enough not to sully their living space. Too easy to get caught that way. And they want their setup to be something they could leave without looking back, if needed. Out there you never know if you’re going to need to run. Something we need to consider.”
Mick knew she was right. They went over everything Beck had managed to amass since taking over the case four months earlier. It wasn’t a great deal of information, and Mick knew it didn’t really help their case much.
“We have agents headed to Chicago. Some of our fifty-four IDs originated there,” Mick said a few hours later, after choking down another cup of coffee. “But I have a feeling we’re just spinning our wheels here, dammit. We need to head back. See if we can find that second location.”
“If our IDs are being repurposed, and sold from St. Louis, we need to be in on it,” Jarrod said. “And it’s not like Mel’s not headed up that way tomorrow or the next day, anyway. Her dad’s flight leaves in two hours.”
“Everyone heading up?”
“
Jillian is bringing Sydney up Saturday. Dad and Brynna are heading up tonight. I was going to drive up once I got word. I could only manage two days off. We’re shorthanded down here right now.”
Someone knocked on the door, just as Mick was about to reply. A young man with green spiked hair and thick glasses stood in the doorway. “Detective Beck? This came in for you…I mean for the FBI…your friends…It’s from St. Louis. A Dr. J. Compton sent it. I thought you’d want it right away.”
Mick held out his hand to the tech. He looked at the fax, then at Paige. “Two of the girls showed up on the Missing Children database. The parents are coming in for positive IDs.”
“I see. How long were they missing? Did Josh say?”
“Two years on one. Four on the older girl.”
“That’s a long time to be out there. Don’t most runaways return home within a few weeks?” Beck asked.
“A good deal,” Paige said. “And it depends on why the girls ran in the first place. And if the life they were leading on the streets was better than the one they left. Carrie and I were that way.”
It was the first Mick had ever heard her speak of her past so freely. Of course Melody Beck and her partner already knew a great deal about it, thanks to Carrie Lorcan. “We need to head back to St. Louis. We’ll get Compton and Stephenson tracing the girls’ known associates. If we can get more IDs, and a list of acquaintances, maybe we can come up with a few that overlap. Find our killer that way.”
“It’s five now. Why don’t you come home with me, have dinner with my sisters? Then we’ll drive you to the airport. I’m sure my captain will insist that one of us returns to St. Louis with you. He’s territorial and isn’t going to give the case over that easily. And to be honest—it would probably get me up there to my sister earlier than I planned. You can’t beat that,” Detective Beck said. “What do you say?”
He didn’t have a problem with that. He nodded. “Sounds good.”
“Great. Melody, I have a pullout couch. You’re welcome to camp there. I take it your dad and sister are staying in a hotel?”
“Dad is actually staying with Dan Reynolds. Brynna, too.”
“Then you’ll definitely stay with me. Dan’s my landlord, remember? I’m in the basement.”
The women spoke a few more minutes about the Lorcans and the baby and their plans.
Mick just listened, then and later when they were at the Beck table for dinner. Paige was very welcomed by the three Beck sisters. Did she realize that she was becoming more embroiled with Carrie Lorcan’s biological family? And Melody seemed to welcome that, too. Interesting. And Paige was extremely comfortable with the other women, relaxed, in a way he hadn’t seen her in almost a year.
Since Christmas.
She had changed since then, and he wasn’t sure it was for the good. She was more withdrawn. Less outlandish, especially in appearance. She used to wear eight or nine piercings in each ear, and wild silver bracelets, sometimes. She had one that was a silver and black and green snake. It had wound up to almost her shoulder. He’d always found the artwork of the piece fascinating, and knew it had to have cost her a pretty penny.
Now she wore no jewelry at all, and instead of the wild hair that had curled around her head a year ago, she wore the dark locks subdued and straight. Soft and beautiful, no doubt, but still understated.
Not like the Paige he’d first met almost four years ago.
Was it all because of the kidnapping? Or something else?
They accepted an invitation to stay with the Beck sisters for dinner. They’d rent a car and drive back that evening.
He’d never forget the debt his family owed the Becks. They’d helped Al when she’d absolutely needed it most. Regardless of the danger it might have put their family in, when Al and Seth had needed help, Melody and the others had been there. Because Seth’s brother Sebastian was a part of that family. And family mattered to these people.
He studied the women as they ate dinner. Melody, her sister Jillian, and Paige. All three very beautiful women. But Paige was the one who drew his attention. Why?
He’d not been truly attracted sexually to a woman in nearly four years. There had been a few dates with women not from the Bureau—he’d never been involved with another agent—over the last few years. But nothing that had gone past a week or two in length. He’d not slept with a woman in at least eighteen months.
She’d been dark-haired, dark-eyed, and thin. She’d looked like Paige a heck of a lot. Why hadn’t he realized that before? Had he been trying to substitute for the woman just next door?
Hell, it was possible.
Wasn’t it time he admitted it to himself at least?
He’d been attracted to that skinny pain in the ass from the very beginning.
But that didn’t mean he had to act on it.
Phones rang before they were finished eating. Mick’s, Paige’s, all three of the Beck’s.
Within moments the room erupted into chaos.
Carrie Lorcan was in labor.
Chapter 14
HE’D brought her food. He’d walked into the basement where he’d left her sleeping the night before, carrying a bag of doughnuts and a twelve pack of soda and some snacks he knew his daughters had always loved.
He’d had nightmares the night before, imagining it was one of his girls in her place. What must her father and mother be thinking? He could hear her crying, and it was like knives through his heart and gut.
He pushed the door open and there she was. In the light, she looked even more like her sister. It took everything he had not to call her by her sister’s name.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because someone out there did intend to hurt you. Because he could, and to hurt your sister.” He looked down at her. She’d curled into herself and huddled into the corner. Big brown eyes stared at him.
“I don’t have a sister.”
“We both know you do. And she’s in some trouble. I can’t stop it, but I can prevent you from being involved in a battle not of your own making.”
“Who are you?”
“Some consider me a friend.”
“My sister?”
“I know her. I’ve worked with her before.” He’d checked on her in the hospital himself back at Christmas. He’d hate to see that young woman hurt any more than she already had been. “I’m trying to fix all of this, but the bastard after your sister was going to move far too quickly. I could not help both you and her. And she has people trained in this very thing capable of helping her.”
“Who is she? I’ve only been able to find my brother. He’s not in any danger, is he?”
He looked at her, then handed her a soda. “I don’t know. I know you were targeted, and you were close to me. So I drove down here to get you. To keep you safe until I could figure out what to do about the guy responsible for all this. He’s killed before. And I’m going to try to stop him from killing again. Starting with you.”
Chapter 15
PAIGE smiled at Melody as they walked toward the hospital entrance three hours later. “Carrie’s going to be a great mom. Once she gets over the freaked out factor.”
“Yes, she will. Dad’s thrilled.”
Paige suspected that was true. Kevin Beck might not have been a major part of Carrie’s life as a child—they’d not met until Carrie was an adult—but he’d been trying to make up for that lost time. And he’d made a point of including Paige whenever they were together. He’d seemed to understand that she and Carrie were family. She’d probably never feel the connection with the other man, but she didn’t quite feel completely on the outside.
She owed that to genuine nice people that the Becks were.
Paige looked over her shoulder. Mick was back there, looking all big and threatening. Why didn’t his demeanor bother her as much as it used to?
Maybe they’d never be real friends, but at least she didn’t feel quite as much resentment o
r anger toward him as she used to.
With the events of last Christmas and March combined, Paige hadn’t felt much of anything toward anyone. Not really.
She wouldn’t call what she’d been feeling depression, she honestly wouldn’t. She’d thought about it on the flight back from Texas, watching Mick almost flirt with Melody over a game of cards.
But she hadn’t exactly felt like herself. Especially since the kidnapping. She’d almost died and she couldn’t even remember what happened. Didn’t know what the jerk had done to her.
The idea of someone having that kind of an effect on her life and her not even knowing it had seriously unbalanced her. Maybe she needed to make an appointment with the PAVAD psychiatrist? She went to the mandated appointments. But she wasn’t too stubborn to admit when she might need a little bit more help.
As soon as this case was over, as soon as her sister gave birth, as soon as things returned to somewhat normal, she’d make an appointment with Lara Dole, the psychiatrist assigned to PAVAD.
Just to talk. A tall, dark-haired man exited a black sedan at the opposite end of the pavement. “There’s Seb’s brother Sin. Have you met that one?”
“The third one. No, I don’t think I have. They really do look just alike, don’t they?”
Not really. Not once you knew them. Seth, Al’s fiancé, was more wild and untamed. Shaggy, even. Seb was clean cut and All American and a genuine nice guy. Sin, the oldest brother, was more like Mick in attitude. He was cranky and always dressed in severe suits. His hair was extremely short. She liked him, but he was kind of an ass at times.
Paige lifted her hand to wave at him. They’d share a niece sometime soon. Her family was certainly growing lately. Something else to think about that.
Sin broke into a run. Paige stopped walking. He was a hundred feet away, but something was definitely wrong. She turned to see what it was he’d noticed.
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