No Safe Place

by Mary Head

  When she finished, she washed her hands, grimacing at the bitterly cold water, and left the tap running as she reached up to tug open the door of the medicine cabinet. It was completely bare and she sighed again, disappointed as she snapped the door shut. There was a spare thought that she could maybe break the mirror and use one of the shards as a weapon, but she dismissed it almost immediately, sure Jackie would come inside the second he heard the glass break.

  The shower was empty as well, and there wasn’t even a curtain up. The only things the bathroom seemed to contain were a roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap, and a hand towel, and the thought that all of this had been planned flashed through her mind again. She wondered how long they’d been planning this and if she was just a random choice, or if they had picked her for a reason.

  After testing to see if the water had warmed any, she leaned down to splash some on her face, feeling marginally refreshed as she patted her skin dry with the towel before turning off the tap. Her gaze shifted to the mirror as she replaced the towel, and she stared at her reflection. She was pale and tired-looking, her long blonde hair lying limply across her shoulders, and she sighed once more as she ran her fingers through it before turning to open the bathroom door.

  Chapter 13

  A knock on his office door startled David from his work and he looked up, glancing at the clock. It was just after one; he’d been working steadily for the past three hours, the only brief distractions being Madison’s phone call, Eli’s appearance at his door, and his random trips to the coffee pot.

  The door opened before he could stand, and Harry walked in, two men trailing behind him.

  “What’s going on?” David asked, frowning a little.

  “This is Detective Blackburn, and Detective Carlson,” Harry replied, gesturing to each man in turn. “I was going to give them access to your files, and since you’re here, you can help.”

  “Right,” David murmured, remembering Detective Blackburn from the night before.

  “It’s actually good you’re here,” Blackburn said as he stepped forward. “We had some more questions we wanted to ask.”

  “Fire away,” David sighed, sitting back in his chair as he glanced at Harry where he leaned against the door frame.

  “We did talk to your daughter’s ex-boyfriend; he’s got a solid alibi. He was at work all night, verified by his boss and several co-workers.”

  “That wasn’t a question,” David muttered dryly as he stood, already too agitated to stay seated.

  Blackburn and Carlson exchanged a glance, and Harry looked down momentarily, shaking his head minutely.

  “We just thought you’d like to know. We also thought you might like to know that John McKenzie was the last person she spoke to, besides the student behind the counter in the library; he said he walked with her to the library and they talked about the paper he’d just assigned, and then said goodbye at the door.”

  David nodded as he raised a hand to the back of his neck.

  “We also talked to Madison Cartwright this morning,” Blackburn continued. “Why didn’t you mention last night that Richard Norton tried to rape your daughter last year?”

  David looked up sharply, meeting Blackburn’s cool gaze.

  “I didn’t think about it,” David said, noticing Harry’s deep frown at what was, for him, new information. “It was a year ago, she took care of it, and he never bothered her again. She wasn’t hurt, and she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. She let it go, and so did I.”

  “You just let it go.”

  Blackburn’s expression was skeptical, and David felt his temper flare.

  “My daughter knows how to take care of herself, and I trust her judgment. How is this at all pertinent to Hannah’s disappearance? Did he have something to do with this?”

  “No, it appears he moved to Colorado last summer.”

  David felt something beginning to unravel inside of him. “So why –”

  “Agent Cole,” Blackburn interrupted, with what looked like a vague expression of satisfaction on his face, “we have to ask about your whereabouts last night.”

  David’s jaw clenched. “You can’t be serious.”

  “It’s standard, sir. You of all people should know –”

  “You think I had something to do with my daughter’s disappearance?” David asked, his voice rising as he stared between the two detectives. Blackburn still looked irritatingly smug, but Carlson was beginning to look uncomfortable.

  “Agent Cole,” Harry said firmly. “You know what this is, just answer the question.”

  “I was here!” David shouted. “Until seven o’clock. You can ask Agent Grayson, and you can check any of the one thousand god damn security cameras in this place. I clocked out at seven, rode with Agent Grayson down to the parking garage, saw her to her car, and then went home.”

  There was a tense silence, filled only by the sound of Blackburn’s pen scratching in his notepad, and then a quiet, “Thank you,” once he’d finished.

  “I know we asked if your daughter had any enemies,” he said when he looked up, “but do you?”

  David stared at them incredulously, his gaze flicking to Harry before returning to the detective.

  “Do I have enemies?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “Of course I have enemies!” He turned towards the filing cabinets which lined the wall behind his desk, and yanked open the first drawer which extended about three feet out from the cabinet and was filled to overflowing with manila folders. “Do you want to go alphabetically or chronologically?”

  “Sir, all of these questions are standard,” Blackburn said with a bite of impatience. “If you could cooperate –”

  “I would love to cooperate,” David said, stepping around his desk, “but don’t stand there asking me stupid questions. You know what I do for a living, so don’t ask me if I have enemies, assume that I do and ask to see my files.”

  “Agent Cole –” Harry began, but was interrupted when Blackburn spoke again.

  “Agent Cole, has it occurred to you that your daughter could have just run off? Maybe she met some guy –”

  “– and what, broke her own laptop, made a mess of the living room, left her purse behind, broke a glass, cut herself, and broke the window in the back door?” David said in disbelief, his anger, already so close to the surface, rising quickly.

  “Maybe you don’t know your daughter as well as you think you do.”

  Before he knew what he was doing, David shoved the detective against the wall, ignoring Harry’s shout as he pressed his arm to the other man’s neck.

  “Don’t you dare suggest that Hannah left of her own free will, and don’t you dare suggest that I don’t know my daughter,” he hissed, his face inches from Blackburn’s.

  “Agent Cole!” Harry shouted again, yanking David back.

  David held his hands up, shrugging off Harry’s grip as Blackburn stepped away from the wall, and opened his mouth to apologize when Blackburn spoke again.

  “Anger issues, Agent Cole?” he said, scowling as he adjusted his shirt.

  “Look –” David began, but Blackburn cut him off again.

  “Maybe that’s why she left,” he said quietly, staring intently at David.

  David stared back, confused. “Excuse me?”

  “Maybe you got angry one too many times. Maybe she got tired of you pushing her around, tired of hiding the bruises –”

  “Excuse me?” David repeated angrily. “I have never laid a hand on her.”

  “If I had a nickel for every time I heard that,” Blackburn said with a sneer.

  David started forward again but Harry caught him in the chest, forcing him back.

  “That’s it,” he said, his voice hard as he stared at Blackburn. “This is now an FBI case. I want everything from your investigation so far, and I’ll be speaking to your CO.”

  A tense moment passed, and then Blackburn strode quickly from the room, leaving Carlson behind.

  The young
detective shook his head. “I’m sorry about him. I’ll make sure you get everything you need.” This was directed at Harry, and then Carlson looked at David. “And I hope you find your daughter.”

  David gave a quick jerk of his head, still too angry to speak, and Carlson tipped them a short nod before walking from the office.

  Harry turned to face David and raised a hand to cut him off before he could even open his mouth.

  “Don’t think for a second you’re getting lead on this,” he said sternly.

  “Harry –”

  “David, you cannot investigate your own daughter’s kidnapping,” Harry said, his tone exasperated. “That’s pretty much the definition of conflict of interest. I’m giving it to Tyler.”

  David stared incredulously at Harry. “He’s never led an investigation before!”

  “He’s one of the best agents we have, next to you,” Harry said in a low, firm voice, “whether you choose to see it or not.”

  “Harry –” David began again, and was again cut off.

  “Who else would you give it to?” Harry asked, staring intently at David, and then shook his head. “Agent Tyler is not some rookie fresh from Quantico. He’s been an agent for six years, four of them spent here, and I believe he’s more than capable of handling this. That’s my decision. You have to trust us, David.”

  Harry looked at David a moment longer, and then turned and walked from the office, closing the door behind him.

  David stood still, staring into empty space, feeling as though he was on some spinning carnival ride and he couldn’t quite figure out which way was up.

  It was a few minutes before he settled numbly into his chair, staring blankly at his computer screen, and a few more minutes before he sat up to continue working.

  ◊◊◊

  Another couple of hours passed until there was a knock at his door. David wearily pushed his chair back and stood to answer it.

  Chris was on the other side, his expression apologetic as he looked at David.

  “Hey, I know you’re busy, but there’s a man here, says he wants to talk to you about something to do with Hannah. I left him at my workstation in case you didn’t want to see him –”

  “No, I’ll talk to him,” David said quickly, stepping back to his desk to grab his phone before following Chris through the halls to his cubicle.

  There was a file on Chris’s desk, and David glanced at it warily, knowing it was the file the Arlington police had begun to put together on Hannah. His fingers itched to grab it and thumb through it, but instead he turned his attention to the man who had stood upon David’s entrance. David recognized him from the house across the street from his own, though he didn’t immediately recall his name.

  “Mr. Cole,” he said, extending his hand as he stepped forward. “Mike Pratt, from across the street.”

  David nodded as he shook the man’s hand. They rarely spoke, but David knew that the big German Shepherd he owned was one of the very few dogs that Hannah liked.

  “You wanted to talk to me?”

  “I heard about what happened to your daughter, I’m so sorry. She’s such a sweet girl, and Duke loves her –”

  “What did you want to tell me?” David interrupted, not wanting to think about how much Hannah enjoyed playing with the large, but gentle, dog.

  “I don’t know if this really means anything, which was why I wanted to talk to you first before I went to the police, but the past couple weeks or so, I’ve been noticing a van on the street, white, I think.”

  David stared at the man, hands tensing at his sides as his heart began to beat faster.

  “At first I thought it had to do with the renovations on that house at the end of the block, but then I noticed it was there even after the crew had left for the day. So then I started thinking it belonged to a friend of someone, maybe even someone you or your daughter knew, but then last night –” He paused, eyeing David almost as though he were afraid to continue, and then took a breath. “I saw it again early yesterday evening, when I was coming home from work. It was gone the next time I looked and I didn’t really think twice about it until I heard what happened. Now – now I think it might belong to the people who took her.”

  David was silent a moment, his hands tight on his hips as he tried, and slowly failed, to keep his anger in check.

  “So let me get this straight,” he began quietly, his eyes trained on the floor. “For at least two weeks now, you’ve been noticing a suspicious van parked on our street –”

  “I didn’t think it was suspicious at the time –”

  “For two weeks you’ve seen this van, and you didn’t say anything? To anybody? Even knowing what I do for a living?”

  “I know you’re upset –” Pratt began, raising a hand, but David cut him off.

  “I can’t imagine why that would be!” he shouted, taking a step forward, and though the other man was significantly larger than David, he took a step back. “My daughter is missing, and you come in here and tell me something that could have possibly prevented it? How did you think I was going to feel?”

  “Look, I only came here because I thought this would help,” Pratt said, his face reddening as he stared at David.

  “Oh, yeah, a vague description of a van you saw for two fucking weeks, that you think was white, that’s just –” He broke off, taking another step forward, and then felt Chris’s hand on his arm and heard the other agent say his name.

  Shaking off Chris’s hand, he spun abruptly and stalked from the small cubicle. He hadn’t gotten very far before he heard quick footsteps behind him.

  “David –” Chris started, and David turned as he felt his fingers grip the sleeve of his jacket.

  “Leave it, Chris,” he snapped.

  “He was just trying to help,” Chris said firmly, pointing a stabbing finger in the direction of his workstation.

  “That’s not help,” David spat, “that’s bullshit. This is your first big boy case, Chris; it’s time for you to learn the difference.”

  People were beginning to stare, stopping whatever they were doing to watch the two men, though neither Chris nor David seemed to notice or care.

  “I get that you’re pissed,” Chris said in a low voice, raising his eyebrows. “I am too. We all are. There’s not a person in this office that doesn’t like Hannah, and everyone’s upset over what happened –”

  “Don’t even begin to compare your feelings to mine,” David said, staring incredulously at Chris.

  “I’m not, I’m just saying –”

  “Don’t bother,” David snarled, shaking his head as he started to turn away.

  Chris reached for David’s arm again, trying to pull him back. “David, wait.”

  “Leave me alone,” David said in a warning tone, jerking his arm from Chris’s grip.

  “Just wait –”

  “I said, leave me alone!” David shouted, whirling on Chris and shoving him hard, sending him stumbling backward against a desk.

  Chris stared at him, stunned, and David started to take a step towards him when a hand appeared out of nowhere, forcing David against the wall. Harry stood in front of him, staring imposingly down at him, and David stared back, his chest heaving.

  “You’re done, David,” Harry said quietly.

  “Harry –”

  “No,” Harry said sharply. “That’s it. Go home. Take a long weekend, and we’ll see how things look on Monday.”

  David looked past Harry to Chris, who had straightened and was staring back, his expression a mix of anger and bewilderment. Juliet was next to him, one hand on his arm as she looked at David, her eyebrows knitted together, and Eli was behind her, standing with a group of agents, all of them wearing almost identical shocked expressions.

  David could feel his anger beginning to ebb, and he nodded wearily. Harry took a step back, removing his hand from David’s chest, and David turned away, starting for his office.

  There was a low murmur as the agents gathered bega
n to disperse, and then David heard the rapid thud of heels behind him.

  “David,” Juliet said softly, placing a tentative hand on his arm. He turned to face her, shaking his head as he placed one hand on his hip.

  “He’s right,” David murmured. “I have to get out of here.”

  “What’re you gonna do?”

  “They’ve cleared the house, so I’ll just pick my things up from your place and go –” He hesitated, taking a breath before finishing his sentence, “– and go home.”

  “What can I do?” Juliet asked, still feeling guilty about that morning and desperate to help.

  David looked at her for a minute and then glanced up, checking to see if anybody was listening.

  “Get copies of the case file, the labs, and whatever Arlington PD got, and bring them to the house when you get off tonight,” he said quietly. “And bring some of my case files from the last two years, and maybe a few. . . extras. You know the ones I mean.”

  Juliet smirked. “Your biggest fans?”

  David nodded, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. “Yeah, something like that.”

  Juliet stared at him uncertainly for a moment before giving a quick nod. “Okay. I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Thanks, Jules,” David murmured, the corner of his mouth lifting in a hint of a smile before he turned away from her to continue to his office.

  Chapter 14

  When the cab pulled into the driveway behind Hannah’s car, David thanked the driver as he passed the fare over the seat, and then pushed open the door and got out, tugging his bag behind him. He’d thought about asking to borrow Juliet’s car as he was leaving work, but he didn’t want to deprive her of her car when he could just as easily take a cab, as he’d done that morning. He didn’t know if home was where he wanted to be, but he couldn’t stay at work and he wasn’t going to ride around town in a taxi.

  The cab backed down the driveway as David started up to the house, and he kept his eyes on the ground to avoid having to look at Hannah’s car.