A Trace of Crime Read online

  He and Winchester interrogated her on the way to the station. She answered their questions mostly honestly, saying she thought that having the cavalry all arrive at once would put Tim Rainey at risk, and Jessica too if she’d been there.

  They railed at her that it wasn’t her call to make, that this was a federal case, that she’d deliberately withheld relevant information and potentially obstructed justice. She wanted to scoff at that last charge but held back, knowing it would be counterproductive.

  Instead, she repeatedly apologized, saying she thought she was doing the right thing to help keep Tim Rainey safe and realized now that it had been a mistake. By the time they got to the station, the fury inside both men seemed to have subsided.

  But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t still pursue some kind of disciplinary action. The very fact that she’d been stuck in Hillman’s office this long while he met with them in the soundproof conference room suggested things were far from peachy.

  In the bullpen, she could see the entire team standing around uncomfortably, watching the action through the conference room windows like it was a silent film. Every now and then, Ray would glance in her direction and shrug or shake his head. She knew him well but didn’t have a clue what any of his body language meant.

  Finally, the meeting broke up. Keri craned her neck to see what was happening. To her horror, she saw that it wasn’t just Hillman, Crowley, and Winchester who’d been in the meeting. It was also the two Internal Affairs detectives who’d been investigating the death of the Collector at her hands.

  And there had been one more person in the room, LAPD Chief Reena Beecher. Beecher stepped out into the hall and Keri marveled at how the veteran cop with thirty years on the force could look so regal. In her mid-fifties with blackish-gray hair tied back in a professional bun, she was tall, with a lean frame and angular facial features marked by deep worry lines. She looked like a mildly attractive hawk.

  Beecher had been captain of West LA Division when Keri joined it. Even though Keri barely knew the woman, she was aware that Beecher had been an advocate for her. Keri’s rescue of multiple children in high-profile cases had allowed Beecher to save her from disciplinary action and even suspension on more than one occasion.

  But a few months ago, Reena Beecher had been promoted to police chief of the entire Los Angeles Police Department. And while her greater authority might have seemed good for Keri on the surface, she worried that it could actually be counterproductive.

  Beecher was no longer just an advocate for officers in her division. She was responsible for the reputation of the entire force. Keri worried her actions tonight might not stand her in good stead with her guardian angel.

  Beecher left the bullpen without glancing back at Keri. That wasn’t a great sign. The look on Hillman’s face as he walked toward her reinforced her concern. He was frowning and his entire face seemed pinched, like he was in physical pain.

  He opened the door, stepped in, and closed it again quickly. Then he walked over to his desk and sat down, his eyes on the floor the whole time.

  This isn’t good. He likes to stare people into submission. But he won’t even make eye contact.

  “What’s the story, boss?” she asked in a forced, casual tone she knew wasn’t convincing.

  Finally he looked up at her and she braced for what she sensed was coming. He sighed deeply.

  “I’ll start with the good news,” he said, “because there isn’t much of it and it won’t take long. The FBI has decided not to pursue any formal action against you. Crowley likes you, despite what you did. And even that asshole Winchester seems to respect you. They know that without you, they might still be waiting for Tim Rainey to come out of his bedroom.”

  “So far, so good,” Keri said, more to buck herself up than anything else.

  “I also think they decided they didn’t need to pile on, what with everything else.”

  “Everything else?” she asked.

  “Internal Affairs is reevaluating the case involving you and the Collector, Brian Wickwire.”

  “I thought I was on the verge of being cleared,” Keri said.

  “That was the preliminary determination. And that’s why you were allowed to remain on active duty. But IA got a tip earlier today from a source claiming you went to Wickwire’s apartment after your confrontation with him and tampered with evidence.”

  “Lieutenant, I—” Keri began.

  “Don’t say anything, Locke,” Hillman interrupted. “I don’t want to know and I most certainly don’t want to be a witness. Just keep your trap shut and get in touch with your union rep. Don’t share anything with anyone besides him. And that includes your partner. He can be called to testify too.”

  “Did they say who this source is? Don’t I get to confront my accuser?” Keri knew damn well who the source was—Jackson Cave. But the question was: how had he gotten his tip to IA? Had he revealed himself? Did he contact them directly or go through an intermediary?

  “They didn’t say,” Hillman answered. “But that’s definitely something to bring up with your representative. It could be a compelling line of defense.”

  “What did Chief Beecher have to say?” Keri asked.

  “Not much she could say. You know she’s gone to bat for you more than once. She even overruled me when I wanted to suspend you after the Ashley Penn case. But this is out of her hands. If it looks like she’s covering for a vigilante cop, even one going after the guy who kidnapped her daughter…well, it’s just not politically feasible.”

  “So what does this mean?”

  “It means you’re suspended indefinitely, Keri,” Hillman said, telling her what she had already suspected. “It’ll be with pay but you won’t be able to come in until this is resolved.”

  “Can’t I just work a desk?”

  “Can’t do it—regulations. Besides, there’s no telling how long this could last.”

  “Can I at least finish out the Rainey case? I promised Tim Rainey I’d keep looking for his daughter.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Hillman said. “The suspension is effective immediately. And Keri, you know as well as I do that you shouldn’t have made that promise, suspension or not.”

  Keri wanted to tell him that it was to talk a suicidal father off a ledge but that would have required revealing that Rainey had pulled his gun, making his life even more complicated. She kept quiet.

  “And one more thing,” Hillman said, a pained expression on his face. “I’m going to need your badge and gun.”

  Without argument or delay, Keri undid her belt holster and placed it on Hillman’s desk, with the gun attached. Then she pulled out her badge and placed it beside her weapon.

  “What do I do now?”

  “Go home,” he said gently. “It’s late. Contact your union rep and set up a meeting for as soon as possible. Then go to sleep. Things will look a little better in the morning. Just view it as a much-needed vacation.”

  “So I should just kick back and have some margaritas while a girl is being held captive by a child-killing religious zealot?”

  “Keri,” he said, “just because you’re gone doesn’t mean the case is over. The FBI is on it. We’re on it. There are other skilled investigators in the world, you know.”

  “I know, but…” she started to say, but he held up his hand to stop her.

  “Besides,” he continued, “you’ve got more to focus on than just one case. This is your career at stake. It’s in real jeopardy and that’s where your attention should be for the foreseeable future. Now go home and see if you can sleep for twelve hours or so. You’re looking pretty ragged.”

  She was about to get offended at that last line when she saw Hillman crack a rare smile. He was just playfully teasing her, giving her a hard time to shake her out of her funk. That wasn’t his style. She felt a wave of emotion hit her. If Cole Hillman, the human gray cloud, was trying to make her feel better, things must be pretty bad.

  “Okay, boss,” she said q
uietly and turned for the door.

  “Hey, Locke,” he said as she started to leave, “if you tell anyone this I’ll deny it. But even with your baggage and your terrible attitude and your disregard for authority and your inability to play nice with others, you’re just about the best Missing Persons detective I’ve ever had. I hope to get you back. It’d be a shame not having you around, driving me to an early retirement.”

  “Thanks, Lieutenant,” she said, because she knew she couldn’t say more without losing it.

  She went to her desk, prepared to put all her essentials in a box before heading out. But she found that Ray had already done it for her. He was leaning against it, waiting for her.

  “I figured you wouldn’t want everybody watching while you went through all your stuff, so I packed it up for you. If I forgot anything important, let me know and I can grab it for you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “You knew I was being suspended?”

  “Not officially. But it wasn’t hard to read the body language in there. You want me to drive you to the lagoon to get your car?”

  “Sure,” she said. “Let’s get out of here. I can feel about a hundred eyes on me right now.”

  He nodded and grabbed the box of stuff. When Keri turned to leave, she found a small crowd had gathered behind her. Everybody from the unit—Kevin Edgerton, Manny Suarez, Jamie Castillo, Garrett Patterson, even Frank Brody—was standing there.

  “Not so fast,” Edgerton said. “You think you’re getting out of here without saying goodbye?”

  “It’s not permanent,” Keri insisted. “I’m just on suspension.”

  “We know,” he replied. “But we don’t give a damn. We’re sending you off right, even if it’s just for a few weeks.”

  Before she could stop him, he was wrapping his arms around her. Patterson followed. Manny Suarez shook his head with a rueful smile on his face.

  “It’s gonna be so boring without you around,” he said, pulling her in for a hug. “I guess I’m going to have to be the troublemaker now.”

  “Good luck with that,” Keri said. “Have you ever gotten a bad report? Besides, I know someone else who’s more of a frontrunner for problem child.”

  She nodded at Officer Jamie Castillo, who was standing a bit apart, her eyes tinged with wetness that she tried vainly to blink away. Keri waved her over and Jamie moved in quick to embrace her, hiding her tears by wiping her cheek on Keri’s shirt.

  “You going to pick up the mantle while I’m gone?” Keri whispered in her ear.

  Castillo nodded and pulled back a little, looking Keri square in the eye.

  “You know you’re the reason I became a cop, right? I don’t think I ever told you that.”

  Keri shook her head, dumbfounded.

  “About three years ago, a little boy went missing in my neighborhood late at night. He was four years old. His mom called nine-one-one but the cops didn’t show up for over an hour. When they finally arrived, they did cursory interviews and took a few notes. They called in backup and did a search of the area.

  “But after about a half hour without finding anything, they gave up. They told his mom that he had probably wandered off to a friend’s and would be back later. She got mad. It was after midnight, she told them. Her little boy didn’t go visiting friends in the middle of the night. But the cops didn’t want to deal with this woman who was losing her mind. They just said they’d be in touch and left. All except for one, that is.”

  Keri felt a surge of recognition, realizing she knew this story already. Her face began to turn red. Castillo ignored it and continued speaking.

  “One female uniformed officer, blonde, perky-looking but with a hard edge to her, obviously pretty junior, told her partner to go ahead, that she wanted to look around a bit more. So her partner left her there. They all did.

  “She went over to the mom and asked her for some tea. They went into the house and she talked to the mom for twenty minutes, asking questions about her son. Not just stuff like what he looked like and what he was wearing but what he liked to do, what were his favorite foods. The mom said he loved building things; that he was always pretending to create buildings with his Legos and his Tonka trucks. I know this because the window was open and I was hiding outside listening in.

  “After a while, the mom calms down and the officer said she was going to look around a bit just in case anything was missed before. She left the house and proceeded to walk the entire neighborhood for hours. I followed around behind her, making sure to keep my distance. I heard her partner on the radio. He sounded pissed that she was still out there, saying he was getting crap from the other officers and would she please let him pick her up? She told him to come help her or screw off. He didn’t come.

  “I went home after that because it was late and I was tired so I missed the rest of what happened. But from what I read later, just before dawn, she came across a construction site about a mile away. She broke through the fence lock and searched the whole area. In one half-finished building, she found a refrigerator that had toppled over on its front so that the door was facedown. There was a sound coming from inside. She rolled it over by herself and opened the fridge door.

  “The little boy was inside. He was whimpering but alive. He’d gone to the site because his mom had driven by earlier that day and he saw the construction equipment and the exposed beams and wanted to check it out. He’d climbed into the fridge for fun but it was on an uneven surface and when he closed the door, it had fallen forward, trapping him inside.

  “He’d gone missing on a Friday night. The construction crew wasn’t scheduled to return to work until Monday morning. By then, he would have suffocated for sure. But he didn’t because one cop with a hunch wouldn’t give up, even when everyone else did.

  “I thought to myself that maybe that cop could use a little more help from people who were as stubborn as she was. So I decided that day to finish getting my GED, so I could join the police academy and maybe one day help her out. And now, here I am, getting to work with her every day.”

  “How come you never told me that story?” Keri asked, not even trying to hide the tears streaming down her face.

  “I wanted to save it for when it would be the most embarrassing for you,” Jamie said, wiping her own wet cheek with the back of her hand.

  “Well, mission accomplished.”

  “I know we’ll be seeing you again real soon, Keri,” she said, giving her one last squeeze on the arm.

  Keri turned to find only one more person left to navigate. Frank Brody stood in front of her, his sauce-stained shirt untucked as usual.

  “I guess I should say something,” he muttered, “or else everyone will think I’m a real asshole.”

  “That ship has already sailed,” Ray said, grinning.

  “Shut up, Sands. I’m trying to be nice here!”

  “Yeah, shut up, Sands,” Keri agreed. “I want to hear this.”

  “Okay, Locke, let’s make this brief. I guess you’re not the worst detective I’ve ever worked with. And even though you are a massive pain in my rear who gives me a permanent headache, you have done some good around here. And even though I’ll probably be long retired before you get back, assuming you ever do, which I kind of doubt, I hope you crush those IA scumbags. Also, you have a pretty solid ass.”

  “Thank you, Franklin,” Keri said.

  And with that, she and Ray left the West Los Angeles Pacific Division police station. Keri couldn’t help but wonder if, for her, it would be the last time.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  They were almost to her place when a wave of exhaustion hit Keri.

  “Do you think you could just drop me at home?” she asked Ray. “I’m really tired. I’ll just walk over to the lagoon and get my car in the morning.”

  “Sure,” he said and pulled into the small alley behind the building that housed Keri’s apartment and the Chinese restaurant below it. It was almost 9 p.m. and the place was pretty empty althou
gh the strong smell of Kung Pao chicken still hung heavy in the air.

  Keri trudged up the stairs to her place, with Ray, carrying her box from work, right behind.

  “You can just put it on the breakfast table,” she told him. “I’ll deal with it in the morning. It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

  “You want some water?” he asked, apparently refusing to go there.

  “Sure,” she said and plopped down on the couch. Ray poured two glasses, then handed her one and sat down beside her.

  “Quite a day,” he said.

  “Quite a week,” she countered.

  “And it’s not over yet.”

  “For me it is,” she pointed out.

  “No it’s not. You’ve still got work to do. You’ve got to call your union rep for one thing.”

  “I’ll do it tomorrow, Ray. I just want to give my brain a break for one night, you know?”

  “I do,” he said.

  Keri realized that he must be completely wiped out too. She looked over at him. His eyes were closed. He looked nice that way, relaxed, as if the brutality of the world couldn’t quite touch him. She wondered how long it had been before he got used to closing his eyelid over that glass eye, how long it was before he made peace with losing a part of himself.

  “What?” he asked, somehow sensing her eyes on him.

  “Nothing,” she said, though she didn’t stop looking at him. “You’re an interesting guy, Ray Sands.”

  “How so?” he asked, opening his eyes and looking back at her.

  “Well, if I’d never met you and I saw some huge bald black guy and heard he was a former professional boxer, I don’t know that my first thought would be ‘He’s probably a finder of lost children. He reunites families. He fixes the places that are broken in the world.’ I wouldn’t have made that leap, I don’t think.”

  He sat up and looked at her, half embarrassed, half confused.