3 The Chain of Lies (12 page)

“Emily,” Colin said tenderly as he put his hand gently under her chin and lifted her face, kissing her cheek where a tear had trickled down. “I can have potatoes anywhere, any time. The only thing I want tonight is you.” He encircled her with his strong arms and held her close.

They stood in each other’s arms for a prolonged moment.

“Sorry to be such a cry baby.” She leaned her head against his chest and listened to the beat of his heart, feeling safe in his arms. “I’m so glad to have you back.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” He lightly kissed the tip of her nose and let her go.

Colin poured two goblets of red wine and took them out to the deck. Emily plated the dinner and carried the dishes to the patio table.

“Mmm, the ribs look amazing. I didn’t know you knew how to barbecue ribs.”

“I don’t. Remember your suggestion for take-out?”

Colin laughed. “Either way, they look delicious.” He licked his lips and grinned at her.

“Maybe later we can have dessert.”

Colin’s eyes perked up.

“Down boy. I meant Camille’s chocolate torte.”

~*~

After dinner, they went inside and settled on the sofa. He stretched his arm across the back of the couch and she curled into the curve of his arm. They talked about his starting his job again as the detective for the Paradise Valley Police Department, about some of the cases she had been working on, and what they hoped for the future.

She reminded him of the story she had previously shared about the Asian girl she and Molly had found crying in the restroom of the hotel and the suspicions they had that maybe the girl wasn’t just a rebellious teenager, but something far worse.

“Let’s not talk about prostitution rings my first night back.” Colin kissed the side of Emily’s temple. “This evening is about us.”

“Yes, you’re right. No more shop talk tonight.” She smiled and looked up into his eyes and put her hand gently on his cheek.

He dipped his head down and kissed her softly. “I’m so glad to be back.”

Before she could respond, he moved in for another kiss, this time more forceful, more urgent than the last. His arm came off the back of the sofa and drew her closer to him, pressing her body against his.

Colin’s cell phone began to ring. Emily started to pull away so he could answer it. “Leave it,” he said. “They can leave a message if it’s important.” He kissed her again.

After five rings it stopped, but only momentarily. Again it began to ring, but he did not try to answer it, instead letting it go to voicemail. However, the third time the ringing started, Colin looked at Emily and shrugged apologetically. He dug the phone out of his pocket.

“Hello, Colin Andrews.”

“Colin, this is Ernie.”

“Hey, Ernie.” He looked at Emily, with one arm still around her, as she listened to his side of the conversation. “This isn’t a good time to talk.”

Ernie was an older officer that had temporarily taken over as detective while Colin was on his leave of absence. He had been a friend of the Andrews family for a long time and had helped Colin secure the job in Paradise Valley in the first place.

“I’m not calling just to chat, boy, I need your help. I know you’re not officially starting back as police detective until tomorrow, but we have a situation.”

Colin disengaged his arm from Emily and stood up. “What is it?”

“A guy walking along the green belt by the river found a dead body.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, about an hour ago. A young Asian woman, maybe fifteen to twenty years old, beaten pretty badly.”

Colin’s gaze shot to Emily and she stood up and listened.

“Where’s the guy that found her?”

“In the back of my vehicle. I thought you’d want in on this.”

“You’re at the scene?”

“Yeah.”

“And the body?”

“The medical examiner and the CSI team just arrived. They’re going over the area where the body was found. We have the place cordoned off.”

“Don’t let them touch the body until I get there.”

“The doc doesn’t always listen to me, but I’ll do my best.”

“We’re on our way.”

“We?”

“I’m at Emily’s.”

“You sure you want to bring her down here? It’s pretty grizzly.”

“As if you think I could stop her.”

Ernie snickered. “Guess you’re right about that, boss.”

CHAPTER 11

“What body?” Emily pleaded.

Colin hung up his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. “Grab your shoes, we have to go.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, slipping into her flats by the front door and grabbing a jacket from the hall closet.

“The body of a young female was found by the river—Asian, Ernie said. I’ll fill you in on the drive over.” He held the door open for her.

“Oh, Colin, no.” Emily gasped as she crossed the threshold. She felt her chest constricting as she envisioned the scene in her mind, wondering if it could be the girl from the hotel restroom.

As they drove, Colin relayed what Ernie had told him on the phone. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, but let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?” Emily questioned, crossing her arms as she frowned at him.

“The prostitution ring?”

“You say
prostitution ring
like those girls have any choice in the matter. Call it what it is—a sex slave ring.”

“Maybe, but we need to check the facts first. This could be totally unrelated.”

Emily crossed her arms tighter and sat silently, her eyes staring straight ahead. Her thoughts went back to the night she and Molly happened upon the girl, crying in the restroom. She hoped the dead female was not the one from the hotel. If she had known then what she knew now, or what she thought she knew, perhaps there was something more she could have done to rescue her.

But how could she have known? It looked like a spat between mother and daughter, much like the ones she’d had with her own mother. And, in fact, that might still be the case.

Emily could see emergency lights flashing up ahead. Colin turned onto a road that led to a small parking lot near the entrance to the green belt that ran for miles along the Boise River. Several police cars, a body retrieval vehicle, and the CSI van crowded the area. Yellow crime scene tape was strung between trees and benches to cordon off the area from curious bystanders.

Abruptly parking his Jeep, Colin and Emily jumped out and rushed to the scene. He ducked under the tape and held it up for Emily to squeeze under, and they headed directly to the body, still in the water.

Dr. Walters was standing on the bank, bending over, trying to get a better look at the body bobbing in the river.

“Hey, Doc. What do we have?” Colin asked as he came to stand next to him.

The white-haired medical examiner straightened and glanced over at him. “Hello, Colin. I heard you were coming back.”

“Just in time, I see.”

Emily walked up and stood next to Colin.

“Hello, Ms. Parker. You helping with this case?”

“Possibly,” Emily responded, glancing over at Colin.

“What can you tell me, Doc?” Colin asked.

“The body appears to be that of a young woman, maybe late teens. She looks like she’s been beaten. Other than that, I can’t tell you too much until we get her out of the water.”

“Ernie!” Colin turned and shouted, getting the officer’s attention. “Can you and the boys pull the body out of the water?”

Ernie waved his acknowledgement and stepped off to gather his guys. Several officers had to wade waist deep in the water in order to pull the body out. With Ernie’s seniority, he managed to stay on the riverbank and he looked quite relieved to be doing so. They carried the dead girl a few yards and hoisted her up onto an awaiting gurney, readied by the CSIs with an opened black-vinyl body bag.

Emily followed the men and the body as they wrestled it into the open bag. When the officers backed away, she stepped in and studied the girl’s face, relieved that even with the bruising she could tell it was not the girl from the hotel.

Colin and the doc stood across the gurney from Emily.

“Just like I thought,” Dr. Walters confirmed as he did a cursory exam, “beaten pretty badly, but I won’t know cause of death until I get her back to the morgue for autopsy. She does have signs of drug use, so I’ll have to run a tox screen, get her blood work, see what comes back.”

“Is rape a possibility, Doc?” Emily piped in.

“I can’t say just yet, Ms. Parker, but I’ll do that exam when I get her back to my lab. As soon as I’m done, I’ll get the results to Colin. I can tell you one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” Colin asked.

“My CSI, Jackson, says it doesn’t look like she was killed here—no signs of struggle. Looks like the body was dumped in the river and she caught on some thick branches in the water. That’s where the guy found her, bobbing in the river where the officers pulled her out.”

“That’s good to know,” Colin replied.

Dr. Walters zipped the dark plastic body bag shut over the young woman and motioned to the body retrieval team to take her away.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I come up with something.” Dr. Walters picked up his medical bag and turned to walk away. “Glad to have you back, Andrews,” he called out over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Doc,” Colin replied before turning his attention to Emily. “I’m going to have one of the officers take you home.”

“I want to stay,” she argued.

“I’m going to be here for a while, interviewing the man who found the body, talking to the CSIs and stuff. There’s no need for you to be here. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“But I want to stay.”

“Not this time, Emily, please.”

She wanted to make her case to stay, but she could see there was no point in arguing about it. Colin had a job to do and it needed his full attention. “Okay, okay, you win. As much as I hate to, I’ll go home.”

“Thank you.” He looked in her eyes, then leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before he turned to call for a ride. “Hey, Ernie,” he shouted to his man, who came running, “can you get one of the guys to give Emily a ride home?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

~*~

Emily went home, did a sweep of her little house, and checked the locks on her doors and windows. Feeling safe and alone, she made herself a cup of tea and crawled into bed to read a mystery novel.

She’d hoped the book would take her mind off Colin and the dead girl, but she couldn’t get the ghastly image of the girl’s pale, beaten, and lifeless body out of her mind. She read the same page over and over again, finding her mind drifting away from what she was reading, wondering what happened to that girl—and the one from the hotel restroom. Could they be connected?

Unable to sleep, she decided to check the GSP tracker to see what Jethro was up to. She checked the history of his movements since she attached the tracking device that afternoon. It showed him going back to his condo, making a stop along the way, probably at a store, then later taking a route down her street.

Then that must have been him out there before Colin arrived.

Emily checked his movements after leaving her street and saw he had gone back to his place. The vehicle had not moved since.

Exhausted, she climbed back in bed and decided to try to get some sleep. Her cell phone buzzed on the nightstand, and she saw she’d gotten a text from Camille reminding her of the football party the following afternoon.

She turned off the light and snuggled down under the covers. The phone buzzed again. She picked it up and read another text. This time it was from Colin.
Sweet dreams. I love you.

She texted back,
I love you more.

~*~

Early the following morning, Colin phoned Emily as promised. He filled her in on all the details of the night before—as much as he legally could. The interview with the man who found the body basically stated that he was walking by and spotted it in the water. Colin’s conversation with the CSIs gave him little more than possible tire tracks and squishy footprints in the mud, for which they agreed to cast molds. They would have to wait for Dr. Walters’ autopsy and blood test results to know more.

As his first official day back, Colin explained he needed to head into the office early and meet with the Chief of Police. Even though it was Saturday, he was back on the job and wanted to get his office set up.

He chuckled. “I hope Ernie hasn’t changed it around too much since I left.” Then he promised to pick her up in time to take her to Camille and Jonathan’s football party.

After seeing Jethro at lunch the day before, Emily had been thinking about the gun Evan had hidden in the safe deposit box. She remembered their first meeting, along with Isabel, when Emily had asked Jethro a
hypothetical
question about what she should do if she found a gun. He suggested she give it to him to have the Feds run it through ballistics to see if it matched any open cases they had. If not, then they would turn it over to the local police.