Justice Served (28 page)

Lilly frowned. “I don’t think so. They talked, they ate. We were busy. Friday nights are like that.”

Rebecca sensed Mitchell growing restless beside her, but she kept her own posture and expression relaxed. Witnesses frequently didn’t realize how much they truly knew, and if they felt pressured, they often forgot or fabricated. Neither was desirable, especially not now, when they had so little to go on. “Do you remember any customers acting strangely right about that time—say, leaving without finishing their meal?”

“There
was
one like that!” Lilly exclaimed, her eyes bright. “He ordered but didn’t eat. Left too much money on the counter because the check wasn’t ready.”

“What time was this?” Mitchell asked calmly.

“Just after two, I think.”

Mitchell’s heart jumped into overdrive. “Did he talk to them?”

Lilly shook her head. “No. No one did, or at least I didn’t see.”

“What about your waitresses? Would they have noticed?” Rebecca asked.

“My children. They were working last night. I could wake them.”

“No,” Rebecca said, “not right now. We may want to talk to them later, if that’s all right.” Questioning the kids would take too long, and what they needed now was an idea of where Sandy might have gone. Finding out who might have gone after her could wait.

“Anything else you can think of? Anything that was at all different.”

Lilly started to shake her head again, then stopped. “Sandy gave me money at the table, not up front at the register like usual. I don’t remember seeing the girls leave.”

Rebecca’s eyes narrowed. “Back door?”

“Maybe,” Lilly agreed. “The fire door is back by the restrooms. They could have left that way.”

“Thanks,” Rebecca said. “Sorry to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” Lilly called after them.

As they hurried down the sidewalk, Rebecca said, “There’s an alley that runs behind this row of storefronts. Let’s check it out.”

“Okay. Right.” Mitchell spun away, only to be jerked to a halt by Rebecca’s hand on her shoulder again.

“Take it easy. There’s probably no one still around, even if he did follow them out the back. But keep your head on straight.” Rebecca waited, watching, knowing that now was the moment that would define Mitchell’s future.

Mitchell took a deep breath and thought back to the months and years of training that had been part of a career she had tried hard to forget. This was the war and these streets the battlefield that she had spent a lifetime preparing for. Her mission was now, and nothing would ever matter more. The roaring in her head grew still. Her heart rate slowed, her vision cleared. The faint trembling in her hands dissipated. She turned and met her lieutenant’s eyes. “Yes, ma’am. I’m fine.”

“Good. You approach from the north, and I’ll come in from the south. We’ll check the alley directly behind Chen’s first, and if there’s nothing there, we’ll follow their most likely path.”

“Understood.”

Five minutes later they met again beside the unmarked brown metal door that was only identifiable as Chen’s service entrance by the crates of moldering vegetable remains stacked by the nearby dumpster.

“Nothing,” Rebecca said flatly. “Where would they likely head for?”

“Jesus,” Mitchell muttered, rubbing her face. “If they were done talking, Sandy would either check out the strip or come home.”

“If she thought they were being followed, she’d want to shake him pretty fast,” Rebecca mused. She turned, orienting herself in the narrow, dank alley, trying to put herself in the place of two frightened girls. “At 2:30 in the morning, the only activity around here is on South Street. It’s the only place they might be able to blend in with other people on the street.” She pointed west. “And if they were trying to make it to the strip, they’d go that way. I’ll take this direction, you head toward the river. Just in case I’m wrong.”

“What about backup?” Mitchell asked.

“No point yet. You have your cell?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll check in with you every five minutes. Call me sooner if you find something.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

*

Rebecca walked quickly, eyes scanning both sides of the narrow thoroughfare. All of the business establishments were closed, and it was too early for deliveries, so she was alone. City smells accosted her: gasoline, garbage, and an occasional hint of someone’s breakfast. It was fall, and the morning was cold. She left her jacket open for easy access to her weapon. She didn’t think about Catherine. She didn’t think about Sandy. She thought about where a young girl running for her life might go. Her cell phone rang. It was three minutes before the next check-in time with Mitchell. She looked at the number on the readout as she pulled the phone from her belt. Her hand never wavered, but her stomach tightened painfully.

“Frye.”

Mitchell’s voice came through clear, surprisingly steady, surprisingly normal, except for the absolute absence of inflection.

“I’ve got a body.”

*

Don’t touch anything
, the lieutenant had said.
Secure the scene
, she had said.

Mitchell moved mechanically, instructing one of the uniforms who had arrived within minutes to cordon off each end of the alley with yellow crime scene tape, advising the other to start canvassing for witnesses. It was the first time she’d officially acted as a detective, and she didn’t feel a thing. No pride, no arrogance, no nerves. Nothing. She didn’t feel anything.

“Mitchell.”

“Ma’am,” Mitchell said reflexively, turning toward the sound of Rebecca’s voice. Funny, how just that little bit of movement made her dizzy. The lieutenant had an odd expression on her face—a searching, almost tender look.

“What do you have?”

“Female…” Mitchell’s voice died and she frowned. Coughed. Tried again. Odd, how much her throat hurt all of a sudden. “Female victim. Behind the dumpster. Down the alley.”

“Show me.” Rebecca ducked under the tape and put her hand in the center of Mitchell’s back. The muscles beneath her fingers were as hard as stone. Rivulets of sweat ran from beneath Mitchell’s hair, soaking the collar of her leather jacket. “Are you certain she’s dead?”

“Has to be.” Mitchell moved forward in measured steps, stiff legged and disjointed, far from her usual fluid stride. “So much blood.”

“Did you touch her?” Rebecca’s question was soft, her tone nearly gentle.

“No, ma’am. I saw…I saw an arm. The jacket.” Mitchell laughed, a short, broken sound. “That stupid jacket. I told her it wasn’t warm enough. She never listens.” She stopped abruptly fifteen feet from a green commercial dumpster. “There was blood everywhere. He shot her. He shot her in the head.” She shivered violently. “Oh Christ.”

From where she stood, Rebecca could see only part of the body. A pale, open-fingered hand extended from the sleeve of a bright red vinyl jacket. A shoe, its strap torn loose from the cheap plastic sole, lay abandoned close by. Part of a leg in shiny black satin. A thick spreading puddle that could only be blood. She’d seen it before. Hundreds of times. Smelled the scent of death, felt the hopelessness and despair. This time, rage rode hard through her. Even as her fury mounted, her mind grew ever clearer, her heart colder.

“I want someone knocking on every door on both sides of this street for three blocks in every direction. Someone heard the shot—I want their name. No one interviews them but me. No one comes down this alley until the crime scene techs have cleared it. I want Flanagan. No one else.” She angled her body between the victim and Mitchell. “I want you out of here. Go to Sloan’s. Wait for me there.”

“I want to see her.” Mitchell’s eyes were bleak, barren wounded things. “I didn’t… earlier. I saw the jacket. The blood. I can’t leave her here.”

“No. You go now. Do you understand?”

“Please. Please, Lieutenant.”

Rebecca hesitated, considered what she would need to do if it were…the pain struck so swiftly she gasped. Jesus. She gripped Mitchell’s arm and stepped close enough to her so that no one from the street could see them. This was Mitchell’s private hell, and there would be no witnesses.

“Come on.”

Together, they moved within three feet of the body and squatted down. With practiced, cool efficiency, Rebecca surveyed the scene. The victim lay on her stomach, face turned away. She’d almost certainly been running and he’d caught her from behind, spun her around, and put the gun in her face. The exit wound told Rebecca that. There was so much blood even her hair color was obscured. A purse lay not far away, partially open, the clasp probably having been sprung from the force of the fall. Rebecca considered going through it, and then decided that Flanagan would shred her skin from her bones if she did. Beside her, Mitchell moaned.

“All right,” Rebecca said sharply, starting to rise. “That’s it. You’re out of here.”

“No. No no no,” Mitchell intoned.

“Detective, I said—”

“There’s a tattoo on her ankle.”

“What?” Rebecca looked back down at the body, at the small rose tattoo just behind her ankle bone.

Mitchell stood swiftly, every drop of color bleached from her skin. “That’s not Sandy.”

Without another word, Mitchell pivoted sharply, marched directly to the end of the alley, and ducked under the crime scene tape. She made it another ten feet down the street before she leaned against a lamp post and vomited into the street. A dozen cops saw her. No one laughed.

“Here you go, kid. Drink some of this.”

Mitchell leaned against the lamppost, eyes still closed, laboring to get her system under control. She still felt dizzy, her stomach rolled dangerously, and her heart skittered crazily in her chest. She inclined her head in Watts’s direction but did not yet open her eyes. “In a minute.”

“Sure. Sure. Just take your time.”

“What are
you
doing here?” Mitchell finally rasped, taking the can of soda he offered. “Thanks.”

“The Loo called and said we had a situation. I pulled up just as you were…uh…well.”

“Yeah. Nice show for all the uniforms,” Mitchell said bitterly.

“Fuck them,” Watts said emphatically. “And you owe me two bucks. I used my last quarter in the machine over there getting that soda for you.”

“I’ll buy you a six-pack.”

“Fair enough.” Watts hunched his shoulders in his shapeless sports coat. “Fucking freezing out here. So…I guess the scene’s pretty rough, huh?”

Mitchell took a mouthful of the tasteless but heavily carbonated liquid, rinsed her mouth, and spit it out into the gutter. Then she drained the rest of the can in one long swallow. “Yeah. You could say that.”

“What’s the story?”

“Looks like someone got Trudy.”

“Fuck.” Watts stiffened as if someone had poked him with a sharp stick. “Where’s Sandy?”

“I don’t know,” Mitchell said hoarsely. “At first I thought it was her…down there.”

 Watts extended a hand and touched her arm tentatively. “You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, kid. Everyone loses their lunch sooner or later.”

Mitchell gave him a grateful smile. “Well, I’m glad I’m running true to form.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and looked past him toward the crime scene van that had just pulled up. “Flanagan’s here.”

 “Well, I better give the Loo a hand. Why don’t you take a brea—”

“No, I’m fine.” To prove it, Mitchell took a tentative step, glad to discover that her still-shaking legs were functional. “There’s a lot of work still to do, and—”

A commotion at the end of the block caught her attention, and she heard, “Let me through! I need to get through.”

Then a deep male voice gave a shout of surprise, a splash of pale pink amidst the dark blue uniforms flashed into view, and Mitchell took off running.

“Lemme
go
!” Sandy yanked her arm from the viselike grip of the officer who tried to restrain her and rocketed down the sidewalk.

“Sandy!” Mitchell caught her around the waist and engulfed her in a near-suffocating embrace. “Jesus. Sandy. Sandy. God.”

“Whoa, rookie.” Sandy tried to squirm free, but failed. Then something about the vehemence of Mitchell’s reaction penetrated her haze of anger and fear, and she stopped struggling. Instead, she slipped a hand around the back of Mitchell’s neck and caressed her. “Take it easy, baby. What’s the matter? Dell? You’re shaking all over.”

Mitchell buried her face in Sandy’s neck, afraid for anyone to see her face.

Shocked, Sandy rocked back. In a low, gentle voice, she asked, “Baby, what? Why are you crying?”

“She’s wearing your jacket.” With one arm around Sandy’s shoulder, Mitchell turned her back to the group of curious cops and swiped her sleeve across her face. “Come on,” she said, walking Sandy further down the sidewalk out of earshot. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you?”

“Who? No. Trudy never came back, and I…What about my jacket?” Sandy’s eyes widened. “Trudy has my jacket. I went straight to the diner from Chen’s, but she said she had something to do first. It was so cold, and she didn’t have a coat. I waited an extra hour, but she never came.”