A Trace of Death

CHAPTER FIVE

Monday

Evening

Keri drove the Prius with Ray in the passenger seat as they followed the black-and-white she’d called to transport Rivers down to the station. Keri listened quietly as Ray worked the phone.

The captain in charge of the West LA Division was Reena Beecher, but she would be notified of the situation by the head of Pacific Division’s Major Crimes Unit, Keri and Ray’s boss, Lieutenant Cole Hillman. That’s who Ray was filling in now. Hillman, or “Hammer,” as some of his underlings called him, had jurisdiction over missing persons, homicide, robbery, and sex crimes.

Keri wasn’t a huge fan. To her, Hillman seemed more interested in covering his own ass than putting it on the line to solve cases. Maybe seniority had made him soft. He had no qualms about tearing into detectives who didn’t clear their boards – their running tally of open cases. Thus the nickname “Hammer,” which he seemed to love. But to Keri’s mind he was a hypocrite who got pissed when they didn’t close cases and got pissed when they took risks to solve those very cases. Keri thought a more appropriate nickname was “asshole.” But since she couldn’t call him that, her little rebellion was to never call him by his preferred nickname either.

Keri sped through the city streets, trying keep up with the squad car in front of her. Next to her, Ray recapped for Hillman how a late afternoon call about a teen who had been missing for a couple of hours had suddenly morphed into a potentially real abduction situation involving the fifteen-year-old daughter of a US senator. He described the bail bond security video, the visit to Denton Rivers’ place (minus some details) and everything in between.

“Detective Locke and I are bringing Rivers down to the station for more questioning.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Hillman said. “What’s Keri Locke doing on this case? This is way above her pay grade, Sands.”

“She caught the call, Lieutenant. And she’s uncovered almost every lead we have so far. We’re almost to the station. We’ll fill you more then, sir.”

“Fine. I’ll be in soon myself. I have to call Captain Beecher anyway. She’s going to want a heads-up on this. I’ve ordered an all-hands in fifteen. “

He hung up without another word.

Ray turned to Keri and said, “We’ll get kicked to the curb as soon as they get a full debriefing out of us, but at least we made some progress.”

Keri frowned.

“They’re going to screw it up,” she said.

“You’re not the only good investigator in this town, Keri.”

“I know. There’s you too.”

“Thanks for the mildly condescending compliment, partner.”

“You bet,” she replied, then added, “Hillman doesn’t like me.”

“I don’t know about that. I think he just finds you a little…brash for someone with so little experience.”

“That could be it. Or he could just be an asshole. That’s okay. I don’t like him either.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he’s a toady and a paper pusher and can’t think outside the box. Also, when he passes me in the hall, his eyes don’t go above my chest.”

“Oh. Well, if you’re going to hold that against every cop who does that, you’ll be left with nothing but assholes.”

Keri looked over at him knowingly.

“Exactly,” she said.

“I’ll try not to take that personally,” he said.

“Don’t be so sensitive, Iron Giant.’

He sat quietly for a moment in the passenger seat. Keri could tell he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Finally he spoke.

“Are we going to talk about what happened back there?”

“What?”

“You know, you assaulting an underage boy.”

“Oh, that. I’d rather not. Besides, I thought you said he hit his head on the coffee table.”

“If it turns out he’s not involved in this and he files a complaint, there could be consequences.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Well, I am. Maybe it’s because we’re getting close to the anniversary. Have you called Dr. Blanc lately?”

Keri’s silence gave him his answer.

“Maybe you should,” he said softly.

Keri pulled into the Division parking lot, effectively ending the conversation.

Denton Rivers was put in an interrogation room while Keri filled out the charging complaint against him for theft of property, specifically Ashley’s cell phone. It would be enough to hold him for a few hours. By then, with any luck, they’d know more.

After that, they headed to Conference A, the big room where watch commanders doled out assignments at the start of shift. Hillman’s all-hands meeting was about to start.

When they arrived, Hillman and six of the Division’s most seasoned detectives were already waiting, including two from homicide. Ray fit right in. Keri wasn’t as confident. Right now, with all their eyes trained on her, she felt like a bug under a magnifying glass.

Don’t sabotage yourself. You belong here, too.

Lt. Cole Hillman stood up to speak. He had recently turned fifty but the deep creases in his face hinted at a man who’d been prematurely aged by the things he’d seen on the job. His salt and pepper hair had begun to recede only slightly. He had a barrel chest and a slight paunch that he tried to hide with loose-fitting shirts. It was after seven in the evening but he still wore a jacket and tie. Keri couldn’t remember ever seeing him without them.

“First of all, thank you all for coming in on such short notice. As many of you already know, this case involves Ashley Penn, the daughter of US Senator Stafford Penn. Even if he wasn’t close friends with the mayor and the governor, this would be a high priority. But he is, so the pressure is really on. We can expect assistance from our friends at the Bureau shortly. But for now, we need to proceed as if this will remain our case. My understanding is that the senator isn’t confident that this was an abduction. He thinks his daughter may be off partying somewhere. That’s possible. The video footage of her getting in that van is inconclusive. But until his suspicions are borne out, we will run every lead to ground, understand?”

Heads nodded and there was a general murmur of understanding from the assembled. Hillman continued.

“Apparently, word has spread among the students at the girl’s school, West Venice High, and this thing is already starting to blow up on social media. We’ve already received the first call from a local reporter poking around. By morning, it’ll likely be the lead story on every news outlet in the state. So let me be clear – when the media approaches you, and they will, you have no comment. No matter who’s asking the question, you refer them to the public information officer. Is that understood?”

Everyone nodded.

“Okay, good,” Hillman said. “Right now, we probably have just a few hours to work this before the Feds formally claim jurisdiction. Let’s make them count.”

With that, he tuned to Ray and said, “Detective Sands, would you please bring us all up to speed.”

Ray, leaning against a wall in the back of the room, shifted uncomfortably and said, “If it’s all the same, sir, Detective Locke broke this case and knows a lot more about it than I do. I think she’s better prepared.”

Everyone looked at Keri, who was standing next to her partner.

Hillman scowled but said, “Detective Locke, it looks like the floor is yours.”

Her chest tightened. A vision of a white van tearing down a road as her bloody feet burned flashed before her eyes for the briefest of moments.

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