Did I thank you for our bathtub date last night? Because if I didn’t: thank you. It was everything I needed after the day I had.
Archer:
No, I guess you forgot to say. Sometimes, these things slip our minds, right? You’re busy. It’s understandable.
A long, slow smile spreads across my lips.
Me:
You’re too gracious. I love you, penguin. See you tonight.
And then Sophia’s text finally comes through.
Sophia:
Who wants me dead, Chief? I need a name.
Frustrated, I lock my phone and toss it into my bag, then I lay my head back and close my eyes. Riding in the back of a rolling SUV sounds luxurious and all, but weaving down a winding hill and focusing on a tiny screen is how I make my stomach turn.
Removing my own stitches? Fine.
Slitting a man’s wrists and staging his body to ensure a certain autopsy outcome? No problem.
Messing with my inner ear and the data it sends to my brain? Absolutely not.
I exhale a heavy breath and reconsider ‘checking my communications while traveling’ in the future.
“You alright, Chief?” Harrison slows the car, bringing us around a bend gently. “Do you feel unwell?”
“Yep.” I swallow the taste of regurgitated butter and groan. “Remind me not to text and drive again.”
ARCHER
“Iwant you to talk to the on-site uniforms, Officer Clay. Gather what they know and what they saw overnight, then bring all that to Banks as quickly as you can. Relieve the night shift, and place new officers on every door. While Detective Fletcher and I are with the girls, I want absolutely no interruptions. They’re already terrified.” I stalk along the old, outdated hallway of downtown’s Riazza Hotel, Fletch on my left, and a scowling Drake trailing just two steps behind on my right. “Do you have any issues with that, Special Agent?”
Drake sucks on his teeth and wrangles his temper into submission—barely. “You can call me Detective, Detective.”
“Right. I forget sometimes.” I stop outside room 503, fully aware Agosti died in 505. So near the girls. So fucking public, especially under the watchful eye of the CCTV cameras perched at the end of the hall… at the end ofeveryhall, on every floor of this building. Fury simmers in my blood as I stare at the flashing red dot and shake my head. “Do you have an objection to you and your partner liaising with uniforms who stayed overnight, Detective Banks?”
Glaring, he sets his hands on his hips and follows my gaze. “No issues. What are you looking at?”
“Cameras.”
“Already checked the footage,” Fletch inserts helpfully, clueless to the turmoil boiling in my brain. To the things Ithink. To the things Iknow.“Not a single soul came in or out of these doors during the kill window,besides Agosti himself. He was independently mobile and lucid, no stumbling, no coercion, and without a guest. Nothing pops again until his wife exits the elevator and gains entry to their room using her keycard. She spent about a minute in the room—during which she removed her shoes—then I suppose she made her way to the bathroom and discovered the body. That’s when she came out again, screaming like a banshee.”
“I wanna see the footage again.” I peel my eyes away from the camera and around to my partner. “On the largest fucking screen we can find. How’d we do with translators overnight?”
“Very well, Detective.” Clay whips a handy little notebook open and scours the pages of handwritten notes. “We’ve established what we believe to be a mishmash of South-Eastern European languages. We’ve acquired a translator who has worked with the department in the past. She comes highly regarded and appropriately skilled.”
“Okay…” I glance along the hall, sweeping from left to right. “Where is she?”
“In the room, Detective. Jelena Miroslav, spelled with a J, but the J is silent. Also present is Gracelyn Robards. She’s an impact specialist whose role is to monitor the girls’ mental and emotional well-being. She arrived on scene approximately an hour ago.”
“Is there an officer in the room?” My pulse jumps, thundering against the inside of my chest. “Have the women been questioned yet?”
“A female officer is in the room, Detective. No one is questioning them regarding their ordeal, only about their immediate needs.”
“Alright.” I crack the door open and lower my voice. “You should stay with your rookie, Banks. Once you’ve rounded up uniforms and collected their intel, you could take another room of girls and see what you see. Fletch?”
