“The woman in question was gone by the time I got here.” He dipped his chin toward Mickey. “You’re going to want to take her statement. I’ll talk to you when you’re finished.”
Ignoring the sparks shooting from Mickey’s stare, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and walked into the hallway. He turned his back to the door to the apartment and called Eric.
“Hey. Did you find something?” Eric asked after he answered on the second ring.
“More like something found me,” Graham said.
“Huh?”
“I was on my way to talk to the family of the first girl who went missing, who just happens to live in the west loop close to both Miss O’Shay and the Stanleys, when I got a frantic call from Miss O’Shay.” He glanced over his shoulder. Fear and confusion played out on Mickey’s face as she talked to the cops. “She claims someone broke in and tried to kill her.”
Eric cleared his throat on the other end of the line. “Claims?”
Graham squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed a hand over the deep creases in his forehead. “When I got here, she had locked herself in her room and had a gun in her hands, but no one else was here. She says she used a taser on the back of a woman’s neck in her kitchen, but there’s no woman passed out on the floor.”
“Did you check the setting on the taser?”
“I didn’t get that far. The cops showed up. Besides, even if the cartridge confirms she shot it, it doesn’t mean she used it against an intruder. I did grab the gun she claims the woman pressed to her head. We can try to get prints and I’ll look up the registration number.” He dropped his hand and paced back and forth in the small hallway. “Her roommate called the police when she tried to get in and Mickey yelled at her to get out.”
“Did you talk to the roommate? Did she see anything?”
Annoyance flared. He should have waited to call Eric, but he’d wanted some insight. “Again, I haven’t gotten that far. She’s downstairs. I’ll talk to her while the cops take Mickey’s statement.”
“Good plan.” Eric coughed and phlegm rattled in his throat. “Did Miss O’Shay see what the woman looked like?”
“Oh my God, dude, I got here ten minutes ago. All she said was the woman had blond hair.” He took a breath and collected himself. His nerves were on edge with this case. He didn’t need to snap and take it out on his partner. “I just wanted to give you a heads up.”
“Okay. Let me know when you find out more.” A beat passed before he added, “I think you’re right about one of us needing to go to Mexico. I haven’t found Pete’s place in Chicago, but I found a house near Playa Del Carmen listed under the name Paula Montgomery.”
Graham stopped moving and searched his memory for that name. It didn’t ring a bell. “Who’s Paula Montgomery?”
“Paula is the name of Pete Bogart’s stepsister and Montgomery is his grandmother’s maiden name. We need to check it out.”
A low whistle whizzed between his teeth. “He buried that pretty good. How did you figure it out?”
“I’m that good,” Eric said with a smile in his voice before he turned serious. “I’ll go alone if you want to stay in Chicago.”
Beads of sweat broke out on the base of his neck as flashbacks of the plane plummeting toward the ground assaulted him. He couldn’t let it paralyze him. He needed to get back on the horse…or the plane. “How about you head there tomorrow and if you need me to meet you, I’ll book a flight as soon as I conduct interviews with the family? We don’t have shit to go on in Chicago. Maybe the leads in Mexico will prove more lucrative.”
“We’ve got Miss O’Shay. She might be the only lead we need.”
A brick dropped in the pit of his stomach. Eric might be right. “It shouldn’t be long before we find out. I’ll call you later.”
He clicked off, put his phone in his pocket, and started down the stairs. If Mickey’s roommate was waiting outside, he wanted to talk to her before she saw Mickey. He opened the door and blinked several times so his eyes could adjust to the evening light. It didn’t take long. It never got too dark in the city.
Only a few people lingered on the sidewalk, and it didn’t take him long to spot Mickey’s roommate. He’d never seen her before, but there was no mistaking the petite woman with raven hair wringing her hands. Her wide eyes stared at the front door to the building and he slowed his gait, approaching her slowly.
“Excuse me, are you Miss O’Shay’s roommate?”
The woman jumped and her head moved a fraction of an inch to face him. “Yes. Who are you? Is Mickey okay?” Her breaths came out in quick spurts, her words as fast as lightning.
“I’m Special Agent Graham Grassi with the FBI.”
Her wide eyes narrowed before they scanned him from head to toe. “How do I know if you’re really FBI? And why would you be here? I called the police.”
He pulled his badge and ID from his pocket and held it out for her. She studied it, and then gazed back up at him. “Okay, so you’re FBI. Where’s Mickey?”
“She’s inside giving her statement to the police. I’m sure they’ll clear you to go up and see her soon.”
