“But that isn’t really stellar police work. You still have no idea who killed either of them. You don’t have any suspects. You just have a couple of ideas about who might’ve done it.”
Eliana leaned back in the chair. “I had the impression that cops didn’t want civilians doing police work for them. Making them look bad.”
“I don’t think there’s any danger you’ll make us look bad.” Maloney smirked. “But at least you tried.”
Eliana shrugged one shoulder. “I probably just need to put more effort into it.”
Wallace shifted his weight, an uncomfortable expression on his face.
“So you do want to follow in your parents’ footsteps.” Maloney seemed so convinced she knew how things were.
Eliana wasn’t going to try to alter Maloney’s preconceived notions, so she stood. “I have to get back to work. Unless you need any actual information from me.”
“We needed to know where you’re at with this. Since you keep finding yourself in the middle of things.” Maloney glanced at her watch.
“Seems like you can decide for yourselves what I think just fine. You don’t need my help with that.” She went to the door.
“Ms. Jaxton,” Wallace called out.
She tossed her empty water bottle in the trash and turned back to him. “Something else?”
“When was the last time you saw or heard from Carolena Diaz?”
Eliana flinched. “Why Carolena?”
“Just answer the question,” Maloney said.
Eliana glanced between them while the clock on the wall ticked. “She didn’t come into work today, did she?” No sign of her this morning. “She was in the cafeteria…the other day when everything went crazy on the streets with those canisters. I told her to stay put, but I didn’t see her later. I actually don’t know where she went after that.” She shook her head. “Is Carolena missing? Or did something happen to her?”
Maloney took a couple of steps toward her. “That was the last time you saw your friend? You didn’t call her later that day to see how she was? Things were pretty crazy, like you said.”
Pretty crazy was about right.
“Is she dead? Did the same thing happen to her?” Eliana’s stomach clenched.
“So far she’s just missing,” Wallace offered, along with a pushing motion of his hand.
Eliana bit her lip. “And the department has you working her case and the other two murders?”
Maloney looked at Wallace, who said, “We specifically work cases connected to the Shrine.”
Eliana frowned. “And those happen often enough to keep you busy?”
“It’s not a special assignment. We take the Shrine cases.” Maloney shrugged. “And your friend’s disappearance is one of them.”
For a second, Eliana thought the detective was talking about Luci Ryson. Not Carolena. “I hope nothing happened to her.”
Wallace pulled a card from his wallet. “Can you snap my number?”
Eliana shook her head.
“Then take the card.” Wallace held it out. “Call us if you hear anything, or if Carolena contacts you.”
Eliana stuffed the card in her pocket. “I need to get back to work.”
She spun around, leaving the two cops in the break room. They could make their own way out. There were far too many things for her to think about. Questions with no answers. Disparate pieces of a puzzle she couldn’t even begin to see.
The bottom line was, she needed a whole lot more information if she wanted to make sense of it. If she and Carlos were going to have any chance of finding Luci, she needed to keep pushing for answers.
