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“I don’t know. But if it’s on one of these five hard drives, we’ll find it.”
Five hard drives. Twenty-five hundred gig. A hundred thousand pictures. “Dammit.”
“We’ll figure it out, Luke.”
“In time for the five girls Granville’s current partner took with him?” Luke said bitterly. “We’ve been at this for twenty hours and nothing fits. We’ve got a missing judge and swastika brands. We’ve got a name, Rocky, that means absofuckinglutely nothing. We’ve got a six-year-old homicide in New York and thirteen-year-old rapes, and they’re somehow co
Beside him, Nate drew a careful breath. “And we’ve got a dead girl named Angel who we should have saved,” he said quietly.
A sob rose in Luke’s throat and, horrified, he tried to shove it back. “Goddammit, Nate,” he choked. “Look what he did to her. To all of them.”
Nate squeezed his shoulder hard. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “It wouldn’t be the first time one of us let go in here. That’s why we’re soundproofed.”
Luke shook his head, slowly grappling for his control. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Okay, I’m not. But I’ll do what needs to be done.” He checked his watch. “I’ve got enough time to see Daniel before the Knights get to identify their daughter. Maybe Daniel knows something more.”
“You need to sleep, Luke.”
“Not now. I can’t close my eyes now. I’ll see that.”
Atlanta, Saturday, February 3, 2:30 p.m.
“Hello, Susa
Susa
“I thought I would find you here, with this girl.”
Susa
Her dark eyes twinkled. “I am mute when I leave. For now, I bring you these. Luka told my daughter Demi what my granddaughter bought for you. Demi was not pleased.”
“It was still very kind,” Susa
“So I send my youngest daughter Mitra out this morning to buy you proper clothing.” She held out the bags. “You like, you buy. You no like, Mitra will return.”
Susa
“And everything was on sale.” Mama’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been crying.”
“I went to a funeral. I always cry at funerals.” Which was a lie, but Susa
Luke’s mama covered the girl’s hand with hers. “It’s nice to meet you, Jane,” she said softly. “I hope you wake up soon.” Then she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the girl’s forehead and Susa
“All right.” Susa
Atlanta, Saturday, February 3, 2:45 p.m.
She wasn’t dead. Monica couldn’t move again, but she wasn’t dead. Whatever the nurse gave me wore off before. It will wear off again. So stay calm. It’ll wear off.
When it does, what will you do? Will you tell the cops? If you do, they’ll sell Genie.
If I don’t, they might anyway. They won’t let her go. I have to tell.
At least Susa
Funeral for who? They couldn’t be burying the others yet. It was only yesterday that they’d been killed. Who died? Susa
Monica tensed. Someone else was here now. “How is she?” a man asked.
It was the agent, the one with the black eyes. Luke. He sounded angry. Upset.
“She woke up for a little while this morning,” Susa
A chair scraped and Monica could feel the warmth from his body. “Did she say anything when she woke up?”
“I wasn’t here.”
“What about yesterday? Did she say anything else?”
“No. She just looked at me like I was God or something.”
“You brought her out of the woods.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Susa
“Susa
“I don’t happen to agree.”
“Talk to me,” he said, frustrated. Like he’d said it before.
“Why?”
“Because… Because I want to know.”
“You want to know what, Agent Papadopoulos?” Susa
“Why you think this is your fault.”
“Because I knew,” she said flatly. “I knew and I said nothing.”
“What did you know?” he asked, soothingly.
“I knew Simon was a rapist.”
Simon. Who is Simon? Who did he rape?
“I thought Simon didn’t do any of the rapes, that he only took the pictures.”
There was a beat of silence. “He did at least one.”
Oh, no. Monica now understood. Whoever Simon was, he’d raped Susa
Luke sucked in a breath. “Did you tell Daniel?”
Who is Daniel?
“No,” Susa
Nobody said anything for a long time, but Monica could hear them breathe.
Finally Luke spoke. “I recognized one of the bodies back there yesterday.”
“How?” Susa
“From a case I was working eight months ago. I failed to protect that girl. I failed to bring a sexual sadist that preyed on children to justice. I want another bite at the apple.”
He sounded so very angry. His voice shook.
“Granville’s dead,” Susa
Dead? He’s dead? Hallelujah. He couldn’t hurt Genie.
“But there’s still the other. Someone who’s pulling the strings. Someone who taught Granville how to be very good at his job,” he said bitterly. “I want him. I want to throw him into hell and throw away the key.”
The other. The woman who’d given the doctor the order to kill them. The other had Genie. Monica’s elation fizzled.
“Why are you telling me this?” Susa
“Because you want the same thing.”
There was a long pause. “What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll call you when I do.” He got up. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not telling Daniel about Simon.”
“Thank you for respecting my decision.”
Then Luke was gone and Susa
Yeah, Monica thought helplessly. Tell me about it.
Daniel looked asleep, Luke thought as he stood in the doorway.
“I’m not asleep,” Daniel said, opening his eyes. His voice was raspy, but stronger than Luke had anticipated. “I was wondering when you’d come by.”
Luke’s gaze dropped to the smudges on the shoulder of Daniel’s hospital gown. “You’d think for what you’re paying that you’d at least get a clean gown.”
One side of Daniel’s mouth lifted and Luke saw an unca
“You have no idea. I don’t have much time, but I need some information.”
“Shoot.” Daniel grimaced. “Actually, on second thought, don’t do that.”