Alone in the Dark

Twenty seconds later, Isenberg called her cell phone.

‘Good work, Detective.’

Scarlett wanted to sigh. They were still on formal terms. ‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ she said, echoing Isenberg’s crisp tone. ‘I’m not in a place where I can speak freely.’

‘Understood. Just listen, then. Agent Coppola finished her interview with the quality tech from Constant Global Surveillance. She was right – he was so shaken from the attempt to kill him that he was happy to give up what he knew in exchange for protection. He named Demetrius Russell as his customer for the ankle trackers. The tech would routinely cull out a few of the trackers for destructive testing, record them as recycled parts, then sell them to Demetrius, who always paid in cash.’

‘So he’s the link, like we thought.’

‘Yes. The quality tech said that he was selling upwards of two hundred units a year.’

Scarlett’s mind spun, thinking about all the victims like Tala’s family. ‘Wow. How did he keep that many destroyed units from being noticed?’

‘He’s implicated his boss, who was getting a cut of the profit. The Feds are picking up the boss as we speak.’

‘Look at the seventh sentence of my text.’

‘The one that says McCord died in jail? You think he was murdered in his cell to keep him quiet and didn’t commit suicide?’

‘Yes. So simple confinement may not be enough protection.’

‘Then I’ll make sure the Constant Global Surveillance employees have extra guards,’ Isenberg said. ‘But I also have other news for you. We have information on the sniper on the roof of the building across from CPD. The Feds did some fancy work with their facial recognition software. Her name is Alice Newman. Law degree from the University of Kentucky.’

‘And she’s a sni—?’ Scarlett caught herself. ‘Wow.’

‘That was our reaction too. She still hasn’t said anything besides that she wants a lawyer, but her cell phone had photos of the suspect she tried to shoot today. And of Marcus.’

Scarlett’s breath rushed out in a shudder. She cleared her throat, kept her voice level. ‘I understand.’ She looked at Marcus talking to the two old people and felt a fear so intense that her knees threatened to buckle. Demetrius had tried to kill him nine months ago and then again. yesterday. This woman had obviously taken up the challenge since Demetrius had failed.

There was a woman, she stood in the hall. Told him someone was coming.

Scarlett assumed that the woman who’d warned Demetrius that day in the hospital had been the same woman who’d accompanied him when he’d transported the Bautistas. A woman the Bautistas had called Alice.

‘Do you have any recordings of this woman’s voice?’ she asked her boss. ‘Even if it’s only saying that she wants a lawyer?’

‘Yes. We’ve been recording her since we brought her in. Why?’

Because even if she refuses to say another word, I can have Marcus listen to her to see if she’s the one he remembers being in the hospital when Demetrius came after him. ‘Like I said, I can’t speak freely here, but I’ll tell you as soon as I leave. I’ll call back in a few.’ Scarlett hung up as Marcus walked away from Tommy and Edna, his expression one of pained amusement that changed to concern as soon as he met her eyes.

‘What?’

‘Nothing bad, but we need to get back to CPD now.’

Minutes later they were in Scarlett’s department car and headed toward CPD. ‘What happened?’ he asked.

She told him everything Isenberg had shared. ‘The woman in your memory, the one who warned Demetrius when he had the pillow on your face . . . Do you think you’d recognize her voice if you heard it again?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. ‘Does it matter? She had my photo on her phone. I was probably going to be her next target.’

‘Remembering her voice would allow us to co

He lifted his brows. ‘Murder for hire is no chump charge.’

‘No, but I want justice for Tala. I want every single person who profited from her three years of misery to pay. I want them to die. In the absence of that, I want them to rot in prison forever and know exactly what it means to have someone else control your destiny.’ Her eyes stung, her voice trembling. ‘I want to be able to look in Malaya’s face someday and know that I did everything humanly possible to ensure that her mother’s sacrifice was not in vain.’

He let out a slow breath, then reached over and wiped the tears from her cheeks. ‘All right. I’ll do my best.’

‘That’s all I can ask,’ she whispered.

She drove for a few minutes in silence, gathering her composure. She hadn’t intended to get so emotional. She seemed to do that a lot around Marcus O’Ba

‘You okay now, Miss Scarlett?’ he asked lightly, mimicking Tommy’s endearment.

‘Yeah. I am.’ She glanced at him curiously. ‘What did Tommy say to you?’

Marcus snorted a laugh. ‘All the things that your dad and brothers will say when I finally get to meet them. I’d better not break your heart or he’ll break me in half, tear off my arms and beat me with them. That kind of thing.’

‘Tommy? Really? Awww, that is so sweet.’

‘Sweet? He threatened my life and you call him sweet? You really are bloodthirsty,’ he teased.

‘Well you don’t have to worry. I doubt Tommy’s got any follow-through left in him.’

‘I don’t know about that. The old guy’s still got strong hands, and he says he knows how to use them. I’m inclined to believe him. Did you know he has a Purple Heart?’

Scarlett blinked. ‘No. I had no idea. Vietnam?’

‘Yep. He carries it around in his pocket.’

‘He showed you his Purple Heart, just like that? He never showed it to me.’

‘He asked me what I’d done with my life. I told him I’d served. That had him backing off just a little to only a partial disemboweling if I hurt you.’ He smiled when she laughed, but then he sighed. ‘I hate the fact that so many vets are on the streets. Makes me want to fix that.’

‘You can’t fix everything, Marcus.’

‘I know. But I still try. And so do you.’ He was quiet for a moment. ‘He told me all the things you’ve done for him and Edna and some of the other street folks.’