Chapter 12
Tension wound all the muscles in his body as tight as a coiled spring. The cool leather of the steering wheel bit into his calloused hands.
The lights of the city flew by in a haze as he sped across town.
Pete had been a genius about covering his tracks, but he had dropped the ball with Connie Difico.
Not only had he rented his apartment with her name, but Graham had also just uncovered a house in Old Town she was renting as well.
And that’s not all he’d unearthed about Pete’s accomplice.
Graham called the precinct in Old Town to give them a heads up on his arrival, but they wouldn’t help with a search until his warrant came through. After what he’d uncovered in Pete’s apartment, he had little doubt the warrant would be his in no time.
Pushing the voice command button on his steering wheel, he called Eric’s number. A few clicks sounded through his speakers before the line started ringing.
“Hey. I finally got a cab out of the damn airport,” Eric said. “Did you get the name I sent you? Find anything new?”
“Yeah, thanks. I’ve got a search going for Paula Williams now.
I also ran Connie Difico’s name through the database.
Turns out that’s not her real name.” The sheets of rain slowed to a heavy drizzle as he made his way across town.
“Her name’s Chelsea Adams and she went missing twelve years ago. Looked like a runaway.”
“Why did they assume runaway?” Eric asked.
Graham blinked and tried to erase the image of the preteen girl with the sad blue eyes that were too big for her face and the bow shaped mouth set in a permanent frown.
“She had a rough home life. Raised by a single mother with no idea who her father was. Her mom bounced around a lot. They lived on the south end of the city. The girl took off after the mother moved in with a new boyfriend. The boyfriend didn’t seem concerned, claimed she was an ungrateful brat. ”
“What about her mom?”
“Says the girl was jealous and figured she’d come home eventually. She never did.”
Eric’s low whistle rattled his speakers. “Do you think she was taken?”
He shrugged and his eyes stayed focused on the road ahead.
Water sprayed on his windshield and his wipers worked to keep up.
“Either that, or they found her on the street and brought her in to the sex-trafficking ring. She’s from Chicago, so if they wanted to move their sex ring here, it makes sense to bring in a local.
Even if she hasn’t lived here in a while. ”
“It’s another connection. What about Mickey? Do you think she was telling the truth about the woman breaking into her apartment and trying to kill her?”
“The more I discover about Connie, the more I believe Mickey. I can’t trust her completely until we find out why Pete slipped up with her and Becca. It doesn’t make any sense.”
His grip on the steering wheel tightened. Partly from his thoughts about Mickey, partly from the glare of the rain bouncing from the blacktop. “I also don’t think Pete would use two different women to deal with the girls he takes. It’d be too risky.”
“True,” Eric agreed. “Not to mention it makes more sense for a runaway abused by her traffickers to be used to help her captors. As sick as it sounds, most victims of sex-trafficking are chained to their abusers for life. A girl like Mickey, it’s hard to imagine how she’d end up in a mess like this. ”
“Let’s hope she can stay out of it from now on. Harper gave me shit for going into Pete’s apartment with her. Why did you tell him before I had a chance to explain my actions to him? I knew it was crossing a line, but dammit, time’s running out to find these girls.”
A heavy sigh sounded through the phone. “I’m sorry. You’ve been on Harper’s shit list for a while, and going into his apartment the way you did definitely didn’t help the situation. I understand your motives, but Harper has to play by the rules. I’ll call him later and try to smooth it out.”
Graham pressed his lips together to hide his irritation. “I don’t need you fighting my battles.”
“We’re partners. This is our battle.”
“I have to call him anyway. I found another address listed under Connie Difico’s name. I’m on my way there right now.”
“Do not go into the house,” Eric warned. His parental tone once again raising Graham’s ire.
“I’m not an idiot. I called to secure a warrant, which should come through any minute, and I let the locals know I needed backup to work the scene. I want to be there and ready to go in as soon as I get the go ahead. Harper needs to know I have all my bases covered.”
“Dude, this could be huge. Do you want me to catch a flight back to Chicago so we can check it out?”
“We don’t have time. I have to get in there now.
” He turned onto Cleveland Avenue and scanned the houses for the number he had scrawled on a piece of paper.
“Besides, you need to look for Pete in Mexico. See if he has anything going on in his house down there. We need to track down every lead we find.”
“Be careful.”
“I will. I just wanted to catch you up. I’ll get a hold of you later if I find something.” He clicked off the line and slowed down.
There you are, you big ugly sonofabitch.
His nerves danced with anticipation. The house called to him to come inside for a closer look.
The missing girls could be on the other side of those walls and he had to sit in his car and twiddle his damn thumbs.
Bureaucratic bullshit and red tape were the bane of his existence.
Young lives were on the line, but he couldn’t act until some judge crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s. Sometimes it didn’t make sense to wait.
A streetlight flickered, casting shadows across the lawn and slicing through the air.
The full moon beamed down plenty of light for him to study the layout of the house and the yard, even through the fuzz of rain.
His car idled in its spot and he watched and he waited.
Nothing stood out as being out of the ordinary.
The old house, albeit a bit creepy for his tastes, was located in a respectable neighborhood in a nice part of town.
The yards were cared for and the houses well maintained.
Nothing about the scene in front of him screamed for help.
Nothing alerted the neighbor’s children were being kept inside.
He slapped his hands against the steering wheel.
He didn’t need the house to tell him anything.
His gut told him something wasn’t right inside this house, and it wouldn’t be long before he discovered the truth.
He glanced at the clock. How long would he be forced to wait here? He might as well call Harper and get it over with. He dialed his boss’s number, pressed the phone to his ear, and kept his gaze locked on the house he’d come to search.
“What have you got for me, Grassi?”
Graham winced at Harper’s sharp tone, but let it slide off his back. He didn’t have time to worry about the strain between him and his boss. “I wanted to fill you in on a recent development in the Bogart case.”
“I just got off the phone with Agent Short. He told me about the house. Has something else happened, or are you just calling to tell me what I’m already aware of?”
Graham ground the tip of his shoe into the floor. He’d told Eric he would call Harper. He couldn’t believe Eric would go behind his back…again…and call their boss first. “I apologize, sir. I was unaware he contacted you.”
“Maybe you two need to get on the same page. If you did, Bogart might be behind bars already.”
Graham bit into the tip of his tongue to keep from asking what Harper meant. He and Eric had always worked well together, even when they didn’t agree on how to handle every aspect of their cases. “Again, I apologize. I’ll talk to Eric about us being clearer with our intentions in the future.”
“Do that. I don’t like being dragged into problems.”
Now he and Eric had problems? Harper’s words made no sense, but he was wise enough not to question his meaning.
“I understand, sir. If you’ve already been briefed, I don’t need to bother you.
Once the warrant goes through and backup arrives, we’ll enter the premises and lock the place down.
I’ll keep you informed of our findings.”
Harper grunted his opinion and hung up the phone.
Graham pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it.
He needed to call Eric and find out what the hell was going on, and what Eric had told Harper about the case, but he couldn’t get into that now.
He needed to focus on the task at hand and be ready to act the moment he was given the go ahead.
Whatever petty shit Eric had brought up to Harper didn’t matter. At least not right now.
He narrowed his gaze at the phone and willed the damn thing to ring. His chest tightened and he held his breath, but the generic background mocked him. Screw it. He had to move. A tiny peek around the perimeter of the house wouldn’t hurt. He’d keep his hands in his pockets the whole time.
Graham stepped out of the car and resisted the urge to slam it closed.
No cars loitered in the driveway, but that didn’t mean the house was empty.
Hunching his shoulders against the constant drizzle, he crossed the empty street.
He crept along the shadows, out of range from the flicking streetlight.
He turned on the flashlight on his phone and pointed it at the ground.
With all the greenery around the house, there were bound to be snakes. He hated snakes.
He hugged the side of the house and found nothing out of place except a pair of woman’s shoes lying in a pile of mud.
A tall privacy fence blocked the backyard from his view, but no toys littered any part of the yard he searched.
Water sloshed against his heavy footsteps, but the cool night air couldn’t chase away the warmth stirring in his blood as adrenaline spiked inside him.