Chapter Three #2
“They don’t know what we know. If they did, no one would let their kids out of their sight until they were fully grown.”
“Which isn’t feasible, so where’s the line?”
“I don’t know, but letting them run loose in this city isn’t safe.”
“I can’t bear to think of the hundreds of things that could’ve happened.”
“Try to stay focused on what you know and not get too far down that road.”
“I just gave my sister that same advice.”
“You should take your own advice.”
“Q is right,” the female agent said. “Follow the evidence, and don’t get ahead of yourself.”
Normally, Sam would want her name and story, but tonight, she didn’t have the bandwidth for anything more than searching for Ethan. “I’ll try. Thank you, guys.”
“Wish there was more we could do,” Q said as he pulled up to Tracy’s home, where numerous vehicles from the MPD were parked outside.
She took a calming breath, hoping to settle her out-of-control nerves, and released it before letting Q walk her in to see what Archie had for her. Inside her sister’s home, she came face-to-face with Captain Michelle Ruiz, who headed the Emergency Response Team, including Missing Persons.
They’d worked together on a recent case, and Sam had picked up on animosity from the other woman that she still didn’t understand, as they’d never worked together before.
Ruiz was about five-seven, with a curvy figure and curly brown hair.
Her dark eyes were hard, though, which was something Sam recalled from their earlier interactions.
“Captain.”
“Lieutenant. What can I do for you?”
Sam thought quickly about what she could say that would keep her from being shown the door by someone who didn’t want her there. “I’m here to see Lieutenant Archelotta, who asked me to come by to answer a couple of questions on behalf of the family.”
“He’s upstairs.”
Sam waited for her to step aside. “Thank you.”
“I hope I won’t have a problem with you on this case.”
“Excuse me?”
“I can’t help but notice you called in IT and your sergeant is here, as if your squad is working this case.”
“They’re here as my friends, helping to look for my nephew.”
“You’ve been told you’re not allowed to participate in this investigation.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m well aware of what my boss told me, but I sure do appreciate you refreshing my memory.
That’s very helpful during this difficult situation for my family.
” Sam pushed by her, prepared to put the captain on her ass if she got in the way, and took the stairs two at a time, propelled by rage.
Why did people have to be dicks? What possible thrill did Ruiz get out of busting her balls at a time like this?
She found Archie seated in the hallway in front of the desktop computer.
“What’s up?” Sam asked.
“Mike helped me gain access to their bank and cell accounts. The bank card showed only the purchase of the Metro ticket today. I’ve been reading Ethan’s text messages to his friends and thought you’d want to see this.”
Sam glanced over her shoulder to make sure Ruiz hadn’t followed her.
Archie brought multiple exchanges from that afternoon up on the screen that showed Ethan texting with Tomas and Brecken about a girl who’d called them incels.
“What does that mean?” Sam asked.
“Involuntary celibate,” Archie replied. “It means the girls purposely choose not to have sex with them.”
“Wait, what? These kids are eleven!”
“Read this.” Archie pointed to a message from Brecken.
I don’t know bout u, but I don’t think she shld get away w that. Need to teach her a lesson. Who wit me?
“Oh my God,” Sam whispered. “Are you able to see who they’re talking about?”
“They’re careful not to name her.”
“Did Ethan reply to that?”
“No, but Tomas did. He said he wasn’t sure about that. ‘Maybe she doesn’t know what that means.’ To which Brecken replied, ‘Fuck that shit. She knows.’”
“Is there any way to find out who this Brecken kid is?”
“Not without a warrant to trace his phone to the account, which’ll take days because the phone companies are never helpful that way.”
“Is there a back-office way to do it if someone’s life is at stake?”
“Not that I could do without endangering my career.”
“What the hell are we dealing with here, Archie?”
“Could be anything from aiming to have words with this girl to wanting to assault or kill her.”
“They’re babies,” she whispered, her heart racing with fear. “How can they be involved in something like this?”
“We don’t know for sure Ethan is involved. Maybe he’s trying to talk them out of doing something stupid.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“I don’t know him. What do you think?”
“I haven’t seen as much of him in recent months as I used to.
” Sam felt enormously guilty about that.
Since Nick had become president six months ago, their lives had been more complicated than ever.
“Tracy told me recently that he’d been giving them some trouble.
She said since he got the phone for his eleventh birthday, he’s been withdrawn and secretive and dropped most of his friends from elementary school.
He’s got only phone and texting on the cell phone, but no internet. ”
“He has access to the internet on this computer, which Mike didn’t realize. Mike says he spends hours on it every day doing homework and playing games. He and Tracy were under the impression that the games had been downloaded to the computer, but that’s not the case. He plays live online.”
“Are you able to look at the history?”
“I’m working on that. The whole family uses this computer, so it’s a lot to go through.”
“Do you want me to call in someone from HQ to do that so you can go home?”
“I’ll give it a couple more hours.”
“I owe you one.”
“No, you don’t.”
“We’ll fight about that after we find Ethan. Where’d Mike go?”
“Last I knew, he was in the kitchen talking to Ruiz’s team.”
“That’s just great. She hates me.”
“How come?”
“Who the fuck knows? Could be anything or nothing. Picked up on a vibe when we were together for the operation with Judge Sawyer, and just now, she reminded me that I’m not allowed to work this case. I told her you needed to ask me questions only the family could answer.”
“Ah, okay.”
“Can you hang on to this incel thing for a minute? I need to wrap my head around it.”
“How long of a minute are we talking? Ruiz is running the investigation. She won’t take kindly to me sitting on evidence.”
“Give me until the morning?”
“Sam… Listen, I know this is incredibly upsetting for you and your family, but the goal is to find Ethan. Waiting until the morning to share this with the team leading the investigation isn’t wise. You’d never do that on another case.”
“You’re right. I’m just so afraid it’ll turn out to be something that’ll ruin him.”
“We have to take that risk to get him back safely. This incel shit is seriously fucked-up. There’s a whole subculture online called the manosphere that’s devoted to toxic masculinity and misogyny.
I doubt he even knows what those things are.
If he’s involved in something to do with that stuff, he probably has no clue what he’s gotten himself into, and that’ll matter when push comes to shove. ”
“Okay. Pass it on to Ruiz, but keep me posted if you can.”
“I will.”
“Thank you for being a voice of reason. I’ve lost all perspective here. He’s like my own kid in many ways.”
“I get it. I have nieces and nephews, too. I’d be losing it if one of them went missing.”
“I’m so afraid that something awful has happened, and whatever it is…”
“Take a breath. It’s early days.”
She nodded, but her chest was so tight that she wondered if she’d breathe normally again until they found Ethan.
“You gotta stay out of Ruiz’s way, as hard as that’ll be. She can make life difficult for you if she wants to.”
“I know, and I will. Feel free to give me a bitch slap if you think I need it.”
“Will do.”
“I’ll go tell her you’ve got something for her.”
“We’ll do everything we can to get him back. I promise.”
“I feel better knowing you’re on it.”
“I’ll stay on it for as long as it takes.”
Sam was too choked up to speak, so she nodded and went back downstairs.