Chapter 13
“Can I help you?”
“We hope so. It’s about Beth.”
“Have you found her now?”
“We aren’t with the police, ma’am,” Renz said.
She laughed. “Did you really just call me ma’am?”
“Um.”
“Okay, then who are you, and why do you want to talk to me? The cops already did this morning.”
Renz flipped open his FBI wallet, and I pulled the lanyard out from under my top to expose the badge.
“This is about more than a missing night worker, isn’t it?”
I took over. “Leah, may we come in? I’m sure our questions will be much different than what the detectives asked you.”
She nodded, released the chain, and pulled open the door. “The kitchen is the first room at the top of the stairs. We’ll sit in there.”
Once upstairs, Renz and I took seats at the table while Leah filled three glasses with water before sitting down.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We need Beth’s phone number so we can try to track her phone. Chances are it’s shut off, but maybe we’ll get the last location it pinged at before then.”
“Okay.” Leah scrolled to Beth’s name then handed the phone to me.
I typed Beth’s number into my contact list. “Thanks.”
Renz began by asking Leah to think of anything about the white car that stood out. Anything like stickers, scratches, dents, special wheels, or a broken headlight or taillight.
She rubbed her forehead.
“Did you catch the slightest glimpse of the driver? Old, young, dark hair, gray hair, slim, or heavy?”
“I’ve got nothing. Wait! I did see the inside-door trim color when Beth climbed in. I remember it was dark red. I imagine the seats were probably like that too.”
“That’s good information, Leah. Was the car quiet like it was well maintained or loud like it had muffler or engine trouble?”
“It was quiet and clean. Nothing about it stood out. Just a decent-looking clean white car.”
I frowned. “And you never heard from Beth since that night, even later that night?”
“Nope. Not a peep.”
I thought back on what Torrie had said earlier about their boss. “You all have the same pimp, right?”
Leah grimaced. “I hate that word. It makes me feel dirty. We just call him our boss.”
“And where was he at the time Beth left with the man?”
Leah shrugged. “Probably farther down the street checking on the other ladies. He’s too money hungry to get help, so he runs back and forth making sure everyone who is supposed to be strutting their stuff is actually doing that instead of hanging out and playing games on their phones.”
“Does he have a name?” Renz asked.
“I can’t tell you that. One way or another, he’d find out and beat the living crap out of me. Plus he’d kick me out of his stable and blacklist me. I’d have nowhere to go.”
I saw how nervous Leah had become, and I didn’t want her to make us leave, but I wondered why she didn’t consider getting an ordinary job. It would be far less dangerous, and Beth was proof of what could happen.
Leah continued. “I promise you my boss isn’t responsible for Beth’s disappearance. Why would he get rid of somebody who was making him money? Beth never gave him trouble.”
“Okay. We’ll check further into that white car. If you see it again, please call me.” I handed Leah my card, and we left.
I plopped down into the passenger seat with a grunt. “Wow, we’re going nowhere fast.”
“You never know, Jade. If the tech guys get a make and model on that car, everything could change.”
“Yes, I suppose. Then do we hand the legwork and brainwork back to the PD?”
Renz laughed. “Legwork, sure. Brainwork, that’s questionable.”
I checked the time. We would get back fifteen minutes before our regular shift ended, and Taft wanted an update.
“I’m going to call John. Maybe they came up with the car’s make and model already. That would give us something positive to tell Taft.”
“Yeah, see what he says.”
I made the call, and Marty, the second in charge, picked up. “Marty, it’s Jade. Is John available?”
“Yep, hold on.”
Seconds later, John came to the phone. “Hey, Jade. I have seventy-five percent positive news.”
I laughed. “Damn it. One hundred percent would be a lot better.”
“Give me a few more hours and you might get that.”
“Okay, let’s have the seventy-five percent. We’re on our way back to headquarters, and Taft wants to hear progress, or this is getting tossed back to the PD.”
“I hear you. So we’re looking at a 2026 Camry. I can’t tell you the trim level yet, but we’ll try to narrow that down.”
“Can you check to see if they offer a dark-red-trim interior too?”
“Yep, and I’ll call you right back.”
I smiled at Renz. “Okay, so we tell Taft that we know the car is a white Toyota Camry. Then what?”
“Then she’ll either tell us to find out who the owner is and check his criminal record to see if he’s a repeat offender or—”
“Or she’ll say to hand it back to the PD, and they can do the same using their own budget instead of ours.”
“Exactly. Guess we’ll find out.”
“I’ll call Bill about getting Beth’s face on the local TV channels right away. If he hurries, he can get her segment on the six o’clock news. He has to know not to tell the news station that she’s already dead. Doing that will shoot them in the foot, and they’ll never catch the killer.”
“Then get on it. We’re five minutes from the office.”
I made the call and crossed my fingers that Bill would pick up. He did, and I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“Bill, it’s Jade. You need to contact all of the news stations and show Beth’s face. Only tell them she’s a missing woman. Don’t mention she’s dead or anything about the white car. We don’t want to scare the killer away.”
“Well, if we’re going to interview those two men with white cars, they’ll know a white car is involved.”
“Not if you don’t tell them that’s why you’re there. Just say you have an open investigation involving people who are members of the marina and have boat slips. That’s all they need to know. Find out what they did all weekend and confirm their alibis. Easy peasy.”
“Yeah, okay. Our shift will be over soon, but I’ll pass everything on to Samuels and Unger. They can interview those two guys later. I’ll contact the news channels right now.”
“Oh, and the car is a 2026 Camry. Don’t have the trim level yet, but the tech department is working on that.
Also, Leah told us that the interior door trim was a deep-red color.
Tech is checking into that too. That means you don’t have to call on the men whose Lexus and Cadillac were at the marina. ”
“Sounds great. I’ll pass all of that on. You think we should put out a BOLO for white Camrys?”
“Not yet. We’ll check the DMV database first to see how many owners are local and if any of them have police records. Tell the night shift to keep in touch with us. I’ll be watching the six o’clock news too.”
“Gotcha. Talk tomorrow.”
I ended the call and immediately got another one just as Renz was passing through our guard gate. Glancing at the screen, I saw who was calling. “John, what did you find out?”
“The 2026 Camry XSE had leather seat and door trim, and red was an optional trim color.”
“Perfect. I’ll pass on that extra info to the PD. No chance of a plate number?”
“Nope. The car was always parallel with the street. Unfortunately, it never turned before it was out of camera range.”
“Okay. Thanks for the help, buddy.” I ended the call and grinned at Renz. “At least we have something to tell Taft now.”
“And just in time.” Renz parked in our assigned spot, and we crossed the lot to our employee access door. After he pressed his thumb against the ID keypad, the light turned green, and we entered the building.
We headed upstairs and directly to Taft’s office. Renz knocked, and she called out for us to come in.
“Have a seat.” Taft pointed at the guest chairs facing her desk. “So, did you learn anything that would give me reason to continue letting you help the PD?”
Renz nodded for me to go ahead. “We did get a positive ID on the make and model of the car that picked up Beth Morrow, thanks to our crack team in Tech.”
Taft raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“A 2026 white Toyota Camry XSE with red interior trim. We don’t have a plate number, but with the trim level, color, and year, we should be able to narrow down how many are in Milwaukee County and if any of the owners have criminal records.”
“That is something the police can handle on their own. They do it all the time.”
Renz took over. “How about we check into the owners? If none of them have a serious criminal record, we’ll hand everything back to the PD. If somebody does, then maybe we should investigate the case a little further.”
“Lorenzo, if somebody has a serious criminal record, they would be incarcerated.”
Taft handed Renz a “Gotcha,” and he was clearly at a loss for words. I was glad it wasn’t me.
I quickly spoke up to give Taft something else to chew on.
“Detective Bill Gavin is alerting the news channels with Beth’s face and the fact that she went missing.
He isn’t going to mention the car or that Beth is deceased.
If the killer sees the segment on TV, he’ll think he skated by.
Meanwhile, we can dig a little deeper into the case.
It’s extremely unusual to find a body part wash ashore.
It leads me to think the killer is someone who has played that game before. ”
Taft sighed. “I’ll give you until the end of the day on Friday. Come up with a reason to keep you on the case, or the FBI’s part in it is over.”
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Taft rose from her chair and rounded the desk. “Okay, let’s go wrap up the day with the rest of the team.”
We stood, thanked her for the three-day extension, and headed to the conference room, where our group met each morning and at the end of every day for updates.