Chapter 4 Callie
One month earlier—
Sadie disappeared. My worst fear had come to pass. I didn’t know what happened, but I wasn’t getting any answers from the police. I filed a report and had her declared officially missing, but no one seemed to be doing anything about it. At least, no one else besides Agent Phillips.
We discussed that when he called to check-in. His tone betrayed his frustration at the lack of new leads on her case.
“You haven’t told anyone about me, right?”
He asked every time we spoke. “No. I’m not stupid. Revealing my connection to you would ruin everything.”
“Yeah, okay. Just making sure, Callie.” He sighed. “I don’t like this. She’s never failed to check-in. We’ve been working on this case for over three years. Sadie always comes through no matter what. It’s not like her to blow me off.”
I never told him what my sister confided about their feelings for one another, and he’d kept that information to himself. Maybe he didn’t want his superiors to find out since that could jeopardize all the hard work everyone had put in over the last thirty-six months.
I didn’t blame Agent Phillips for keeping his secrets, but it only increased my anxiety. “What’s happening with the case?”
“I’ve got some interviews today and a few things to follow up on.”
I was tired of his vague answers. He didn’t owe me shit, but he did owe it to Sadie. She risked her life for the FBI and the intel they wanted. “And that means?”
“Callie. I’m doing everything I can—”
“That’s not good enough. Maybe we need to go back to her apartment. We could have missed something.”
“I’ve been there multiple times. Nothing new—”
“Agent Phillips!” My patience, along with my manners, had run off, likely never to come back. “This is my sister. My blood. She’s my family. You don’t understand—”
“I do, Callie,” he interrupted harshly. “I care about Sadie more than I can reveal. She’s, I,” he stumbled, his voice cracking, “I love her,” he revealed, his tone lowering to a whisper. “You need to know I won’t stop searching for her. I swear it.”
Sighing, I knew I should ease up on him a little. “She’s the most important person in my world. Do you get that?”
“Yeah,” he replied softly,” because she’s mine too.”
We were on the same page then. “Okay. I trust you. Don’t give up, and don’t leave me in the dark. Keep me in the loop. You need to find her and bring Sadie home. Promise me.”
“I will,” he swore.
I ended the call, pacing the hardwood floors of my apartment as I had been doing for the last month since my sister disappeared.
Since the night she came to me and confessed the truth, I’d been uneasy, terrified that the police would show up at my door and ask me to identify her body. I chewed all my nails down too. The lack of answers and stress took a toll.
I had to do something. Idleness wasn’t helping.
That was how I ended up working at Mayor Elliot Goodman’s office.
The part-time secretarial position appeared online as a new job opening, and I filled out an application, interviewed, and was hired that same week, working for that chauvinist, creepy sexual predator.
The mayor ogled me like a juicy steak the entire interview, and if I didn’t have to pretend indifference because of my sister, I would have walked out.
He must have been too preoccupied because I shared the same last name as my sister, and he didn’t seem to notice.
Weeks later, I avoided Elliot as much as possible.
The plan to learn new information about Sadie’s disappearance was a disaster until I met Bree.
Brianna Hart became a trusted friend when I finally admitted why I applied for the job.
She sat across from me in the break room, sipping coffee as I clenched my hands. Anxious, I didn’t know what to say since I couldn’t reveal my association with Agent Phillips. Sure, I said he was working the case, but I didn’t elaborate on the connection we shared or how close he’d gotten to Sadie.
“You can trust me, Callie. I don’t have any love for the mayor. He’s despicable.”
“You don’t know all the things he’s done,” I spat. “The women he’s hurt.”
“You’re wrong,” she contradicted, lowering her voice. “I’ve seen emails and correspondence. I’ve heard Elliot on the phone. He doesn’t hide anything. I know about the escort service.”
My gaze snapped to her green eyes, afraid of what she’d piece together. If Bree connected the dots, it was only a matter of time before the mayor did too.
Shit.
I decided to lay it out for her and hoped she’d help me. If not, I wouldn’t be returning to this job tomorrow. I couldn’t risk anything happening to my sister as a result of my reckless idea to work here.
“My sister is missing. She’s an escort for the DOLL Agency. I know Elliot Goodman solicited her services. He picked her up on a date the night she disappeared.”
Brianna blinked, sitting back in her chair. “You’re here to find out what happened.”
“Yes. I won’t let this go. I need to locate Sadie and bring her home.” Clearing my throat, I fought back tears. “The mayor can’t figure out why I’m here or my connection to my sister.”
“He’s not going to find out, Callie. I promise.” She reached across the table, placing her hand over mine. “I’ll help any way that I can.”
“Good. I’m going to need it.”
OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, Bree began digging into the mayor’s files.
She didn’t find the smoking gun we hoped for, but she did begin to compile evidence against him.
Letters, emails, contracts, and other correspondence that proved Elliot’s misappropriation of funds and criminal activity.
She used a flash drive to download what documents she could from her computer, but we both knew she’d have to sneak into Elliot’s office and access the data he kept there soon.
Elliot had a business meeting this evening, and Bree planned to log onto his desktop and obtain all the info she could once he left. The day seemed to drag on while we waited.
“Is he using the same escort service again?”
“Yeah, and he’s sloppy about it. Doesn’t even hide the information from me. He had me call the DOLL Agency and double-check that his favorite girl was ready for tonight.” She shook her head and sighed. “He sent her the same package as Sadie.”
I swallowed audibly, hating the confirmation. “Two dozen red roses tied with a black ribbon, a black cocktail dress, and instructions.”
“Yes,” Bree confirmed. “I saw the receipts today. He didn’t bother hiding them.”
“He thinks he’s untouchable,” I spat, pissed he planned to use another girl the same way he did with my sister.
The night Sadie disappeared, the mayor requested her services from the DOLL Agency and sent the package.
It couldn’t be a coincidence. My sister sent me a text describing the roses, cocktail dress, and the note he’d left her.
She told me to stay safe and vigilant. If she hadn’t contacted me the next day, I needed to call Agent Phillips.
I never ended up making the call. He dialed my number early in the morning, worried when Sadie never showed up at their rendezvous point.
No one had heard from her since midnight, long before her check-in with Agent Phillips.
I refused to believe she died. In my heart, I felt my sister was alive and needed our help.
No way in hell would I give up trying to find and bring her back home.
“What’s the plan?” I asked Bree, unable to sit still. “It’s taking too long to find Sadie. It’s been weeks since she went missing. I’m worried.”
“Stay calm. We have to keep up appearances.”
Ugh. I hated that she was right.
“Go back to your desk. When Elliot leaves for the meeting, I’ll text you.”
Sighing, I stood, leaving the break room to resume my monotonous secretarial duties. The job was meaningless, the tasks and work insignificant compared to my sister’s case.
Pulling out my phone, I closed the door inside the copy room, starting up the flyers I needed to print. The job would take at least twenty minutes—enough time to check in with Agent Phillips.
I dialed his number, impatiently drumming my fingers on the hard plastic lid of the copier.
He answered on the third ring. “Callie. How are you?”
I rolled my eyes at his calm greeting. “Not good. Worried about my sister.” I didn’t say her name aloud in case the mayor had cameras set up in this room.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he did. Bree laughed at my paranoia, but Elliot Goodman wasn’t a good man.
The sneaky bastard was capable of anything. “Any new information?”
“Not much. I can tell you the BAU finished revising the profile for the unsub, and it matches Elliot Goodman.”
Of course, it did.
“The unsub works a consistent area that includes Henderson and Las Vegas. A hunting ground where he can easily pick up escorts like Sadie and other working girls. He prefers crowds and clubs where he can disappear without anyone noticing the girls he’s trafficking or his other numerous crimes.”
“How does this help us?”
“We’ve been watching the mayor and going through hundreds of hours of camera footage. He frequents the same locations, moving through each one before circling back again.”
“Like a shark,” I spat.
“Yes, in a way. What’s been interesting is who he associates with, the length of the interaction, and how the meetings end.”
“I hope you have something promising to share.”
“I do,” Agent Phillips admitted. “We found Sadie on the tapes the night she disappeared, including all of the men present at the meeting Elliot brought her to and who she left with.”
“Who?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
My heart rate picked up, anxiety threatening to choke the breath from my lungs.
“Members of the Dirty Death MC. They didn’t bother hiding their leather vests with the emblem.”
“They knew about the cameras,” I guessed.
“Yes. It didn’t faze them.”
Not good. They didn’t fear the cops or the feds.
“Did she go with them willingly?”