Page 33 of The Wolves Come at Night
“I am sorry,” Taylor said, automatically, though she genuinely meant it. “I want to get moving on all of this right away. Are you planning to stay here in town, or go back to New Haven?”
“I—I’ve taken a leave of absence until my daughter is found. I’m reachable.”
Taylor and Marcus stood, and Marcus handed over his card.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of the photo that was posted, set up traps on your phone, dig deep into Carson’s last few weeks. Here’s my personal mobile number. Call or text me anytime, all right? If you hear from Carson, or see anything unusual on her socials, or hear from anyone—a ransom call, specifically—please loop us in immediately.”
Conway tensed but accepted the card. “I will.”
Taylor resisted the urge to touch the woman on the shoulder to comfort her, knowing nothing would make it better. She settled for a vow. “We’re going to find her, Dr. Conway. We’re going to do everything we can. Hang in there, all right?”
With a bleak nod, Avery Conway saw them out.
“What do you think?” Avery asked Santiago when the cops were down the hall and on the elevator.
“I think Captain Jackson’s a bulldog, and I think this is going to go public, fast. My friend is on her way. I want her looped in and on the case as quickly as we can. I need to go to DC and meet with her. You will be fine here. Safe, here.”
“I don’t feel very safe. I think I should go with you.” Santiago shook his head, but Avery squared her shoulders. “Take me. I want to meet this friend.”
He shook his head again. “No. You really don’t.”
“If she’s going to help find my daughter? Yes. I do.”
Sixteen
In the car, Taylor waited before turning over the engine.
“Thoughts?”
Marcus was already tapping on his tablet, starting a background check on Santiago Diaz-Rooney. “The guy with her seemed like some sort of bodyguard. Yep, here he is, all over the bakery website. He really is a baker.”
“You heard him. He wasn’t always. See if you can do a little digging. I got the sense they know something they aren’t sharing.”
“You know how it is with parents, Taylor. They don’t always like to admit when their kids have done something that might have led to their problems.”
“Yeah. Well, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. Let’s call it a day, and I’ll see you in the morning. We’ll hopefully have the warrants by then and be able to look at Carson’s phone records. It might be time to start a physical search, as well.”
“Agreed.”
Taylor dropped Marcus at the downtown precinct to do some digging with the camera techs who ran the city CCTV systems, then headed back to HQ. She was happy to find Huston still in her office and ran her through the conversations she’d had, the steps they’d taken, the warrants they needed to draft and get signed, and the people tasked to the various leads they were following.
She was surprised when Huston said, “Good job. This feels odd. And the mayor is all over me. Students going missing, country music stars being murdered. None of this is good for business. We even had a tourist rolled, down by Municipal. Stepped out for a cigarette and got knocked on the head and his wallet stolen. Everyone’s on edge.”
“I agree. We’re doing all we can. We may need to form a task force. We need a cohesive effort. She’s been missing for long enough. I want to start a physical search, and I need more people digging into Carson’s world.”
Huston was not stupid, nor did she play games when the stakes were high enough. She may have been riding Taylor lately, but in this, they were in agreement.
“Do what you think is best.”
Back in her office, Taylor made some calls, setting things up, then sat back in the chair, noting with pleasure that it was a different make with actual lumbar support. Much more comfortable. She still hated the building and the office, but at least her back wouldn’t scream every time she stood up.
There was nothing more she could do at the moment outside of walking along the river with a switch hoping Carson hadn’t fallen into the Cumberland. The biggest problem with being a cop…sometimes, the world was spinning without you. The case was happening, the energy was there, but a brick wall that climbed to the sky was right in your path. You couldn’t do anything until the pieces began to fall into place, and that felt worse than anyone could ever know. Her team was working every angle. She had to trust that one of the facets would reveal the truth they were looking for before the worst happened.
With a last glance at her email and texts, she shut off her light and headed to the parking lot. Carson Conway was out there. Taylor just hoped she got to her in time.
Taylor fought the last of the street back downtown, took the split to Second Avenue, caught all but one light, and was at the condo twenty minutes after she left. Without the turtle train of vehicles, the drive took no more than five minutes. Another strike against the new HQ—inching along in the terrible downtown traffic with the rest of the Nashville hoi polloi was such a huge waste of her time.
She hurried into the condo to change out of the blues, then sent Baldwin a text about what was happening, unsure where he was and what sort of access the writers’ cruise was going to have. When he didn’t reply immediately, she sent a kiss emoji and pocketed the phone. She missed him when he was gone. Would he miss her when she was off gallivanting through Europe in search of baddies to neutralize? Of course he would.
