Page 39 of 1st Shock
"His background check is clear, no priors or anything outside parking tickets. I'll dig deeper and go through his college history and social media tonight."
"I'll come over and help."
* * *
That evening, however, it's JJ who shows up on my doorstep, sushi and a fresh bottle of wine in hand.
"I can't..." I start, tongue-tied when I see him looking so absolutely delicious and memories of the prior night flash through my tired brain. "You can't be here."
"Meg said you're working like usual." He shoots me an evil grin. "I'm taking care of you whether you like or not, Schock."
He barges in, gently shoving me out of the way.
I'm ashamed to say I don't protest nor throw him out, but the stacks of files on missing girls and Devante's interview notes sitting on my dining room table feel like a black hole waiting to suck me in. Having help to make the evening a little less horrific is welcome.
Of course, tomorrow I'll give my sister grief. She sent JJ instead of showing up herself.
We eat, drink, and pour over details until midnight. I keep going back to Devante's notes, Mickey talking about his mother, how awful she was to him whenever she had a boyfriend around. I read over a section about the man she ended up with, his kids. I remember most of it from my pretrial evaluation of Mickey, but it's good to get a fresh perspective.
Connections. It's all about them, the threads that weave people together. Families especially, but also coworkers, the people in your neighborhood, at your church or synagogue, even the clerk who checks your groceries. Everyone knows a piece about you or may share your secrets. They help put random pieces of any puzzle into a whole. It's why I love assisting people with tracing their ancestry, uncovering buried secrets, finding those oh-so-important connections.
I didn't hang around for Mickey's trial after I pronounced him fit for it. I need to get my hands on the transcripts. In Devante's notes, Mickey claims his stepsiblings hated him, especially the girls. Apparently, Mickey used their dolls to practice terrible things on.
Devante's earliest interviews include Mickey laughing about how weak and whiny they were. I have a feeling they’re lucky he didn't do the same to them as he did their dolls.
JJ and I move to my sofa after a bit, my feet in his lap. His suit coat is off, and his button-down shirt is open at the collar. He squeezes one of my toes when he sees me chewing on my bottom lip. "What is it?"
My brain keeps circling back to Mickey's stepfamily. His mother. "I need the transcripts from Mickey's trial." If I were still in law enforcement, I could get them myself, and these days, I might ask Teeg to hack into the appropriate department and retrieve them for me. But with my own personal DA at my disposal, it's better to use him. More legal and less likely to get me into hot water. "Due to the graphic details regarding the victims, the judge sealed chunks of them so the press couldn't print the gory particulars."
JJ just looks at me, playing dumb.
I nudge him with my foot. "Can you get them for me?"
"Maybe."
I kick him. Not hard, but enough. "Whymaybe?"
"Quid pro quo." He gives me a wolfish grin. "What are you going to do for me?"
"Shoot you in the ass, if you keep it up."
His deep laughter jiggles the couch and soon I'm joining in. There's no real reason for it, but we've both been so tense and stressed out, it feels good to let loose. Once more, I'm reminded of what this man does to me.
Feeds me. Makes me laugh. Helps me solve cases.
He reaches for my hand, his eyes sparking with that predatory look. "I'll get you the transcripts. What's your take on this Devante kid?"
He never showed and didn't respond to Matt's calls or messages. Haley insists she doesn't know him. He's probably a normal college kid, but... "I just don't know."
17
Meg
At seven a.m. there's a soft knock on my front door. A quicktap-tap-tapthat’s been my sister's calling card from the day we moved in here. Since I'm a creature of habit, she knows I've just finished my morning meditation. I'm a firm believer my mood will set the tone of the day and doing it right after my shower keeps my energy balanced. Something I desperately needed after Devante blew us off yesterday.
As a result, I went to bed aggravated and spent most of the night berating myself.
Fatigue has settled on me, pressing in and shooting a variety of aches straight down my legs as I move toward the door.
