Page 40 of Untamed

Antony considered the question. Yes. He had concerns. Piles of them. He knew Victoria and what she was capable of. She was malicious if provoked, and she’d consider his refusal of her as a challenge. “I am, Charlie. She was pissed that she didn’t get anywhere. I just don’t know what her angle is.”

“Not worried about Lesley?”

“Not a bit. We talked about the whole thing this weekend. Told her some of the old stories, same shit you know. Vicky’s revenge. Lesley knows I’m solid, though. I’m not worried about her at all.”

Charlie smiled. He didn’t realize it, but Antony’s entire demeanor had changed over the weekend. It was about time he got a bit of happy back in his life. “I’m really happy for you, Antony,” she said. “It’s about time.”

Simon and Audrey rustled their way into the office. Simon carried a huge box from a mom-and-pop bakery, and Audrey had a large bag in her hands.

“Bagels!” Simon yelled, setting the box on a small table next to the coffeepot with a thud. Audrey set her bag down, digging inside for the containers of flavored cream cheese, knives, and napkins. She grabbed herself an everything bagel, and a couple packets of regular cream cheese and walked to her desk, nodding in hello to Antony and Charlie as she passed them.

Simon looked at his best friend. Dude wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions as he thought. He wouldn’t press him. Antony would introduce Lesley when he was damn good and ready. He nodded. “How’s it goin’?”

Antony half-smiled at Simon. “It’s going fine, and you know it.” He got up to grab his own bagel and cream cheese and punched the button on the answering machine. One message was a hangup. The other was from the police chief at the local department, informing them of one more confirmed case of doping. Now that the clubs were on high alert, the young woman had been found in time and taken to the hospital.

“There’s that, at least,” said Randall, who’d come out of his office in search of more coffee. He said, “I got an email from this Bower person. He doesn’t remember the case, but he’d just gotten here right when the case wrapped up. Said he’s got some notes, but he’ll have to dig. Got out a couple years back, and his stuff’s in a chest out in his shop. Until then, keep doing what you do.” He stopped off at the bagels, and to Antony’s surprise, grabbed one with a packet of cream cheese before heading back to his office.

“So, he does eat,” Antony said.

“I heard that, Ramos!” came the call from the other room. “Don’t make me beat you with your leg!”

“Still faster than you, Top,” he called back.

After the laughter died down, the group set back to work, this time sorting interview notes and trying to place them with the individual victims.

An hour later, Charlie stood up and twisted, cracking her back. “Y’all. I think there’s at least one victim file missing,” she said. “Not to mention the interviews with persons of interest. I can’t find those anywhere.”

“Agreed,” said Simon. “I’ve got notes with initials that don’t match to Bower, or anyone else here at that point.”

“Well, let’s step back then,” Charlie said, taking a physical step back. She paced around the tables they were working at. “Is there any pattern to the victims we do have? Like, location, day of the week, time?”

Audrey stood and looked at their board. “Not yet, though there...wait.” She grabbed the box of stick pins and walked over to the city map. “Call out addresses where the incidents happened?”

Antony and Simon traded off calling out addresses for the dozen known addresses, waiting until she located and pinned each. When she finished, she stepped to the whiteboard and made a few quick notes, leaving them with abbreviations for the location names. “Now, what are the dates of each?”

Again, they shuffled through papers, calling out dates and times if they had them. She wrote quickly and stepped away from the board, standing across the room. “Well, hell,” was all she said.

The others joined her and stared. Out of the dozen reports, over half of them centered on the Warehouse. The rest were on the same block.

“Given the dates, we’ll probably find that the others started at the Warehouse as well,” she said, pointing to the outlying pins.

“Fuck. I like that place,” Antony said. “Owner’s above board. So’s the crew.”

“Maybe they are now,” said Audrey, looking at him, “but maybe not at that point. Besides, all it takes is one to cause trouble.”

“True. I wonder,” he drifted off, thinking. “I wonder if the owner’s got those records handy, of who was working there back then. It’s a long shot, but maybe there’s a tie between then and now.” He walked back to Randall’s office to let him know what they needed.

***

Lesley was sitting at her computer when she heard wheels rolling over the tile. A second later, Stina was at her side.

“Well?” she asked, leaning her head on her hand. “You look...rested.”

Lesley smiled. “It was a good weekend. How was yours?”

“Do not hold out on me, Les.”

One of the tiles outside of Lesley’s section was off balance and made a small noise whenever pressure was on it. They both froze and turned. Someone was close.

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