Page 90 of Forged in Steele

“Will do.”

Jared looked at Bristol. “Let’s get inside.”

Bristol climbed the stairs to the long porch then entered the home. Jared remained close to her, sharing his attention between watching her for her attitude and looking at Melissa’s property. The home was decorated in gray and teal and the furniture was mid-century modern. The place was spotless, and they quickly went through the great room filled with boxy furniture and holding a dining table. They cleared the small kitchen and the first bedroom down the hall. The next bedroom was set up as an office, and they paused to get a better look at the space.

“She took her computer too,” Jared said, noting the empty desktop that held a power cord for a Mac computer.

Bristol strode to the desk and stared at it as if she hoped something would materialize in front of her. “I think we can assume they’re together.”

Jared pulled out drawers with his gloved hands but found only office supplies. “We need to get a warrant for their bank accounts. See if we can track them that way, but if Holloway is the kind of guy I think he is, he has offshore accounts that we might never find.”

“We need alerts at the airport.” Bristol turned. “All public transportation for that matter.”

Jared got out his phone and crossed the room where a selfie of Holloway and Melissa sat in a silver frame on a credenza. They stood in front of Multnomah Falls, a popular tourist attraction in the area. He had his arm around the woman, and she was smiling up at him.

“I’ll text Reed the details to get an alert out for both of them with all public transportation.” He sent it along with the request and also asked Reed to obtain the banking warrant.

Jared trailed Bristol down the hallway to Melissa’s bedroom and then her bathroom. He opened a medicine cupboard. “Men’s grooming products here. No pictures of a guy in the house other than Holloway so likely his things.”

“Forensics can confirm that.” Bristol looked up from her search of the drawers.

“Then let’s get them out here, and go take another run at Pam. She could know something about Luna that’s she’s not telling us.”

Bristol had always thought it odd that the Multnomah County Detention Center was located in downtown Portland. But as part of the Multnomah County Justice Center, transporting inmates to court hearings was much easier.

She and Jared surrendered their sidearms and phones and headed down a long hallway that smelled of orange cleaner toward an interview room where Pam waited. She’d failed to provide her last name to the booking officers, and her prints didn’t return a match. Could tell them two things. She likely didn’t have a record, and she probably wasn’t a social worker as they had to be fingerprinted.

Meant Pam’s last name remained a mystery. The task force members had been trying to hunt down the county Pam worked at, but nearing ten o’clock now, just finding someone to talk to was difficult, and they hadn’t located any leads.

Bristol’s first job was to get Pam to admit her name. “You said you were a social worker. Which county?”

Pam glared at her.

Bristol ignored the attitude. “You can’t be a social worker without fingerprinting. Nothing on file matching the prints taken at booking.”

Pam sniffed. “Not my fault. Just moved to the area. Maybe they haven’t uploaded them yet.”

She could be telling the truth or maybe she’d been playing them the whole time. No way to know at this point. They should be able to locate her tomorrow when the offices were open. But tomorrow could be too late for Luna.

“It really is time for you to give us your full name and date of birth,” Bristol stated firmly.

Pam leaned back and crossed her arms.

Bristol held her head high and planted her best intimidating stare on the woman. “I’m assuming you’ve been told that you’ll be charged for obstruction along with other charges that we’ll bring after we finish our investigation into Holloway.”

Pam jutted out her chin. “Good luck in finding anything.”

Bristol leaned forward. “Here’s the thing. Holloway is a smart guy who will protect himself. If that means throwing you under the bus, he will.”

Bristol didn’t mention that they hadn’t managed to find Holloway yet. Pam didn’t need to know.

“Of course you’ll sit in jail here until we properly identify you,” Jared added. “And while you do, charges and fines will continue to accumulate daily. You’re not making friends with anyone by being difficult, and if an opportunity comes up to make a deal, you’re jeopardizing that too.”

“What kind of fines?” she asked, her façade cracking a bit.

“You can be fined for your maintenance and upkeep. That can include the cost for the staff that needs to babysit you as well as room and board. You sure you want to go down that route?”

Pam continued to glare at them.

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