Page 49 of Just Tonight

Cami headed back to the car, deciding to keep out of the way and write her own statement of events, while Connor wrapped up the case.

It wasn’t all finished, though. Despite the case being solved, there were still things she needed to discuss with Connor. Important, urgent matters. The case might have delayed these issues, but it didn’t make them any less serious. Or deadly.

There were no more excuses for Connor to avoid telling her what she had to know. And as soon as he’d wrapped up the paperwork, she was going to ask him about Bill Oertel.

***

They were done faster than Cami would have expected.

Within an hour, local police had taken over the processing of the scene, and Connor had wrapped up some of the admin on the case. As he climbed into the car, she knew it was time. Now, she had to ask him what was happening. She needed to know.

She was filled with exhaustion, the adrenaline from the case having ebbed away. Her brain felt as if it had worked in overdrive all day and was now checking out, leaving her drained, and without the mental agility that she would have wanted and knew she needed for such a conversation.

Groping for the words she needed, she wondered how to broach the subject at last, and how to drill through his defenses if he refused to tell her.

But as Connor closed the car door, he turned to her.

“It’s been a long day,” he said. “I should have spoken to you about this before now. I guess I was hoping for developments, and more clarity, and some good news. But there isn’t – yet. So, Cami, I need to tell you about Bill Oertel.”

The name sent a shockwave through her. She tried her best not to show how it jolted her.

“Yes,” she said, her voice husky. “I know. We do need to talk about him.”

Connor sighed, cranking up the heater, dispelling some of the early morning cold that was making her shiver. It was two a.m., she saw.

"He's missing. He's AWOL. There's a hunt out for him. He's not at home, phone's not on. All his devices are missing, too, or we wouldn't have hesitated to see if you could track them. But he's incommunicado, completely. We don't know if he's skipped the country somehow or if he's laying low."

Cami swallowed. This was sounding much more serious than she’d thought.

“What will happen if he’s found?” she asked. Then she corrected herself hastily. “When he’s found, I mean?”

"When he's found, he's going straight to jail. You're going to be a key witness in all of this. Kieran, too. We're going to get a solid case against him, and we're hopefully going to be able to get the names of the others that he was in league with."

“Do you know –“ Her voice sounded even smaller now. “Do you know what he did?”

Connor’s lips tightened. Cami could see he knew, and she could also see that he didn’t want to tell her. That telling her was going to be hard.

“Trafficking,” he said. “That’s what we’ve surmised from the faint trails we’ve found so far. Young women, mostly. High end, taken on demand, to order. A very sophisticated network. In the country and out of it. Unfortunately, the maximum lifespan of the women seems to be four or five years. They – they are disposed of after that time.”

Disposed of. That meant killed. Cami felt tears flooding her eyes. She didn’t want to cry in front of Connor. That was showing weakness, and she wanted to show him she was strong. But this was so sad, and so unfair, and she was so tired, that she couldn’t stop her eyes from overflowing as the news hit.

Jenna had been gone six years. Her lifespan was over. Finished.

He sighed. "I wish it was better news, Cami. It's hit all of us hard. And I know for you, with your sister having been missing – this must be unbearable for you. The most we can do is to make Oertel and the others pay the full price. The maximum penalty for the suffering they've caused."

A thought occurred to Cami, penetrating her grief. “Connor, I’ve barely said anything about Bill Oertel. How do you know so much about this already, and so many details?”

He paused before replying, and his voice sounded as hard as she’d ever heard it.

“Because Bill Oertel was in charge of the top secret unit that was supposed to be investigating this, Cami. He’s been in charge for seven years. For seven years, we’re guessing, he’s been corruptly involved. And in that time he’s fabricated the odd arrest, he’s tossed us some scraps, but the network has grown. The tentacles have spread. He wasn’t there to destroy it at all. He was there to expand it.”

Cami couldn’t speak for a while. She felt suffocated by horror. Connor didn’t say a word but just sat quietly, letting her take in the bombshell.

“So – does he know who I am?” she asked.

Connor nodded.

No wonder the FBI had posted guards already, Cami thought with a shiver, thinking of the building’s dark lobby, and how quiet it was late at night, with nobody around. And the flimsiness of the front door, which Kieran had wanted to upgrade with a deadbolt and a thick security chain. But he hadn’t done it yet.

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