Page 42 of Two is a Pattern

“Are those for me?” she asked in perfect English.

“You speak English!”

Tatiana nodded.

She had an accent, but it wasn’t heavy, as if she’d been learning and speaking English for a long time. Given her father and his career, she probably had.

“Let’s go sit down, and you can have a snack. I know where we can go.”

“Are you going to make me talk about Annika?”

“Yeah,” Annie said, her tone regretful. “That’s why I’m here.”

Tatiana squared her shoulders and nodded. “Very well,” she said. “Let us try.”

The memory of Dasha popped into Annie’s head.“We will try it.”She did her best to shake it off as she held the bathroom door open for Tatiana.

Annie took her into Worth’s glassed-in office because they could see out from there. No one was there to stop them. Most people seemed to be gathered in the hallway outside the conference room while a handful of detectives spoke with the woman—Annika’s mother?—inside.

The larger room was swarming with people too, and as Annie closed the office door, she heard someone say, “That bitch from Internal Affairs never checked in.”

God, she hated cops. She thought she could be really good at this kind of work. Investigations that didn’t end with turning someone against their country or catching a mole. Using her skill and her brain for justice, not to incriminate someone. But it wasn’t worth it to be surrounded by sexist assholes who did nothing but ask her to get them coffee. She shouldn’t even be in here alone with this little girl. Standard procedure for any sort of interrogation of a minor was to have two people present, especially if the interview wasn’t being recorded.

After Tatiana sat down at the table, Annie gave her the candy and the Coke.

“Wait here,” Annie said. “I’m going to talk to the chief. But your mom is in that room right over there”—she pointed—“and I can see you through the glass. I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

Tatiana nodded.

Worth was facing away from the door when Annie stepped into the bullpen. He turned around, surprised, when she tapped his shoulder.

“You done already?” he asked.

“No. I put her in your office and gave her a snack. And I let her go pee. You can’t just leave a minor in there to rot like she’s a criminal.”

“We were waiting for you,” he said. “Wait. My office?”

“She’s scared,” Annie said. “And I need her not to be. Also, shouldn’t there be an officer in there with us? Or someone from Social Services? If I get anything useful out of her, it may backfire later if procedure was not followed to the letter.”

Worth sighed. “Of course. Let me find you a body. Most people are out doing a grid search of where the girl disappeared, but…”

“A woman, preferably.”

Worth rolled his eyes. “I’ll try.” He turned to the cop next to him. “Has the lieutenant from IA shown up yet? Go find her and send her to my office.”

She returned to Worth’s office and chatted amiably with Tatiana while they waited for the IA officer. Did she like America? How long had they been here? What brought them to Los Angeles?

“We saw the stars on the sidewalk and the letters up on the hill,” she said. “And the ocean.”

“So you’re here on vacation?” Annie asked.

“Papa came for work, and he brought us too.”

“When did he tell you you’d be coming out here?” Annie asked.

Tatiana looked at her blankly. She didn’t understand. Annie repeated the question in Russian, and Tatiana held up three fingers.

“Three weeks?”

---