Rogue Alliance

FORTY-FIVE



Shyla had placed the letter on Carmen’s doorstep in the early morning hours and returned to her apartment. Tucked away from the outside world, she spent the entire day researching everything she could find about Victor and his Mafia contacts in an effort to link the upcoming shipment that Ricardo had talked about with past busts or articles on the shipyard and cargo company.

It was dark out when her cell phone rang.

“Ericson here,” she answered,

“Victor was released this afternoon on probation and community service,” Hal Jorgenson’s voice came in strong and clear.

“Hey, that’s progress.”

“Sure,” he snorted, “I guess it’s better than nothing, but I’d hoped that for assaulting an officer, they’d have at least made him serve a little time.”

There was a soft knock on Shyla’s door. She slammed the rest of her fourth cup of coffee.

“Look, Hal,” she said, “we both knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I’ve got some things I want to share with you about my trip, but I don’t want to do it over the phone. Can we meet tomorrow?”

“Sure, of course. Why don’t you come by the house tomorrow after work, maybe around seven?”

Another knock at the door.

“Yeah, seven works. Hey, I gotta go. Someone’s at the door.”

“Probably Shawn. I’m betting he’ll want to tell you the news,” Hal said and hung up.

Expecting Shawn, she was surprised to see an awkward and nervous woman standing at her door, wringing her hands together. It took a second to place the face before she recognized her as Carmen’s mother, Sue Dunsworth. An alarm went off in her brain.

“Well, hello, Mrs. Dunsworth. How can I help you?”

“Where is she? Is she here?” Sue asked, her eyes darting back and forth.

“No, I’m sorry. Carmen didn’t come by here today. Maybe she went to a friend’s house after school?”

Sue’s lips pinched together.

“Nope, nope, the school called this morning around ten to tell me that she hadn’t shown up today and asked if she was home sick. It’s not all that uncommon for her to skip, but she hasn’t done that lately. Not since…well not since she started hanging out with you.”

“Okay,” Shyla said, “well, since she didn’t go to school and she isn’t here, where do you think she could have gone?”

A hint of panic welled up inside her chest but Shyla refused to acknowledge it. It was always best not to jump to conclusions.

“I don’t know or else I wouldn’t be here, would I?” Sue exclaimed with exasperation, “all I know is that she stomped around the house this morning like she had a bug up her butt and right before she left for school, she said you couldn’t come over today for dinner. That’s it. She left before I could ask her why.”

“Did she show you the note?”

Sue’s expression turned wary.

“What note?” she asked.

“I wrote her a note saying that I couldn’t make it to dinner and I thought it was best if we didn’t hang out for a while, until I get some things sorted out.”

Hearing the words out loud, it sounded so trite and she felt ashamed as she imagined the way Carmen would have felt reading it.

“It just seemed like the right thing to do…” Shyla added, her voice trailed off.

Sue looked to have an odd mix of emotions; anger toward Shyla and pleasure to have someone to blame.

“Well, no wonder she ran away,” she accused.

“Whoa, whoa,” Shyla said, holding her hands up, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We don’t know where Carmen is. We can’t just assume that because she skipped school she ran away.”

She knew it was her fault. Why did she write that note? Why couldn’t she have just gone to the damn dinner?

“Why don’t you come inside for bit?” Shyla asked, recognizing the need for a new approach, “I’ll get you a cup of coffee and we’ll figure this out together.”

Sue squeezed and rubbed her hands together till Shyla thought they’d start to bleed.

“No, I better not…I think I’ll go try to find her,” Sue turned halfway, then paused before turning back, “if you didn’t want to have dinner with us, you could have just made up a lame excuse. You didn’t have to hurt her.”

Shyla wanted to lash out and tell her that she’s the one who was always hurting Carmen, slapping her around when things got tough. But it would have only made things worse. Besides, she was the one who had inflicted this recent injury.

“I know…I’m sorry. Listen…don’t go. I’ve got friends down at the precinct still. We can give them a call and report her missing, see what they can come up with. They won’t file it until she’s been officially missing for twenty-four hours but I know them, they’ll get the ball rolling regardless.”

Sue shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet like she wasn’t sure whether to walk away into the dark night or walk into the warmth of the apartment.

“I did want to have dinner with you. I was just…I was just scared,” Shyla offered in her remorse.

Sue’s face registered shock then softened to understanding.

“Come in,” Shyla said again, “and we’ll find her together.”

Sue walked into the apartment.



*



Neither Shawn nor Jason were on duty, but they came immediately after Shyla called Shawn to gave him the run-down on the situation. They both questioned Carmen’s mother about the sequence of events. Meticulously, they went over her history in situations like this hoping to figure out where she could have gone, and a list of names of people she may have turned to. The list was short. Carmen apparently didn’t have many friends, other than Shyla.

“We’ll start a missing person protocol first thing tomorrow morning if she hasn’t shown up by then,” Jason said, “but in the meantime, I’ll go around town and pay a visit to the people on this list and keep an eye out for her on the streets.”

“Thank you,” Sue said.

Shyla was still not sure how to feel about Sue. Her concern for Carmen was genuine but it was hard to tell if her worry stemmed from love or a desire to save face.

Either way, Shyla’s only focus was to find Carmen and make sure she was safe.

“What happened to your window?” Shawn asked after peeking into her bedroom. He’d been wandering the apartment taking notes while they talked and Jason asked questions.

“Oh, you, know, kids out in the parking lot, tossing a ball around.” Shyla said. She gave him a look that said she’d rather talk about it without Carmen’s mother around.

He gave a curt nod and continued the interview. When they were finished, Shyla walked Sue to the door.

“We’ll keep in touch,” she said, “I’ll call you if I hear anything and you can call me anytime. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay…uh…thanks for everything.”

Sue turned and rushed down the stairs.

“You’re welcome,” Shyla shouted after her. She shut the door and joined Jason and Shawn.

“So your window, what happened?” Shawn demanded.

Shyla crossed her arms over her chest. A drink was what she wanted, not a conversation about her life. But Shawn would persist until she came clean if she didn’t fess up.

“A brick happened,” she answered, “last night, around two-thirty, it was tossed into my bedroom. When I hopped out of bed to take a peek, the culprit was already zooming out of the lot. I couldn’t make out a license plate, but I know it was an older Buick by the shape.”

“You think it was one of Victor’s men?” Jason asked.

“No, I don’t. I think this is someone who knew my dad. I don’t have proof but it happened after the bars closed, which indicates a drinker. It happened just days after who I really am and what I’m doing here made the news. My gut just tells me this is someone with old baggage. I’m not really that worried about it.”

Shawn tossed his tablet to the couch.

“Of course you aren’t worried about it, just like you weren’t worried about Victor.”

Shyla had seen that one coming but it didn’t burn any less.

“You know what, Shawn?” she retorted, “We have a missing thirteen-year-old to worry about right now, and Victor is out on the streets again. Some old guy, who is still pissed about what a fourteen year old girl did to her father over a decade ago, is not on my list of priorities. And neither should it be on yours.”

“Fine, we’ll do it your way, like usual,” he said, “come on Jason, let’s comb the streets and talk with the people on that list.”

Ignoring Shawn’s bad attitude, Shyla grabbed her coat.

“I’m going to have a look around, too. I’ll take my car and give you a call if I find anything.”

Shyla locked the door and zipped up her jacket. The temperature was dipping fast and would likely reach freezing point by midnight. She hoped that Carmen was safe and warm in a friend’s house or was smart enough to head home before it got too late.

She felt queasy because she knew that Carmen was hurting, and people made irrational decisions when they were hurting. She knew that all too well.