The Chain of Lies

CHAPTER 11



“What body?” Emily pleaded.

Colin hung up his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. “Grab your shoes, we have to go.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, slipping into her flats by the front door and grabbing a jacket from the hall closet.

“The body of a young female was found by the river—Asian, Ernie said. I’ll fill you in on the drive over.” He held the door open for her.

“Oh, Colin, no.” Emily gasped as she crossed the threshold. She felt her chest constricting as she envisioned the scene in her mind, wondering if it could be the girl from the hotel restroom.

As they drove, Colin relayed what Ernie had told him on the phone. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, but let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?” Emily questioned, crossing her arms as she frowned at him.

“The prostitution ring?”

“You say prostitution ring like those girls have any choice in the matter. Call it what it is—a sex slave ring.”

“Maybe, but we need to check the facts first. This could be totally unrelated.”

Emily crossed her arms tighter and sat silently, her eyes staring straight ahead. Her thoughts went back to the night she and Molly happened upon the girl, crying in the restroom. She hoped the dead female was not the one from the hotel. If she had known then what she knew now, or what she thought she knew, perhaps there was something more she could have done to rescue her.

But how could she have known? It looked like a spat between mother and daughter, much like the ones she’d had with her own mother. And, in fact, that might still be the case.

Emily could see emergency lights flashing up ahead. Colin turned onto a road that led to a small parking lot near the entrance to the green belt that ran for miles along the Boise River. Several police cars, a body retrieval vehicle, and the CSI van crowded the area. Yellow crime scene tape was strung between trees and benches to cordon off the area from curious bystanders.

Abruptly parking his Jeep, Colin and Emily jumped out and rushed to the scene. He ducked under the tape and held it up for Emily to squeeze under, and they headed directly to the body, still in the water.

Dr. Walters was standing on the bank, bending over, trying to get a better look at the body bobbing in the river.

“Hey, Doc. What do we have?” Colin asked as he came to stand next to him.

The white-haired medical examiner straightened and glanced over at him. “Hello, Colin. I heard you were coming back.”

“Just in time, I see.”

Emily walked up and stood next to Colin.

“Hello, Ms. Parker. You helping with this case?”

“Possibly,” Emily responded, glancing over at Colin.

“What can you tell me, Doc?” Colin asked.

“The body appears to be that of a young woman, maybe late teens. She looks like she’s been beaten. Other than that, I can’t tell you too much until we get her out of the water.”

“Ernie!” Colin turned and shouted, getting the officer’s attention. “Can you and the boys pull the body out of the water?”

Ernie waved his acknowledgement and stepped off to gather his guys. Several officers had to wade waist deep in the water in order to pull the body out. With Ernie’s seniority, he managed to stay on the riverbank and he looked quite relieved to be doing so. They carried the dead girl a few yards and hoisted her up onto an awaiting gurney, readied by the CSIs with an opened black-vinyl body bag.

Emily followed the men and the body as they wrestled it into the open bag. When the officers backed away, she stepped in and studied the girl’s face, relieved that even with the bruising she could tell it was not the girl from the hotel.

Colin and the doc stood across the gurney from Emily.

“Just like I thought,” Dr. Walters confirmed as he did a cursory exam, “beaten pretty badly, but I won’t know cause of death until I get her back to the morgue for autopsy. She does have signs of drug use, so I’ll have to run a tox screen, get her blood work, see what comes back.”

“Is rape a possibility, Doc?” Emily piped in.

“I can’t say just yet, Ms. Parker, but I’ll do that exam when I get her back to my lab. As soon as I’m done, I’ll get the results to Colin. I can tell you one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” Colin asked.

“My CSI, Jackson, says it doesn’t look like she was killed here—no signs of struggle. Looks like the body was dumped in the river and she caught on some thick branches in the water. That’s where the guy found her, bobbing in the river where the officers pulled her out.”

“That’s good to know,” Colin replied.

Dr. Walters zipped the dark plastic body bag shut over the young woman and motioned to the body retrieval team to take her away.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I come up with something.” Dr. Walters picked up his medical bag and turned to walk away. “Glad to have you back, Andrews,” he called out over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Doc,” Colin replied before turning his attention to Emily. “I’m going to have one of the officers take you home.”

“I want to stay,” she argued.

“I’m going to be here for a while, interviewing the man who found the body, talking to the CSIs and stuff. There’s no need for you to be here. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“But I want to stay.”

“Not this time, Emily, please.”

She wanted to make her case to stay, but she could see there was no point in arguing about it. Colin had a job to do and it needed his full attention. “Okay, okay, you win. As much as I hate to, I’ll go home.”

“Thank you.” He looked in her eyes, then leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before he turned to call for a ride. “Hey, Ernie,” he shouted to his man, who came running, “can you get one of the guys to give Emily a ride home?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

~*~

Emily went home, did a sweep of her little house, and checked the locks on her doors and windows. Feeling safe and alone, she made herself a cup of tea and crawled into bed to read a mystery novel.

She’d hoped the book would take her mind off Colin and the dead girl, but she couldn’t get the ghastly image of the girl’s pale, beaten, and lifeless body out of her mind. She read the same page over and over again, finding her mind drifting away from what she was reading, wondering what happened to that girl—and the one from the hotel restroom. Could they be connected?

Unable to sleep, she decided to check the GSP tracker to see what Jethro was up to. She checked the history of his movements since she attached the tracking device that afternoon. It showed him going back to his condo, making a stop along the way, probably at a store, then later taking a route down her street.

Then that must have been him out there before Colin arrived.

Emily checked his movements after leaving her street and saw he had gone back to his place. The vehicle had not moved since.

Exhausted, she climbed back in bed and decided to try to get some sleep. Her cell phone buzzed on the nightstand, and she saw she’d gotten a text from Camille reminding her of the football party the following afternoon.

She turned off the light and snuggled down under the covers. The phone buzzed again. She picked it up and read another text. This time it was from Colin. Sweet dreams. I love you.

She texted back, I love you more.

~*~

Early the following morning, Colin phoned Emily as promised. He filled her in on all the details of the night before—as much as he legally could. The interview with the man who found the body basically stated that he was walking by and spotted it in the water. Colin’s conversation with the CSIs gave him little more than possible tire tracks and squishy footprints in the mud, for which they agreed to cast molds. They would have to wait for Dr. Walters’ autopsy and blood test results to know more.

As his first official day back, Colin explained he needed to head into the office early and meet with the Chief of Police. Even though it was Saturday, he was back on the job and wanted to get his office set up.

He chuckled. “I hope Ernie hasn’t changed it around too much since I left.” Then he promised to pick her up in time to take her to Camille and Jonathan’s football party.

After seeing Jethro at lunch the day before, Emily had been thinking about the gun Evan had hidden in the safe deposit box. She remembered their first meeting, along with Isabel, when Emily had asked Jethro a hypothetical question about what she should do if she found a gun. He suggested she give it to him to have the Feds run it through ballistics to see if it matched any open cases they had. If not, then they would turn it over to the local police.

Even though Emily and Isabel insisted they were only speaking hypothetically, they could tell Jethro wasn’t buying their story. He had asked Isabel several times after that if he could see the gun, and she had told Emily she could tell that excuse was wearing thin.

Her bank was open on Saturday mornings, so Emily decided to go and retrieve the not-so-hypothetical gun from the safe deposit box. It was time to turn the weapon over to Isabel, and only Isabel, to have it tested.

Emily had realized from the first day she’d found the Beretta pistol in the metal box, that Evan had hidden the gun away for a reason. After finding his note a few months ago, saying he had wrestled the weapon away from someone who had attacked him and tried to kill him, she understood why.

She wondered if Jethro’s repeated requests to get a look at the gun, under the auspices of having it tested, revealed his desire to take the piece off Emily’s hands—and out of circulation. But why?

If she gave it to him for testing, she feared it could easily disappear and no one would ever see it again. But if she gave it directly to Isabel, it had a better chance of actually reaching the lab.

The old photo she had found in the safe deposit box the first day she’d opened it—the one of Evan with his arm around the young dark-haired beauty—had haunted her as she’d wondered who the woman could be. Now, thanks to Evan’s note, she knew. The picture of someone seeking revenge for Natalia’s death was coming dangerously into view.

Emily phoned Isabel to be certain she would be home to receive the pistol.

“Yes, I’ll be here. Do you want me to come to the bank with you?” Isabel asked.

“No, I don’t want to draw any more attention to it than I have to. After I pick it up, I’ll head straight to your house.”

“Just watch to make sure you’re not being followed,” Isabel warned.

“I’ll have the GPS monitor with me. That way I can make sure that at least Jethro isn’t following me.”

“He may not be the only one, so keep an eye out.”

“I will.” Emily said her good-byes and hung up, periodically glancing into her rearview mirror and at the monitor. She made it to the bank without incident.

“Hello, Mr. Johnson.” Emily greeted the bank manager as she skirted past the teller stations. “I’d like to get into my safe deposit box, please.”

“Certainly, Mrs. Parker. It’s nice to see you again.” He escorted her to the secure door, punched a few numbers into the keypad, and the door unlocked. He moved to the wall of safe deposit boxes and held his hand out for her key. He stuck his key and hers into the little door and turned them simultaneously. “I’ll give you some privacy, ma’am.”

“Thank you, Mr. Johnson.” She pulled the box out of its space and laid it on the table in the middle of the room. Opening the lid, her gaze ran over all the items in the box—the passports, a few thick wads of cash, and some Euros. Moving the other items aside, she partially uncovered the gun. She glanced around the perimeter of the ceiling, searching for video cameras as inconspicuously as possible. There were two, in opposite corners.

She placed her sizeable leather handbag on its side, over the metal box, and surreptitiously slid the gun into it, ever mindful of the cameras. The rest of the contents, she decided, would keep for another day. She closed the lid, stuck the box back in its hole and closed the door on it.

Once she was in her car, she locked her doors and gingerly slipped the gun into a cloth bag and tied off the drawstring. She checked the GPS monitor that was wedged on her console, but she saw no movement of the tracking device. Either Jethro was still at his condo, or at least his car was, or he had found the device and stashed it somewhere in the parking garage. Before pulling out of the bank’s lot, she glanced around and checked her mirrors again.

Feeling fairly assured she was not being followed, she headed to Isabel and Alex’s house. Within minutes, she pulled into their high-end neighborhood with its expansive, neatly trimmed lawns and wide meandering streets. As Emily rounded a curve, the Martínez’s spacious two-story brick and stucco home came into view. She pulled into the long driveway, catching a glimpse of Isabel bounding down the brick steps.

“Emily!” Isabel called out as her friend climbed out of her car.

Emily slung her heavy leather handbag over her shoulder as Isabel approached.

“Do you have the gun?” Isabel kept her voice low.

Emily nodded and patted her purse. “Right here.”

Isabel linked her hand through Emily’s arm and walked her to the house, glancing over her shoulder, up and down the street. “Let’s get inside.” As they went in the house, Isabel turned again and looked toward the street.

“Is Alex here?” Emily asked as they moved from the entry to the kitchen at the back of the house.

“No, he had a basketball game at the Y with some of his lawyer buddies this morning.”

“He’ll be back by kickoff time, won’t he?” Emily asked, setting her purse down with a thunk on the round, glass-top dinette table.

“Of course. He wouldn’t miss Boise State’s first game. Maggie will be there, too, she told me.” Isabel opened a package of Nutter Butter cookies and laid a couple handfuls of them on a plate. “I hope she brings some photos to share.”

“I haven’t seen her since she and Molly got back from Hawaii. I’m glad she’s coming. I know she hates football, but she does love a good party.”

“Yes, she does.” Isabel set the plate of cookies on the table. “Will Colin be there?”

“That’s the plan.”

“You don’t sound so sure.” Isabel turned and went back to the kitchen.

“Today is his first day back on the job and he’s already been handed a case.”

“Are you talking about the body they found in the river last night?”

Emily pulled out a chair and sank down onto it. “How did you know?”

“Heard it on the news this morning.”

Emily heard Isabel open a cupboard, then the clinking sound of her pulling a couple of mugs out.

“They said she was a young Asian woman, late teens or early twenties—you want a cup of coffee, Em?”

“That’d be great, thanks. On the news this morning, huh? That was fast. But yes, that’s the case.” Emily pulled the fabric bag out of her purse and laid it gently on the glass table, next to the plate of Nutter Butters.

“Poor woman. I wonder what happened.”

“I have my suspicions.” Emily picked up a cookie and took a bite.

“You do? How are you involved in this?” Isabel carried two cups of steaming coffee to the table.

“Colin was at my house when he got the call last night about someone finding the body. We both went to the scene.”

Isabel took a seat at the table and poured cream into her mug. “That must have put a damper on your romantic evening.”

“That’s for sure. So did my nosey next-door neighbor and the exploding potatoes.” Emily grimaced before sticking the rest of the cookie in her mouth.

Isabel laughed, sending a spray of coffee across the table. Her hand flew up to her mouth. “Sorry about that,” she quickly apologized, grabbing a napkin out of the holder in the center of the table.

“It wasn’t that funny.” Emily covered her lips with her fingers to contain a giggle. “At least at the time it wasn’t.” She tore a packet of sugar open and dumped it in her coffee.

“You’ll have to tell me about that some time. Sounds like a scream.” Isabel grabbed a couple of cookies from the plate. “But back to the dead woman—what are your suspicions?”

“Well…” Emily stirred her coffee, “I was planning on talking to you about this later anyway, so I guess now’s as good a time as any. Remember I asked you about the Jade Thai Spa and you were going to check to see if it was one the Feds were watching?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t gotten a response back yet.”

“I think the young dead woman may have something to do with that.”

“You mean the prostitution ring?”

“Yes.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Call it a gut feeling.”

Emily didn’t have any actual evidence pointing to it, but there was something about the dead woman that made her think of the Asian girl in the hotel restroom. “I was hoping we could all put our heads together this afternoon and come up with a way to find out.”

“Like a sting or something?”

“Exactly,” Emily replied, wagging a Nutter Butter at Isabel. “Camille’s brother said he’d done an investigative report on human trafficking, perhaps he can give us some ideas.”

“Maybe, but if the Feds are watching that place, they’ll want to be alerted to anything you’re planning to do so it doesn’t blow up their case.”

“You can be our liaison, Is.” Emily dipped one end of her cookie in her coffee. “You know, a go-between.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Em. We don’t even know if the dead girl had anything to do with the Jade Thai Spa.”

“Not yet, but soon I hope. Then we need to jump on it quick.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Isabel popped another cookie in her mouth.

“Oh, by the way,” Emily softly patted the gun through the fabric, “where should we hide this baby?”