Shane only nodded.
‘I’ve got it all cued up,’ Deacon said. ‘I’m Agent Novak, this is Detective Bishop. We work for Lieutenant Isenberg, along with Detective Kimble. We were out looking for your friend, Linnie. Here, have a seat.’
Shane sat and Meredith sat next to him, Adam moving to stand behind her, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body, but not close enough to touch. Which was ideal, because her job for the next few minutes was to give Shane strength, not to pay attention to the big, beautiful man behind her. And then she realized that by positioning himself as he had, Adam was quietly offering his strength to her. It was sweet.
‘You didn’t find her.’ Shane searched Deacon and Scarlett’s faces. ‘What did you find, besides the 911 call?’
‘She’s not a student at any of the colleges in town,’ Scarlett said. She was crisp and professional and that seemed to help Shane, because he nodded, assuming Scarlett’s posture. ‘Andy had told people at his work that she was.’
‘She wanted to be a teacher, but that was a long time ago.’ Shane looked down at the table for a few beats, then back up. ‘What else?’
Scarlett held his gaze levelly. ‘We found a few people who thought they knew her, but only when we showed them the more recent picture.’
Shane visibly steeled himself. ‘Which picture?’
Deacon told him about the 911 call and the still they were able to get from the surveillance photo in the parking lot of the restaurant. ‘If this is Linnie, she doesn’t look like the same girl you knew. Just know that, okay?’
Deacon slid the photo across the table and Shane gasped.
‘Oh my God. Linnie?’ He shuddered, his words thick with tears.
Meredith laid her hand on his back, felt him trembling. ‘Is it her, Shane?’
‘I . . .’ He choked, then turned to look at Meredith, devastation in his eyes. ‘Yeah. It’s her. I know her eyes. But . . . My God. She’s like a skeleton.’
Deacon reached across the table to put the older photo Shane had provided next to the one that had him so distressed. ‘Her eyes don’t look that similar,’ Deacon said gently. ‘Are you sure?’
Shane jerked a nod. ‘That’s because in this picture’ – angry now, he poked at the older photo of a laughing, happy Linnie – ‘she hadn’t been raped yet. These eyes?’ He picked up the newer photo and it shook in his hands. ‘Yeah. This is what we saw afterward. Me and Andy. God. It killed him to see her like that.’
Meredith kept a steady pressure on his back. ‘Okay,’ she murmured. ‘But she’s alive, Shane. Don’t lose that fact, okay?’
He nodded and put the photo down with a precision that broke Meredith’s heart. He was trying so hard not to fall apart. ‘Can I listen—’ He cut himself off, his gaze darting back to Scarlett. ‘Wait. Who knew her like this?’ he demanded. ‘How did they know her if she wasn’t a student?’
Scarlett met Shane’s eyes directly once again. ‘This is hearsay only, but we found four men who said they “had friends” who’d hired this woman for sexual services.’
Shane’s mouth fell open. ‘Prostitution? You’re saying Linnie is a prostitute?’
For a moment no one said a word, then Detective Hanson spoke. ‘That’s why we’re here, Mr Baird. We got a tip about a prostitution ring operating on the college campus. We’ve got a few names and we’re tracking down leads. Including this young woman.’
Shane covered his hand with his mouth and shook his head. ‘She promised. We made a pact, her and Andy and me. No drugs and no . . . selling ourselves. We promised each other.’ He blinked and tears streaked down his face. ‘This is why she called anonymously. She doesn’t want to be arrested.’
This was most probably true. ‘Shane,’ Meredith said quietly, but firmly. ‘She is alive. That’s the most important thing. Andy was afraid that whoever was forcing him to point that gun at me yesterday would kill her, but she’s alive. We work from there, okay?’
He nodded, then squared his shoulders. ‘Can you play the 911 call now?’
Deacon tapped the keyboard of his computer and a raspy whisper came from the speaker. ‘Just . . . tell them that the SUV used in the shooting can be found at Clyde’s Place, at 275 and Beechmont.’ The clip abruptly ended. ‘Well?’ Deacon asked.
Shane’s head dipped low. ‘Yeah. That’s her.’
‘You seem certain,’ Adam said from behind them.
Shane twisted in his chair to look up at Adam. ‘I am. She, um, had nightmares after . . . you know. Back in the foster house. She screamed a lot. That’s how she sounded after. She had that raspy edge. It’s like the bastard who hurt her even broke her voice.’ He slumped in his chair. ‘If you find her, will the fact that she made this call help her?’
‘We don’t know,’ Scarlett said. ‘But it can’t hurt.’
‘But you’ll keep looking for her?’ Shane asked, sounding so young and lost.
‘Yes,’ Adam assured him. ‘If she was in that SUV, she can probably tell us who shot Andy. Besides, we think she may have been injured. She may need medical help.’
Shane went still, his eyes narrowing. He twisted again to stare up at Adam. ‘Why? Why do you think that?’ He pivoted, glaring at Deacon and Scarlett. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’ he demanded. ‘Tell me.’
‘She left a lot of blood in the SUV,’ Deacon said simply and Shane frowned.
‘And? You can’t know it’s hers. Even if you could test the DNA that fast, you couldn’t prove it was hers because you don’t have anything to compare it to. Do you?’
Scarlett’s black brows arched and Deacon’s head tilted in that way he had when he was puzzling something out. Shane huffed an impatient breath and waved his hand. ‘Kyle’s pre-law. We watch a lot of crime movies. Just answer the question.’
Meredith gave both Deacon and Scarlett an imploring look on Shane’s behalf. ‘If you can’t answer, he needs to understand why you can’t. You owe him that much.’
Deacon sighed. ‘We didn’t find the blood or the SUV. But she told us she bled in the car when she made the 911 call. Told us to be careful.’ He leaned closer, resting his forearm on the table. ‘She told us that she was HIV positive, which is not the death sentence it used to be.’ He added the final phrase because Shane had thrown himself back in his chair, stunned and growing so pale that Meredith worried he’d pass out.
‘Bullshit,’ Shane shouted, pointing at the recent photo. ‘Look at her. She’s sick. Oh my God.’ He broke then, choking on a sob. ‘What happened to them? Andy and Linnie? I shouldn’t have left them. I never should have left them.’
‘You don’t know what her condition is and why she’s so thin,’ Deacon said calmly. ‘Let’s find her and then you’ll know more.’
Shane nodded unsteadily. ‘Okay. Am I done?’
‘Yes,’ Isenberg told him. ‘Thank you, Mr Baird. You can go join the Davises now.’ She turned to Meredith. ‘Dr Fallon,’ she added, not impolitely, but it was clear that Meredith needed to leave as well.
She was okay with that. She needed to go crash somewhere and let herself have a minor meltdown. But first, I need to pop some ibuprofen for this headache. Maybe find a bag of ice. She started to rise, then smiled inside when Adam offered her a hand. She allowed him to help her up, then gave a shaky laugh. ‘Thanks. I’m still a little wobbly from our adventure,’ she said lightly, noting that he was studying her carefully. ‘But I’m okay.’
‘At least you’ve got color in your face again.’ He glanced at Shane, who was shuffling toward the door. ‘But he doesn’t,’ he added in a worried whisper.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll see to him.’ Meredith followed Shane, but paused at the door when she remembered the reason she’d been coming downtown to begin with. ‘Do we know when Mrs Voss is coming in? Agent Troy said he’d talked to her and set it up.’
‘She got here a few minutes ago,’ Isenberg said. ‘I had her and her daughter escorted to one of the interview rooms. If you can wait for us by my office, please?’