Page 74 of The Lost Bones
“Think?” Nick was appalled. “Mack, it’s Sully. He’s one of us.”
What did “one of us” even mean? She had faith in her sergeant. But still something was stopping her. Holding her back from divulging the truth to those around her without any evidence.
“Yeah, and who does Sully trust?” she challenged. “What if he trusts the wrong person? I didn’t even see half the people there. Some of them were in the rooms upstairs. Can you imagine Captain Murphy being one of them?”
Nick raised his eyebrows. “That’s a frightening image.”
“We need hard evidence before we go to anyone.” She showed him the key Jane Doe had given her. “Jane Doe swiped this from Hamilton’s bedroom. He kept it inside a special box.”
He took the key and inspected it closely. “It’s our lucky day. There is a bitting code on it. Jenna can track down the lock from the manufacturer.”
“And technically it’s not a lie that we got this from Jane Doe, who has been doing better thanks to Dr. Turner. So we don’t have to reveal yet how we found out about Jane Doe.”
He smirked mirthlessly. “You’ve thought of every excuse, haven’t you?”
“It’s like we’re getting shot at from everywhere.” She felt a pressure building behind her eyes, trying not to think about what Sterling was going through right now. “And of course, any more warrants that we submit should go to a judge Hamiltondoesn’tlike. That’s the only judge I’ll trust.”
“Agreed. I’ll give this to Jenna.” The chair protested with a screech as he stood up.
As soon as he had left, upsetting thoughts swathed Mackenzie’s mind. It was always those brief moments of silence and inactivity that would catch her off guard. An old memory resurfaced: she was in a pool, wearing floaters around her chubby arms.
“I’ll drown!” she cried, hating the water that was lapping against her chin and into her mouth.
“Now, now, Mackenzie.” Robert’s gentle voice calmed her. His strong arms came around her, just hovering and not touching. “If you keep moving, you won’t drown.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. All you have to do is always keep moving.”
She kept flailing her arms and legs, and though the water still splashed her face, she didn’t drown.
“Clint got something for us.” Nick gestured her to follow him. She snapped out of her daze and stood up.
“Is it the damaged part of the memory stick?” she asked hopefully.
“I think so.”
When they reached Clint’s stuffy office, he turned one of the many monitors to face them. His pale cheeks were pink, and his usually focused eyes were frantic. “Like I said before, there are some files that we just won’t be able to salvage, but the recovery software was able to extract this file.”
He played the grainy video.
Nick took a sharp intake of breath.
Mackenzie’s legs almost buckled.
Women lay on a white floor. Someone wearing black boots and holding a camera walked around filming them, weaving their way through them. The women were clothed and moved weakly, either injured or drugged, Mackenzie couldn’t tell. But whoever was filming them had no intention of helping them. They just recorded them like they were keeping an inventory. Like these women were soon going to be sacrificed in some way.
THIRTY-EIGHT
“It’s been over twenty-four hours since Sterling Brooks was abducted from his apartment building.” The new Debbie—Mackenzie had learned she was called Laura—spoke to the camera. “We are joined today by Sterling’s partner, Ivy Pierce.”
The camera panned to Ivy. Her wavy hair was tied in an untidy ponytail. Her nose was swollen; a handkerchief was balled in her fist. She wore a plain T-shirt in a muted color. She looked every inch a woman whose partner was missing.
“Thank you, Laura.” She blinked tearfully.
“I’m very sorry for what you’re going through. Do the police have any theories?”
“I wouldn’t know, because the Lakemore PD hasn’t been keeping in touch with me.” Ivy paused. “I believe there is bias against me owing to the fact that one of the lead detectives on the case is Sterling’s ex-wife.”
