Page 23 of Hart of Darkness
He angled his head, a strand of his black hair falling out of place. “It’s not like you to give up. What’s going on? You’re sitting here, staring off into space.” He scanned my desk and picked up the picture of Grace. “Who’s this? A new victim? She’s young, like my daughter.”
“Her name is Grace, and she’s the sister of a friend of mine. That photo was taken when she was fourteen. She’s twenty now.”
“You think she’s part of the sex-trafficking ring?” Bruce continued to stare at Grace’s picture. “Boy, I would flip out if my girls were taken from me.”
Dillon was kind of doing the same. “She went missing at sixteen.”
“So why do you have her picture? Surely, she’s long gone by now.”
I couldn’t argue with him on that. Statistics had shown that the crucial window for finding a missing person was forty-eight hours. However, there had been cases in which victims were found after years of being in captivity.
I yawned, making a whiny sound. “Sorry. I didn’t get any sleep last night.”
“We need a story for Sunday’s crime section,” Bruce said.
It was highly unlikely I would have a break in finding more dirt on the Black Knights before then. Investigative reporting took time. “I have an idea.”One that was stupid.“What if I go undercover to get info on the gang or gangs. I could walk the streets as a call girl and see what I can drum up. Then I could get hardcore evidence on anything gang related, including sex trafficking if that’s what they’re doing.” I’d pinpointed the Black Knights because of Cory. But a story was a story, no matter what gang it was about or what illegal activity they were into.
Bruce’s angular jaw dropped. “Are you mad? No way. It’s too dangerous. Leave that shit for the cops. They have people trained to go undercover.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he pointed an ink-stained finger at me. “No. I get how you want to crack the story. But absolutely not. If you bring it up again, my next call is to Ted.”
Well, shit.
Ted would lock me up until he and his team brought down not only the Black Knights but every gang in the city, which meant I would be a prisoner for the rest of my life.
I dropped my head back, grunted, and squinted at the LED lights above before focusing on Bruce.
“Promise me, Maggie, that you are not going to do something stupid.” His kind voice had a razor-sharp edge to it.
I raised my hands as if Ted had a gun to my back. “I promise.”Maybe.
“A story is one thing. Your revenge that you’re dead set on is quite different, and that will get you killed.”
“Yes, Dad,” I teased.
Bruce mashed his lips together. “Sassing me will get you handcuffed to this desk.”
Yes, Dadwas on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t be strapped to my desk. I had leads to follow through on. I had to find facts, and I had to find them fast.
First, I had to somehow get out of my funk. “I’m going down to the precinct.”
“That’s my girl,” Bruce said.
He assumed I was going to grill Ted for info, and I would ask Ted again about the standoff, but I also wanted to ask him about Grace.
I scooped up the picture of Grace, collected my notebook, shoved it all into my bag, and started for the elevator.
“Oh, and Mags?” Bruce called.
I tossed a quick look over my shoulder.
He gave me a warm smile. “Be careful out there.”
I saluted him as straight as a sailor would then hoofed down to the garage located underneath the building and got into my beat-up VW Bug. My little car was the perfect size for city life.
I sped up and out onto the busy city streets, where horns blared and buses screeched to a halt and the smell of car exhaust filtered in through my open window.
I zipped around corners and other cars until I was pulling into a space outside of Ted’s precinct. I got out of my car and slung my bag over my body. As I crossed the street, I spotted Officer Miladin parking his cruiser in front of the precinct. Maybe I could get info out of him on the perp he’d arrested.
Lifting my chin, I dug deep for my flirty side and flipped my braid so it fell down my back as I waited at the curb.
