Page 6 of Freeing Hawk
Mia nodded. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
“Well, he has his office here.” She admitted. “I didn’t want to touch anything just in case the cops came to have a search.”
“Can I look through that?”
Mia nodded. “Sure. I’ll bring you some juice or something”
She squeezed my arm and left me. I wandered through the house to Kingston’s office. When I walked in, the place was familiar but there were things out of place. I’d spent tons of time with Kingston in this space. I knew it almost as well as he did.
When Mia brought me a bottle of orange juice, I cracked the seal and drank. “Did you go through his office?”
“No.” Mia exhaled. “Like I said, I didn’t know what to touch or not touch. Maybe I go in there and mess something up and ruin fingerprints or something.”
Before I started, I removed my light trench and strung it over the back of the chair. I dug into my back pockets for a pair of gloves and began with the files under his desk.
“Do you have any gloves?” I asked Mia.
Mia nodded. “King keeps a box here in the bathroom.
“Good, grab a pair and gimme a hand with the search.”
She was gone and back in a flash and shoving her fingers in a pair of blue latex gloves. If she was feeling useful, I figured she wouldn’t be as stressed out as she was sitting around.
“Okay.” Mia entered the room. “What are we looking for?”
“I don’t know—anything that feels as if it shouldn’t be here, or it makes you question its existence.”
Most of what was in the room was cases he’d been working on. It was mostly paperwork, photographs, old newspaper clippings. His boards were clean, which meant he wasn’t working on anything new without me. After about an hour of searching, Mia and I flopped to the floor, panting from exhaustion.
“Wait a second.” Mia leaned forward to pulled something from underneath the desk. “What’s this? What’s Engine-o-Con?”
“I’m not sure.” I replied. “Lemme see.”
She handed it over and I read it. The only thing in English was the title. The rest was in Spanish and neither of us spoke the language. I pulled my cell out and called Eris.
“Hey, Hawk.” She was laughing when she answered. “What’s up?”
“You speak Spanish, right?”
“Some.” Eris replied. “Why?”
“I’m gonna switch to video, hang on.”
I switched and she leaned in toward the camera. “Eris, this is my partner’s wife, Mia Trejo. Mia, my best friend, Aisha Carrick.”
Mia waved. “Hey.”
Eris grinned and returned the gesture. “It’s nice to meet you—Hawk? You look worried. What’s going on.?”
“My partner is missing.” I explained. “We found this. Can you tell us what it is?”
Eris leaned in. “Engine-O-Con. Ummm. According to it, that’s a convention of some sort—cars. With the camera, I can’t make out much else. Hold on. My boyfriend owns his own mechanic shop. If anyone knows what that is, it’s him. Babe?”
“Yeah, Goddess?”
“You know cars.” Eris called. “What’s Engine-O-Con?”
