Page 40 of Dark Terror
She nodded, and ignoring the warning bells clamoring in her head, she took his hand and put it over her heart. “The same thing you do to me.”
“Good. Now let’s go get you settled in at Harry’s so I can catch this bastard keeping me away from you.”
* * *
“Please be nice to her, and whatever you do, don’t threaten to shoot her or the dog,” Gabe said after they’d gotten Cara settled in at Harry’s apartment. They were now on their way to question Sheri Carstad’s assistant.
Harry snorted. “You know I can’t promise that.”
“Harry.” He leveled a stern look on her.
“Fine, I’ll play nice. At least with Cara. I can’t promise about the dog. But you owe me.”
And he knew she would eventually collect. “According to Cara, Meredith Wallenberg has worked for Sherman Enterprises for two years, starting as an accounting clerk, getting a promotion to the assistant’s job seven months ago. She’s close to her mother and goes to church twice on Sunday. She tends to be judgmental, and that might work in our favor if she didn’t approve of her boss.”
“How does Cara know all that?”
“From Facebook. Apparently people post all kinds of shit on there. You have a Facebook page?” He’d created a profile page after Cara had shown him Sheri’s so he could look through more of her albums. He’d searched for more photos of her with the senator, but hadn’t found any. Most of her pictures were of Cricket.
Harry snorted. “What do you think?”
Yeah, he couldn’t see her getting all chatty and posting kitten pictures. “Here we are.” He pulled to a stop in front of a low-income apartment building. A dozen or so teens loitered on the sidewalk. They eyed them and the car, distrust on their faces.
“You here to shoot us?” one of the larger boys said when Gabe opened his door, the others hooting at his audacity.
“Not planning on it,” Harry said as she walked by them.
“I’m impressed,” Gabe murmured after knocking on Meredith Wallenberg’s door. “It took them about two seconds to peg us as cops.”
“Yeah, it’s like we have a stamp on our foreheads or something.”
The door opened, revealing a petite, mixed-race woman who Gabe knew to be twenty-four years old. “Ms. Wallenberg?” Gabe asked. Cara had shown him her picture, so he knew it was.
Her gaze fell to the badge and gun on his belt, then darted to the kids. “Come in.” As soon as they were inside and the door was closed, she turned on them. “Now they’re going to know I’m the one who lodged a complaint. All I asked for was a patrol car to come disperse them. They’re out there every day, up to no good.”
“I’m sorry, but we’re not here about your complaint,” Gabe said. “We will follow up on it, though. I’m Detective Calder, and this is my partner, Detective Harrison.”
Harry gestured to the sofa. “May we have a seat, Ms. Wallenberg? We’re here to talk to you about something else.”
“Oh, okay.”
“You’re Sheri Carstad’s assistant?” Gabe said after they were seated.
“Yes. Why? Has she complained about me?” She directed her question to Harry, and sensing that she was more comfortable talking to another woman, Gabe let Harry take over.
“Would she have reason to, Meredith?” Harry asked.
By using her first name, Harry was planting the idea that this was a friendly visit. The woman was a bit naive if she thought a personnel complaint would bring two detectives to her doorstep. But based on her question, Gabe guessed that there had been some issues between Sheri Carstad and her assistant.
“I don’t want to get in trouble with Sheri. She’s… ah…” Meredith chewed on her bottom lip.
“Difficult to work for?” Harry asked.
Meredith nodded. “Very. And she was… Is anything I say going to be repeated to her?”
“No. I can promise that won’t happen.”
“Um, okay. She’s not just difficult. She’s mean. She’ll say things that hurt.”
