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So right then, without me calling it up, it hit my brain.
And then something else hit me.
All of a sudden, I sat up in bed.
I turned on the light, winced against the bright, but still threw my legs over the side and went to the wall.
I pulled the tapestry aside and stared at it.
“I’m such a dufus,” I whispered, rushing to my phone.
I grabbed it off the charger and made the call as I hurried to my closet.
It took several rings, but Luna finally answered.
“Wha?” she asked, sounding half-asleep.
“Luna,” I said, squeezing the phone between ear and shoulder while shoving my foot into the leg of a pair of jeans. “Who sees all and is in the middle of everything?”
Her “What?” was more alert this time.
“Who sees all and is just blocks away from The SlideandThe Pink Slipandright in the middle of where the girls work?”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Mr. Shithead.”
Her name for him was better than mine so I immediately adopted it.
I struggled into my bra as I said, “We’ve half-assed this. Conducting an investigation, you follow the outline Cap gave me. I’ve been stuck on the beginning and end, mostly the end. He and I even had a conversation about it this morning and it didn’t penetrate. But we need to go back to the beginning. We need to talk to people who might know the victims. And he’s in the position to know, or at least have seen all the victims. Which means we need to go talk to him.”
“He’s not going to tell us anything.”
“Nobody ever tells the cops anything, but they still find a way to get answers. We have to try.”
“I thought we were passing this off to ‘We.’”
“We are, but that doesn’t mean we can’t give them more if we find it.” I sensed her hesitation, so I said, “I get it if you’re done and don’t want to come.”
“You’re not going alone,” she replied firmly. “I’ll activate the Angels Phone Tree.”
I paused in trying to figure out how to pull on my shirt and still talk to her. “We have a phone tree?”
“Yeah, you call me, I call Jessie and tell her to call Harlow. Phone tree. You’re up and sound like you’re getting dressed. Which means you get to do the round of pickups. See you when you get here.”
She disconnected.
I finished dressing, went to the wall, pulled back the tapestry, ripped all the women’s pictures down, left my phone, turned out the light (climate change!), grabbed my burner and shot out of there.
* * *
We drove the Accord,me behind the wheel, and I was so fired up to do this, I was annoyed at the added delay in doing the switch out.
“First, we don’t need to be driving practically to the airport to pick up our wheels. We need a centralized location for the vehicles,” I declared. “So, I’m gonna ask for that and complete dossiers on all the missing women. We’re going to pore through them. We’re also gonna go talk to who reported them missing and any family they have in town. I missed it, even though Cap told me it was the first thing we needed to do. I’m not even sure who we’re looking for, even though I know who we’re looking for, but still, I don’t know a thing about them. And that’s the most important part!”
I was so worked up, I ended that shouting.
“Should Harlow and me meet this Clarice chick?” Jessie asked. “Because your dad’s here, Luna’s getting ready for her party tomorrow, and if she knew about us, Harlow and I could communicate with her.”
“I’ll email ‘We’ in the morning, share what we want and tell them you’re on the team, so eventually, they’ll hear from you. And I’ll tell them you need to be kitted out,” I said. “Also, I’ll ask for a laser pointer.”
