“The detectives? Why?”
“It’s about the missing girl.”
“You have some information?”
“Maybe.”
Joe hesitated but eventually nodded and said, “Sure. They’re probably upstairs.”
Luca had been given a tour of the whole station a few weeks before, but he didn’t have any reason to go back to certain areas of it.
They walked all the way down to the end of a long hall, passing the lieutenant’s office on the way. Beyond that were cubicles, and at the very end, two cops talking to each other seemed surprised to see anyone coming their way.
“Can I help you?” one of them said.
“Hi, I’m Luca Fierro, and this is my TO, Joe Sorenson. I heard about the missing Richardson girl. Is that your case?”
They glanced at each other. “Yeah. I’m Detective Morrow.”
“Detective Griffin,” said the other one, and they both shook his hand.
“Do you have any information for us?” Morrow asked.
“Not sure. I just wanted you to know I live near the family. If there’s anything I can do, I’d like to be of help.”
The two detectives smirked at each other. “Yeah, well, if you see anything suspicious, like if the father suddenly shows up carrying a new teddy bear or something, let us know.”
Surprised, Luca asked, “Are you suspecting the father?”
“No. We don’t have any suspects at the moment.”
“Oh. Hey, I’ve heard psychics can sometimes be of help. Is that something you’d be open to?”
The detectives cracked up, laughing.
“Don’t mind him, guys. He’s new.” Joe seemed to think he needed defending and acted as if he were naive.
Luca glanced around the detectives’ area. One of them had a file called “Unsolved Mysteries” on top of his inbox.
A picture of Morrow’s face superimposed over the face of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz, hung on the outside wall. Luca pointed to it. “What’s that about?”
Griffin chuckled. “Someone Photoshopped that when Morrow busted a satanic cult last spring.”
Joe laughed, and Luca smiled. “Congrats. I guess you guys have to maintain a sense of humor to deal with some of the crap that goes down in this city.”
“Yeah. It helps,” Morrow said. “Listen, thanks for coming up and offering your support.”
“Sure thing. I want to help any way I can.”
“You say you live around the area where the family lives?”
“All my life. Right on Mass. Ave. near Tremont.”
“Nice. Well, if you hear anything, let us know. We can use a lead right now.”
“You didn’t get anything from the accident scene?”
“Nothing. You’d think there would be a print from someone trying to get a child’s car seat unbuckled from the back, but the only prints belonged to the victim.”
