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“Did you find anything?” Colt asked, knowing it was smarter to work with me at this point instead of playing big, bad cop. He’d played that role plenty when it came to me, but it was more important to him to get stuff done. He never allowed his ego to get in the way of an investigation, even if I was driving him insane.
I shook my head, biting my lip. We’d failed Aria.
Colt looked around and back out the way he must have come. “This place is going to be swarming in minutes. Let’s get you out before the wrong guys start asking too many questions.”
He didn’t have to tell me who the wrong guys were. There were a few of Colt’s fellow officers who would rather stay in the Chief’s good graces than keep positive relationships with their co-workers. They weren’t bad at their jobs so they weren’t really an issue, but they did like to tattle. Susie was tight with the Chief, so she could get me out of trouble if she had to, but knowing I had been here wouldn’t make him happy. So I’d rather not press my luck. If I could stay out of sight of these overly talkative officers, that was much better than needing Susie to save my butt.
“Where are we?” I asked as we left the landing and walked through a kitchen.
“Bakery about four doors down from the laundromat,” Colt said. We continued through a cute seating area and then out on the sidewalk where it would be perfectly fine for anyone to see me, especially as the spectacle of cop cars outside of the laundromat had already begun drawing the attention of locals. Quite a few people were milling around now. Most stood just beyond the cars, trying to get a look at what was going on.
“Let me guess. This is owned by the same shell corporation that owns the laundromat and the two bars?” I asked, fishing for information.
“Nope,” Colt said. I frowned at him in confusion.
He sighed. “We can’t find anything connecting these businesses. As far as we can tell, the four places all have different owners. There’s no way to track where these guys will go next.”
“They have to have some kind of trail,” I said, leaning against the glass wall of the bakery.
Lily’s and Lila’s Bakery. It seemed normal enough.
“You would think. But these guys, whoever they are, seem to be able to afford the best. Better than our tech guys, at least. If there is a trail, they’ve covered it well.”
“Can you ask the Feds for help?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“That’s not up to me,” Colt said quietly.
He didn’t have to explain. There was some sort of ego contest about jurisdiction. The Feds had lost so they weren’t willing to help. It sucked when this kind of thing happened, because the ones who really lost were the victims. Thankfully the victims still had us. There was no room for egos at Aurora.
“How did you know to come here?” I asked, hoping Colt would stay in a chatty mood. We often shared info, but not this much. Or he’d give me a hard time before telling me anything, making me work for the information. However, we both knew this wasn’t like our usual cases. And I was grateful Colt understood that.
“We found your friends in the laundromat. You didn’t come back out of the tunnels with them. I figured that meant there had to be another way out. The bank, hair salon, and mailing center are all branches of national companies. I had a feeling that wherever the tunnels came out would be locally owned.”
“Lily’s and Lila’s. The only one of its kind,” I said, looking at the signage behind me. Colt was a genius. But I wouldn’t tell him that. So I settled for, “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re just a pretty face.” I slugged his arm to offset the near compliment and Colt rolled his eyes. A typical interaction for us.
“So you’ve got nothing more?” I asked, knowing our time was running short. His colleagues would be out of the tunnels any minute.
“Not that I can share,” Colt said with a frown.
I raised an eyebrow. Was he really keeping info to himself when Aria’s life was in danger?
“We’re getting calls on our tip line, but you know I can’t give you any of those. They’re all probably dead ends anyway,” Colt said. He frowned and cracked his neck from side to side.
Why wouldn’t he send me? Was he trying to protect me? Now, of all moments, wasn’t the time to do that.
“I don’t need you to coddle me,” I snapped, pushing at Colt’s shoulders. I needed him to understand how strong I was now. I was no longer that broken woman he’d found in a pool of her own blood.
“I’m not, I swear. I know you can handle this, Shai. But I’m saying you don’t have to. We have good cops on those trails and there’s no point in you joining them. Spend your time elsewhere,” he replied, squaring his shoulders to show he wasn’t about to back down either.
He was right. Those tip lines were typically complete wastes of time. I wouldn’t even be considering following one of those leads if I had something better. Or anything at all, for that matter.
“I’ve got nothing, Colt,” I whispered, shaking out my arms, my anxiety getting the better of me. We should have found Aria by now. This was what I did, and yet when it mattered most I couldn’t seem to do my job well.
“You’ll figure something out. You always do,” Colt said confidently before guiding me down a few steps so that I was no longer in front of the glass wall. “But we’ve got company.”
“You’ll call me if you find anything?” I had to get Colt’s promise.
“I’ll do what I can,” Colt assured before turning and walking toward the bakery door.
