Free Some Gave All by Nancy Holder Page B

whispering.
    Why would he call me?
Heather thought, but Cat was freaking out so she said, “No. Is everything okay?”
    “No,” Cat said. “I mean, I’m fine, Heather. I just don’t know where he is. He went to investigate a crime scene two hours ago and we haven’t heard from him. I’m there now and I…” Her voice trailed off. “I just found his phone.”
    Heather swallowed. This was not good. “What can I do?”
    Then she heard a man’s voice on Cat’s end saying, “The vibrations here are off the charts. This was an abnormal homicide.”
    “Funny thing,” Cat said aloud. “In New York, we classify all homicides as abnormal.”
    “Cat? Are you okay? Who’s with you?”
    “My partner,” Cat bit off. Heather’s forehead wrinkled. Cat didn’t have a partner. “Hey, listen, could you check with J.T.? And call me back?”
    “Um, sure. Yes,” Heather said.
    Cat ended the call.
    Heather speed-dialed J.T. while she climbed onto the fire escape and went up on the roof, hoping that Vincent would magically be there. But she was all alone with a great view of the skyline when J.T. answered.
    “Heather?”
    “Um, yeah,” she said. “Cat just found Vincent’s phone at the crime scene and there’s some guy with her. I guess she couldn’t talk so she asked me to call you. Is Vincent with you?”
    “No.” She could hear the anxiety in his voice. “Hang on while I swallow an entire bottle of Tums.”
    “This isn’t funny,” Heather said, smoothing back her hair.
    “Oh, believe me, I’m not laughing.”
    “Could he be with Tess?”
    “Why would he be with Tess?”
    “I don’t know. Why is his phone at a crime scene?” She went back down the fire escape, and into Cat’s room. She looked around for clues to Vincent’s whereabouts.
    Cat’s top dresser drawer was open. Heather glanced inside. Nothing seemed out of place.
    She closed it.
    “Hold on,” J.T. said. “Tess is on the other line.”
    Heather drummed her fingers on top of Cat’s dresser. Then she left the room and went back to her room to look at her corset.
That’s
what was different. The muslin loops had been refastened.
And half of the top one was missing
.
    “Walker, what the hell?” she cried.
    J.T. came back on. “That was Tess. She’s at the houseboat. He’s not there.”
    “Is there anywhere else he might go if he’s in danger?” she asked.
    “A thousand places. The sewers…
my office
,” J.T. said. “That’s one of our rendezvous points. I can’t leave here. I have to watch the security cameras.”
    “I could check your office,” Heather offered. She wasn’t sure about offering to check the sewers.
    “I’ve got the only key. Here, with me.”
    “Well, I could come over to your place and watch the security cameras while you go to your office.” When he hesitated, she scowled as if he could see her. “J.T., I’m not some flighty kid anymore. I’m a grown-up woman and I’m more tech-savvy than Cat. And you wouldn’t hesitate to ask
her
.”
    “Okay, yeah, I’m sorry. Yes. Come here and I’ll go there.”
    “On my way,” she said, then glanced down at herself. “After I change.”
    P ATEL CRIME SCENE
    “I offended you,” Wilson said. “Somehow. About…?” He smiled at Cat.
    He didn’t know that she’d palmed Vincent’s phone on the dock, and that she was wild to get rid of her new partner so she could search for him in earnest. Wilson couldn’t know that she was looking for anything specific, and he had spent half his time with his eyes closed, breathing rhythmically.
    Panning the walls with her flashlight, she said, “No, it’s just that I usually do this part alone. Immerse myself in the scene and try to imagine what happened.”
Like an apex predator, only not one-tenth as useful.
    “The energy is very negative,” he ventured. “Violent.” He slumped and shook his head. “It’s draining.”
    “Oh, wow, you must be jet-lagged,” she said. “You should go home and