The photo had enough detail to lead Dani to a strip of gravel and garbage filled land between the lake and an abandoned machine shop. The location was a few blocks south of where the traffickers brought the girls to shore and transferred them to a van. Dani waited, her back to the north facing alley wall, hearing dialed up and night vision on. She’d found a black leather jacket in a hall closet at Kevin’s, just big enough to obscure her true size but not so large that it would impede her movement. A black balaclava that had been tossed in with some ski apparel was now bunched in a jacket pocket.
Full dark had fallen. The usual stink of the lake was worse tonight, underscored by something dark and foul. Satisfied there was no one around, Dani stepped away from the wall and approached the rocky shore. It didn’t take long to find the body. She just followed the smell of decomposition.
A single high heel peeked out from under a ripped plastic bag that rippled in the wind. The girl’s body lay mostly exposed to the elements, her dress torn, eyes open and face frozen in terror. Dani knelt at her side, careful not to touch anything. This had been the second girl down the fire escape, the one who’d practically vibrated with fear during her escape. She looked so young, younger than Dani had ever felt. A girl this young should have been safe, worried about homework and boys. Not dead, surrounded by trash and God knows how far from home.
Another face hovered over that of the unnamed girl. Dani blinked the illusion away. The people who called her a ghost had no clue. She was the haunted one, haunted by horrors and her own weakness.
Now was not the time for marinating in her own misery. Dani forced the past away and focused on the dead girl in front of her.
A ligature mark circled the girl’s neck. Bruises were scattered over her body. Damage around the eyes suggested…Jesus, birds or some kind of animal. Dani suppressed the urge to vomit and lowered her face deeper into the jacket. The faint lingering scent of Kevin’s cologne helped cover the stench coming from the body. Nothing but leaving could help with the sight, so Dani hurried up her examination.
Though what the hell she was looking for, or hoped to do with that information, eluded her. Cops needed to be doing this, not her. And while her night vision was a handy enhancement, it wasn’t the best for detail work. She had an early iteration of that bit of tech, and had escaped before the scheduled upgrade for it and her neural interface. Something bothered her about the girl’s skin, though, and she wished she had a flashlight to see better. Tiny marks that appeared to be in pairs…puncture wounds? Needle tracks? What the hell?
Dani patted down the pockets of Kevin’s jacket. He wasn’t a smoker, there was no hint of that odor in his apartment. But he seemed like the kind of guy who liked to have a lighter, in case a pretty woman needed a light. She scored in the left inside pocket, a Zippo. The metal was cool to the touch.
Screams in Russian. Burning flesh and the thick copper tang of blood in the air. Smoke and flame and fury.
Dani regretted none of it. They were traffickers, they deserved it. Look what they’d done to this girl, just for escaping. Sure, technically, it could have been just about any predator in Cabrini. There were certainly plenty of them. But Dani was sure it was the traffickers, asserting their control over their property, sending a message to other girls who either had escaped that night or might consider trying. She flicked on the lighter and leaned closer to examine the strange marks.
Right away she knew what they were – stun gun marks. That bastard with the stun gun, he hadn’t been in the house with the rest of the traffickers. He’d found this girl, tortured her with his fucking stun gun, and strangled her to death.
Dani swore and closed the lighter. There were three more girls out there. He’d be looking for them.
So would she.
***
Kevin searched the apartment for a note, anything to indicate where Dani was and when she’d be back. Nothing. He was confident she would be back, she needed the new identity documents. But he was worried about her. She could definitely take care of herself physically but it was obvious there was some emotional stuff going on that might not be so easy to deal with. Getting in the habit of worrying about her was not a good idea. She’d be gone as soon as the ID came through, and the next time she had another rough night full of bad dreams, he wouldn’t be there to help her through it.
Relief flooded him when a knock came from the door and he rushed to open it. “Are you okay?”
Tyler stared back at him. “I’m fine. Are you?”
Kevin exhaled loudly. “Yeah, yeah. I just thought you might be someone else. What’s up?”
Tyler waved his hands at the door. “You gonna let me in or what?”
Kevin hesitated. She could come back at any time. Tyler would give him hell if Kevin didn’t let him in, though. “Of course.”
They settled in the living room. Tyler started to talk but Kevin heard none of it. The tablet had been moved. He picked it up and checked – sure enough, the Twitter app was up. She’d been reading the #CabriniGhost column. He scrolled through it, hoping she hadn’t gone out into the night on some vigilante mission.
“Hey, are you even paying attention to me? I’m trying to talk to you, man.”
The image of a dead body appeared in the column. Kevin dropped the tablet. “Fuck.”
“What’s your problem?” Tyler leaned over and tried to pick up the device.
Kevin beat him to it. “Nothing.”
Holy shit. Dead girl by the river. #CabriniGhost needs to get her ass back out here.
So call the fucking cops instead of taking pictures like a Goddamn ghoul, Kevin wanted to scream.
“Look, I could really use your help with this. I’d like to buy out my investors but cash flow is a problem right now. So I just thought going into business with a friend would be more fun, you know?”
Kevin tried to piece together what Tyler was talking about. “You want me to invest in your club?”
“You, me, and every model in the city, at the hottest new club in town. Sounds perfect, huh?”
“Not really, no.”
Tyler’s good humor turned on a dime. “Fuck you, man.”
“What is it you need? Just tell me.” He wanted to mollify his friend, and get him gone. If Dani didn’t come back soon, Kevin intended to go looking for her.
“I thought we were friends.”
“Of course we are. Just because I’m not interested in going into business with you doesn’t mean we’re not friends. Stop acting like we’re still in high school and tell me what’s wrong.”
Tyler glared for a moment. “I had a press release sent to the paper about the club opening. That bitch who writes the society column talked about my old drug arrests. Now my backers are worried all their money’s gonna go up my nose.”
“I don’t see how I can help with that.”
“I paid my fines and went to rehab for that shit. Why the hell won’t people let it go?”
Kevin didn’t know how to answer that without further angering his friend. “My family reminds me of my arrest record every chance they get.”
“Yeah, but they’re just like everyone else. They don’t think you’re an asshole, but people do think that of me.”
“That’s because you are.” Kevin was rapidly losing patience.
“You don’t have to say it too, man.”
“Have you tried not being an asshole?”
“You know what, fuck you.” Tyler stood.
Kevin followed suit. “What is it that you need me to do? Come on, cut me some slack. It’s been a rough week.”
Tyler blanched, as if just remembering that his friend had been badly beaten and injured mere days ago. The way he was, he probably had forgotten all about it. “I’m taking a lot of grief from my investors. I’d like to buy them out but I can’t.”
That rang alarm bells. “Did your father cut you off again?”
Tyler said nothing, which told Kevin everything. Kevin rubbed his jaw, trying to dig through his impatience to find an ounce of diplomacy. “Look, neither one of us knows the first thing about running a nightclub. And frankly, I’m not interested.”
“I owe a lot of money, but I know if you help me out with this, we can make it back and then some.”
Forget alarm bells, that set off red lights and a bleating klaxon. “Wait, are you saying you owe these people money? That’s why they’re you’re investors?”
“It’s complicated.”
“It sounds like a clusterfuck. Dude, you need to talk to your old man. Apologize for whatever pissed him off this time and get him to give you access to your accounts back.”
“I tried that! He won’t do it. Not unless I come to work for him, and you know what that would mean. Under his thumb twenty-four seven. I want my own business and I want it to be a success.” Tyler shook his head. “Aren’t you tired of being the family fuck up? I know I am.”
That hit Kevin like a physical blow. Yes. Yes, he damn sure was tired of being the family fuck up, even if they didn’t think he was an asshole. But going into business with someone even more irresponsible than he was didn’t sound like the way to make a change.
The door opened and Dani walked in, saving Kevin from having to answer. Now he just had to come up with a cover story for her presence that wouldn’t be insulting to her.
Damn, she looked good in his black leather jacket.
Tyler turned his attention to the new arrival. “I don’t believe we’ve met.” He looked her up and down and gave her a smile that was more smarm than charm. Kevin curled his lip in disgust.
Dani ignored Tyler and addressed Kevin. “We need to talk.”
Kevin nodded, trying to suppress a little thrill of gratification.
“I’m Tyler Kincaid.” Tyler stuck his hand out. “Kevin’s oldest friend.”
“One of my oldest friends,” Kevin said. “Tyler, this is Danielle Marquez.” It was the name she’d given him for her new ID. “She’s a personal trainer and self-defense expert. I’m going to be taking a few lessons from her.” Wary, he searched her face for her reaction.
She visibly relaxed. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Kincaid.” To Kevin she said, “We need to talk about our schedule and the workouts and all that.” She pointed toward the kitchen. “I’ll wait for you.”
Both men watched her walk away. Kevin caught the look on Tyler’s face and hoped to God that he, Kevin, didn’t look like a dog with his tongue hanging out. Tyler said, “Personal trainer, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“She knows her way around the place already?”
Shit. Kevin scrambled for an answer. “We had an interview before I hired her.”
Tyler faced him. “Was that your jacket she was wearing?”
Kevin forced out a chuckle. “Of course not. Look, I need to take this meeting. Dani’s very exclusive. She’ll drop a client if they’re late too often or won’t put in the work. I know it may seem silly, but after what happened I really want some self-defense training.”
The not so subtle reminder of the attack had the desired effect. Tyler backed off. “I hear you.”
Kevin ushered Tyler to the door.
She didn’t look like she’d been hurt. That was a good sign. If she’d been reading the #CabriniGhost hashtag – and he figured there was no if to it – that wasn’t such a good sign. Especially if she’d seen the tweet about the dead girl.