Voss pulled into a spot by the curb, a block away from where the police and FBI vehicles were clustered. “What is this place?” she asked, glancing at Chang in her rearview mirror. “Any idea?”
Chang said nothing. She’d spoken very little during the handful of minutes they’d been in the car. Voss wasn’t sure if she’d been so quiet because she thought she might catch hell from Turcotte, or because she was ticked off at being left behind. Turcotte had introduced her as if she were his right hand, and maybe she’d thought that was true. But as far as Voss could tell, the jury was still out.
Josh glanced into the backseat. “You all right?”
Voss arched an eyebrow and shot him a sidelong glance. Had he forgotten that Nala Chang worked for Turcotte and had just been part of an effort to shake them off? She glanced at Chang in the mirror again, thinking that she looked even more attractive when she was aggravated, and wondering if Josh had noticed.
Of course he’s noticed.
“Let’s go have a talk with Turcotte,” Voss said, popping her door open. “We can remind him what happens if he doesn’t want to play nice.”
The three of them climbed out and headed toward the tangle of official vehicles that was now drawing attention from the locals. Most of the buildings along this block were storefronts—a few bars, a candle shop, a consignment boutique, a liquor store—but all seemed to have offices or apartments on the upper floors.
Uniformed police stood on the sidewalk and around the cars in front of an empty storefront that had last been a women’s gym. Banners advertising membership deals still hung in the windows, but they were faded and one had partially collapsed. The door to the gym was still locked, a forbidding metal grate sturdy in its frame, but the authorities weren’t interested in the gym. The dead giveaway was the gigantic FBI agent standing guard in front of the narrow door between the gym and the small pizza place beside it. Torn and cracked numbers above the door announced the address as 347, but Voss saw there was a digit missing.
“If Turcotte just found out about this,” Josh said as they stepped onto the sidewalk, “how did he get a warrant so fast?”
“Good question,” Voss replied.
Chang still wore her blue jacket with FBI emblazoned on the back. That must have been enough for the local P.D., because none of them—state police included—tried to stop them as they approached the massive federal agent. Voss had once known a Samoan of similar hue and build, and wondered if this guy shared that heritage. He frowned, making a noise in his throat as they drew near that reminded her of a dog guarding its bowl.
“Make way, Bode,” Chang said. “We’re going up.”
“Who’s this?” the giant Fed asked, indicating Voss and Josh.
Josh flashed his ID. “Homeland Security.”
Bode looked him up and down, then gave Voss the once-over, too.
“Turcotte said no one gets past me, Agent Chang. And that means no one gets past me.”
Voss smiled at him and stepped closer, inside what Bode probably considered his vast personal space. “Honestly, Agent Bode—” she began.
“Bode’s my first name.”
“I wish I gave a shit.”
Bode frowned, nostrils flaring. “Listen, lady—”
“I don’t want to upset you, Bode. Your boss gave you an order and you intend to follow it. That’s admirable. But our mandate—and our authority—supersedes Turcotte’s territorial interests. I’m going to ask you, only once, to please move aside.”
Bode looked confused, glancing at Chang.
“Seriously, Bode,” Chang said. “Get the fuck out of the way. If anyone squawks, I’ll tell Turcotte I gave the go-ahead. But if there’s going to be a dustup about who has jurisdiction, you don’t want to be caught in the middle.”
Bode gave a small shrug. “All right. It’s on you, though.”
As soon as Bode moved his bulk out of the way, Voss slid by him and hustled up the steps. Chang probably should have led the way—Voss knew that—but all the things she wanted to say to Turcotte were burning on the tip of her tongue.
Two federal agents stood guard at the top of the stairs, blocking access to the apartment, although the door was wide open. Forensic techs were already at work turning the place into a mini–crime lab, looking for prints and hair—any physical evidence—as well as the more obvious things like photos or ID, or a big map with an X on it along with written plans for the killers’ next move.
Voss had her ID out as she approached the two guard dogs, but before she could start arguing with them about access, she saw SSA Turcotte walk past the open door.
“Ed!” she snapped.
Turcotte glanced over and a deep frown creased his brow. Then she could see him exhale, surrendering to the inevitable, and he mustered a smile.
“What kept you, Agent Voss?” Turcotte asked, coming toward the open door.
Voss pushed between the agents blocking the door and stood facing Turcotte, wearing a smile that matched his. She held out her arms.
“Ed, it’s great to see you,” she said, sliding into an embrace that he only offered out of sheer befuddlement. When she had him in close, she spoke in a low voice. “I don’t expect you to be happy I’m here, but ditching us was pretty childish, don’t you think? Kids are dead—”
Turcotte flinched and pulled back, breaking her hold. He frowned and glanced past her at Chang and Josh, who had just entered the apartment. If Turcotte was pissed at Chang for not keeping them at Manatee Village longer, it didn’t show on his face. Mouth in a sour twist, he gave Voss a hard look. “Don’t tell me my job.”
Again, Voss kept her voice down. Many of the agents and techs in the apartment were already glancing their way.
“That’s my point, Ed. I don’t want to have to tell you your job. But if you want to pull schoolyard pranks when we’ve got terrorists—”
Turcotte held up both hands. “I give, all right?”
Josh and Chang came closer. The four of them made a small circle, excluding the others. Turcotte gave Chang a slight nod—a combination of appreciation for the job he’d asked her to do and forgiveness that she hadn’t been able to do it well enough to keep them away.
“Listen, SSA Turcotte,” Josh began, then hesitated and looked at Voss.
She gestured for him to go on.
“We’re not here to interfere,” he added. “Believe it or not, in the cases we’ve handled so far, having us around has made things go more smoothly. If a conflict arises between you and local authorities, or another federal agency, we’ll smooth it over. We’ll do everything we can to eliminate the bullshit so you can focus on your investigation. But the only way we can do that is by being part of the investigation. Work with us and we can be very helpful. Fuck with us, and you won’t have to worry, because the case won’t be yours anymore.”
Turcotte grimaced, a muscle working in his jaw. He looked at Josh, studiously avoided looking at Chang, then turned to Voss.
“Simple as that, right? We’re all friends now? On the same team?”
“That’s up to you, Ed.”
“Not much of a choice,” Turcotte replied. “And it doesn’t sit right.”
“It’s your call,” Voss said with a shrug. “But tell me now and save us all a lot of bullshit that’ll take away from the time we should be spending running these assholes down.”
Turcotte pondered it for a few seconds, then nodded and stuck out his hand. “All right, Rachael. We’re together on this. Let’s see how it works out.”
Don’t call me Rachael, she wanted to say. Other than Josh, the only time she didn’t mind men using her first name was in bed. But Turcotte knew she didn’t like it and had done it anyway. And if she couldn’t take a little ribbing, they’d never be able to work together.
“It’ll turn out fine,” she said, then gestured to the agents hard at work in the apartment. “What’ve we got so far?”
Chang nudged Turcotte. “Yeah, boss. I’m curious, too.”
Her gentle chiding worked, and Turcotte gave her an apologetic smile. “Don’t worry, Chang. I need you on this case. I just sent you on a little detour.”
Chang looked like she wanted to say more, but Voss knew she wouldn’t. Not in front of the others.
“All right,” Turcotte said, glancing around as if to orient himself. “What’ve we got? Food in the fridge. Dishes in the sink. Dirty clothes in a laundry basket. But most of the drawers are empty, or nearly. They cleared out fast. Faster than they expected to have to.”
Voss frowned. “I wonder what set them off? If they were going to commit a quadruple homicide, they had to know the hunt would be on.”
“Maybe it didn’t go as planned,” Josh said.
Turcotte frowned. “What does that even mean? They thought they could kill all these people and not have it look like murder?”
“It’s possible,” Chang said. “Set it up to look like murder/suicide maybe? But things went wrong with Colonel Greenlaw and they couldn’t cover it up like they wanted to.”
They all pondered that for a few seconds.
“Maybe,” Voss conceded.
“What else do we have?” Josh asked.
“In the pocket of a dirty pair of khakis we found the business card for the realtor who showed them the Greenlaws’ house. We’ve got some junk mail with names, and we’re running down the names on the rental agreement, but there’s no doubt that all of them are aliases.”
As he spoke, Voss caught movement from a bedroom off to the side. She glanced that way and stiffened when she spotted the two men who had been so out of place back in Manatee Village—the lieutenant from SOCOM and Norris from Black Pine. “What the hell are they doing here?”
Turcotte glanced into the bedroom. “Not my idea, but I have orders. Mr. Norris is a consultant from Black Pine. The guy from SOCOM … he seems decent enough, and you can understand why he’d want to learn how Greenlaw ended up dead.”
“He’s not supposed to be here at all,” Voss said.
Turcotte smiled thinly. “Officially, he’s not. Unofficially, he’s just observing. It’s ironic, though.”
“What is?” Josh asked.
“You two worrying about other agencies interfering with my case.”
Voss smiled. “It’s what we do.”
There was a commotion in the corridor outside the door, and then one of Turcotte’s agents—thirtyish and bristling with urgency—slipped into the apartment and made a beeline toward him. He faltered for a second, noticing that Voss and Josh weren’t wearing FBI insignia.
“It’s fine, Barclay,” Turcotte said brusquely. “What’ve you got?”
“We think we’ve found one of them, sir,” Agent Barclay said.
“Talk to me, Barclay,” Turcotte ordered.
“A newborn was abducted from outside a hospital in Bangor, Maine. Security cameras caught it all. The footage is grainy, but we’re pretty sure the perp is one of our guys.”
“Holy shit,” Chang muttered.
“Wait, they’re stealing babies now?” Josh said. “What the hell is this about?”
“And why Maine? The guy was in Florida last night. He must’ve gotten right on a plane,” Chang said. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Turcotte said. “But it’s going to be your job to make sense of it, Agent Chang.”
“What?” Voss and Chang asked together.
“You were worrying about me not utilizing you on this case?” Turcotte said. “Well, as far as I know, we’ve got three suspects possibly still in Florida, so we’ve got to keep the investigation centered here. But we also need someone on this abduction in Bangor, trying to chase down the suspect there. That someone’s going to be you.”
Voss nodded. It made sense. They needed someone to set up a satellite investigation in Bangor, and Turcotte didn’t want to assign someone out of a field office in New England. He wanted his people on it directly, so he didn’t get secondhand information or someone else’s assumptions.
Voss hated what she was about to say, but it was also the most logical conclusion. “Any objection to me sending Josh along with Agent Chang, to ride shotgun?”
“None,” Turcotte said. “With all the agencies involved in trying to track an abducted child, it’ll help to have a Troubleshooter along, to help cut through the bullshit.”
Josh grinned at Chang. “That’s what we do best.”
Voss tamped down ruthlessly on a pang of jealousy. They were on the job. Personal stuff had to take a backseat.
“You’re a little cocky,” Chang was teasing Josh. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
Voss forced a laugh. “Has anyone not told him that?” Then she put her hand out to Turcotte and they shook for the second time. “Good to be working with you, Agent Turcotte.”
“And you, Agent Voss. We’ll get these guys.”
“I have no doubt.”
But inside she was not nearly so certain. One of the killers had abducted an infant. The child might already be in a shallow grave somewhere. Voss knew the job was to catch the killers, but more than that, she wanted to get them before there were any more dead children to bury.