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FISH WATCHED LEXI’S expression change from shock, to confusion, to worry.
“How bad?” Lexi asked. “We should get to the hospital.”
“It’s not likely they’ll let Sofia into the ER to see her mother. We should wait until she’s stabilized, then tell Sofia.”
“You’re saying she’ll be all right?”
Fish rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I’ve always preferred to look at the positive.”
“You have to prepare for the worst,” Lexi said.
“There is that. But I don’t see how telling Sofia about her mom before we know more will do anything but worry her.”
Lexi hung her head. “You’re probably right.”
Fish waited. Knowing Lexi, she’d have a list of questions.
“How did she get the drugs?” was the first one. “She would have been searched, and if the cops had missed drugs when they arrested her, they would have been found when she was processed.”
“Agreed. Someone smuggled the drugs in.”
“Who? Who did Cataline have contact with?” Lexi stepped to the desk, returning with a sheet of paper and a pen.
“Aside from others in holding, only legal counsel and the corrections officers,” Marv said.
“Eliminating the other prisoners leaves the lawyers and cops. Any one of whom might be in Gunther’s pocket.” Lexi started the equivalent of a white board on the page.
“We can find out who they were,” Fish said. “Have Emi run checks.”
At Lexi’s frown, Fish added, “If Gunther can get to these people, he can get to you, too, which dumps the whole shebang inside your protection gig.”
“I guess,” she said, but her frown didn’t lessen.
“Right now, we’re brainstorming. No harm in that.”
“True enough. Sofia will need to stay with me until things are resolved. I want to go to her apartment and pick up her clothes, then bring her to my house.”
“I’m not sure that’s the best plan.”
“Why? Because someone might see me? It’s not like they don’t know where I live, where Sofia lives, and that we’re staying in the hotel.”
Fish couldn’t argue with that.
“And,” she added, “in case you’ve forgotten, I’m free to cancel my Blackthorne protection. I’m not their prisoner.”
He couldn’t argue with that, either, although he didn’t like leaving her vulnerable.
Lexi rose and strode across the library, sitting beside Sofia. Was she going to tell Sofia about her mom? No, it appeared Lexi was checking Sofia’s homework. From the smiles, the kid had done a good job.
He sent Manny a quick text, asking if running a more thorough check on Cataline would be reasonable. He’d tell him they’d moved to Lexi’s house later. More efficient, given the whole asking forgiveness instead of permission approach.
Sofia packed everything into her backpack and bounced to his table. “I finished my math. I got them all right. Can we go now?”
Manny hadn’t responded yet, but there was no reason to stay at the school.
Despite dreading what he’d find, Fish did want to see Sofia’s apartment.
Sofia climbed into the backseat of the rental car. “Are we going to the hotel? Can we get dinner in our rooms again?”
“No, we’re going to your apartment to pack some of your things, and then to my house,” Lexi said.
“A sleepover?” Sofia asked.
“For a few days,” Lexi said.
“Cool.”
No questions about her mother? Fish’s anxiety meter moved up the dial.
“You have your key, don’t you, Princess?” Lexi said when they pulled up to Sofia’s building.
The kid reached into her backpack and waggled a pink princess keychain.
The building was a five-story structure, with chipped and faded stucco. Curtains, not boards over the windows. Nobody sleeping on the sidewalk, just kids playing. No lock on the entrance, but expecting a secure building was a bit much. Stepping inside, a potpourri of cooking aromas. Not urine or booze. Fish’s spirits lifted a notch or two, but until he saw the inside of Sofia’s apartment, he would remain wary.
Sofia led them up three flights of stairs and along a scarred and scuffed wood-floored hallway. She stopped at a door and inserted her key. Bracing himself for the worst, Fish followed her inside, Lexi behind him.
Not what he’d call squalor, but Cataline would never be nominated for housekeeper of the year. Dirty dishes in the sink, on the counter, on the table. The sound of scuttling roaches when he’d turned on the lights. Along with garbage going moldy, the wastebasket in the corner held a dozen empty beer cans and two empty wine bottles. Maybe the mouse or rat Sofia drew was based on personal experience.
To be fair, Fish reminded himself that Cataline had been picked up two days ago, and maybe she cleaned house on Sundays. Didn’t mean he bought it.
“Let’s pick out some clothes for a couple of days,” Lexi said, leaving Fish to snoop on his own. Felt strange without a warrant, but he wasn’t a cop anymore, so he was free to roam.
Looking first for signs of drug use, he checked kitchen drawers and cabinets. The fridge and freezer. Under the sink. Nothing said she was using.
He moved to Cataline’s bedroom. Unmade bed, laundry in a pile, but not scattered. He checked the closet, under the mattress. The night table beside the bed revealed a large supply of condoms in the drawer. Lexi had told him what Sofia had said about numerous men in the apartment, often staying the night. At least Cataline was being careful.
Next, the bathroom. Stall shower with moldy grout between the tiles, many of which were cracked. Stained sink in a small, Formica-topped vanity. A plastic cup with two toothbrushes, a scummy soap dish with a dirty bar of soap on the counter. Below, a spare roll of toilet paper, a dried up rag, cleaning supplies, most of which hadn’t been used in a while, he suspected. Threadbare towels on the rack.
He lifted the lid of the toilet tank, a common place for hiding contraband. Nothing.
“I need to go,” Sofia said from the doorway, gesturing to the toilet.
“Sure thing.” Fish left for a quick conference with Lexi, reporting his findings—or lack thereof.
“I haven’t checked the medicine cabinet, but her housekeeping standards aside, I don’t think she’d leave her pills around where Sofia could find them. I’m not seeing evidence of drug use. It appears she preferred alcohol—cheap alcohol, judging from the empties in the trash.”
“That’s one positive,” Lexi said.
In Sofia’s room, two piles of clothes lay on the bed. Clean and dirty, from the looks of them. The dirty pile far outweighed the clean. Sofia came back, still chipper, and plopped a mangy-looking, much-mended stuffed mouse onto the pile. “Cheesy,” she said. “Can I bring him?”
Ah, so that was her pet for the art lesson. Not that live ones wouldn’t still be an issue.
“Of course, Princess. Do you have a suitcase to put everything in?” Lexi asked.
Sofia shook her head.
“There are trash bags under the kitchen sink,” Fish said. “Two would be good.”
Sofia went to fetch them, and they put her dirty laundry in one, everything else in the other.
Fish went back to the bathroom to check the medicine cabinet, but found nothing stronger than over-the-counter pain relievers. No prescriptions of any kind. The woman was either good at hiding them, didn’t keep them in her apartment, or wasn’t a user.
Fish leaned toward the last.
So why would she show up in court loaded on drugs? More realistically, who had given them to her, and how?
***
LEXI MANAGED TO STAY upbeat while helping Sofia pack. The child was excited to be staying overnight with Lexi. She hadn’t asked about her mother, not since the initial separation. Lexi wondered if Sofia had been more upset about being dragged into DHS than worried about her mother.
“Is Marv going to come, too?” Sofia shoved Cheesy into the bag with her clean clothes.
“I’m not sure,” Lexi said. “He might have other places he has to be.” That assumed he’d be willing to leave her alone with Sofia, but someone ought to go to the hospital. Logically, it should be Lexi, who had connections to Cataline. It would also be logical for Lexi to be the one to go to the jail and question the corrections officers.
She couldn’t see Marv going along with that.
Too much, too complicated.
Going to her house, Lexi drove while Marv brought Manny up to speed. Since he was texting, she was out of the loop.
When Marv didn’t tell her to take precautionary measures, she turned into the driveway and stopped near the back door. Her car was in the garage, and unless she did major rearranging, there wasn’t room for two vehicles.
Despite knowing she was being captured by the Falcon’s surveillance cameras, Lexi pretended she was unaware of them. According to Fozzie, it was better to let them think she was oblivious to their spying eyes.
Next question. Where should Sofia sleep? She’d never spent the night. Lexi’s room? Living room on the sleeper sofa? The study? It made more sense to have Sofia in a room with a door, leaving the living areas free. The study should work.
“How would you like to pretend you’re camping?” Lexi asked Sofia.
“Like sleeping outside? In a tent?”
Lexi chuckled. “No, but I have an air mattress and a sleeping bag. I thought you might like the adventure of using them in my spare room, since it doesn’t have a bed.”
Sofia gave it two seconds’ thought, then said, “Cool.”
The three of them trooped out to the garage and found Lexi’s long-unused camping supplies. Thank goodness she’d bought a pump all those years ago, so the air mattress was inflated in no time. Lexi and Sofia cleared space in the study and laid out the mattress and sleeping bag.
Sofia tested the arrangements by climbing into the sleeping bag with Cheesy and wriggling around. “Cool.”
While Marv went to the hotel to retrieve their things, Lexi made spaghetti, chatted about school, and supervised Sofia’s reading time and bath. Despite Lexi’s constant fears about the Falcon, a warm glow filled her. This was what being a parent felt like.
Marv returned as Sofia was cocooned into her sleeping bag. He crouched by her side and tousled her hair. “Sleep tight.”
Lexi added her good night, and followed Marv to the living room. She sank onto the couch. “Did anything go down while Gunther was at his fund-raiser?”
“Nothing that points to Gunther. Our people had eyes and ears on him. He never went to any meetings. Showed up at the event, presented his check, had his media time, and went back to his hotel.”
Lexi tried to work that out. “What if the chatter Blackthorne picked up was staged?”
At Marv’s skeptical look, she raised her palm. “Wait. Let me process this. I’m still thinking out loud at this stage, but we need to consider all the possibilities, look at all the angles.”
“Go on.”
“What if Gunther’s real objective was the drug ring roundup in Burnside?”