After a long day on the road, Tess and Michael arrived back in Seattle before eight o'clock that night.
When they arrived at the apartment, after they quickly unpacked, they were both glued to the television, catching up on local news about Eugene's escape from the ambulance on his way to the hospital.
The police were planning a press conference to update the public about the search for Eugene the next day. So far, they hadn't turned up anything of use. Dogs had tracked Eugene to a house near the location where he escaped, but they lost his scent and could go no farther. There were no surveillance cameras in the area that would allow them to track him, if he'd managed to jack a vehicle and drive off. They did see one vehicle on a doorbell camera driving off from what looked like the back alley soon after the ambulance reported Eugene's escape, but lost track of the sedan soon after in the busy traffic. The image was too blurry to make out a license plate. Michael said that Eugene would likely ditch whatever vehicle he'd stolen to escape the area anyway. They'd probably find an abandoned vehicle recently reported missing from the area in the next day or two. Then, they'd at least know part of his path. They could scan other surveillance video once they found whatever car he'd taken.
The police posted a photo of Eugene when he'd been booked, but there was no way of knowing what he looked like at the current time. He would most likely try to alter his appearance. Police spoke with the staff at the jail where he was being held waiting for his trial and learned of the existence of a girlfriend Eugene met through a pen pal program. A middle-aged woman named Mary Ann Patterson, who appeared to live off an inheritance from her wealthy father and spent her time helping convicts get through their sentences.
They went to her apartment, but she was apparently gone away on vacation.
That made Tess immediately suspicious. Michael agreed with her sentiment.
"Prison girlfriends often help their inmate lovers escape. Police will probably request the cell phone records to follow her movements, in case she has Eugene with her on her "trip" to Vegas."
"Will you be working the case?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I'll talk to Nick in the morning. Most likely, I'll keep Nick in the loop on developments in the case and will consult with detectives in the Seattle department."
Tess nodded. "I'll attend the news conference tomorrow. I'm sure Kate will want me to write about the escape, so anything you can share would be helpful."
Michael leaned over and kissed her. "I'll tell you whatever I can off the record."
"Of course," she said, understanding his need to respect the DA office policies.
Mary Ann never mentioned Eugene in her texts to family and friends or in her Facebook posts. All she said was that she was going to Vegas for a couple of weeks and would keep in touch.
Tess thought that maybe Eugene had gone with her.
Michael thought that maybe Eugene was using her as a diversion.
Tess wasn't sure which it was, but one thing was for sure: he was going to kill again.
There was no way that Eugene would be free and not plan to stalk and take a girl. He might even be desperate to take one as soon as possible, in case he was caught.
One last hurrah, in other words. It made Tess shiver and so she snuggled closer to Michael, hoping that his warmth would help her fall asleep.
The next morning, Tess went to work, tired but glad to get back into the swing of things.
First, she went to Kate's office, hoping to get in before the editorial meeting. Luckily, Kate was unoccupied and was available for a quick meeting about Tess's work.
"Hey there, Tess," Kate said. "Glad to have you back. How was your trip? Did you have a nice vacation?"
Tess sat in at the chair across from Kate. "It wasn't really a vacation. In fact, it was pretty dangerous."
"Do tell," Kate said, all ears.
Tess told Kate all about the trip to follow Craig and find Rachel and Sadie. She breezed over the parts she couldn't reveal due to privacy laws, but gave Kate the gist of the events.
"Are you able to write about this in any detail?" Kate asked.
"I'll talk to Michael," Tess said. "Some of it hasn't been released to the public yet, but I can talk about whatever the police have released."
"Will police try and find them and bring them back to Seattle?" Kate asked.
"I don't know," Tess replied. "They want to close the missing persons cases and would probably like to know what Rachel saw when she went to the cabin. They'll want to know more about her father and about her background. The DA made a deal with her to come back and go into police protection in exchange for not being charged with leaving the scene of the crime. But I guess she was too afraid to come back. It's too bad, because she could really help close up the case, and tie off loose ends."
"Well, whatever you can write about, please do. Our readers have been following this case and will be interested in any new developments." Then, Kate opened a file on her desk. "In other news, what have you heard about Eugene Kincaid's escape? I hear he's on the loose."
Tess shrugged. "Again, I'll write whatever I can write that's been publicly released. Michael's working the case, of course, but he can only tell me certain things. I don't want to get him in trouble. He likes his job with the DA. All the good stuff and none of the bad, he says."
"Of course not," Kate said and waved her hand in dismissal. "Keep us in the loop with whatever you hear."
"I will." Tess started to stand. "If that's all, I'll get back to work."
"Back to the old grind?" Kate said with a laugh.
"You know I love the grind,” Tess said and went to the door to Kate's office.
"I'm glad you do."
Tess left Kate's office and went back to her own desk in the newsroom, eager to get started.
She spent the rest of the day working on her article on the trip down to Mexico. It was a new installment in her series on missing and murdered girls and the Pacific Northwest.
While she worked, Tess kept her eye on the overhead television screens at the end of the newsroom. She wondered whether the chief of police would hold a press conference to provide new information on the Rachel Martin case. She also wanted to follow developments in the Eugene Kincaid case. So far, there wasn't much to report.
Towards the end of the day, she got a text from Michael.
MICHAEL: What do you say to a beer and some ribs at Mike's?
Tess smiled. She texted back.
TESS: I'd love it. How are things going?
MICHAEL: Great. Spent all day filing reports on Rachel and Sadie. See you at seven.
TESS: See you then.
Tess finished off the draft of the article on Rachel's story, and packed up her backpack, eager to meet Michael and hear the latest news. She said goodbye to her co-workers and left the building, reaching her car when she got a text from Michael.
MICHAEL: Sorry. Rain check. Something came up and I'll be working late.
Tess sighed in disappointment, but such was the life of the girlfriend to a former FBI Special Agent newly appointed investigator to the DA.
TESS: I'm going anyway. Should I bring you some ribs on my way home?
MICHAEL: That sounds fantastic. Why not come by and we can eat together? Pick up ribs and meet me here.
TESS: Okay. Will do. See you soon.
Tess sat in her vehicle and called in a takeout order of ribs. Then, she drove to Mike's and waited in the bar for them to be ready. She watched the news on the flatscreen over the bar while she waited, and was surprised to see an image of Eugene Kincaid come up in a news report. It also showed a photo of her, with the caption that he'd been shot by a local news reporter who rescued Kincaid's captive.
Tess smiled to herself. Rescuing Elena and shooting Eugene had been the scariest and most rewarding moment of her life.
After she picked up the order of ribs from Mike's, Tess drove to the DA's office in downtown Seattle.
She went to the front desk and signed in, then she met Michael at the elevators. Michael gave her a kiss once the doors closed and took the bag of ribs from her, opening it up and inhaling the scent.
"Mmmm," he said with appreciation. "I can't wait."
When the elevator doors opened, Michael led Tess to the back of the office to a boardroom where he had files and papers strewn all over the surface.
"This is your office now?" Tess asked.
"No," Michael said. "This is a big surface for me to work on. My desk in the main office is pretty small and there's a lot of evidence to go through. I hijacked the boardroom for my own purposes and Nick doesn't seem to mind.”
They sat in their chairs at a part of the table that Michael cleared off and ate the ribs. As usual, the ribs were fantastic. Tender, juicy, and with the right amount of spicy BBQ sauce.
"I would have brought along some beer," Tess said, "but I wasn't sure whether it was allowed."
"What?" Michael said in mock-disbelief. "No beer in the DA's office? Are you kidding?" He laughed and stood up, then went to the door. He turned around and glanced at Tess. "Wait here. I'll be right back."
Tess continued to eat while Michael was out of the office, wondering what he was doing. He returned in a few moments with a couple of bottles of beer in his hands.
"Alcohol is not only allowed," he said and placed a beer bottle in front of Tess. "It's required."
Tess took a drink of her beer.
"Thank God," she said. "I was so looking forward to a beer tonight."
After they finished eating, Tess peppered Michael with questions about the cases she was following.
"What's new on the Kincaid case?"
Michael shrugged. "I'm not working it yet. Still finishing up on Rachel and Sadie's missing persons cases. From the buzz I've heard over the water cooler, we're still trying to track down Kincaid's prison girlfriend Mary Ann. Police contacted her family, but so far they haven't heard anything directly. They received a couple of photographs from her reportedly showing the forest along the route to Vegas, but we have no way of verifying the locations. They could have been taken outside of Seattle for all we know. Her brother said she was talking about going to Vegas for quite a while, so they weren't worried at first, but when they learned she had befriended Eugene, they became alarmed. They don't like the fact she took up with him, as you can imagine."
"Are they worried that maybe he kidnapped her?"
"Yes, her brother expressed concern, but her mother is skeptical that she would go anywhere with a known killer. Mary Ann was more interested in fighting the death penalty than dating prisoners. They didn't think she would actually become a killer's girlfriend. Besides, she's about twenty years older than Eugene."
"But he could use her for his own purposes," Tess said.
"Oh, absolutely," Michael replied. "From what the detective involved said, Eugene moved really fast with her, based on his first letter from her, and was clearly using her. He was cagey though. There's nothing in his letters about money or escape. Still, she deposited money into his commissary account on numerous occasions so they must have talked about it once she started coming to visit him. In the short time that he was in prison, he was able to buy an iPad, a flat screen TV, and a number of other items -- all with money that she deposited in his commissary account. As far as we know, he had no one else who he was in contact with, unless it was through Mary Ann. She was the conduit. It's no coincidence that the day he escapes, she decides to leave for Vegas."
"Talk about a whirlwind romance," Tess said wryly.
Michael told her about his discussion with Nick regarding Rachel and Sadie's cases.
"Apparently, Nick notified law enforcement in Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming to be on the lookout for Craig's vehicle. Nick doesn't want police to be aggressive with Craig or Rachel, but if they do locate them, Nick wants them to ask her to come in and talk. He'll probably want me to go meet with her, since there's a level of trust between us already."
"That's nice of Nick," Tess said. "He could have her arrested and have Sadie put in foster care if he wanted, if I'm not mistaken about the law."
"He could," Michael replied. "But why would he? She and Sadie are both victims. They need to be treated as such, not as criminals. It's completely understandable why Rachel left town and took Sadie with her. She didn't feel safe because of the ties between her father and the sex trafficking ring."
"She could tell you guys a lot about her father though. That would help."
Michael nodded. "Hopefully, she'll talk one of these days. Nick isn't going to push it."
"That's good and awfully nice. Poor Rachel. Poor Sadie. They've been through so much." Tess checked her watch. "I guess I should go home. You have more work to do?"
"I'll be here until midnight," Michael replied. "Boss wants to hold a news conference in the morning and I'll be busy working on the cases as long as I can stay awake."
While Michael collected up garbage from their meal, Tess grabbed her backpack. Michael walked her to the elevators and gave her a kiss.
"See you much later," he said.
Tess left the building and went home.
She hoped Rachel, Craig and Sadie found some happiness, but after all they'd been through, Tess knew it would be hard.