16

I slammed my fist on the Captain’s desk. “Gods damn it! How could I have been so stupid? I let her go. She’s my partner, and I just let her...walk out, without anyone to watch over her. Shit!”

Captain Knox stood behind her desk. She took a step forward, her hands held out before her. “Daggers, take a deep breath. I understand you’re angry and upset. You have every right to be.”

“You’re damn right I do,” I said. “This is Steele we’re talking about. You know what she means to me. And they took her! In broad daylight! Those sons of bitches…”

The Captain took another step. “We don’t know that.”

I glared at her. “Are you serious? She didn’t show up at her brother’s graduation ceremony after telling me and her parents she’d be there. She didn’t show up at her parent’s apartment. She’s not at her place, either. So where the hell is she, exactly? At the park working on her tan, or taking in musical theater?”

Captain Knox glared right back. “I’m on your side, Daggers. We’re going to find her, but getting pissed off and acting like a bull in a china shop isn’t going to help!”

“Gods, Knox, if I can’t get angry, what am I supposed to do? I’m drowning here. I can barely breathe.”

My ribs pressed against my lungs with the weight of ten thousand bricks, and a vein in my forehead threatened to pop. I was simultaneously on the verge of violence and tears. I turned to the window, not wanting the Captain to see me in this state. Not that she wasn’t fully aware of my mood. The broken remains of the coffee mug I’d sent flying from her desk when I first arrived were a pretty good indicator of how I felt.

“I know it’s difficult to stay focused in a situation like this, Daggers,” she said, her voice at my back, “but think this through. We don’t know for a fact if Detective Steele was kidnapped, but let’s say she was. You looked through the alleys. You found a tarp at the side of a building, a cover for a cart that may recently have been moved.”

“It had been.”

“Fine. Let’s say it had. Was there blood at the scene?”

“No.”

“Sign of a struggle?”

“No, but—”

“Do you trust Steele to handle herself in a stressful situation? To not panic? To not lash out without thinking things through first?”

“Yes, damn it,” I said, spinning from the window. “But we’re talking about her possible abduction here, or worse! I was attacked by trained killers last night. If the same people behind my assault have her, what do you think the end game is?”

“Your assailants attacked you directly,” said Knox. “The evidence suggests the same didn’t happen to Steele, if it happened at all.”

I held Knox in my focus. “Do you doubt me?”

“No, but whatever’s happened to Detective Steele, you can be sure we’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ve got twenty men on the scene as we speak, combing through those alleys, investigating the scene of the spill, talking to folks in the neighboring shops and apartments. Boatreng has the runners from out front, getting a likeness of Steele’s rickshaw driver on paper. The city workers are on site, providing us every detail they can remember. We’ve put an APB out for the cart that caused that chemical spill. We’ve got more leads than men to follow them. Whoever’s behind this won’t be able to hide. Not for long.”

The weight over my chest refused to lift. “We may not have long, Captain.”

The gods took pity on me. Before Knox could force an awkward pep talk on me, Rodgers and Quinto burst through the door to her office.

“Captain?” Quinto shot a thumb toward the front of the precinct. “Is it true? The officers outside were saying—”

“We don’t know anything at this point,” said Knox, “other than the fact that Detective Steele is missing. As I’ve explained to Detective Daggers, we’re going to get to the bottom of it as soon as physically possible. No one messes with the NWPD and gets away with it.” She affixed me with a glare that could crack granite before looking to the others. “What did you learn about the poison?”

“Nothing much,” said Rodgers. “Certainly not in light of what’s happened.”

“Much isn’t nothing,” said Knox.

“My expert came to the same conclusion Cairny did,” said Quinto. “He couldn’t think of any poisons that have both of the effects we’re searching for. In his opinion, we’re looking at a combination of chemicals, which again doesn’t explain why such chemicals would’ve been affixed to the weapon used to attack Daggers.”

“Guys,” I said. “The poison is the last of our concerns. We need to find Shay!”

“We will, Detective,” said Knox with another piercing glance. “It’s all connected, or it’s likely to be. It doesn’t matter which thread ultimately unravels the sail. Detectives Rodgers? Quinto? Keep an eye on Daggers. I’m going to grab him a coffee.”

She left and headed toward the break room. Rodgers shot me a confused stare. “The Captain is getting you coffee?”

I paced at the far side of the room. “I’m a little on edge, in case you couldn’t tell. She’s trying to help. Either that or she’s so frustrated with me that she’s extracting herself from the situation before she does something she’ll regret.”

“You didn’t insult her, did you?” asked Quinto.

“Come on,” I said. “Of course not. But, gods damn it guys, this is Shay we’re talking about. She’s missing! She could be… She could…”

My throat closed up before I could get anything out.

Quinto took a step forward. “Daggers…”

I held up a hand. “I appreciate the sentiment, but save your hugs or pats on the back for later. Right now all I want is to break something. Preferably the face of whoever abducted Steele.”

“What happened to her?” asked Rodgers.

I gave him the cheat sheet version.

Rodgers whistled. “So you think someone knew she was on her way to the ceremony, used a chemical spill to set up a road block, and diverted her into an alley to abduct her? Daggers, no offense, but that’s—”

“Improbable? Unlikely? Insane? I know. But someone also followed me home last night and tried to murder me, all during a night where I didn’t know what restaurant we’d be attending until Shay and I got there. But Shay knew. If someone’s been spying on her, they might’ve known where we’d be heading. Just like they might’ve known her plans for today.”

“Didn’t she change her plans after you got attacked?” said Quinto.

“Her attackers probably changed plans, too. The chemical spill seems rushed. Haphazard. Maybe. I’m guessing. The point is—Shay’s gone!”

“Then we’d better get down to the spill right away,” said Quinto. “Start pounding on doors. Showing Shay’s picture around.”

“The department’s already on that.” Captain Knox returned with a steaming mug. She handed it to me. “Manpower we have in spades. It’s brainpower we need. Daggers. Quinto. Rodgers. I need you to get me a lead, not to exhaust yourselves on legwork. We need a plan.”

I gripped the mug of coffee tight, worried it might shatter in my grip. Anger coursed through me. Anger that someone had attacked me. Anger that someone had taken Shay, and most of all, anger at my impotence and inability to do anything about either of those. “Does pounding thugs’ faces in until someone talks count as a plan?”

“Not unless you know whose face to pound,” said Knox, taking a seat. “Think. What’s the most productive angle we have? The best one gets all of your attentions, because don’t think for a minute I’m letting you out of here alone, Daggers.”

Quinto started in on something to do with tracing Steele’s steps from the precinct, but I barely heard him. I was still stuck on something from a moment ago. Not unless you know whose face to pound in.

I left the Captain’s office, mug still in hand, and headed to my desk, confused questions and calls trailing me. As I’d hoped, something waited for me there. A duplicate of the image Boatreng had shown me earlier, the one of the hostile ogre. Could it be…?

“Detective Daggers.” The Captain’s voice rung out over my shoulder. “Are you even listening to us?”

I turned toward her. “You said Rodgers and Quinto were with me, right?”

She narrowed an eye. “Yes…”

The pair of detectives had followed her out. Both looked at me with combinations of doubt and concern.

“Do you put much faith in gut feelings, Captain?” I said.

“Not under normal circumstances.”

“This circumstance is anything but, though.”

Knox eyed the drawing. She took her time answering. “You’re free to follow whatever lead you wish, Detective. But you know the stakes.”

“I do.” I nodded to Rodgers and Quinto. “Come on, guys. We’re taking a trip to Coldgate.”