She didn’t have to like it, Eve thought as she signaled Peabody. She just had to get the details, the location, all the information she could out of the kid. Then secure the kid safely.
And they outnumbered her, Roarke had that right, Eve thought. So she scoped out the area, considered the best way to conduct the interview. Whatever she thought of Sebastian, Eve admitted—and she didn’t think much—he’d brought Dorian in, or this version of in.
If, as seemed apparent, he had Dorian’s trust, Eve determined to use him in any way possible.
“I can hear the wheels turning in there.” Roarke tapped the side of Eve’s head. “I don’t suppose it would do any good to suggest you handle this a bit organically?”
“Organically, my ass. I’m already over a line here. I can justify it, but I’ve crossed it. The kid sits in that chair, I take that one, facing her. Peabody in the third. You and the rest on that big-ass couch.”
“You don’t want her leaning too heavily on Sebastian.”
“No, I don’t.” She turned as the glass doors opened and Peabody hustled in. “You there, kid there,” Eve said. “When we need the soft touch, come into it.”
She heard the murmur of voices, turned again. Waited.
Leonardo, tall as a tree in his long red shirt, towered over the rest. His hair, a gleaming copper, tumbled down, and eyes nearly the same color were dark with concern.
Eve hoped the look she sent him—we’ve got this—settled his nerves.
She flicked a glance at Sebastian, saw worry on his aesthetic face, and his hand loosely curled around the girl’s arm.
She favored her left leg a bit, Eve noted, but otherwise looked fit, even strong. Longer hair than in her ID shot, and carrying some expertly done highlights, deep gold against the raven black.
Resentment and defiance simply radiated from her. No less than expected.
“Dorian,” Sebastian began, “this is Lieutenant Dallas.”
“Yeah, I know. If you try to send me back—”
“Dorian.” Sebastian spoke again, gently.
She only shrugged.
“Let’s get you a drink.” Leonardo, obviously struggling to play host, gave her a wide smile. “Do you like fizzies?”
“I like them okay. Cherry mostly.”
“All right. Sebastian?”
“Just water, thank you.” He aimed a look at Dorian.
She did a half eye roll. “Yeah, thanks.”
“Take a seat.” Eve gestured Dorian to the chair. “Sebastian.” And to the next. Though it grated, she nodded to him. “I appreciate you bringing Dorian here to talk to us.”
“She’s been through an ordeal.”
“I’m aware. We’ve been looking for her for a couple days because we’re aware.”
He simply held up his hands, let them fall, then took his seat.
“You can just blow off giving him grief about it,” Dorian snapped. “I’m only here because he talked me into it. And he said you swore you wouldn’t send me back to Freehold. I’m not living in that rathole with my mother anymore. If you try—”
“Your mother’s not living in that rathole anymore because I arrested her, and she’s currently living in a jail cell. Take a seat.”
Dorian’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean you arrested her?”
“I mean I put her in cuffs, charged her with multiple offenses, and handed her over to the Freehold PD. Now sit down.”
“What offenses?” But she sat, and so did Eve.
“Child abuse and neglect, and since she continued to collect the professional parent stipend after you took off, failed to report you missing, fraud. You should know your neighbors stood up for you.”
“Tiffy, sure, but—”
“All of them. They’d also reported the abuse and neglect to CPS through Truman.” At Dorian’s snort, Eve nodded. “And now Truman’s been fired. It’ll be up to the PA, following an internal investigation at CPS, if she’s also charged and arrested.”
Dorian took the fizzy from Leonardo, muttered a thanks, but kept narrowed, suspicious eyes on Eve.
“It’s easy to say all that shit. Cops lie all the time.”
“Believe it or don’t. You left home sometime in August. We’re unsure of the exact date.”
“I don’t know. Who remembers? I’d had enough of getting knocked around, and getting the eye from the guys she dated. I can take care of myself.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have been grabbed off the streets. When and how did that happen?”
“It wasn’t my fault a couple assholes jumped me.”
“When and how?”
“How the hell do I know? I was just walking.”
“Night or day?”
“Night. I was just looking at the Christmas lights and all, minding my own. Somebody jabbed me with something from behind, and … I don’t remember, okay? I think I tried to run, but my legs wouldn’t work, and I passed out. In a van or truck. I don’t know. Nobody gave a shit anyway. Nobody until…”
“Mina?”
“You don’t get to talk about her.” Rage reared up, burning at the tears. “You don’t know anything about it. You don’t know what it’s like and don’t give a flying fuck. She’s dead. And you’re just another asshole cop who thinks she’s some big deal and can do whatever the hell she wants. I got beat most days all my life, then I got out, and I could do what I wanted. Then I got smacked and shocked and had stuff stuck up inside me, and you don’t know. You don’t care. You’re just one more bitch trying to push me around because you can.”
“Where did they take you?”
“Just fuck you.”
“That’s it.” Mavis, leading with her baby belly, surged off the sofa and rounded on Dorian. “You don’t get to speak to her that way, not in my home.”
“I don’t want to be in your damn home.”
“Well, you are, and you’ll show some goddamn respect.”
“Mavis,” Eve began, but Mavis snapped back at her.
“You be quiet.” And to Dorian she continued. “She puts her life on the line every single day. She works herself into the ground to help someone like you because she does know. You think you’ve had it rough, well, join the crowd. I asked her to give her word, and she did. If she wasn’t who she was, Sebastian would be in lockup right now, and you’d be in a box at Cop Central.”
“Okay.” Eve started to rise. “Let’s just—”
“I’m not finished! Sebastian asked me to go to Dallas, so I did, and when I did, she and Peabody had dozens of faces, young girls like you, on their board. Girls they’re trying to find, to help, because nobody in this nasty damn world cares more. Consider yourself lucky she’s the one who stood over your friend, who’s working to find out who hurt her and killed her, because she won’t stop until she does.”
She took a long breath. “This is my home. And you won’t sit here and speak to my friend that way. Apologize.”
Eve started to speak again, got a laser flash out of Mavis’s eyes, and kept silent.
“Jesus, lady.”
“I said apologize.”
“Fine, sure. Sorry. Jesus.”
Now Eve got to her feet. “Here’s an idea. How about the rest of you get some air, and give Dorian and me the room for a few minutes?”
“Sebastian said he’d stay with me.”
“And I’ll be right outside. I think some air is just the thing. You’ve vented your spleen, Dorian, now be the smart girl I know you are, and listen.”
“Peabody, you, too. A few minutes,” Eve added. As she waited for the room to clear, she sat again.
Let the silence hang.
Dorian broke first.
“Man, she’s like totally whacked. I thought—”
“Say another thing about Mavis Freestone,” Eve invited. “Go ahead.”
Dorian shrugged, looked away.
“I’ve got a feeling,” Eve said, “just a feeling right now because I don’t have any firm data, that Mina would’ve stood up for you that way. I’ve been friends with Mavis a long time. Busted her the first time I met her.”
That got a glimmer of interest. “No shit?”
“She was grifting back then. Older than you, but she’d have recognized your mother. So would I. Anyway, we’ve been friends a long time. You and Mina didn’t have that chance. They tried to frame you for her murder.”
“What?”
“They tried to make it look like you killed her. Planted some of your blood on her body. That’s how we ID’d you.”
Dorian bared her teeth. “You think I killed Mina.”
“Is that what I said? I said they tried to make it look that way. I’m good at my job, and so’s my partner. No, I don’t think you killed Mina. I know you didn’t. If she meant a damn to you, help me find the ones who did so I can stop them from hurting all the others.”
“I don’t know!” The tears rolled now. “I can’t remember mostly, and I don’t know anyway.”
“Tell me what you do know, what you do remember.”
“I got away from her, and I got to New York. I liked it. I can take care of myself, I can. I was. I found places to sleep.”
“You hooked up with Sebastian?”
“Not then, no, no. That was after. I was just walking, and they got me, and the next thing I knew … Can he come back? Can Sebastian come back? Please. I already told him when I remembered. When he showed me Mina’s picture and I remembered. He can help me.”
“All right, but no more bullshit, Dorian.”
Eve went to the open doors, signaled. “We’re all good here.” She waited, then put her arms around Mavis. “Appreciate it,” she murmured. “But you were pretty scary.”
“She better straighten up or I got more.”
“I’ve got it. Keep calm for Number Two.”
Eve went back, sat again. “Tell me.”
“I felt sick and dizzy, and I was in this room. Like a hospital room or something. And—God—Sebastian. Can you, please?”
“She told me when she came to, she was naked, strapped down, and there was a man—he was the doctor they used—examining her. Verifying virginity, taking blood.”
“I fought, and I screamed, but they gave me something else and I passed out again. Then I was in another room, and I had on some kind of nightgown, but I was strapped down again, and she was there.”
“Who?”
“Auntie. That’s what we had to call her. She was in charge of the Academy.”
“The Academy.”
“They kept us there. You couldn’t see outside, you couldn’t go outside. You got locked in at night. She said I belonged to the Academy now, and if I was good, if I obeyed the rules and improved myself—shit like that?—I’d be treated really well. I’d have good food, good clothes, I’d learn manners, learn to be well-groomed. I’d eventually get my own pretty room, my own private bathroom. I’d be educated.
“I told her to fuck off and let me go. She jabbed me with a shock stick. I yelled at her, and she shocked me again, and again, until I stopped. It hurts so bad.”
“I know.”
“She didn’t let me out for—I don’t know how long. They had needles in me—for nutrition, she said. When I learned to behave, I’d get real food. So I said I would be, I pretended, and I got a uniform. You had to wear it during the day unless you were in the studio or had the sex classes.”
She knuckled her eyes. “They made you take off your clothes, or wear underwear and stuff so they could take pictures and vids. I tried to get away, but you couldn’t, and you’d get the stick, or they’d put you back in a room, the Meditation Box, in the dark, alone, locked in until whenever. They made you get into bed with another girl and sometimes a man and do things. I didn’t want to.”
“How many girls, Dorian? Can you tell me?”
“I don’t know, but a lot. They’d bring in new ones, and younger ones. Just little kids, and they were so scared. Or they walked around like droids, you know? We had to learn how to take care of our bodies, our hair, our skin—their way. If we screwed up, the stick. Even if you didn’t, sometimes one of them jabbed you anyway. They liked to.”
“How many of them?”
“I don’t know. We were on the Pretty Ones floor, and there were day matrons and night matrons. Usually one at night. And instructors. And the doctor, and some men—like guards. You had classrooms, I guess, and some of the girls from other floors got brought in for some of it, but they didn’t sleep on our level.”
She hitched in a breath, let it shudder out. “Can I have another fizzy? It makes my throat burn to talk about it. I’m sorry about before. I’m sorry.”
“Sure.” Mavis rose. “I’ve got it, honey bear,” she told Leonardo, then crouched down in front of Dorian. “I’m so sorry about what happened to you. They’re evil. They’re not even people, they’re just made of evil. You leave it to Dallas and Peabody. They’ll make them pay for all of it.”
“Do you need a minute?” Eve asked Dorian.
“No. I want to get it out. I want it over. I couldn’t get away. There wasn’t any way to get out, and I just mostly stopped fighting. They told us how we’d get rich masters and live in beautiful places. How lucky we were.”
She hitched in breaths as Mavis brought her another fizzy. Drank deep, breathed out.
“I’m not stupid, I knew what all that meant. I thought maybe when it happened, I’d kill myself if I couldn’t get away. Then Mina … I—I never had a friend like her before, not like Mina. She helped me, she talked to me, and it all felt better. She said we’d find a way out, and how her parents would help me. She has a little brother, and a family, and…”
She gripped the fizzy in both hands and rocked.
“Do you want me to finish it for you?” Sebastian asked her.
“No, no, I’m going to say it. Honor her, like you told me to.” Dorian swiped at her cheeks, drank again. “She figured out a plan. It was scary, but she figured it out. I had to steal the elevator pass from the night matron—that was my part, because I’m good at that. And she faked being sick so they’d take her down to the infirmary. I had to sneak out, go down in the elevator. If they caught us … But it was a good plan. She puked on the night nurse and put gum on the lock of the sickroom. And we met up at the elevators and went all the way down to the tunnels.”
“Tunnels?” Eve repeated.
“They brought girls in that way, and took out— Some of the girls died. Killed themselves, or they hurt them too much, and they took them out that way. We didn’t know where to go in them. We didn’t even know where we were, okay? We didn’t know we were in New York or, you know, freaking Alaska.
“We got down there and walked and walked, then we heard them coming, and we ran. There was a ladder on the wall, and we started up. But I fell. I fell and ruined everything.”
The words tumbled out now as she rocked and rocked.
“Mina got me out, and we hid, and it was raining so hard, but they were coming. I couldn’t run, so she did. She said she’d run and lead them away, and she’d get her parents to come and come back for me. She ran so they wouldn’t find me, and I heard her scream, but when I tried to get up and run to help, my leg … I fell and I hit my head.
“When I woke up, I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t remember any of it. I just hurt so much, and I didn’t know where I was. I walked and walked, and I stole some ice packs and meds and hid. I was so cold, so hot, so sick. And Mouser found me, and took me to Sebastian. He helped me. It’s not his fault, because I didn’t remember Mina or Auntie or anything. He helped me and nobody but Mina ever had before.”
“I saw the news reports.” Sebastian looked at Eve. “And put some of it together. I know my word is difficult for you to take, but you have my word Dorian didn’t remember until I showed her Mina’s picture.”
“I have no reason to doubt that.” Not when she’d lived it. “It’s hard, Dorian. I’m going to need to get as many details as you can remember about where they held you. Any names—other girls, the people who work there. I need the exact location where Mouser found you, so we can try retracing your steps. We’re going to stop them, we’re going to help all the others. You’re going to make sure that happens. You and Mina are why we’re going to be able to stop them.”
“Auntie has a partner.” Dorian sniffled, wiped at tears. “Mina heard her talking to him. Mina was good at pretending, and Auntie liked her. She was like a favorite.”
“Do you know the partner’s name?”
“No. Nobody used names. I was Trainee 238. I was a number.”
“They only tried to make you believe that.” Roarke spoke for the first time. “You’ve never been a number. You’re an incredibly brave young woman, and you bested them.”
“They killed Mina.”
“We’ll make them very sorry for it.”
“Tell me about the tunnels.”
Dorian looked back at Eve. “They were big, I guess, and dark, like a yellowy light. We just guessed which way to go, because we didn’t know. I don’t remember. I just don’t. And they were coming, we could hear them coming, so we ran and tried to be quiet. And there was the ladder, but it was old and slippery, and I fell.”
“What was it like when you came up?”
“It was raining really hard, and we couldn’t see, and we were scared. There were buildings, but we didn’t know where we were, okay? There was all this old wood and stuff.”
“Wood?”
“Like broken boards or whatever, I don’t know. We tried to hide, but we could hear them, and they were looking for us. And Mina told me to stay down, stay quiet, and she’d run. She picked up one of the boards, a pointy one. I said no, but she said she’d run fast and get her parents, but…”
“Like a construction site?” Eve prompted. “Like a place where they pull old stuff out of old buildings and pile it up?”
“I guess maybe. I don’t know!”
“Okay, okay. You fell down again,” Eve reminded her. “And hit your head. When you woke up, what did you do?”
“It’s all fuzzed up. I hurt so bad, everywhere, and I didn’t know what happened, or where I was. I felt really sick, and I … I used one of the boards, I think, like a crutch so I could walk, and I walked. I don’t know where. I kept walking, and I stole the meds, and I kept walking because I wanted to hide. I just knew I had to hide.”
“All right. Okay, let’s go back some. Tell me more about this Auntie.”
“She’s mean and horrible and everybody’s scared of her. She pretends to be nice, if you do everything she wants, but she’s not.”
“Can you describe her? How old, Black, white, Asian, mixed, anything. How tall, anything.”
Dorian sat back and sucked on the fizzy. “I guess. I can see her in my head. I’m always going to see her in my head. She’s taller than me. Taller than the night matron bitch.”
Eve got to her feet. “Taller than me?”
Dorian angled her head to the side. “Maybe about the same, but bigger. I mean, you’re kind of skinny. She isn’t. Big boobs and all. White, I think. Maybe a little mixed, but mostly white, with really blond hair she always wore kind of pulled back.”
“What color are her eyes?”
“They’re blue, but not like his.” She looked at Roarke. “They’re dark and mean.”
“Good. Here’s what I need. I have somebody who can draw her if you describe her.”
“I don’t know how—”
“He does. It’s what he does. He’s not mean. And if he can draw her picture, we’ll get her name. We’ll find her.”
“Just from that?”
“It’ll go a long way. And if you can describe anyone else, but we’re going to start with her. She’s in charge.”
“Totally. She has an office, and she wears fancy suits, and everybody does what she says.”
“Okay. Here’s what else. I have some pictures, and I need you to look at them. If you recognize anybody, if any of them were or are at this Academy, you can tell us.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“We’re going to do our jobs, and you’re going to help. And you?” Eve shifted to Sebastian. “I need the location where this other kid found her. Exact location, exact—or as close as you can get—time.”
“A building on Watts off Hudson—condemned. I’ll get you the precise location. Mouser brought Dorian in yesterday, about eleven in the morning. She was feverish, dehydrated. She had a concussion, a severely sprained ankle, and a dislocated knee. We got her medical attention. Yes,” he said before Eve could speak, “you would say we should have taken her to a hospital or health center, but she was terrified, and said no. My sense was she hadn’t had a choice before, and I gave her one.
“She remembered nothing at first,” he added. “Then remembered her name. Her first name. She came to you of her own volition when she remembered the rest.”
“No, I didn’t. Not really,” Dorian said. “I didn’t want to, but Sebastian said I had to honor my friend. Honor Mina, and help the others. If you’re mean to him, I won’t talk to the artist person. I just won’t.”
“You will,” Sebastian corrected, “because you’re not going to let all the other girls go through what you and Mina did. So you will. Don’t disappoint me, Dorian.”
“We’re going to start with this. Peabody, contact Yancy, see when he can work with Dorian. Contact Feeney, have him factor in what we’ve got. Piles of old wood, possible construction site or derelict buildings, tunnels.”
“I’m on it.” Peabody rose. “Dorian, what Roarke said—about being brave. It’s true. You’re doing the hard here.”
When Peabody left, Eve pulled out her PPC. “I want to show you some pictures.”
“Why don’t I set up the screen,” Roarke began, “so she can see them that way? It’ll be clearer than your portable.”
“Great, do that.”
Dorian sent Roarke a look as he walked over to the wall screen. “He can do that? He’s wearing a suit and stuff.”
“He can do that. He’s wearing a suit because he can do that and a lot more. Let’s take a walk.”
“I’m not leaving Sebastian.”
“Just outside. He has my word, and so do you.”
“Her word’s as good as they come,” Sebastian assured Dorian. “Remember the girls behind the wall. Go with the lieutenant, and listen.”
He got an eye roll, but Dorian walked out with Eve.
“I’m going to show you those photos. But until we get to that, do that listening thing.”
Eve looked out at the gardens already just beginning, at the play area just cleared, at the tumble of rocks and lines of pipes that would be, she knew, Peabody’s water feature.
Home was where you made it.
“You can’t go back with Sebastian.”
“I can do what I want.”
“No, you really can’t, but— Shut the hell up and listen. But I can give you some damn good choices. First, I’m going to make sure you never have to go back to your mother. I can find a way around you going into foster if you’re against it. I said shut up,” she repeated when Dorian started to interrupt. “I was in the system once—it can work, but it depends on who’s in charge. Now I am the system, so I’m going to make it work for you.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s my job. And because I’ve been where you are.”
“How?”
“Not your business, so that’s all you get.”
Eve turned, stared into the young defiance.
“They’re after you, know that, fear that, and believe me. If they find you, they’ll do one of two things. Kill you outright, or sell you. Either way, you’re done. That’s not going to happen.”
“There’re more of them than you.”
“You think it’s just me? I’m in charge, and there’s not a cop under me who wouldn’t put his life on the line for you. And one of your choices is a safe house—a place to stay where they can’t find you, with cops I pick to watch out for you. That’s one choice. I got another, and if you’re smart, you’ll grab it.”
“What?”
“There’s a school.”
“Like they won’t find me in a school. Jesus.”
“They won’t in this one. The guy in the suit? He started it, and what he doesn’t know about security doesn’t exist. It’s a damn good place, and the woman in charge? She’s the opposite of Auntie. You have to have a cop go in with you, and you’re going to give your word—you break it, I bust Sebastian—you won’t leave the building until I take down these fuckers.”
“Like prison.”
“If prison’s having your own room, an education, good food, nobody walking around ready to jab you with a shock stick and strip you down for porn before they sell you off to some perv, yeah. If it’s being able to play music, paint, hang out, learn, be treated like a human being and not a number, yeah, just like prison.
“I was in a state school a lot of years,” Eve added. “It was decent enough. Compared, this is goddamn paradise.”
“Why were you in a state school?”
“Not your business,” Eve repeated. “There’s a rooftop garden, there’s counseling if you want it, you don’t have to wear a uniform or sexed-up underwear or wonder when somebody’s going to ship you off to some pervert. And when this is done, if you don’t want to stay, we’ll figure out what. Sebastian’s not an option. It’s a line I can’t cross. Take your choice.”
“If I said the school, can Mouser come with me?”
A crack in the wall, Eve noted, but shot Dorian a suspicious look for form. “Who the hell is this Mouser?”
“He found me, when I was sick and hurt, and he could’ve left me, but he didn’t. He helped me. I don’t care what you think about Sebastian, he helped me. They all did. If Mouser wants, can he go?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Take the school, then listen to me. When this is done, you’re going to sue the living shit out of Truman.”
Dorian poked at some sort of plant. “As if. Like I’ll call my lawyer, right?”
“That’s right, the lawyer the guy in the suit’s going to get for you. The lawyer who’s going to sue her ass off. She probably doesn’t have money, or much, but it’s not about the money. It’s about making her pay. She was responsible. If she’d done what she promised to do, you’d never have ended up where you did. She pays.”
“Why would the guy with the voice and the suit get me a lawyer?”
“For the same reason he started the school. Because you matter. Take the school, start there. If Sebastian’s not a complete asshole, he’ll say the same.”
“He’s not an asshole! Maybe, I guess, maybe, if he thinks so, I can try the school. With Mouser if he wants. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to stay.”
“We’ll start there. Now let’s look at some pictures. You’re going to help me save some lives and bust these bastards.”