LITMIR.BIZ

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swear. My case is circling the drain and I have massive damage control ahead of me. Ah, how about dinner tonight or tomorrow?”

      “I’m leaving tonight for a conference in Los Angeles. How about next week after Eden and Cole get back?”

      So it wasn’t a one-on-one she needed, but a community confab? “It does for me if it does for you. Allie...” she trailed off, almost afraid to ask. “You haven’t gotten any more notes, have you? This doesn’t have anything to do with Chloe’s killer, does it?”

      “There’s been nothing since Chloe’s missing shoe was mailed to the police last month. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. Well, not directly. Just something that’s come up I need to talk out.”

      “You know what?” Simone knew how much it took for Allie to ask for help. Their stalwart “take on anything” friend was one of the most logical, stable people Simone had ever known. She was also a terrible liar. “How about a late lunch? I can probably get out of the office around two—”

      “It can wait, Simone,” Allie cut her off. “Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal. You have enough on your plate without adding my sudden insecurities to the mix.”

      Since when did Allie feel insecure about anything? “I’m a phone call away, or a text.” Simone looked down at her phone as a second call came in—another from her boss. A headache pounded against the side of her head as if asking permission to be admitted. “Chin up, Al. The world isn’t used to seeing you frown.”

      “How do you know I’m frowning?”

      “Because I know you and Eden better than you know yourselves.” She hadn’t earned her mother hen reputation by accident. “I’ll talk to you later.”

      “Yeah. Good luck with the boss.”

      “I’m going to need it.” Simone disconnected and tested her stomach by plucking off another flaky bite of chocolaty goodness. She heaved an Allie-worthy sigh and leaned her arm on the door, rubbing her temple as she willed the caffeine to take her away.

      The sharp knock on her window had her yelping. Coffee sloshed over the back of her hand, spattering the side of her white shirt, and left her seeing red. “Son of a—”

      Simone leaned back and stared out at the familiar, slightly pudgy middle-aged face. “Russo?” The senior deputy who had been assigned to watch Mara stepped away as she shoved open the door. “What do you think you’re doing sneaking up on me like that?”

      “I needed to talk to you.” He motioned her into the shadows. “Alone.”

      “Well, nothing gets the attention of a single woman faster than stalking her in a parking garage.” Simone planted her hands on her hips and dipped her chin. After a calming breath, she looked at him, only then noticing he wasn’t in uniform. But he was wearing his sidearm. “Is there any news on Mara? Tell me you found her.”

      “Can’t say that.” Russo’s eyes narrowed. “And I won’t be getting any updates since Ernie and I have been advised by our union rep not to discuss the investigation.”

      “What investigation?” Simone crossed her arms as alarm bells clanged in her head. “It’s not your fault she’s rabbited.”

      “Apparently that’s not how the higher-ups see it. Dereliction of duty was one of the phrases my boss and one of your lot from the DA’s office were throwing around. Dereliction, yeah, right.”

      One of her lot? The hostility in his voice shoved her off-kilter. Russo was as easygoing as anyone she’d ever known. It was one reason she’d specifically asked for him where Mara was concerned.

      “Ernie and I did everything by the book,” Russo continued. “From the time we parked in front of her apartment at six p.m. We did the routine checks, confirmed arrangements for this morning to bring her to court. She even made us a big thermos of coffee before she turned in around midnight.”

      “Sounds like Mara,” Simone said. “Then what happened?”

      Exhaustion crept over the deputy’s face as his anger seemed to abate. “One second we’re drinking coffee and eating oatmeal cookies, and the next, the sun’s streaming through our windshield and Mara’s gone. We didn’t even have a chance to get our bearings before we’re called into the station and put on indefinite administrative leave effective immediately.”

      “You’re suggesting Mara drugged you.” There wasn’t any way to keep the disbelief out of her voice. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

      “Show me one thing that’s made sense with this case from the get-go,” Russo said. “That's not even the weirdest part. As we started asking questions about this morning and tried to explain ourselves, our captain informs us the orders for our suspension came from a higher-up. We’re off the case.”

      “And the higher-up he’s referring to is someone in my office?” Could this day really get any worse?

      “My only other guess would be the Feds stuck their nose into the Denton case, but I haven’t heard one word about them sniffing around, have you?”

      “No, I haven’t. Who was it you spoke with from the DA’s office?”

      “Didn’t get his name but I’ve seen him around the last few months. I don’t know what happened last night with Mara, but in all my twenty years on the job, I’ve never once fallen asleep. I can only hope it was Mara who drugged us.”

      “But what would she—”

      “She’s gone, isn’t she? Our best guess is she wanted out. Maybe she came to it on her own, maybe she had help.” Concern and suspicion shone in his dark eyes. “I hate to think of anything happening to her, Simone. Especially when she was under our watch.”

      Not just under their watch; Mara was her responsibility. Not that it had taken much convincing to get the young woman to testify against her former boss. Other than last-minute panic a couple of weeks ago, the recent college graduate had seen her involvement in the case as a grand adventure. How many times had Simone wished all her witnesses were as eager to help? “Wait. Back up a second. Did you say your boss called you to the station before you could report Mara as missing?”

      “Now do you see why I wanted to talk to you away from your office?” Russo asked. “Whatever’s going on with your witness, with this case, someone’s putting their thumb on the scale. It’s like we’re five steps behind. It’s bad for Mara, she’s either out there alone getting into trouble, or...”

      Simone held up her hand in defiance as guilt and fear rose. “We’re going to assume it was her choice to run until we have evidence to the contrary.” Simone had been distracted lately. Maybe she’d missed something with Mara. Maybe she hadn’t been as convincing as she’d thought. But the more Simone digested it, the more it didn’t make sense. How many times had Mara told her she was still running and crunching numbers, that she was determined to lock down every penny of money Paul Denton had funneled through his companies, both legitimate and shell? Simone had told her there was enough data already. But she hadn’t specifically warned her off.

      Simone’s arms began to tremble and only then did she realize she’d clenched her fists so hard her muscles were rebelling. “You’re sure she didn’t give any indication she was going to bolt?”

      “I’ve guarded my share of witnesses, Simone. She was nervous, sure, but she was solid. Besides—” He hesitated and winced.

      “Besides what?”

      “She didn’t want to let you down. She looks up to you, Simone. You’re a bit of a hero to her.”

      A new layer of guilt overtook the sense of responsibility she’d felt. “Tell me about this guy from the DA’s office.” She needed to put all this into some kind of order before she talked to her boss.

      “I snapped this before I left the station.” He pulled out his cell phone and

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