Rookie Instincts, page 13
Once Tony had mentioned tunnels, Opaline and Max had delved into old plans for Port Huron and the docks. They’d discovered some blueprints for underwater tunnels supposedly created during World War II.
So far, what Tony had revealed to her and Axel during the interrogation was panning out. They just needed one more vital piece of evidence from him.
Aria twisted her head around, pretending to brush off a few raindrops from the shoulder of her FBI jacket, but really sneaking a peek at the dockworkers. Was Grayson among them?
She’d almost succumbed to her desires last night. What would Alana think of her if she knew she’d gotten entangled with a victim’s brother on her first case?
As if conjured from her thoughts, Alana appeared at Aria’s side and rubbed her back. “Are you doing okay? Better Max than us, right?”
“I can’t even fathom what it’s going to feel like for him once he slips into that icy water. And I’m fine. You?” Aria raised her brows at her boss, the question not altogether idle.
The dark circles beneath Alana’s eyes had added a few years to the otherwise ageless director’s appearance, her brisk step a little slower this morning.
“I never sleep well in hotel rooms. Although my husband and I spend a lot of time apart, I do miss his company at night when I’m on the road.” Alana squeezed her arm. “In this job, it’s good to have someone to come home to, Aria.”
“Alana!” Max waved his arms over his head. “I’m ready.”
Aria sucked in her bottom lip as she watched Alana stride toward Max at the water’s edge, squaring her shoulders, putting back on her military strut as if it were a jacket she’d momentarily shrugged off.
Then she caught up with her just as Alana clipped an underwater camera to Max’s weight belt. “If you see anything of interest down there, take some pictures.”
Two members of the PHPD dive team were accompanying him under water—not that Max would do anything as foolish as paddling into a tunnel on his own, but he was an experienced diver and experienced divers never went solo.
As Aria watched the three divers slide into the dark water, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at it.
Alana asked, “Any news?”
“It’s a text from Rihanna.”
“The Rihanna standing right over there, keeping the press at bay?” Alana pointed at Rihanna, who was giving Aria a thumbs-up sign.
Aria cupped the phone in her hand and reread Rihanna’s message as her heart soared, a smile curving her lips.
“Ah, good news.” Alana crossed her arms and wedged one foot against a wooden stump.
“CPS is allowing Grayson Rhodes to visit his nephew, and the foster parents have agreed and invited him over tonight.” Despite the frosty bite in the air, Aria felt her cheeks warm.
If she’d known Alana was going to question her about the text, she never would’ve been so transparently happy. Who was she actually kidding? She wouldn’t have been able to control herself one way or the other. If Rihanna had walked over here and told her in person, she probably would’ve hugged her.
Alana dipped her head once. “You should go with him.”
“M-me?” Aria clasped the phone between her two hands like an ecstatic schoolgirl, and then dropped the phone back in her pocket. “Shouldn’t Rihanna go with him? She’s already met the foster parents.”
“Rhodes trusts you. You’ve been his contact through all this. You were there when he ID’d his sister. The two of you discovered Brandy’s body last night.” Alana crossed her fingers. “There’s a connection between you.”
“Okay, I’ll call him later and set it up.”
A squad car pulled up and Opaline emerged from the back seat, pulling the fur-lined hood of her pink jacket over her head. She bent forward, leaning her head in the passenger window and chatting with the officer before spinning around and picking her way across the wooden planks of the dock in her high-heeled boots with fur at the top to match her hood.
“It’s freezing out here.” Opaline pulled on a pair of mittens.
“You don’t have to be out here. You did enough work finding the plans for the tunnels.” Alana peered around Opaline’s shoulder at the cop car. “Special delivery service?”
“Oh, that’s Gordon. He was coming this way and offered me a lift.” Leaning forward, Opaline cupped her mouth and whispered, “He likes cats.”
“So did your ex.” Alana chuckled and wandered toward the water.
Opaline stared after Alana for a few seconds and said, “Is she okay?”
“She looks tired, doesn’t she?”
“She does, but I hope you didn’t tell her that.” Opaline jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “How long have Max and the other divers been below?”
“Just about ten minutes. They’re going to need hot coffee and warm showers when they get out.” Aria hunched her shoulders. “I hope they find something. Do you know why the government built those tunnels?”
“Munitions. Maybe they thought the Germans were going to attack the US via the Great Lakes. Unfortunately for us, the plans we saw didn’t have the land endpoints—just the construction of the tunnels beneath the water. I think we were missing some maps or plans.”
“Maybe Max can find those points and those will lead us to the drug storage area. All three bodies were discovered near the lake. When the hit on them was put out, their locations weren’t a secret. The women weren’t killed in their apartments or their cars. They were alone on those roads near the lake, for some reason. One even had her baby with her.” Aria pressed a hand to her heart.
“Picking up their stash for the trip to Canada. I think we can shut this down, but we need to get the person at the top because he’ll just set up shop somewhere else, using other resources, other people, to get his product across the border.” Opaline pushed her hood back from her face, the blue ends of her hair clinging to the fur. “Do you think Tony Balducci will give up the top dog?”
“Axel seems to think so, and I have faith in him.”
“Uh-oh.” Opaline peered over Aria’s shoulder. “Looks like it’s lunchtime for the boys on the dock. I hope they don’t come nosing around here. Maybe Gordon can ward them off while Rihanna keeps the press at bay.”
“They’ve been eyeballing us all morning, but the PHPD has us cordoned off.” Aria’s phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out. She read Grayson’s text, asking if she could talk.
She tipped her phone back and forth at Opaline. “I need to make a call. Excuse me for a sec.”
“Go ahead. I’m going to see what Alana knows...or at least see if she needs any coffee.”
Aria moved away from the staging area for the divers and called Grayson. He barely let one ring finish before he answered.
“What’s happening over there?”
“We have divers looking for those underwater tunnels. We think the drugs might be hidden there.”
“I hope you find them, get them off the streets.”
“What’s the talk at the docks?”
“Everything from you guys found another body to it actually being Tony’s body.”
Aria drew in a breath. “Tony hasn’t reached out to his family yet?”
“Nope, or Chuck’s not telling me. Is that good or bad?”
“It’s good. It means Tony’s afraid of reprisals and we can use that to get him to talk. Without our protection on the inside, he’s toast.” With the back of her hand, Aria dashed away a raindrop that had hit her cheek. “I have some other news for you—good news.”
“I could use some about now.”
Aria gripped the phone in her hand as butterflies swirled in her stomach. Was he referring to the way she’d shut him down last night?
She rushed to fill the expectant silence. “If you’re free tonight, you can visit Danny.”
His excited words burst over the phone. “Are you serious? I can see my nephew?”
“DCS approved it and the foster parents agreed—six o’clock tonight, and I’m going with you.”
“I’m glad it’s you.” Grayson had lowered his voice and the tone sent a delicious thrill curling through her body. “Look, last night...”
She held up her hand, as if he could see her. “Don’t. It’s all right.”
“Okay, good. I’m going to eat my lunch. Do you want to pick me up tonight at my luxurious motel? I get off at five, and I’ll head back, shower and change.”
“I can do that. Can you be ready by around five forty?”
“I can. And... Aria?”
“Yes?” She couldn’t control the breathlessness of her voice or the fluttering of her heart when Grayson said her name.
“I’m glad we didn’t make love last night in that dump. When we come together, it’s going to be something special.”
He ended the call before she could reply to his outrageous statement. So, that’s why he’d said it was all right that they hadn’t continued down the path their touching and kissing would’ve surely led them. He’d figured their union was inevitable anyway, and he could bide his time for the right moment.
Was he wrong?
Alana whooped. “They’re coming up.”
Stashing her phone, Aria rushed to the water’s edge where the rope that had followed the divers down was now taut and vibrating.
Her heart lodged in her throat until the first diver’s mask broke the surface. As Max clambered out of the brackish lake, water sluicing off his prosthetic, he ran a finger across his throat.
Aria grabbed Alana’s elbow. “They didn’t find anything?”
“Let’s wait and see.”
As the divers sat on the wooden stumps that littered the dock, removing their fins and masks, Opaline scurried up with a cardboard drink holder containing three cups of coffee.
When Max emerged from his mask and accepted a coffee from Opaline, Aria followed Alana to his side.
He brushed a hand over his head. “Damn, that’s cold.”
“What did you see, Max?”
He unhooked the camera from his belt and dangled it from his fingers. “It’s all on here. We did find the entrance to one tunnel, so they still exist, but the door is either locked or rusted shut. There’s no way we can get in there.”
Alana smacked a fist in her palm. “But we know they exist and Tony’s story isn’t a lie. The exits on the land must be somewhere, and I’m guessing they’re near where the bodies were found. What else were those women doing there by themselves?”
“We searched those sites for evidence. Now we need to search the surrounding locations for possible hidey-holes for the drugs.” Max slipped a fin off his prosthetic.
Turning to Aria, Alana said, “I’m going to get Selena and Blanca on that, and I want you to go with her, Aria, so you can see how the K-9 tracker works.”
“I’d like that.”
“I got some more good news for Mr. Rhodes. Carly called me with the toxicology and DNA results on mother and baby. Danny is Chloe Larsen’s child, which we knew, anyway, but he didn’t have any drugs in his system at all. Chloe, on the other hand...” Alana stopped and turned her head to the side. She dragged a tissue from her pocket, dabbed her eyes and wiped it across her nose. “Sorry, damn cold. Chloe, on the other hand, had a small quantity of opioids in her system.”
Max peeled down the top of his wetsuit. “Damn, that girl was on the highway to hell.”
Aria put her hand on Alana’s stiff back. “It’s been a raw morning out here, and it’s starting to rain. Why don’t you go back to the hotel and put your feet up for a few hours? We all know what we’re doing.”
“Nonsense.” Alana flipped up the hood on her FBI jacket. “I’m going back to the war room, and Opaline’s going to blow up these underwater pictures Max took. I suggest you and Selena join us. You too, Max.”
“As soon as I get some warm clothes and a hot lunch.” He raised a hand to the other divers. “Thanks, guys. I’ll buy you some chili.”
Alana had hurried away and hopped into her rental, taking off after a few words with the PD.
Aria tapped Opaline’s shoulder. “Hey, Opaline. Do you think your hot cop can give me a lift back to the station in his squad car? Alana must’ve forgotten she was my ride.”
“Yeah, she sure was in a big hurry to get out of here.”
Aria stared after Alana’s rental as it zipped around the corner and out of sight. It didn’t take any investigative skills to know Alana didn’t have a cold. Those had been tears in the usually stoic director’s eyes.
* * *
WHEN GRAYSON GOT off work, he rushed to a store, where he bought a stuffed tiger and a saucer-shaped contraption for the baby to sit in and entertain himself with the little gadgets and dials along the tray that encircled the seat. He hoped the foster parents didn’t mind, but every time he’d seen Danny in the past, he’d come bearing gifts—and diapers, and diaper wipes, and clothes, and even big-ticket items like that car seat Danny had been found in next to his mother’s dead body.
By the time Aria drove up to his motel, he’d showered and changed into a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt and was standing outside his room with the tiger under one arm and the saucer at his feet.
Her eyes widened when she saw him. She parked and then slid from behind the wheel. “You come prepared.”
“I always bring Danny something when I see him.” He picked up the saucer by the edge. “Do you have room for this?”
“You can wedge it in the back seat.” She yanked open the door for him and he turned the saucer seat on its side and shoved it into the back.
He climbed in next to her in her car, clutching the tiger in his lap. “The foster parents are okay with this?”
“Rihanna said they were thrilled that Danny had an uncle who wanted him. She said they’re incredible people.”
“They must be.” Unlike Danny’s mother. He stroked the tiger’s ear with his thumb.
“Don’t get too attached to that tiger.” Aria tugged on the toy’s tail before she pulled out of the motel’s parking lot. “You’re going to have to fight Danny for it.”
He stretched his lips into a smile. He didn’t know why his nerves were jangling. Either he was afraid Danny would reject him...or that Aria would.
He tossed the tiger into the back seat. “Nothing came from the search for the tunnels today?”
“Max found an underwater tunnel, but the entrance was locked. We have no way of knowing where it pops up on land.”
“Probably where the women were murdered. Why else would they be walking in those areas at night by themselves?”
“Exactly. I’m going out with our K-9 agent and her dog tomorrow. The handler will give the dog something belonging to the victims to sniff and see if she can track them.”
Aria’s GPS spit out some directions and she joined the highway traffic. “It’s not far, maybe ten minutes.”
“Did Rihanna indicate when the DNA results would be in?”
“Shouldn’t be much longer because...” She lodged the tip of her tongue in the corner of her mouth and flicked on her turn signal.
“Because what?”
“We got other test results back, which confirmed that Chloe and Danny were mother and son, and that Danny didn’t have any drugs in his system.”
Grayson blew out a breath. “Yeah, I could’ve told you that. I grilled Chloe on that score and, while she didn’t always answer my questions, when she did, she told the truth. You’re leaving something out.”
Aria’s hands tightened on the steering wheel and she shot him a glance from the corner of her eye. “Toxicology came back on Chloe, too.”
“Let me guess.” His eye twitched. “She had drugs in her system.”
“Opioids.”
Grayson’s hands curled into fists, despite himself. “I could’ve told you that, too.”
He stared out the window at the scenery rushing past, draped in gray, thinking about all the times he’d tried to get Chloe to stop using. The last time had been before her pregnancy when he’d sent her to a high-end, live-in treatment center. She’d lasted two weeks before running off with some musician. That guy could even be Danny’s father, but if Chloe hadn’t mentioned it to her fellow escapee, Grayson had no intention of suggesting to this guy that he might be a dad. Grayson wanted Danny to have a good life. From here on out, sunshine and...tigers.
“We’re on the street.” Aria tapped the window. “Nice homes.”
She pulled up in front of a house that had a midsize SUV and a red truck parked in the driveway. “Ready?”
“Oh, yeah.” He had the door open before she cut the engine. Ducking into the back seat, he grabbed the toys and marched up to the porch, Aria tailing behind him.
The door swung open before he had a chance to knock, and a man whose shoulders practically spanned the doorway stuck out his hand. “Rich Colby. You must be Danny’s uncle. Same blue eyes, same expression when someone tries to take one of his toys away.”
I must look ready to do battle or something. Grayson puffed out a breath and, with the tiger under his arm, shook the man’s hand. “Grayson Rhodes, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you took in Danny.”
A woman with fluffy blond hair peeped over her husband’s shoulder. “You do look like Danny. I’m Sarah Colby. C’mon in.”
“I’m sorry.” Grayson turned to Aria. “This is Special Agent Aria Calletti with the FBI.”
While Aria shook hands with the Colbys as they stood in the entryway, Grayson dropped the toys on the floor and made a beeline for his nephew, standing in the playpen across the room, his hands curled on the side, swaying back and forth.
“Hey, buddy. Do you remember your uncle Grayson?” He swept the boy up and pressed his nose against Danny’s soft hair, a towhead, just like Chloe was as a baby.
