Among the Shrouded (21 page)

“Pictures!”

“Yes.  Pictures.  I need to have something to give my dad, even if it won’t prove anything officially.  Give me ten more minutes.”

He watched
her venture out beyond the newel post once again.  His anxiety levels began to diminish and his breathing finally slowed.  He didn’t know if it was her confidence or his own that comforted him, but he felt as though the danger had passed.

He
strained to hear what the men were discussing but only caught bits and pieces.  They were definitely discussing the women. He heard someone mention “the one that escaped.” 

He
checked his watch.  It had been six minutes since she began her ‘investigation’ and he was going to hold her to the ten she had requested.  He watched the hands slowly ticking forward around the face.  Boisterous laughter suddenly flooded the stairway and his skin prickled.  He tapped her on the back.

“Let’s go
, it’s been ten minutes.”

To his surprise,
she didn’t hesitate.  “I’ll follow you,” she said.

He
breathed a sigh of relief when they were once again safely ensconced inside her car.  Without a word, she started the engine and backed up slowly down the street.  She left the lights off as they wove through the neighborhood, hoping to find a way out that wouldn’t require driving past Brookins’ residence.  After several tense minutes, she pulled out onto the main road and quickly switched on the headlights.

Finally,
he reached out to gently touch her cheek as if to wipe away an unshed tear.  “Are you okay?” he asked.

“No.  Not really.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not in the car.  Not while I’m driving.”

“Okay.  Where do you want to go?”

“
Will you come back to my place?” she asked hopefully.

“
Of course,” he replied.

They drove in silence the entire way across town. 

“Chelsea’s car isn’t here.  I wonder why she’s still not home,” she said as they walked across the parking lot together.  He saw her checking her phone as they entered her apartment.

“Chelsea
texted me while I had my phone off to let me know she’s staying at Tyler’s tonight.”  She looked at him and suddenly burst into tears.

He hurried to her
, wrapping her in his arms.  “Mia, what’s the matter?”

“It’s th
ose men.  From the house tonight.”

“What about them?  What did you see?”
he probed.  He led her into the den and sat with her on the couch.

“I
n all my years of being a cop, I have never seen anything like it.  They were ruthless.  The things they were saying about the women were unimaginable.  They spoke about those women as though they weren’t even human.  They were acting like they were selling drugs or weapons.  But Thomas, they’re selling people!  What sort of monsters do that?”

“The worst sort,” he said.

“I’ve got to tell my dad about this.  We have to stop these men from hurting any more women.  And we have to find the girls that are still out there.”

“That sounds like a good plan,”
he said, holding her face in his hands.  “If anyone can do this, you can, Mia.”

She looked at him
solemnly and for the first time, he saw the pain she was carrying inside.  It was as if the evil her gift caused her to witness was forcing a sadness to bubble up to the surface and he was finally being allowed to see it.

“Thomas?”

“Yes?”

“I
don’t want to be alone.  Not tonight.”

“Are you asking me to stay?”

“Do you want to stay?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m asking.”

He
lowered his face to hers, gently kissing her forehead, her nose, her lips.  She returned his kiss forcefully and passionately, pushing him backward onto the sofa.

Instantly, all
the fear and anxiety of the night washed away, and for him, all that existed was Mia.  Her hair fell into his face and he was surrounded by the crisp familiar smell of her shampoo.  She continued kissing him as if possessed by something powerful and needy.  Suddenly she stopped and he watched as she quickly removed her shirt, her fingers nimbly unfastening each tiny button with great proficiency.  Next, she pulled him up by his arms and wriggled him free from his shirt, throwing both into a pile on the floor.

He
hesitantly touched her arms.  Her shoulders.  The small of her back.  He was surprised by the strength of the muscles he felt beneath her smooth skin.  Her body felt lean and powerful and he was overcome by a desire to know every inch of her.

He was aware that
she was exploring him with the same fervor.  She kissed his chest and his stomach but hesitated at the waistband of his jeans.  She looked up expectantly at him, her eyes full of desire.  He saw something else behind her passion.  He suddenly recognized it as the love she had spoken of earlier in the evening.  Love for him, a man who had been thrown away his entire life.  And now, here she was loving him as much as he loved her.

He quickly took off his belt and
she stood up so he could remove his pants.  He followed as she led him into the privacy of her bedroom.  Within seconds, what was left of their clothing was strewn across the floor and he was beside her, their bodies pressed firmly together as they lost themselves in one another’s embrace.

He watched her as she lay quietly sleeping on the pillow beside him.  He reached out to move a lock of her hair that was draped across her cheek.  He touched her lips with his fingertips and considered how alive and secure she made him feel.  For the first time in his life, he embraced the hope of a new beginning.  He curled his body around her tiny frame and slept peacefully through the night.

CHAPTER

30

MIA

The alarm sounded before dawn and Mia was immediately wide awake.  She was also on the floor.

“Sorry!” Thomas cried as he leaned over the edge of the bed to reach
out his hand to her.  “I don’t know what happened!”

“Do you do that every morning when the alarm goes off?”
she asked, pulling the covers around her as she climbed back into bed.

“No.  That’s new.  I didn’t mean to shove you off the bed.  I guess I just didn’t realize where I was.  Or who I was with.  It’s probably left over from all
the moving around when I was a kid.”

“Well, remind me next time to put a pillow on the floor before we fall asleep so
I can at least have a soft landing,” she laughed.

She
folded herself into his arms and thought about facing the day.  She was dreading it.

“Tell me we can just stay here all day,” she said.

“We can just stay here all day,” he replied.

“You
, sir, are a liar.”

“Yes
.  Yes I am.”

She
turned toward him.  Their faces were only inches apart.  His cheeks were covered in stubble and his eyes were still heavy with sleep.  She didn’t think she’d ever seen him looking more adorable.  She didn’t know how it had happened, but Thomas Pritchett had stolen her heart.

“I have to deal with last night now,” she said.

“I know.  What’s your plan?”

“I don’t have a plan.  I’m just going to wing it.”

“That sounds like it is going to require coffee.”

“
Lots of coffee,” she agreed.

“I’m on it,”
he said, kissing her on the nose.

She
watched as he climbed out of bed, threw on his pants and went searching for his t-shirt in the other room.  She quickly showered, dressed for work, and was applying a layer of mascara when the smell of freshly brewed coffee made its way into the bedroom.  There was also the smell of something else that drew her into the kitchen.

“French toast!”
she cried as she sat down at the breakfast bar.  “I haven’t had homemade French toast in the longest time.  I love French toast.  How did you know?”

“You ordered it
at Belinda’s,” he responded.

“You are a stalker,”
she replied, laughing at his observation skills.  “You might have some detective abilities after all!”

“I might be
observant, but I don’t think I have the cojones to do what you do.  Now, eat your breakfast because we both have to get moving if we are going to make it to work on time this morning.”

“What happened to letting me stay in bed all day?”

“You have to save the world, remember?  And Belinda needs her tables bussed.  So that makes us both pretty important,” he replied.

She
devoured her breakfast.  It was delicious and she was starving after the adrenaline rush of the previous night.  When they finished eating, she cleared the dishes while Thomas showered and dressed for work.

“I hope no one will mind I am wearing yesterday’s clothes,”
he said as they stood together in the parking lot beside her car.

“You smell good.  You look nice.  No one will even notice.  Are you sure I can’t drive you in?”

“You’ll be late if there’s any traffic.  The bus is fine,” he said.

“Okay.” 
She hesitated, suddenly not wanting to let him out of her sight.

“Call me.  Let me know what you find out about the traffickers.”

“I will,” she replied.

“Okay.  Have a great day.”

“You too.”

He
leaned down to kiss her gently.  “Bye, Mia.”

“Bye,” she said.

She watched as he walked down the sidewalk toward the bus stop.  She slid into the car and headed in the opposite direction, toward the beltway.

On her
drive to work, she forced Thomas from her mind and considered her options with regard to the traffickers.  Part of her considered telling Jack, but she realized immediately he would be upset that she hadn’t called him to go along with her to Brookins’ house.  She knew he would be furious if he found out she took a civilian on the stakeout, so she ruled out confiding in him before ever reaching the station.

That left her
father.  She decided to go straight to him with the information she had acquired at the stakeout, but she knew she would have to fabricate a back story that didn’t involve Thomas.  She found him in the briefing room with a group of senior officers.  She waited outside the door until he was finished and ambushed him as he came through the door.

“Dad, I have to talk to you.”

“Whoa.  Good morning to you too.  Where’s the fire?”

“It’s important.  I have some information about the girl that was brought in the other day.”

“Which one?” Rosetti laughed.

“The foreign girl
claiming she escaped from a basement brothel.  Zocha.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.  Can we go back to your office?  I don’t really feel comfortable discussing it here in the hallway.”

“Sure,
” he replied as he led her down the hall to his office.  He invited her to sit in the chair beside him at his desk.

“So, what’s so important?”

“I think there is a large group of men here in the city who are trafficking women from overseas.”

“Hold on.  That’s a huge accusation.  What kind of proof do you have?”

“If I tell you, you have to promise not to be mad.”

“This doesn’t sound good
, Mia.”

“I did some undercover work last night and nothing I have will be admissible in court, so someone else will have to track it all down legally.”

“Mia!” Rosetti yelled.

“You promised not to get mad,”
she said.

“I did no such thing!  I didn’t teach you to go out on your own to follow leads outside of protocol.  Please tell me you had Jack with you.”

“I went alone.”

She
watched her father stewing beside her.  She knew the conversation wasn’t going to be pleasant but for the sake of the women she knew were out there suffering, it was the least she could do.

“Dad, I have names.  And photos.  I’ve seen lots of th
em and their auras are all very dark.  It was awful.”  She paused to consider his demeanor and saw it was softening.  “Please, Dad.  We have to stop them.”

He
ran his hands across his face and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Show me what you’ve got,” he said at last.

She
handed her father her phone and let him scroll through the photos.

“I’m not even going to ask how you got into this house,” he said.

“That’s probably a good idea,” she acknowledged.

“And what did you hear?”

“They bring the women here from overseas.  They lure them.  The women don’t know they are going to be sold into prostitution.  Once they get here, they lock them away and sell them repeatedly to the highest bidder.  The men make huge profits.  We have to stop them.  And we have to find the women.”

“You have names?”

“Two so far.  We could probably run facial recognition software on these photos to get others.  I’m sure many of them have some sort of record.”

A smile spread across
his face.

“You’re a good cop, you know that?”
he said.

“I am?”

“Yeah.  You are.  The girl that came in last week?  I haven’t had a chance to think about her since.  But you?  You saw a problem and took the initiative to figure out what’s going on.  And not because you want to look good to the brass.  You did it because you honestly care.  I don’t know how you turned out to be such a good woman, growing up without a mother, but you did.  I’m proud of you, Mia.

“Thanks
, Dad.”

“The commissioner is headed in here this morning for his weekly news conference.  I’m going to let him know about this.  You deserve some recognition.”

“No.  I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why no
t?  You worried about him wanting to know how you got the pictures?”

“No.  It’s not that.” 
She hesitated.

“Oh God
, Mia.  It’s not the darkness thing again, is it?  We’ve beaten this horse to death.”

She
fumbled for words, unable to form a cohesive argument.

“I’m going to go see if he’s here.  He needs to know about this.”

She followed her father out of his office and up the stairs to the conference room.  She was aware that her father trusted the commissioner implicitly but she couldn’t share his confidence because of what she saw.  She decided to throw a Hail Mary.

“Dad, maybe we should bring county i
n on this.  The house was out in Owings Mills.  Then we don’t need to involve the commissioner at all.”

Rosetti s
topped sharply and turned to face her.

“Where
did the girl show up?”

“Here at the station
.”

“You think she walked here from the county?”

“Not likely.”

“Then where do you think they are holding these girls?”

She was silent.  She had no further arguments.

“You wanna help these girls or not
, Mia?”

“I do.  You know I do.”

“Well, then come on,” Rosetti said as he turned on his heel and continued down the hall.

By the time
they reached the conference room, Commissioner Dalton was already fielding questions from the press.  She stood in the back of the room and willed the darkness she saw surrounding him to disappear.  She closed her eyes and opened them repeatedly.  She squinted and even tried one eye at a time.  The result was always the same.  Commissioner Dalton was shrouded in darkness.

When the meeting was over and
the press began filing out of the room, her father made his way to the front and she watched as he shook hands with the commissioner and they shared a laugh together.  Within moments, he was motioning for her to join their conversation.

She
extended her hand to the commissioner as she approached.  “Good morning, Commissioner Dalton,” she said.

“Officer Rosetti, it’s lovely to see you again.  The
Chief here tells me you’ve done a little side investigation and have turned up what you think could be a human trafficking ring?”

“Yes
, Sir.”

“Can you tell me what you know?”

“Yes, Sir.  I received a tip that a man named Wayne Brookins and three of his companions were overheard discussing the sale of women.”

“Who shared this information with you?”

“It was an anonymous tip, Sir,” she lied.

“I see.  Go on.”

“I did some investigation into Mr. Brookins and found he had several arrests for solicitation.  I decided on a whim to take a drive to his house to see if I could find out any more about his activities.  I discovered a dozen or so men at his house and they all seemed to be in on the trafficking.”

“That’s some pretty
good detective work,” said the commissioner.

“Thank you
, Sir,” she replied.

“Would you be able to identify any of the other men?”

“I don’t know.  It was sort of dark,” she said, not wanting to share more than she had to with him.

“Tell him about the photos,” her father suggested.

She glared at her father.  The last thing she wanted to do was let the commissioner know she had photographs of the men.  She knew she would be forced to release them to Dalton immediately.