Land of Entrapment (9 page)

“Melissa’s will be on there, too.”

“If I don’t get a hit on anybody else, I’ll check and see if she’s on file and rule her out.” She stood regarding me, looking extremely professional in her pressed khaki trousers and white button-down shirt.

Her badge was clipped to her belt. “What else?”

I shook my head. “Not a hell of a lot. I’m pretty sure he was male. It was dark and all I saw was his back but his body shape was male and he was at least six feet tall. Short hair. Jeans and a black tee. I don’t know if I actually thought to look at his shoes.”

“That’s all right. Hopefully I’ll get something from the prints on the door.” She followed me into the house and I waited as she peeled an inking strip open.

I pressed all my fingers onto the ink. Chris then slipped it into a small paper envelope on which she had written my name. She put the envelope in her kit.

She gathered her gear and looked at me again. A grim expression crossed her face. “What the hell is going on?”“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s random. Maybe it has something to do with Megan. Could have been Cody. Same height, roughly.”

“Yeah. I’m not discounting that.” Chris noticed the comforter on the couch and the broom on the floor. “Why don’t you stay at my place tonight?”

I considered her offer but decided against it. “I think it’s a better idea for me to stay here. He might come back.”

Chris looked at me as if monkeys had suddenly flown out of my butt. “Exactly. I would prefer that you’re safe with me than fighting some crazy racist in a small space like this.”

“I’m getting the locks changed today. And if he comes back, I can find out who he is and maybe even get some info about Megan.”

“So you’re going to ask some perp breaking in whether he’s seen your ex-girlfriend’s younger sister?

How is that conversation going to go down?” Chris grimaced at me, frustrated. “And will that be before or after you smack him with the broom?”

I ran my hands through my hair. “Chris, see it my way for a minute. I think he has a key, which means he knows Megan. And he might have been coming here to get something for her. So if he comes back, it’s because he thinks he’s still able to get in.”

“You are psycho.” Chris was glaring down at me.

She’s about five-eight and can be really intimidating.

I’m maybe two inches shorter, but when Chris gets her cop look, I feel about two inches tall, period.

“That is a bullshit plan,” she said in a tone of voice that left little room for argument, but I tried anyway.

“C’mon, Chris. What if Megan comes back with him? For all we know, she’s been stopping by her place for clothes.” Shit. Why didn’t I think of that? I’d have Melissa check Megan’s closet to see what might be missing.

Chris relaxed, but only slightly. Her eyes glinted steel. In cop mode, she could scare the crap out of most people. “Here’s the deal. I’m going to work. I’m taking a day off tomorrow. I’m going to stay with you here tonight and I don’t want to hear anything from you about it. I’ll drive my own car and I’ll park it up the street. And if this cabrón comes back to fuck with you...”

I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

“You’re really hot when you talk dirty like that,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Her jaw tensed and then she laughed softly.

“Promise me you’ll get the locks changed.”

“I’m calling Melissa as soon as you leave.”

“All right. I’ll see you tonight.” She smiled, though I saw the concern in her eyes before she headed out the door.

“Hey, Chris—”

She turned, halfway down the walk.

“Thanks.”

“Kase, I love you. I care about you. And if anything happens to you, I and the wrath of my ancestors will find whoever messed with you.” She threw a wave with her free hand and returned to her unmarked car, its front end just visible on the street. I let out a sigh and shut the security door, then called Melissa. Fortunately, she answered and I told her what had happened.

“What? Someone tried to break in?” She was obviously upset.

“I don’t know if that’s what he was doing. I get the feeling that he had a key and he was trying to open the door that way.”

“Well, who the hell would do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Cody? Maybe one of his friends? When you stop by, have a look in Megan’s closet and see if you notice anything that’s gone missing since she left.”

“Jesus. I—”

She was thinking she had put me needlessly in danger. I headed her off. “It’s okay. I chased him off and Chris already came by. She might have gotten a print she can use. If he’s got a prior, we’ll be able to find out who it is.”

“Dammit!” Melissa seemed to be struggling with words. “I’ll put you up in a hotel—”

“Look, all we need to do is get the locks changed.”

She hesitated before responding. “Call Heights Lock and Key. Give them the address. The landlord is on file. He’s a friend of mine—Rob Tanner—and we have an arrangement when things need to get done.

I’ll let him know about it. Just make a couple of extra copies of the new key.”

“Will do.”

“Oh, and save the receipt for me so I can give it to him.” She sounded frustrated.

“Yep.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to a hotel?

What if he comes back and tries to break in through a window?”

“I don’t think he will because he knows someone’s here now and he won’t want to risk drawing attention to himself.”

“I don’t want you there by yourself tonight,” she pressed.

“Not to worry. Chris is staying over after she gets off duty.”

Long pause. Melissa knew that Chris and I’d had more than a friendship sometimes, though she also knew that Chris and I never slept together when one or both of us was seeing someone. I knew that Melissa wanted to ask about present circumstances between Chris and me, but on the other hand, she really didn’t want details. I heard an almost imperceptible sigh.

“All right. Call me if you need anything. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Will do. Bye.” I hung up and put my phone in my pocket, glad for Megan’s little neat streak. She kept her phone books stacked on the shelves in her living room. I called Heights and explained my situation. No problem, the man said, after they looked up the address in their system. They’d be there in about an hour. That was actually pretty good for Albuquerque, so I set to brewing coffee and toasting a bagel.

As the coffee finished brewing, I heard a male voice at the security door. It had only been ten minutes, so it couldn’t be the locksmith.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

I stuck my head out of the kitchen. A guy about my height stood outside. He looked to be in his mid-twenties.

“Yeah?”

“Hi. I’m Jeff, from the front house.”

“Oh, yeah. Melissa told me. Come on in. It’s open.

You want some coffee?”

He pulled the door open and stepped in. “That’d be nice, thanks.”

I returned to the kitchen and poured coffee into my cup and got another one out of the cabinet near the sink. “You want some cream?”

“No, thanks. Black is fine.”

I handed him the cup. “I’m K.C., an—” I stopped, then continued, “an old friend of Melissa’s.”

“Cool. Melissa said you’d be hangin’ here for a while.” He blew on his coffee and took a sip. I studied him. Straight black hair and stocky build. He wore tattered black shorts and a plain gray tee. Flip-flops graced his feet. He looked like the quintessential young college student type. I got a good vibe from him.“So. A cop?” He looked at me, not wanting to pry but clearly needing to know what an officer of the law was doing near his house early in the morning.

Chris’s unmarked squad car still screamed “police.”

“Oh, Chris. She’s a friend of mine and stopped by on her way to work. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to freak you out.”

He smiled. “I’m actually glad. I haven’t told Melissa this, but there’s been some weird stuff happening around here since Megan’s been gone.”

I looked at him, gauging what I could and could not tell him and it occurred to me that I was still in my boxers and thin white tee without a bra. I set my coffee down on the counter and crossed my arms over my chest. “Like what?”

He took a tentative sip from his cup, maybe debating what to say. “Well, last week some guy was messing around back here. It was late—like, eleven or something—and he went back to Megan’s and tried the door handle. We were up watching a movie and I was in the kitchen getting something to drink and I just happened to look through the back door and saw him. I shouted at him and he bailed, but it was weird.”

“Did you get a look at him?”

“Not really. About all I could tell was he was wearing jeans and a dark shirt. I didn’t see his face.”

“Was it Cody?”

“No, I don’t think so. Cody was coming around a lot the last few months and he always said hi to me or Sage if he saw us. Though Sage never said hi back.”

Jeff smiled and shook his head.

I sipped my coffee. “Huh. Weird. Well, thanks for letting me know. I’ll tell Chris and she’ll swing by a little more.”

“That’d be great.” He smiled again. “Good coffee.”

“Thanks. So what else have you noticed?”

“Sage saw a couple of creepy dudes hanging out by the curb a couple of weeks ago.”

“Creepy how?”

“I didn’t see them. I was at work. But Sage’ll tell you. She said they were wearing jeans and white tees and they had scary tattoos on their arms and necks.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Sage says the tats were swastikas and shit like that. Couple of skinheads, sounds like.”

“That is creepy.” I took another sip of my coffee and changed the subject. Sort of. “So what do you think about Cody?”

Jeff shrugged. “He seems nice. He’s always polite and Megan seems to really like him. Sage hates him, though.”

“How come?” This Sage already sounded like a damn smart cookie and I should probably have a chat with her.

“She says he’s a racist, but I haven’t seen or heard anything like that from him. But Sage is pretty good at reading people, so if she says he is, he probably is.

Still, he’s always polite to me.”

“Have you seen him recently?” I tried to keep my tone conversational.

“No. I figured he’s just waiting for Megan to finish the summer term she’s doing and then they’ll just pick up where they left off.”

“Huh. Well, maybe I’ll get to meet him.”

“Maybe.” Jeff finished his coffee and reached to put his cup on the counter.

“You want more?”

“No, thanks. Hey, why don’t you stop by later?

We’re having some friends over and we’ll be grilling out tonight.”

“Sounds good. I might do that. Thanks for the invite.”

“Sure. Gotta stick together in the ’hood,” he said, slipping into a strong New Mexico cholo accent. I laughed as I followed him to the door.

“Take it easy,” I said as he left. He waved and loped to the steps of the main house’s back porch. I returned to the kitchen and ate my bagel, which was cool but still yummy after I slathered cream cheese all over it. I finished and cleaned up and poured myself another cup of coffee and was just about to take a drink when I heard another knock at the door. Damn.

Grand Central Station.

“Hello? Heights Lock and Key.”

An older guy wearing a work shirt stood outside. I let him in, noting that the name “Joe” was emblazoned on a patch on his left pectoral. He set to work and within thirty minutes had changed out both locks. He set them to open with one key but he handed me two. “One plus a copy,” he said in his gruff but friendly voice.

“Thanks a bunch.” I paid him with a credit card and included a nice tip. “Thank you, sir,” I said, falling into my Texas respect-for-my-elders mode. He looked at me funny. He’d probably never been called

“sir” here. New Mexico is pretty informal.

“Let us know if there’re any problems with these.”

“Definitely. Thanks again.”

He gathered his tools and hefted them down the walk to his truck. I breathed easier and locked the security door. Time to shower and then get some copies of the new key made. After that, I’d go back to work on Megan’s e-mail files.

Chapter Six

I FINISHED READING through the e-mails from Cody that Megan had saved. Some were pretty mushy, but nothing really graphic. Thank God. I had been dreading reading about Megan’s sex life with a white supremacist recruiter. The e-mails she saved often included what she had written in response to something he had said and vice versa. So I actually ended up with a good record of their relationship.

They had met last June, as I had already surmised from the photos. Within a week, he asked her out and a week after that they were getting physical because he wrote that he really enjoyed dinner with her and he hoped she wasn’t “freaked out” when he kissed her. Aw, how sweet. Mr. Hitler Youth wants to make sure she’s okay. The thought of him kissing Megan pissed me off. I stopped reading for a minute, then continued. Their messages the first month they were dating were mostly like that, usually with “I can’t wait to see you” notations in them and silly, goofy things you say to that special someone you’ve just started seeing.

By month two, however, Cody had started to work his campaign. He asked Megan if she’d like to go to a barbecue with him. Yes, she would. I clicked on the next set of e-mails. Megan was uneasy here. She was confused about his friends. Why did they talk about pride in the white race? And why were they so hateful toward gay people? After all, Megan pointed out, her sister was gay.

Cody’s response was masterful. He said that some of them were just assholes but most of them just wanted the same rights as everybody else. He said he didn’t have a problem with Melissa—he used her name—but, he added, Megan had to admit that homosexuality was a little weird. It didn’t make sense biologically, since people are supposed to reproduce and you need a man and a woman for that. He apologized to her for freaking her out and could he make it up to her? I had to admit, the kid was smooth.

Megan tried a half-hearted defense of Melissa and told him that homosexuality existed even among animals and just because someone was gay didn’t mean they couldn’t have kids. Cody agreed with her in his response, but said that he was raised Christian and it just wasn’t considered “normal” but he certainly didn’t think it made any sense to run around hating. He included a Web site to an ex-gay ministry.