The District (17 page)

As Eric reached for the paper, she snatched it out of his fingers. “Get rid of this once you locate the boxes.”

“I’ll swallow it.” He drew a cross over his heart.

She snorted and buzzed them into the cage.

Marie had given them the general direction of the case number, and Christina followed Eric as he plowed through the rows of shelves, stacked with boxes.

He trailed his hand across one row, murmuring numbers, and then stopped and dropped to his haunches. “It’s down here.”

Christina rolled a stool on wheels next to Eric’s crouching form and sat on it. “How much do they keep down here?”

“They keep the case file and some bits of evidence. One of these days, someone’s going to transfer all the old stuff to computer, but until they do,” he said, dragging a box from the bottom shelf, “it’s all right here.”

He knocked the lid from the box and reached in. He drew out a thick folder with dog-eared papers peeking from its edges. Dropping it on the floor, he said, “I’m going to give you half of this.”

“What am I looking for?”

“You’re a detective, aren’t you?” He flipped up the silver fasteners and measured out half the papers with his hand. “Look for references to the occult, examine the pictures of the evidence, read my statements.”

“Okay, I get it.” She nudged his thigh with the toe of her pointed shoe. “If you think your back is going to get any better all hunched over like that, you’re crazy. Grab one of these little step stools. I’m sure there’s one on every row.”

He tucked his sheaf of papers under his arm and rose to his feet. A minute later he returned, wheeling a stool in front of him.

They perused the files, the silence broken by the shuffling of paper, the squeak of the step stools and an occasional sniffle.

Marie greeted people at the cage window, but nobody ventured this far back into the bowels of the evidence lockup.

Christina had done her research on the Phone Book Killer years ago and had even delved into Eric’s kidnapping, but she’d never reviewed the case file on it. Eric hadn’t been rescued. His kidnappers had released him. Joseph Brody’s defenders pegged the kidnapping as a warning to Brody from the Phone Book Killer to back off. The detective’s detractors saw it as a ploy by Brody to divert suspicion from him.

She eyed Eric over the top of her file. No wonder he hadn’t wanted kids of his own if he suspected his own father might have had him kidnapped.

Running her finger down the page, she skipped a sentence and then backtracked. “I didn’t know you were found in Haight-Ashbury.”

“Yep. They dropped me off on a street corner, blindfolded.”

“Had they been holding you there, too?”

“I have no idea. They drugged me before they released me. I came to in a moving car, wearing a blindfold, and they pushed me out of the car and told me to stand there and not remove my blindfold.”

Her hand was trembling when she turned the next page as her heart twisted for the boy Eric had been. She continued scanning the recovery effort, which involved the residents of The Haight coming forward to help the blindfolded boy abandoned on the street corner.

She skimmed the names of the witnesses and froze.

She must’ve made a noise because Eric looked over and said, “What is it? Find something?”

Her eyes met his above the edge of the paper now crumpled in her hand. “One of the people who came to your aid in the street that night...”

He dropped his file. “Yeah?”

“Liz Fielding.”

Chapter Sixteen

Christina had whispered the name but it roared in his ears. The necklace. The necklace Liz was wearing at the time of her murder was the same one he’d seen dangling above him in his captivity.

“It’s her, Christina. Liz Fielding was one of my kidnappers.” He thrust out his hand. “What else does the report have about her? Did the cops look into her background?”

She handed him the paper with the witness list. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. This is just a witness list, and of course her name jumped out at me.”

“Jesus.” He smoothed out the paper on his thigh. “What are the chances that one of my kidnappers was wearing that necklace and Liz Fielding just happens to show up during my rescue from the street corner?”

“Pretty low, I’d say. Nigel already told us
Los Brujos de Invierno
were involved in your kidnapping. Now it looks like Liz Fielding was directly involved. What about the other victims?”

“Involved in my kidnapping?” He folded the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket. “The other two women were too young.”

“Do you think your kidnapping has anything to do with this current case?”

“I don’t think so, Christina, except for the connection of
Los Brujos.
” He tugged on his earlobe. “But it makes me wonder if the Phone Book Killer was a member of the coven. He carried out the murders and his coven members worked the PR angle for him.”

She folded her hands and pinned them between her knees. “If you ever really had any doubts about your father’s innocence, this should blast them to bits. Members of
Los Brujos de Invierno
kidnapped you to threaten your father. Joseph Brody had nothing to do with your kidnapping and nothing to do with those murders.”

Eric smacked his stack of papers on the floor where they fanned out in perfect symmetry. “Then why did he kill himself? Why did he jump off the Golden Gate Bridge?”

Christina fell to her knees in front of him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she rested her head against his thudding heart. “I don’t know, Eric. I wish I could help you, but I just don’t know.”

He pressed his cheek against the top of her head, and stroked her hair. “How could a man do that to his family? I would never... I could never...”

She cupped his chin with one hand and looked deep into his eyes. “I know that.”

He took possession of her lips in a fierce kiss that nearly tumbled them both to the floor. How could he ever give up on this woman? She understood him as no one ever had before. And he understood her.

A pair of heavy footsteps split them apart, and Eric jerked his head up in time to see Marie poke her head around the end of the shelf.

“Are you two almost done? It’s five o’clock, and I draw the line at working overtime—even for a Brody. You can always come back tomorrow, Eric.”

“I think we have what we need, Marie.” He gestured at the papers scattered on the floor. “We’ll clean up.”

“I have a few things to do up front.” She backed out of the aisle as if suddenly becoming aware of Christina’s disheveled appearance on the floor between his knees.

He blew out a breath when he heard her pull shut the cage window, and then he knelt beside Christina to scoop up the papers on the floor. “You have the interviews with the witnesses?”

She waved a sheath of papers at him. “I took them out of the file already.”

“How big is your handbag?”

“Big enough.” She rolled them into a tube and stuffed them into her purse.

He reassembled the case file and dropped it into the box. He tipped the box up onto the shelf and shoved it the rest of the way with his knee.

“Look, I know we didn’t do much to advance our own case today, but I owe it to my brothers and...and my dad to investigate this further.”

“I agree, and I’m glad to help. You always accused me of being obsessed with this case. Now it’s paying off.” She winked at him in that ridiculous way she had of screwing up the entire side of her face.

“Thanks.” He patted her handbag. “Now we can see what lies Liz Fielding told the police.”

She slipped her heels back on and preceded him down the row.

“Wait.” He grabbed her shoulder and ran his hand down the length of her jacket, which ended halfway across her derriere.

She jumped. “I know you’re kinky, but do you really want to finish what we started right here among the dusty boxes of not-quite-cold cases?”

“I was brushing some dirt from your suit jacket.”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

He pinched her waist and propelled her ahead of him. When they got to the front of the cage, he gave Marie a hug. “Thanks a million.”

She made shooing motions with her hands. “You two get on out of here, and I’ll follow you in ten minutes.”

Eric started to smile but noticed the crease between Marie’s eyebrows. “You’re serious.”

“Look what happened to Dr. Patrick the last time I let a Brody in here to look at evidence.”

“What are you implying, Marie?”

“Little old me? Not a thing.” She made a zipping motion across her pursed lips.

When they got into the elevator, Christina raised her brows. “What was all that about?”

“I don’t know. At first with all the business about not signing the evidence roster, I just thought she was protecting me. You know, didn’t want me getting into trouble for nosing around the evidence locker.”

“Maybe she’s just superstitious after what happened to Dr. Patrick.”

“Maybe.”

They made their way up to the office that they’d claimed as their own. Eric swung his laptop case onto the chair and tapped a key on his keyboard to wake up his computer. Two of his desktop folders were open.

“Hello.”

Christina swung her own bag over her shoulder. “What?”

“There are two folders open on my desktop that I did not open.”

“Are you sure?” She stood behind him and peered over his shoulder.

“Right here.” He ran the cursor across the tool tray at the bottom of the screen. “They were opened and then minimized.”

“Are you sure you didn’t do it?”

“I usually close out everything when I’m done working.”

“But you don’t password protect your laptop? Isn’t that standard FBI protocol?”

“Shh.” He held his finger to his lips.

“Anything important in those two folders?”

“Not really. The report I wrote on the case, a few notes. Nothing classified.”

She shrugged. “You probably minimized them yourself and then thought they were closed when you left.”

“Probably.” He shut down the laptop and snapped the lid closed before sliding it into its case.

On their way through the squad room, Rita waved. “Have a good night.”

Eric saluted and Christina waved back. “You, too.”

Eric ducked his head and whispered in Christina’s ear. “I’m going to put in a good word for her with my brother.”

“She deserves it.”

Christina got behind the wheel and Eric slammed his door. “Dinner tonight? You must be starving after that pathetic lunch of a few bites of lettuce you had today.”

“I am starving.” She wheeled out of the parking garage, focusing on the road ahead. “Did you mean dinner together or another solitary meal like last night?”

“Together.” He’d planned to take it slow with her, but that kiss in the evidence locker had heated things up. If he wanted slow and easy with Christina Sandoval, he’d have to stop being alone with her. He hadn’t yet forgiven her for keeping Kendall from him, but that didn’t stop him from wanting her in his bed.

* * *

C
HRISTINA
LEANED
INTO
the mirror and brushed on a little makeup. Then she smiled at herself—like the cat who’d swallowed the canary. She and Eric had a moment in the evidence locker. He needed her just as much as she needed him. And Kendall needed both of her parents.

She slipped into a pair of flats, black to match her skinny jeans. They were going casual tonight, walking to a place just off Union Square, but casual could come with a hint of sexy, especially if she hoped to get her man back. With that in mind she pulled on a low-cut sweater.

Eric rapped on the door, and she invited him in. He shoved his hands in his back pockets. “Am I underdressed?”

“These are just jeans.”

“No,
these
are just jeans.” He dipped his chin toward the slightly faded, totally worn-in denim that hugged his powerful thighs.

“Those are guy jeans, and these are girl jeans.”

“I’ll say.”

Her phone on the nightstand rang. “Sorry, have to get that, just in case.”

“Do you want me to step out?”

“I have nothing to hide from you, Eric.”

“Anymore.”

She glanced at the display—blocked number. She punched the button to answer. “Hello?”

“Christina, it’s Vivi.”

“Everything settle down for you?” She mouthed Vivi’s name to Eric.

“Are you okay, Christina?”

“I’m fine. What’s up?”

“I got some news from D-Dad today.”

“Is he okay?” Christina’s voice sharpened despite her differences with her father. She put the phone on speaker.

“I’m not really his. I’m not really your sister, Chrissy.”

“What?” She turned to Eric and shrugged.

“My mother was one of those women who wanted a child with a powerful brujo, and she was so desperate to make it so she lied to our...your father about her pregnancy.”

Christina winced and dropped her gaze from Eric’s. “Are you sure, Vivi? You’re more Dad’s daughter than I am in so many ways.”

“But not the most important way—blood.”

The word caused a chill to run through Christina’s body. “It doesn’t matter, Vivi. Does Dad know?”

“He knows. He’s always known.”

“Then it really doesn’t matter. He’s accepted you as his own. You’ll always be my sister.”

“But it does matter, Chrissy. It matters to you.”

“Not a bit.”

“Chrissy, you don’t get it. You’re—legacy.”

Christina clutched the phone and sank to the bed.

“Do you know what that means?” Vivi practically shouted the words over the phone.

“I’m an only child of a brujo.”

“A very powerful brujo.” Vivi sobbed. “Listen to me, Christina. I know who’s taking the blood from those others. It all makes sense now.”

“Nothing makes sense. You know who the killer is? Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I just figured it out. When Dad told me today that I wasn’t his biological daughter, it all fell into place.”

“Tell me.”

“He’d been so interested in me, and then it all just stopped. He must’ve known. He must’ve found out I didn’t have Dad’s powerful legacy running through me.”

Christina’s legacy blood ran cold through her veins. “Are you talking about...?”

“Darius. I’m afraid it’s Darius.”

Christina dropped the phone and covered her mouth. Through a haze she could hear Vivi’s voice squawking at her and feel Eric’s arm snake around her shoulders.

“What’s wrong, Christina? This is good news. This is a lead.” He swept the phone from the floor.

Her nails dug into his arm and she choked. “No. No. Didn’t you hear my mother? Darius is in San Miguel. He’s after Kendall.”

Eric’s heart slammed against his rib cage. “Wait.”

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Vivi’s hysterical voice pierced the air.

Eric spoke into the phone. “Christina’s mom saw Darius in San...”

Before he could finish his sentence, Vivi started to wail.

“Call her, call Linda right now.”

Christina was already on the room phone. “I’m calling her now, Vivi.”

Eric took a measured breath. Someone had to keep calm here, and although he felt far from it, the job fell to him. “Is there any other reason for Darius to be in San Miguel?”

“None. He just came along with me. Did Christina reach Linda yet?”

Christina dropped the receiver in its cradle. “She’s not answering. I just left a message. Vivi, Mom mentioned something about Darius having friends in San Miguel. C-could that be why he’s there? Why are you so sure he’s the killer?”

“It just makes sense, Chrissy. He was hanging around me in Santa Cruz, but was always going into the city. He’s a minor brujo but wants so much more. He wanted to meet Dad, but you know how Dad feels about mentoring.”

“That’s purely speculation, Vivi.” Eric smoothed his hand across Christina’s thigh. Her breathing had returned to normal and she seemed to be putting Vivi’s claims into perspective.

“He knows so much about
Los Brujos de Invierno.
He knew, he found out I wasn’t really Dad’s daughter. It’s why he dropped me. It’s why he came to the city to meet you. The fact that you’re an FBI agent must’ve scared him off, or maybe your friend scared him off.”

“What does Dad say?”

“I haven’t told him. How do you think he’d feel if I told him I led Darius right to his only granddaughter?”

“Stay right where you are, Vivi, and tell Dad, or better yet, have him call me.”

“There’s no phone where we are. He’s not going to come into town.”

“Not even to save his granddaughter?”

“I’ll talk to him, Chrissy. I’m so sorry.”

“If Darius is who you say he is, he would’ve found Kendall on his own.”

They ended the call and Christina covered her face with her hands. “I wish Mom would call me back. Where could she be?”

“Out to dinner?”

“My mom cooks. She doesn’t go out to dinner, especially not when she has Kendall.”

“Did you try her cell phone?”

“Yes. I left a message on her answering machine at home, and then her cell phone voice mail.”

“I was talking to Vivi when you called your mom. What did you tell her?”

“I just told her to watch out for Darius and not to leave Kendall alone for a second.”

“Call her again. Maybe she didn’t pick up because she didn’t recognize the number.” Eric tossed her cell phone at her and crossed his arms, bunching his hands into his biceps.

Christina tried again. “Mom, give me a call as soon as you can, and stay away from Vivi’s friend Darius if you see him. Vivi doesn’t trust him. I’m going to try your home phone again, too.”