A Trace of Death

After seven rings, Ray finally picked up.

“What?” he demanded, sounding winded and annoyed.

“I need you to meet me on Main, across from West Venice High.”

“When?”

“Now, Raymond.”

“Hold on a second.” She could hear him moving around and muttering under his breath. It didn’t sound like he was alone. When he got back on the line, she could tell he’d changed rooms.

“I was kind of otherwise engaged, Keri.”

“Well, disengage yourself, Detective. We’ve got a case.”

“Is this that Venice thing?” he asked, clearly exasperated.

“It is. And could you please cut it with the tone. That is, unless you think the daughter of a US senator disappearing into a black van isn’t worth checking out.”

“Jesus. Why didn’t the mother mention the senator thing on the phone?”

“Because he asked her not to. He was as dismissive as you, maybe even more so. Hold on a second.”

Keri had reached her car. She put the phone on speaker, tossed it in the passenger seat, and got in. As she pulled out onto the street, she filled him in on the rest – the fake ID, the shell casing, the girl who saw Ashley getting in the van – possibly against her will – the plan to coordinate interviews. As she was finishing up, her phone beeped and she looked at the screen.

“That’s Suarez calling in. I want to fill him in on the details. We good? You disengaged yet?”

“I’m getting in the car now,” he answered, not taking the bait. “I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

“I hope you offered her my apologies, whoever she was,” Keri said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“She wasn’t the kind of girl who needs apologies,” Ray replied.

“Why am I not surprised?”

She switched calls without saying goodbye.

*

Fifteen minutes later, Keri and Ray walked the stretch of Main Street where Ashley Penn may or may not have been abducted. There was nothing obviously out of the ordinary. The dog park next to the street was alive with happy yips and owners shouting out to pets with names like Hoover, Speck, Conrad, and Delilah.

Rich bohemian dog owners. Ah, Venice.

Keri tried to force the extraneous thoughts out of her head and focus. There didn’t seem to be much to go on. Ray clearly felt the same way.

“Is it possible she just took off or ran away?’ he mused.

“I’m not ruling it out,” Keri replied. “She’s definitely not the innocent little princess her mom thinks she is.”

“They never are.”

“Whatever happened to her, it’s possible she played a role in it. The more we can get into her life, the more we’ll know. We need to talk to some people who won’t give us the official line. Like that senator – I don’t know what’s going on with him. But he definitely wasn’t comfortable with me probing into their life.”

“Got any idea why?”

“Not yet, other than a gut feeling that there’s something he’s hiding. I’ve never met a parent so blasé about their missing child. He was telling stories about pounding beers at fifteen. He was trying too hard.”

Ray winced visibly.

“I’m glad you didn’t call him on it,” he said. “The last thing you need is an enemy who has the word Senator in front of his name.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, you should,” he said. “A few words from him to Beecher or Hillman, and you’re history.”

“I was history five years ago.”

“Come on – ”

“You know it’s true.”

“Don’t go there,” Ray said.

Keri hesitated, glanced at him, then turned her gaze back to the dog park. A few feet from them, a little brown-furred puppy was happily rolling on its back in the dirt.

“Want to know something I never told you?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“After, what happened, you know – ”

“Evie?”

Keri felt her heart clench at her daughter’s name.

“Right. There was a time right after it happened, when I was trying to get pregnant like crazy. It went on for two or three months. Stephen couldn’t keep up.”

Ray said nothing. She continued.

“Then I woke up one morning and hated myself. I felt like someone who’d lost a dog and went straight to the pound to get a replacement. I felt like a coward, like I was being all about me, instead of keeping the focus where it belonged. I was letting Evie go instead of fighting for her.”

“Keri, you got to stop doing this to yourself. You’re your own worst enemy, you really are.”

“Ray, I can still feel her. She’s alive. I don’t know where or how, but she is.”

He squeezed her hand.

“I know.”