The Frailty of Flesh (5 page)

“I have no right? Well, what about those reporters out there? You think they made your life difficult before? You wait until they publicly question your ability to handle this. The RCMP doesn’t need another scandal right now, and I don’t think you’re emotionally able to handle the pressure. How you’ve responded to me is proof of that.”

“No, it isn’t. I’m pissed off with you because I’m sick of your sexist bullshit. You pull me in here, prevent me from giving a proper report and then jump down my throat with accusations. Same crap we’ve had from you since day one. What you’re really saying is you aren’t prepared to back me because you don’t like me.”

Zidani planted both hands on his desk and leaned forward. “You think you can handle this, Hart? Then you’d better. Because if you screw this up I’ll actually enjoy watching the press and senior brass chew you up and spit you out.”

She returned his stare for a moment. “Is that all?”

He glared back for another few seconds and then jerked his head in the direction of the door. She turned and yanked it open, and stomped down the hallway.

“Ash.” She sensed Tain reach for her arm and pulled it from beyond his grasp, but did turn to face him.

“I’m sick of his garbage, Tain. I’m—” Ashlyn pulled in a shaky breath. Her eyes were burning with hot tears, unshed, and she blinked them back rapidly. Tain reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

“It’s a tough case, and he’s an asshole. You can’t let him get to you. You’re the best partner I’ve ever had.”

“I’m the only partner you’ve had who’s lasted.” Her hand went to her mouth even as she spoke the words, as she realized what she’d said, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay.”

When she opened her eyes she could see the hurt, but there wasn’t anger. Tain had earned a name for himself. He was known for being difficult to work with, and he was aware of what his colleagues thought of him. She knew that. He’d admitted once that he worked hard to maintain his standing as a hard-ass, and she was a threat to his image. One of the things she liked about him was that he didn’t pretend it was unfair, either. He knew his reputation was more than justified.

But she also knew there was a lot more to Tain than the person he’d been a few years ago.

She released her breath and rubbed her forehead, which allowed her to look down for a moment and get herself together. When she looked back up he gave her a pat on the arm.

“What’s next?” he asked her.

“Shannon’s school. Let’s see if we can find out if any of her friends missed class today.”

Tain nodded. “School it is.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“I have three possibles,” Ashlyn said as she joined Tain near the school parking lot. “Don’t take it personally.”

“Why should I? Just because a man with an RCMP badge is still a man and girls are less likely to talk to him…” Tain shrugged. “It’s no big deal. People often underestimate the strengths of partnering with a woman. You can charm the socks off anyone.”

Ashlyn felt her nose wrinkle instinctively. “Not that I want to.”

Tain nodded at the notebook in her hand. “So what did you find out?”

“Three good friends who aren’t here today either. The teachers I spoke to confirmed Shannon should have been in class this morning, but wasn’t, but they’d only speak to me strictly off the record.” Ashlyn followed his gaze, which was now on the students returning from lunch break. “Any special reason you’re here?”

“Looking for the boyfriend.”

Ashlyn shook her head and smiled. “How’d you get that?”

“You know how it is. Guys will talk to guys. They’d be too busy hitting on you to think about your questions.”

“Is that supporting sexism or just using it in your favor?”

“I’ve seen you flirt to get someone to talk to you.”

“In your dreams, maybe.”

“You know that’s why guys like Zidani are afraid of you.”

“What?” She said it so loudly a few heads turned and she drew a deep breath. “First you call me a flirt and now you say Zidani’s scared of me because of it. You’re nuts.”

Tain shook his head. “I didn’t call you a flirt. You just use your charm to your advantage. It’s no different for guys.”

Ashlyn thought about that. “All those rape cases last year. The women all talked to Craig.”

Tain nodded. “He made them feel secure. None of them would talk to Lori.”

Although he suppressed it quickly, Ashlyn had seen the passing look of regret the moment Lori’s name slipped out. She hadn’t liked Lori much as a person, but she’d never had as much guilt over killing Lori as Tain and Craig thought.

Lori had shot and killed an unarmed man, and critically wounded Craig. Ashlyn did what she had to do. Lori died.

Ashlyn chose not to focus on that. “It’s okay, you know. I’m not going to fall apart if you say her name.”

“I know.” Tain gave her one of his looks. During the months they’d worked together she’d learned to read him about ninety percent of the time, but this wasn’t one of those easily decipherable expressions. It made her wonder if he worried about her, if he thought she’d been scarred by what had happened.

He nodded at a car pulling into the lot. She turned and saw an old Mustang with a personalized license plate on the front pull in.

“This should be him,” Tain said.

Ashlyn let Tain take the lead and followed him to the parking lot. As the teenager got out of his car Tain held up his ID. “Matt Lewis?”

The gangly youth pushed his floppy brown hair back from his face, glanced at Tain’s ID, then looked at Ashlyn. Matt held a small stack of books with one arm and stood with the door to the car still open.

“Yeah?”

“I’m Constable Tain, and this is Constable Hart. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Still no sign of surprise, confusion or any emotion on Matt’s face. “Uh…okay.”

“Do you know what this is about?” Ashlyn asked him.

He gaped at her for a second, then shut his mouth and shook his head.

“Yet you have no problem answering questions for us.” From the corner of her eye, Ashlyn noticed Tain giving her a look, and this was one of his looks she had no trouble reading at all. She ignored him.

Matt shrugged. “Should I? You going to jack me up on some bogus charge?”

Tain shook his head. “We were hoping we could ask you about Shannon Reimer.”

Matt shifted the books from one arm to the other and pushed his car door shut. “What about her?”

“You know her?” Tain asked.

“Sure. She’s my girlfriend.” He shrugged again. “You wouldn’t be asking me about her if you didn’t know that already.”

Ashlyn bit her lip. From another kid this would be pure wise-ass commentary, but Matt Lewis had a casual, unaffected way of talking that made it sound like an innocent observation. “Have you seen Shannon today?”

Matt shook his head. “She hasn’t been in class.”

“We’re trying to track down some of her close friends. Can you tell us if there’s anyone else we should talk to?” Ashlyn passed him the slip of paper listing the names she’d been given.

Matt looked at it and shook his head. “They’re her best friends.”

Ashlyn didn’t reach for the list as he tried to pass it back. “Any of them missing from school today?”

For the first time Matt exhaled and his brow wrinkled, but he looked at the list and said, “Jody Hoath.”

He extended his hand again, and Ashlyn forced the nicest smile she could manage. “Do you have their phone numbers or addresses, by chance? All of them, just in case.”

Matt paused. He propped the books up on his knee, dug in his pockets until he found a pen. Then he fished in his other pocket until he pulled out a cell phone. He punched some buttons and then made a note on the slip of paper. After the third note, when he tried to hand it back to Ashlyn, she took it from him.

Street addresses and phone numbers for all three girls.

“If that’s all…” Matt started to walk away from them, toward the school building.

“You know, Matt, most people would want to know why we’re asking about their girlfriend. Most people wouldn’t be too quick to give out phone numbers and addresses if they didn’t know what we wanted to talk to their friends about.”

He stopped but didn’t look back. “Is that a question?”

“No,” Ashlyn said. “Just an observation. Tell me something.” She waited until he did turn around. His mouth was in a tight line, but his wide-eyed look gave it away. He was scared.

“You said you hadn’t seen Shannon today. Have you spoken to her?”

They stood for a moment, staring at each other. She could see the color draining from his face. Then the school bell rung, and Matt jerked his thumb in the direction of the building.

“I’ve gotta go.”

Ashlyn nodded at his car. “You might want to lock this first, though.”

Matt swallowed but didn’t say anything.

Ashlyn turned and walked away, trusting Tain to follow her. Her path formed a U. She went back to the entrance to the parking lot Matt had entered from, then she followed the sidewalk on the other side of the fence back toward where the Mustang was parked. Once she was close enough to watch him Ashlyn moved beside a large tree.

“What’s gotten into you today?” Tain asked her.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Everything about this whole case seems off. Like someone playing a piano that’s just slightly out of tune, you know?”

From where they stood they had two distinct advantages. They were close to where they’d parked, and the spot provided a clear view of Matt Lewis. Matt had returned to his car and locked the door after they’d left. He’d also taken the time to remove his cell phone and, after a quick glance in the direction of the entrance to the parking lot, made a call.

“Number seems to be programmed in,” Ashlyn said.

“He’s probably warning her. Which means he talked to her today. He knows something.”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes deliberately as she gave Tain a look. “Duh. Did you hear how he was talking? He never even asked why we wanted to talk to him about Shannon. He knew.”

“Well, maybe he doesn’t know, exactly. How do you want to play this? We could go back—”

“Hang on.” She nodded at Matt’s car. He’d closed the phone, unlocked the door, tossed his books on the backseat and climbed in. As soon as the brake lights went on Ashlyn started to move. “Maybe he’ll lead us right to her.”

“I suppose stranger things have happened.”

“We get along,” she said as she flashed him a smile.

Tain said, “Point taken,” as they opened their car doors.

It wasn’t hard to follow Matt Lewis. The personalized license plates, INXTC, helped.

“Do you ever wonder what the hell parents are thinking, letting their kid get a plate like that?” Ashlyn asked.

“Be thankful. It’s a public service. Combined with erratic driving I’m sure it’s probable cause to search a vehicle.”

She smiled. Matt led them to Anmore. One of four villages that were part of the Greater Vancouver Area, the Village of Anmore was a tiny area to the north of Port Moody, on the way to scenic Buntzen Lake. Although it wasn’t far from the shores of the Burrard Inlet, the elevation made a considerable difference in the weather, and it wasn’t uncommon to drive the few kilometers to Anmore and discover snow on the ground while most of the Lower Mainland remained damp and green.

Ashlyn looked at the addresses Matt had written down. “My guess is we’re on our way to Nurani Patel’s. Assuming he wasn’t giving us false information.”

After another turn Tain said, “Look’s like that’s the house.” He slowed the vehicle and pulled over to the side of the road.

“That’s the right address.” She nodded at the figure coming down the long driveway, bundled in a heavy sweater pulled tight around her slender body. “Shall we?”

The roads were quiet that time of year, without the usual steady stream of traffic heading out to the lake and the hiking trails surrounding it. In all likelihood Matt had heard their vehicle pull over. Despite the trees lining the property the hedge was low in front, providing them with a clear view of the driveway. If he turned around he would see them immediately so there was no point watching and waiting.

They got out of the vehicle, both closing their doors quietly, and began to walk toward Matt’s Mustang, which was pulled over at the base of the driveway. He had his back to them, and despite Nurani’s height still concealed her from view.

“But how do they know?”

That’s what Ashlyn heard the girl say first, because she’d raised her voice. The agitation was obvious.

“Beats me. They just showed up at school and started asking questions.”

“And you talked to them? You—”

Ashlyn had come far enough around that Matt was no longer shielding her view of Nurani. The girl looked up and over, and went silent the second her gaze met Ashlyn’s. Her brown eyes widened. “Oh, God.”

Ashlyn and Tain lowered their IDs as Matt turned. His mouth hung open for a moment, and he tried twice to say something and failed. Finally he took a breath. “What are you doing here?”

“You did give us this address,” Tain said.

“You what?” Nurani glared at Matt and for the first time his cheeks filled with color.

“Look, I tried to get them to go to Jody’s house.”

“And it was a nice try,” Ashlyn said. “Except we walk away and suddenly you need to make an urgent phone call. Either you phoned your friend Nurani here, or you phoned Shannon or one of the other girls to warn them. But since Nurani was expecting you I’m guessing you called her.” She watched his face for a moment, but he said nothing. “Feel free to jump in and tell me if I’m wrong.”

“Look, I didn’t tell you anything. You asked if Shannon had any other real close friends. I told you the truth.”

“And we asked if any of her friends hadn’t been in class today, and you said Jody Hoath,” Tain said. “Yet here you are, talking to Nurani Patel. Unless your class has a field trip to her house this afternoon, she isn’t at school either.”

“I didn’t say Jody was the only one absent. I just said she wasn’t there.” Matt let out a breath. “I didn’t lie.”

“You didn’t lie, but you may have hindered a criminal investigation,” Ashlyn said.

“Criminal investigation?” Matt practically squawked the words. “What are you talking about? You guys are finally going to do something?”

Ashlyn stared at him for a few seconds, wondering what he meant. Finally do something?

“Maybe we can back up a bit here, clear this up,” Tain said. “What are you talking about?”

It was Matt’s turn to have his jaw drop open, and then he shook his head. “I-I don’t think I should talk to you.”

Ashlyn squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds, counted to five and tried to push all the agitation out of her voice. “Listen, all we’re trying to do is find Shannon.”

“She’s sixteen. She can do what she wants,” Nurani said. “You can’t make her go back.”

“Whoa. We just want to talk to her.” Tain’s voice was calm, almost hypnotically soothing.

Nobody spoke for a moment. There was nothing but a slight breeze to break the calm. Ashlyn fought her urge to snap at the two teenagers. They had a dead boy and a missing girl. Whatever high school drama they’d stepped in the middle of, it was wasting their time.

Nurani started to shake her head and held up her hand. “You can forget it. I won’t help you.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Matt said. “Shannon didn’t tell us where she was going. She knew we might get in trouble so she didn’t want us to know.”

“But you did speak to her this morning,” Ashlyn said.