Blood Daughters: A Romilia Chacon Novel

Chapter 35

155 Chapter 35 Nobody saw what I saw. And I didn’t want to see it. Fisher tried to be rational. “Lots of blue Camrys in the world,” she said. “And the dent, that may mean it’s clearly another vehicle.” But then she added, “You really think it could be the same car?” “Yes.” Fisher studied. “I don’t get it. She gets in the car of a woman who’s involved with the child sex trade. Like she’s involved with her?” I had thought that. But it made no sense. Karen now dedicated her life to exposing this world of sex slavery. To climb into a car with that woman, a young woman whose face had hardened into stone, seemed beyond contradiction. And that dink on the side of the car, the more I looked at it, the more it bothered me. “She’s not involved,” I said. “It’s a kidnapping. I’m sure.” Fisher looked at me. “You shouldn’t be doing this one, Romilia.” “You can’t pull me off this.” But I heard it too. The tremble in my voice. As if I had just heard news about my own son or my mother. I was too close. We all knew it. “Please,” I said. She sighed, looked away. “Stay with Klick and Klack on this,” she said. “All three of you, together on the entire thing. Joined at the hips.” She walked toward her office. She had just taken on another burden: keeping an agent who was personally involved with a case on the case. 156 ~ Blood Daughters 7 I needed to follow up the new lead on a guy named Ritchie. But that lead felt tepid now; and now, Karen flooded my mind. Shrieber joined me downstairs in the catacombs of our holding cells. “The boy you brought in from Grauman’s Theatre? His name is Robert Johnson.” Even with my new worry about Karen, this did not escape me. “You’re kidding.” “Nope. No relation I don’t believe. Though he is singing the blues now.” Shrieber smiled. “He’s twenty-three, his family lives in Connecticut, he’s been in L.A. for a couple of years. Dropped out of college and started his own internet engine website, he’s done fairly well for himself. And on the side of course he was breaking federal cyber laws.” “What’s he said about the group?” “He alleges to be low man on the pole. Maybe the only man on the pole.” Robertwasasleeponthecotinhiscell.Ididn’twaitfortheclankofthedoor to wake him up. I yelled his name. He jumped. “Come on out here,” I said. We sat at the table in the middle of the main room. There were no other people around, just Shrieber, Robert and me. Out of all the approaches to pick from, I chose direct. “Tell me where Karen is, Robert, and don’t bullshit me.” “I told him earlier, I have no idea.” He glanced at Shrieber. “You know she’s in a lot of trouble.” He nodded. His eyes didn’t know where to go. “But she might be in more trouble than any of you.” “What? Why?” He was a good kid, you could tell that. He had little deceit to him, at least, none that showed itself. He looked worried for Karen’s well being. I said, “I think she may have gotten into the wrong car.” “Wrong car, what’s that mean?” “At Grauman’s, in Hollywood. When you tripped me, when she got into—“ “Hold on ma’am. I didn’t trip you. I told you that was Courtney.” “Okay when Courtney tripped me. Karen got in a car and was driven away. I need to know whose car that was.” “I don’t know.” Marcos M. Villatoro ~ 157 “What do you know?” “Only what they told me.” “They? Who?” “Courtney and Karen. They were in charge. I just did the plumbing.” “How’d you get involved in all this? How did you come to know Karen and Courtney?” He blew a breath, as if he had told all this before to Randall and Shrieber. “UCLA. At a rally.” “What kind of rally?” “Some political rally, sponsored by one of those justice groups on campus.” “So you’re involved in politics?” “No, I hate politics. Just a bunch of noise. No, I was in a class with Karen, poli sci, it’s a...