Among the Shrouded (22 page)

“I took a few photos
with my phone.  They aren’t very good,” she said, shrugging her shoulders to insinuate that she was an incompetent photographer.

“I’d like to see them just the same.  May I?”

She handed the commissioner her phone and he scrolled through the photos.

“I’d like to take your phone so I can get a copy of these photos for myself.
”

“I’m afraid they won’t be admissible,”
she said.

“Just the same, we can use them to help us with the case to get admissible documentation.”

She hesitated.  “That’s fine,” she said.

“Wonderful.  Well,” he said, turning to
her father, “you’ve got yourself one hell of a detective here.  I’ll put some of my best Lieutenants on the case and see if we can sniff them out.  Great job, Officer Rosetti.”

“Thank you
, Sir.”

She
glanced at her father.  He was beaming with pride.  For an instant, she forgot that she had just given important information about herself to a man she didn’t trust.  For an instant, she only saw her father’s joy.  It had been a long time since she had seen such satisfaction in his eyes.  She relished the moment.  And then, it slipped away.

“Thank you for this,” said the commissioner, holding up
her phone.  “I will return it to you shortly.”

“That’s fine,”
she said.

“
Chief, I’ll see you this afternoon?”

“Absolutely.  Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Thank you both.  Have a great day,” Dalton said as he started walking toward the door.

“I’ll walk with you,” said
her father.

“Goodb
ye,” she said quietly, but the men had already left the room.

She remained
frozen in place, alone and disquieted for several moments, not knowing where to go or what to do.  The disappointment of how poorly she had handled the trafficking situation weighed heavily upon her. Nothing had gone quite the way she had planned and she was furious with herself for allowing the commissioner to get involved. 

She
absentmindedly reached into her pocket for her phone so she could call Thomas. When she found that her pocket was empty, remembering the commissioner had just left with her phone, she could no longer hold back tears.  She realized immediately that she didn’t have his number memorized and would have no way of contacting him until her phone was returned.

Crestfallen with nowhere else to turn,
she made her way to her office to begin her assigned daily duties.  She had no idea just how much worse her day was going to get.

CHAPTER

31

KATE

Kate sat quietly in her cell, examining the walls around her.  Although her faith in her power had been restored after it protected her from being raped by Mr. V, she realized that perhaps she would not be able to rely solely on her gift if she was going to save her sisters and rescue the others and herself.  She considered that she might have to rely on her earthly abilities as well. 

She
touched the bruise on her face, a painful reminder of her evening with Mr. V.  She knew the bruise would heal quickly.  Far more quickly than the damage the others sustained the night before.

Each had returned to the basement separately and
she had been one of the first.  Hours later, in the stillness of the night, Anya was brought to her cell and her bindings were released.  Her eyes were dark, hollow orbs.

“
Anya?” she called as soon as they were alone.

A
nya did not respond.  She was lying on her mattress in the corner of her cell in the fetal position, her knees pulled tightly to her chest.

“Anya, come talk to me,”
she pleaded.

“Go away
, Kate.  I just want to be left alone,” Anya responded.

“Are you hurt?”

“Yes!  Of course I’m hurt!  That monster tore me wide open!”

“Oh
, Anya.  I’m so sorry.”  She hesitated to continue.  “Did he beat you?”

“
Does it matter?  Enough, Kate.  I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

She
honored Anya’s request and retreated into her own thoughts, replaying the events of her evening until Lera arrived less than an hour later.  She heard the muffled sobbing before she could actually see who was approaching but she knew by the cries that Lera was being brought down the stairs.  Unlike Anya, who dealt with her grief by shutting herself away, Lera was desperate for consolation.

“Kate, it was so horrible,” she sobbed through the bars.  “
It was like he was possessed, attacking me like I had no feelings of my own.  He didn’t care whether he was causing me pain.  He just kept going.  I think he was actually trying to hurt me.”

“It’s all over for now,”
she said soothingly.  “And you are still in one piece, so you can heal.  It’s just your body.  And your body is a strong house for your soul.  It will heal.”

“It feels like he’s stolen my soul,” Lera moaned.

“He hasn’t.  He can’t.  Not unless you let him.  So don’t let him.  He can do what he wants to your body, but your soul is yours alone, so don’t let him get to it.  Do you understand me?” she asked, reaching out her hand into Lera’s cell.

Lera grabbed her hand and held on to it tightly.
  For a long while, neither girl spoke.

“Was it so awful for you?” she asked
her.

“Yes.  He was unkind and he demeaned me.  But he’s just a man.  A stupid man that pays money for sex. 
He’s the one who deserves our pity, not the other way around.  So I feel sorry for him because he is a wretched creature who doesn’t know anything of love or kindness.  And he can try to make himself feel less pathetic by using me the way he did, but it clearly isn’t working because he keeps doing it.  I won’t let him bring me down, Lera.  I won’t.”

“Me neither.”

“Really?”

“Yes.  You are right about them.
  They are the filth.  Not us.”

“Yes.  And do you know something else?”

“What?” Lera asked.

“I’m going to get us out of here.”

“You are?  How can you do that?” she asked excitedly, reaching for both of her hands through the bars.

“I don’t know yet.  I’m still working on it, but I feel like it’s a possibility.  It
will take some time, so you may have to persevere for a while.  Do you think you can do that?”

“I don’t know. 
I can try.”

“You must.  You are stronger than you think
, Lera.  We all are,” she said, loud enough for Anya to hear as well.

It was dawn before the last of the girls was returned to the basement. 
She watched as they each dealt with the abuse in their own way.  Most were like Anya, shutting themselves away from the others to grieve the small death they experienced each time they were taken to the men who owned them for the night.  Only a few cried openly and she noticed two of the women seemed unfazed by the night’s events.  She wondered if they had made peace with their circumstances and had chosen to rise above them or if the souls within their decaying bodies were already completely dead.  Sadly, she already knew the answer.

Even more determined to save them all
, she spent the following day concentrating on finding a way out.  After the morning’s rations were delivered, she began taking stock of what she had that she considered an asset.  She knew she was physically strong, although not strong enough to defend herself against most men.  She considered her ability to walk or perhaps run for long distances if necessary.  Although she assumed she had lost a few pounds, her body had not yet begun to deteriorate from lack of nourishment, which she added to her list of strengths. 

After hours of
racking her brain for anything she could use to help her escape, she suddenly remembered the hair pins her father had given her on the morning of her departure.  She had not seen the rest of her belongings since boarding the plane that fateful day, but the tiny velvet box had made the trip, tucked carefully away under her mattress.

She
slid the velvet box out from where it was hidden and stood for a moment to feel the weight of it in her hands.  As if she was holding a sacred relic, she opened the lid of the box and picked up one of the pins.  It was beautifully painted, made of the highest quality metal, and measured almost three inches in length. 

She immediately considered that the pin
could be used to pick the door lock. For several hours, she sat on the floor of her cell, her hands twisted painfully outside of the bars as she attempted to open the lock.  Without a word, Lera watched anxiously from the adjacent cell and even Anya stole a glance now and then from her mattress to check on her progress.  However, as night began to fall, she finally accepted that it was an impossible task and she placed the pin back into its box. 

As she was closing the lid
, she was struck by yet another use for the pins.  She held the head of the pin in her right hand and slid the length of the pin between her fingers.  Next, she poked the pin firmly into the palm of her other hand.  It felt sharp.  And painful.

She added the
hairpins to the list of assets she was tallying in her head.  Should the opportunity present itself, she was sure she could palm one of the pins in her hand and force it into the eye socket of her captor.  The thought brought a smile to her face.

For the remainder of the
evening she concentrated her energies on thoughts of escape.  Over and over she whispered to herself “I will find a way out” until she became one with her mantra.  She focused on sending her desires out into the world, hoping her gift would bring her a plausible solution.  When the lights finally turned off at the end of the day, she slept soundly for the first time since leaving Kiev, satisfied with the knowledge that if there was a way out of the situation, she would be the one to find it. 

CHAPTER

32

T
HOMAS

Thomas took his phone from his pocket for the fourteenth time since lunch.  There were no messages and no missed calls.  He tossed the phone across the kitchen table and rested his head in his hands.

“Tommy, what is it?” Mildred asked as she placed a
warm bowl of beef stew on the table in front of him.

“Ugh
.  It’s Mia,” he said.

“What about her?  I thought things were going well.  You promised you were bringing her over,” Mildred
said as she sat in the chair beside him.

“Things were great, but I think I blew it.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because it’s been three days and nothing.”

“What happened three days ago?” she asked.

He hesitated. 
“I told her I loved her.”

“Oh.
”  Mildred paused, considering him across the table as she ate a spoonful of stew.  “And what’s happened since then?”

“Nothing.  Not a single thing.  That’s the problem.  I called her that afternoon.  She didn’t pick up so I left a
message.  Told her I’d like to get together when she was free and to call when she got a chance.  She didn’t call me back.  I figured she was just swamped at the station.  So the next day, I did the same thing.  Left a message.  No response.  Today, I left another message asking if I’ve done something wrong because I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Why don’t you just go see her?” Mildred asked.

“I don’t want to seem desperate.”

“Tommy, do you like this girl
?”

“Yes.  I’m falling in love with her and I opened my big mouth about it accidentally.  I
think maybe I freaked her out a little with that.  Too much, too soon.”

“Well,
then, if she already knows how you feel, what’s the harm in going to see her so you can find out face to face why she’s not returning your calls?”

He
blew on a spoonful of stew and considered Mildred’s suggestion.  He had to admit she was right.  Mia was clearly avoiding him for some unknown reason, but there could be no harm in trying to see her to find out why.

“I wonder if she’s working tonight?”
he thought aloud.

“Are you heading into the city to play tonight?”

“I was going to,” he replied.

“Then why don’t you just stop by the station on the way
to see if she’s there.  The worst thing that can happen is she won’t be there.”

“No
, Ma.  The worse thing would be if she
is
there and refuses to see me.”

“I guess you’
re right about that,” Mildred replied thoughtfully.  “She’ll see you, though.  How could she resist that face?” she asked, giving his cheek an affectionate squeeze.

He
rolled his eyes at her and ignored her optimism.  He finished his stew and placed his bowl and spoon into the dishwasher.

“If I leave now I can make it to the police station and still get to the hotel before the dinner crowd.”

“Do you want me to wait up?”
she asked.

“It’s okay
, Ma.  I’ll be fine.”

“I know.  Somehow, y
ou always are,” she said. 

He wavered between subdued anticipation and full blown dread on his bus ride into the city.  By the time he climbed down the steps onto the sidewalk outside the station, he had convinced himself he would probably never speak to Mia again.

He was unsure of where to go or who to s
peak with when he entered the building.  He was familiar with the lineup officers so he decided to start by talking to them.

Without looking up from his computer screen, the officer manning the desk addressed
him.  “Lineups are over for the day,” he said curtly.

“I’m not here for a lineup,”
he replied.  “I was hoping to speak with Officer Rosetti.”

“The chief?” he asked.

“No.  His daughter.  Officer Mia Rosetti.”

“Haven’t seen her today.  Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her
all week.  Is there someone else I can get to help you?”

He
blanched at the information.  In the pit of his stomach, he immediately felt that something wasn’t right.

“Is her partner here?  Jack?”
he asked.

“I don’t know if he’s gone for the day or not.  Do you want me to give him a call and see if he’s at his desk?”

“Sure,” he replied.  “That’d be great.”

“Who can I tell him is here?”

“Mia’s friend, Thomas.  Thomas Pritchett.”

He
listened to the lineup officer’s half of the phone conversation and quickly surmised Jack was willing to speak with him.  He was led through a labyrinth of hallways until he finally reached the office Jack and Mia shared.

Jack stood to greet
him, knocking a large stack of manila folders off the corner of his desk.  He stooped to help him pick them up before they formally shook hands by way of introduction.

“
So, you must be Mia’s Thomas,” Jack said, smiling.

“And y
ou must be Mia’s Jack,” he replied, returning his firm handshake.

“Nice to finally meet you,” Jack said.

“You too.  She speaks very highly of you.”

“
You too.”  Jack paused, and Thomas could see he was sizing him up as he sat back in his chair.  “You’re lucky you caught me today.  Most days I’d have been out of here by now, but since Mia’s been gone, I’ve had to stay late to get all the work done.  So, what can I do for you?”

He
sat in the chair beside him.  He could tell that Jack was upset by Mia’s absence and it wasn’t because of the additional workload.  He obviously missed having her around.  He was surprised that, instead of feeling jealous, he felt a sudden kinship with Jack.

“It’s actually Mia I came to see, but I
was told she’s not here.”

“Nope.”

“Do you know where she is?” he asked.

“No.  I don’t. 
It’s funny,” Jack said laughing, “I thought for sure she was with you.”

“Clearly not.”

“Clearly.”

“So where is she?”
he asked.  His mind was racing with possibilities.  None of them were good.

“I have no idea.  I just heard from
human resources two days ago she requested to take leave,” Jack said.

“For how long?”

“I don’t know.  They didn’t say.”

“And you have no idea where she might have gone?”
he asked.

“Like I said, I thought for sure she was with you.”

He felt a sense of desperation closing in around him.  It was obvious Jack would be of no further assistance.  He thanked him for his time and headed out of the office.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Jack called out the door as
he was nearly halfway down the hall.  “I’ll have her call you if I see her before you do.”

“Thanks,”
he replied half-heartedly.  “I’ll do the same.”

He
was unsure of his next course of action.  He was, for some reason, overwrought with concern for Mia’s safety.  It was unnerving to him that she would call out from work without letting the people closest to her know where she was or what she was doing.  He considered Jack’s lackadaisical attitude and decided that maybe she had taken leave without warning in the past.  If that was the case, then it was possible he was completely overreacting.  Just the same, he decided to go to her apartment to see if she was there.

On the bus ride out of the city,
he allowed himself to hope that perhaps her unresponsiveness had nothing to do with him at all.  He considered the possibility she had been called away unexpectedly by an old friend or family member. 

Before he made it to her apartment, i
t suddenly dawned on him that he should have asked to speak with her father while he was at the station, assuming he would know what was keeping his daughter from work.  He considered getting off the bus to make a return trip to the station but realized there was a good chance her father had already gone home for the evening.

Resolved to stay the course,
he got off at the Parkville stop, just a couple of blocks from Mia’s apartment.  He hoped she would greet him at the door with a wonderful story about a long lost cousin who had come for a visit.  As he approached her building, he scanned the parking lot for her car.  It wasn’t there.  His heart sank.

Desperate for answers, he climbed the steps to
her apartment two at a time and then hesitantly knocked on the door.  He drummed his fingers on the door frame, waiting anxiously for a response.  He didn’t hear any movement from behind the door to indicate anyone was inside.  He knocked again, pounding the door defiantly with his fist.  There was still no response from inside the apartment.

He
returned to the ground floor and walked around the perimeter of the building to where he could see the back windows of her apartment.  Although he doubted he was being ignored, he wanted to check to be sure that she wasn’t just avoiding him.  Above him, all of the rooms were dark.  This was enough to convince him neither Mia nor Chelsea was home.  The realization that she wasn’t at work or at home only served to increase his level of anxiety. 

A glance
at his watch confirmed his wild goose chase had officially made him late for work.  He predicted, if he was lucky, he could still make it back into the city in less than thirty minutes which would leave him several good tipping hours before the crowds thinned out. 

Upon his arrival to the hotel,
he spent the remainder of the evening playing baroque requiems by Mozart and Faure.  He doubted his selections did anything to improve his tips but his mental state didn’t allow him to play anything more upbeat.  It seemed only appropriate to him that he should play funeral masses when he felt like he was mourning the death of having Mia in his life.  Nonetheless, while he played, he resolved to pay a visit to her father at the station after his shift at Belinda’s the following day.  He was hopeful the chief would be able to provide some insight into her whereabouts.  He only hoped that wherever she was, she was safe and happy.  He also hoped there was some small possibility that wherever she was, she was thinking of him.