Page 68 of Last Chance Christmas

Vaynes wore a black robe and stood behind a podium with a gavel in hand. “It’s time you had your day in court, Della Nixon.”

Seventeen

Anthony had failed yet again. First, he’d let Sosa get away. Now, Della had been missing for five hours, taken under his watch. Here, he wanted to bring these convicts in, prove he was ready for more responsibility and to become a detective. Instead, he should be turning his badge in.

Permanently.

Where was the “light” in this that he was supposed to see?

Chatter buzzed all around him. The bullpen wasn’t usually this busy in the middle of the night. Then again, they didn’t usually have the chaos of three missing convicts and a kidnapped firefighter thrown into the normal caseload.

“Will you stop the pacing already? We’ll find her.” Officer Junior Ramble glared over his computer screen at Anthony. “Why don’t you do something helpful like track down any other known associates of Vaynes?”

“You think I haven’t done that already? Dead end. Every single one of them. The guy was a loner. No record of visitors at the prison. No calls for him. Nothing. There’s no clue as to where he found the deceased woman that was in the house. I’ve gone through all the missing persons reported and still haven’t ID’d her. And the trail Penny and I followed in the backyard led nowhere. Vaynes had a getaway vehicle.”

“And we now know what it is.” Penny slapped a paper on the desk in front of Anthony. “Black 2006 Ford Explorer.”

“How’d you find it?” Anthony asked.

“Canvassed the neighborhood and something finally paid off. Caught this image on a nearby security system. That’s Vaynes in the driver’s seat. I already ran the plates. The SUV was stolen. The owner is out of town for the holidays. He was crankier about being woken in the middle of the night than to hear about his stolen car.”

“Let’s put out the BOLO. I’ll get that started.” Junior took the paper and ran off.

Penny grabbed a candy cane off Olivia’s desk. “How you holding up, Tony?” She kept her voice low, calm as she unwrapped the candy. Somehow it helped him, to see her keeping it together.

“Any minute, I’m sure, the chief will come out here and call for my badge.”

“That’s not true.”

He pushed his hair back off his forehead. It was probably a mess right now, but he didn’t care. “I screwed up. That’s not the kind of image the department wants for its officers, let alone detectives.”

“You were hoping to move up?”

Anthony nodded, staring out the windows at the bleak darkness. “Guess I can kiss that goodbye.”

“Hey.” She waited until he made eye contact. “This job is about way more than image. You are more than the image you’ve been trying so hard to project.”

“And what’s that?”

“The image that says you have it all together. You have everything in control.”

Anthony huffed.

But Penny didn’t stop. “You’re a good man, Tony. You have heart and integrity. I’m sure the chief knows that. No one is asking you to turn in your badge. Besides, everyone has cases like this. You think Basuto or Donaldson haven’t had their fair share of bad guys slip through their fingers?”

“Maybe. At this point, I just want to find Della.”

“Me too.” She gave him a sad smile. “I know it feels like there’s no hope right now, that evil and darkness are winning. But that’s not the last word.”

But it sure seemed that way. He’d prayed. So where was God in all this?

“I get?—”

“Hey! Look at this! He’s made contact.” Detective Savannah Wilcox called out from the other side of the bullpen. “He sent us a file.” She pointed a remote at the smart screen hanging on the wall. Within seconds, a video played.

Della sat in the middle of the shot, tied to a chair. Dirt smeared her face. Her silky hair was tangled and half falling out of a braid. She didn’t look too banged up. Then Anthony noticed her hand. It was strapped to a table, two of her fingers mangled and bloodied.

What in the world had he done to her?