Page 27

Chapter 27

Tobias

We got Mickey moved without incident. Law, Ferris, and I watched as Sang and Rogers escorted him into the jail's back entrance, the prisoner shuffling along in his orange jumpsuit, handcuffs, and a boot on his injured leg. I stayed alert, eyes scanning the perimeter, but the transfer went smoothly.

"Not much of a tough guy now, is he?" Law remarked as the door closed behind them.

"Mickey Mouse," I muttered. "What are the odds that's actually his real name?"

Law chuckled. "About the same odds as my mother naming me after a profession."

I was about to respond when the front desk receptionist, Carol, appeared at the door. "Sheriff? There are two young women here asking for Deputy Rogers. They seem pretty upset."

"Brooklyn's still processing the Peterson scene," I replied. "What do they want?"

"They said it's about Sophia Vasquez."

The name sent a jolt through me. "I'll talk to them." I said goodbye to Law and Ferris and followed Carol. In the waiting area sat two young women who couldn't have been more than twenty-five. One was petite with dark curly hair that reminded me of Sophia. The other was taller, blonde, and had her arm protectively around the brunette's shoulders.

"Hello," I approached them. "I'm Sheriff Trenton. I understand you're looking for Deputy Rogers?"

The brunette looked up, her eyes red-rimmed. "Yes. She's the one who came to talk to me about Sophia. I'm Jamie Torres. We worked together at the Inn." She gestured to her friend. "This is Leah Simmons."

"I can call Deputy Rogers in if you'd prefer to wait, she's on a case. Or I'd be happy to help you if it's urgent."

Jamie exchanged a glance with Leah. "He's the Sheriff, let's just talk to him." Leah nodded and the two stood.

I gestured toward the conference room. "Come in, please. I'll have Carol get you some water." As they settled into the chairs across from me, I sent a quick text to Brooklyn asking her to come back as soon as she could.

"Now, you said this was about Sophia?"

"It's about Sophia's boyfriend. I think... we think he might be involved in what happened to her," Jamie told me. "We would have come earlier but Leah's been out of town for work."

"So," I began once Carol left the room, "why do you think he's involved?"

Jamie's hands trembled slightly as she set her cup down. "It's just," the girls looked at each other. "Well, see, Sheriff. We've been a tight knit group of friends for years and we all knew she was dating someone but we never met him. We kept asking if we could but she kept telling us he was shy." Leah snorted and rolled her eyes. "Then Soph started acting differently. She was canceling plans, being secretive with her phone, showing up late to shifts."

"Not telling us where she was," Leah added. "We have a check in board on our refrigerator. Our friend saw it on a TikTok and wouldn't drop it till we got one, single girls living together use it to tell the others where they are. You know, just in case."

"Sounds like a smart thing to do," I said, trying to be supportive. "Please, continue."

"Well Sophia was all into it until she started dating mister mysterious. Then she refused to put her information on it. Just kept telling us we didn't need to know."

"You called him, mister mysterious. Do you know his name?" I asked.

"We don't know it. None of us did," Leah told me. "They never wanted to go out with any of us. Refused to do any of the normal couple stuff. Sophia always had to go to his place. He never came to us, not even to pick her up. It started really bothering all of us. I mean, we've been in each other's lives for a long time."

"I finally cornered her in the break room at work," Jamie continued. "She admitted she wouldn't tell me his name. Said it was complicated, that he was older and very private. That she was in love and she would talk to him about meeting us."

"Then one night my boyfriend and I were picking up food when I saw a car pull up and Sophia got out. She went into the restaurant next to ours. I got out and waited for her to come out. When she did I surprised her. She looked scared to death when she saw me. Kept glancing over my shoulder. I asked if she was going to be rude and not introduce me? She looked horrified by the thought of it but she went to the passengers side of the car. She opened the door and leaned in saying I was a dear friend of hers. I bent down next to her and said hello and how happy I was to meet him." Leah looked at me. "I talk a lot when I'm nervous. Anyway, he glared at me and said hello then barked at Sophia to get in the car. She stood and apologized to me. Then she got in the car and they left. I just stood there, shocked."

"What was shocking?"

"How he ordered her into the car and how she obeyed him. Not to mention how he looked." Leah looked at Jamie. "Never in a million years would we have ever put Sophia with a guy like that."

"I'm sorry, a guy like what? Can you describe him?"

"He was built like the strongman at a circus. Dark hair, I think, he has a baseball cap pulled low. And he was wearing sunglasses, at night. But none of that holds a candle to the tattoos."

I leaned forward. "Tattoos?"

Both girls nodded. Then Jamie spoke, "don't get us wrong. We both have tattoos. We're not prudes. It's just…"

Leah picked up the conversation, "it's just when someone tattoos their face, well, that's a whole other thing isn't it. Especially…" She stopped talking.

Mickey had facial tattoos. Could there be a connection?

"Especially?" I asked.

"He had daggers on the sides of his face. Long ones." Leah drew the daggers down the sides of her cheeks with her fingers meeting them together on her chin. "They are pretty severe."

MISTER DAGGERS! SOPHIA WAS DATING MR. DAGGERS? My head exploded with my inner voice yelling. I took a breath and let it out slowly. Leah was feet from a known trafficker and she had no idea.

"Did Sophia ever mention what this man did for work?"

Jamie twisted a tissue in her hands. "She said he was in business. That he was basically his boss's right-hand man and that he was in charge of a group of guys. That he traveled a lot but was locally based. She seemed… so obsessed with him. Kept telling us he loved her, in his own way. She got so defensive."

Keeping my voice calm I asked, "Did she mention where this boyfriend lived?"

"No," Jamie answered, "just that it was built like small cabins and that she was glad he had his own place because the way the other guys looked at her made her nervous."

"Think carefully," I leaned forward, placing my arms on the table. "Did Sophia say anything about an address or a feature of where he worked or lived? Was it in town or in the country? Anything like that?"

"No," Jamie's eyes widened. Leah shook her head no too. "She was so guarded about things like that."

"Did she tell you how she got the jewelry set she was found wearing?"

"Actually, she did. The day before she..." Leah's voice caught, "the day before she disappeared, she showed me this antique necklace and bracelet set he'd given her. She was over the moon about it. Said it was a pre-gift to a ring. I remember she said she never believed she could be so in love with someone."

My blood ran cold.

"She showed it to me too, I told her she was moving too fast, that she needed to think about her future. She said I was being dramatic. She was head over heels, Sheriff. She refused to see any warning signs." Jamie's eyes filled with tears. "The next day, she was gone."

The door opened and Brooklyn stepped in. "Sorry I'm late," she said, eyes going from me to the two women. "I came as soon as I could."

Jamie stood and embraced Brooklyn briefly. They clearly had a rapport from the initial interviews.

"They have information about a boyfriend Sophia was seeing," I explained. I raised an eyebrow, she caught my meaning, raising her own eyebrow back.

Brooklyn took the seat next to me. Eyeing me she said, "Why don't you ladies tell me everything from the beginning?"

I nodded that it was a good idea.

As the girls retold the story adding a few little details they hadn't mentioned to me, I observed Brooklyn's methodical approach. She had a gift for victim interviews, always had. Just the right balance of compassion and focus that made people open up and tell her all sorts of things. Her face when the realization that Sophia was dating Mr. Daggers almost made me laugh.

Brooklyn's pen moved rapidly across her notepad, trying to hide her shock. "And she never mentioned a name, not even a first name?"

Both women shook their heads.

"What about her phone?" I asked. "We recovered it from her apartment, but it was locked."

"Her passcode is nine-two-three-zero," Jamie offered. "It's her mother's birthday."

I made a note to pass that to forensics immediately. We spent another half hour gathering every detail they could remember about Sophia's mysterious boyfriend. There wasn't much to go on. Other than putting Sophia and Mr. Daggers together.

As they stood to leave, Jamie turned back. "You both got a look when Leah explained Sophia’s mystery boyfriend. Do you know who he is?"

"Yes, we're familiar with him."

"Well, I hope you catch him and he spends the rest of his miserable life in jail." Leah said locking eyes with me.

After Brooklyn escorted them out, I made my way back to my desk. I glanced at Holly's desk as I walked by. There was an enormous bouquet of lilies, roses, and at least a dozen sunflowers. "Special occasion?"

Holly smiled. "Anniversary. Twenty-four years today."

"Congratulations. Your husband has good taste."

"In women and flowers," she agreed with a wink. "Ruth just delivered them while you were interviewing the girls. She's so talented."

My head snapped up. "Ruth was here?" I looked around to see if she was somewhere.

"Just left. You might catch her if you hurry."

I moved to the window without thinking, just in time to see the bright pink Blossoms van pulling away from the curb. Something twisted in my chest—regret, longing, some combination of the two.

Clark's words echoed in my mind: Who cares if she's younger? Date the woman, marry her, whatever. Just have some fun.

Was he right? Was everyone right? Had I been clinging to an outdated notion of propriety while denying myself a chance at happiness? At thirteen years, the age gap wasn't even that dramatic. I'd known couples with larger differences who lived perfectly happy lives together. Of course those couples weren't in the public eye.

But I had to admit I missed her. God, I missed her, even though it had only been days. I missed her laugh, her directness, the way she challenged me. The way she felt against me. Maybe age really wasn't as important as I'd always thought it was.

"What do you think?" Brooklyn said from behind me.

"Ah, umm, what?" I turned to face her and a smiling Holly.

"What do you mean, what? The meeting we just had with the girls, that's what." She turned and addressed Holly. "What's got him so distracted?"

Giggling Holly stood and took a folder, she headed for her door. "I have no idea what would have our illustrious Sheriff so distracted. None at all. But I do know if he's smart he'll act on that distraction before someone else does." She turned and left the room.

"Is this some sort of code I should know about?" Brooklyn spun around to face me again.

"No, just Holly being Holly. Never mind, now, what do you think our next move should be?"

"I think we need to talk to Mickey again. See if he knows anything about Mr. Daggers and Sophia. And we need into that phone ASAP."

"I'll call Erin, have her team expedite it," I said, taking my phone out. "Did you find anything else at the scene?"

"Nothing beyond what we found earlier. I sent the camera footage to Law. I thought those hackers of his could go over it."

I rubbed my temples, feeling the beginning of a headache. "Good idea. Alright let's—" A crackle from my radio shattered the moment.

"Charlie Charlie - One Alpha."

"One Alpha - Go ahead Charlie Charlie."

"One Alpha, 10-54 called in at Whispering Pines Funeral Home."

"Funny Charlie Charlie. I would imagine the funeral home has a few 10-54's." There was a pause.

"Negative One Alpha, this isn't one of theirs. This is a female victim, sir. Staff arrived and found her sitting propped against the back door. Baker says the body appears to have been placed there deliberately. They're requesting your immediate presence." My eyes locked on Brooklyn's.

"And she's 10-54?"

There was a small pause, "most definitely, One Alpha."

"Oh, no way I'm missing this one." She pivoted and jogged out of the office.

"Tell him not to touch anything. I'm on my way."

"Ten four One Alpha enroute."

"Two Beta enroute, too."

"Three Charlie enroute."

"Four Gamma, I'm not sitting this one out, I'm enroute."

As I hurried to my vehicle, I couldn't help but smile. My crew is really great, always there for each other, no attitude problems or concerns. I hope as we dive deeper into the dark waters of these cases that I can keep them all safe.