Page 73 of Unbearable
“He’s in a warehouse of some kind. He’s not good, but he’s still alive,” he said.
Dover felt her grip on the steering wheel loosen slightly. Alive was good. She could deal with the rest.
“There’s some kind of contraption that is attached to his neck with a strap,” Memphis continued. “He said something about one of the Andersons being there? Edmund? I guess you know who they are. The outside of the building said ‘import/export,’ but I couldn’t see much more.”
“The Andersons are in the import/export business. Shit, they own half this city.”
“Sorry, I’ll try to get more. I need to go. Thayer has my phone if you need to find me before I call you again. I don’t want to scare you, but hurry. Fox said he was coming back.” She heardthe phone disconnect as she pulled back up to her office. She left the car in a no parking zone and told the desk sergeant to threaten anyone who wanted to move it.
“We need the tax rolls for any property owned by the Anderson family or their companies,” she called to one of the tech people on the way by. “And we need a building map of Boston.”
She continued into the incident room where no less than twenty law officers worked. They spanned from Boston police to FBI. It looked like a beehive, and she couldn’t help but feel like the queen bee.
“Here’s what we know,” she said, walking to the whiteboards. “One Brooke Sullivan was found dead. Time of death is estimated to be less than an hour ago.
“Also found at the scene was Knox Monroe with a head wound. Not found was Fox Addams who is now believed to have been taken by an unknown perpetrator.” She wasn’t sure how you explained information like Memphis had without sending red flags up everywhere.
“The bartender verified that Brooke Sullivan was the woman at the bar. Further intel has led us to believe she has been in contact with a man with the last name of Anderson. We’re led to believe it is Edmund Anderson,” Dex continued.
“We will be treating this individual as a person of interest at this time. I already have tech combing the footage around the latest bar and the others for this individual.”
She nodded at him gratefully as a man with an armful of papers and a rolled-up map came rushing through the door.
“I have the records you requested,” he said breathlessly. A table was cleared so he could lay everything on it. Dover and Dex leaned over the map unrolled across the table.
“Dom, you take the south side,” Danny said, ripping off a stapled sheet. “Kyle, you’ve got north.” He continued to divideup the town records. “You two, get this up on a board so we can mark it,” he instructed two junior officers. “Blue for personal, red for business.” He snatched up a box of magnetic flags and followed the map to the front.
“Thanks, Danny. I’ll go update the captain,” Dover said.
“And I’ll check on how the CCTV stuff is going,” Dex said, following her from the room. “I’ll also see if Thayer has heard anything more,” he added quietly. She reached out and squeezed his arm before moving down the hallway. She had never been more grateful for family than right now.
Knox was stomping across the foyer when she turned the corner. He looked like he’d gone three rounds with a bear. There was a large patch on the back of his head. He wore a pair of sunglasses betraying the status of his concussion. His jeans still had blood on them where he landed at the edge of the blood pool when he hit the ground.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, coming to a stop in front of him. “You should be at the hospital.”
“Hospitals are bullshit. What have you heard from Memphis?”
“They’re not bullshit. It’s obvious you have a concussion. I don’t need you dying on me.” He simply gave her a glare, or so she imagined he did. It was hard to tell through the sunglasses. “He’s in a warehouse hooked up to some sort of machine. I would guess it’s the same one that strangled all of our other victims.”
“Do you know which one?”
“Do you think I’d be standing here talking to you if I did?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stood silently staring at her. Or looking over her head. She had no idea. He stood there long enough, she moved to go around him. She had only taken a step when one of his hands wrapped around her upper arm. Fora second, before he started talking, she had a fleeting thought about how his hand dwarfed her arm.
“I might have an idea of where he could be,” he said.
“Then why are we still here?” Breaking his grip, she broke into a brisk walk to the front doors. Knox followed behind, climbing into the passenger seat of the car still parked on the curb. She would call Dex or Danny in a little while to explain where they were as soon as she knew.
“That time Dex and I followed Brooke, we think she ducked into a warehouse near the water,” Knox continued. “It didn’t look like they were used much anymore, but the doors were locked. That’s why we thought it was so strange that she could just disappear like that.”
She parked near the bar they had followed her from. Knox needed to retrace his steps from that night. They wove several blocks over to where the streets looked more abandoned.
“This is the one. I’m almost positive,” he said. Looking up, she saw an old sign that had once read Anderson Import/Export. Several letters were now lost to the weather and time, but there was no mistaking who it belonged to. They climbed from the car, and Knox tried the door. “It’s still locked solid. But these tire tracks going inside aren’t that old.”
“There should be several dock height doors around the other side,” she said. “This one would have been the tradesman side. They would have unloaded on the other side.” They jogged to the end of the block and around the back. There were doors, but they were all covered in corrugated metal and locked tight.
“Here, help me get some of the metal off. I just need a hole,” Knox said. He climbed up to the loading dock and started pulling on the loose panels. She joined him and soon they had a sizable piece removed. Unfortunately, there were large solid wood doors standing behind the metal. “Move back.” She stepped back and watched as he started to rub his hands together.