06 Fatal Mistake (30 page)

And so was she.

Chapter Seventeen

They arrived at HQ to a huge media presence outside the main door.

“What the hell?” Sam muttered, heading for the morgue entrance. She feared the day they discovered her secret way into the building. As they walked in with Ginger and Amber, they ran into Lindsey McNamara. “What’s going on out front?”

“I hear they’re looking for you,” Lindsey said. “Someone from the motel must’ve leaked the Lind connection to the media, and they want to know about Nick’s ties to Lexicore.”

“Great.”

“Terry was really upset about that yesterday. He was worried about how it would affect Nick’s campaign.”

“Nick hopes the fact that most of Lexicore’s investors were unaware of the ties to the factory will keep it from sinking his campaign.”

“We all hope so,” Lindsey said, giving Sam’s arm a squeeze. “Who’ve you got there?” She glanced at Ginger and Amber, who were waiting for her with Cruz.

“Two of the maids at the motel where Lind was found. I got a funny feeling about them, so I made a big thing out of needing to question them here so I could get them out of there.”

“You don’t think...” Lindsey sighed, compassionate as always. “They’re so bloody young.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out and get them some help. What’ve you got on Lind?”

“Just like Vasquez, a single stab wound to the aorta. Your killer knows where to aim to achieve maximum results.”

“Time of death?”

“I’m estimating it to be early yesterday. I’ll have my full report to you shortly.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

Sam and Freddie escorted the girls to the conference room in the pit, aware of the curious stares of coworkers they passed in the hallways. People were always curious about what she was up to—probably more so than usual today with word of her confrontation with Stahl winding through the corridors.

Agent Hill, who was working in the conference room, looked up when he heard them come into the room.

“Anything on the Vasquez financials?” Sam asked, watching his astute gaze take in the young women who’d arrived with her.

“Not a thing, and Lieutenant Archelotta was here while you were out to say that they haven’t found anything useful on the video either. There was so much chaos in the streets that it’s hard to tell what’s going on in many cases.

“Could I have a word?” Sam asked.

“Sure.” Hill gathered up his work and the suit jacket he’d slung over one of the chairs.

To Freddie, she said, “Give me one minute. I’ll be right back.”

She went out ahead of Hill, and waited until he’d closed the conference room door.

“What’s up with the kids?”

“Nothing good.” She gave him a condensed report on what had transpired at the motel, including the discovery of Rick Lind’s body.

“Did either of them see anything regarding Lind?”

“I’m about to get into that with them. In the meantime, I need your help with something else—something you’re not going to like.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to run the financials on Ray and Elle and all their personal and business interests.”

He seemed genuinely shocked by her request. “They didn’t have anything to do with this, Sam. I’ve known him all my life.”

“How long have you known her?”

“Fifteen, sixteen years? Something like that. A long time.”

“I received a tip this afternoon that the
Star
is in big financial trouble. Elle needed the team to win because the World Series TV rights would’ve bailed out the entire company. She
needed
them to win.”

“So what’re you saying? She’s going around exacting revenge on those who foiled her plan?”

“It’s the closest thing to a motive I’ve seen yet.”

“It’s not them. They’re not murderers.”

“Are you able to maintain objectivity, Agent Hill?”

In that second she got to see what he looked like when he was very, very pissed. “Yes, I can, and I don’t appreciate the implication.”

“No implications. Just a question. I’ll leave it to you to take a closer look at them while I talk to Ginger and Amber and try to figure out what’s been done to them and what to do about it.”

“Sam.”

She turned back to him. “Yeah?”

“Good catch on the kids. You probably saved their lives.”

“You would’ve caught it too. You’re a good cop.” She pushed open the door to the conference room. “Are you hungry?” Sam asked the girls.

Amber looked to Ginger to answer for both of them.

“I could eat something,” Ginger said.

Amber nodded in agreement.

“How about pizza?”

Their eyes lit up with delight that even Ginger couldn’t hide. “That’d be really good,” Ginger said.

“Can we have cola too?” Amber asked.

“Absolutely.” Sam handed Freddie two twenties. “Get enough for us too. And a house salad.”

He rolled his eyes at her request and left to order the pizza. When he returned, he joined Sam on the other side of the table from where the girls were seated.

“Here’s the deal, ladies,” Sam said. “I’d like to know if you saw our murder victim around the hotel before he was killed. It would help us very much if there’s anything you can tell us about him or the circumstances of his death. In return for your help and cooperation, we’ll ensure that you never have to return to that motel or have anything further to do with Bruce.”

Ginger let out a snort of disbelief. “And how will you pull that off? He’s probably already here waiting for us to be released so he can take us back.”

“He may be here, but it’s not to take you back. Our officers are going into the motel and arresting everyone as we speak so we can figure out what’s been going on there. You’ll make our jobs a hell of a lot easier if you just tell us.”

“What do you think has been going on there?” Ginger asked.

“If I had to guess, I’d say you’re both runaways or perhaps you were abducted or somehow lured into a web of sex slavery and prostitution. Am I warm?”

Judging by Amber’s bug eyes, Sam’s assessment was spot-on.

“How do you know?” Amber asked in a whisper.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen it before. We recognize women in distress when we see them. I brought you here because you were the two youngest women there, and I wanted to get you out while I could.”

“We’re not the youngest ones,” Ginger said softly.

As Freddie sucked in a deep breath, Sam’s stomach turned with revulsion. “Where are they?”

“There’s a house,” Amber said haltingly. “I’m not sure where it is. They blindfold us when they take us there.”

“I can tell you where it is from the motel.” Ginger closed her eyes and began to speak. “You leave the parking lot and take a left.” She continued with a dizzying array of directions that Freddie frantically tried to keep up with.

“You memorized all that despite being blindfolded?” Sam asked.

Ginger opened her eyes and met Sam’s gaze. “I’ve been going back and forth between the house and the motel for three years.”

Sam had to fight to hide her shock and dismay from the girl who needed her help, not her pity. “How old are you, Ginger?”

“I think I’m sixteen, but I don’t remember anymore.”

“We’re going to help you figure it out. I promise.”

Freddie went to a map on the wall and used a highlighter to pinpoint the location of the house.

“Call it in to Vice and SVU,” Sam told him.

“Call what into SVU?” Sergeant Ramsey asked as he came into the room.

Both girls visibly shriveled at the sight of the big strapping man.

Sam got up and gestured for him to leave the room. She followed, closing the door behind her. “We’ve got a situation that we’ll need your assistance with.” She told him what they knew so far about the goings-on at the hotel and the house Ginger had led them to, despite being blindfolded on every trip.

Ramsey shook his head. “Fucking animals.”

“No offense intended, but can you send one of your female officers down here to help with Ginger and Amber?” Sam had gotten the vibe in the past that Ramsey didn’t like her, so she chose her words carefully. “As you can tell, they’re uncomfortable around men.”

“Absolutely. And I’ll get my team over to the house to round up the rest of the kids.”

“We’re going to make a lot of parents very happy today.” Sam couldn’t think about what it might be like to not know where Scotty was for even a day, let alone years.

“They’ll be happy until they realize the kid they’re getting back bears no resemblance whatsoever to the kid they lost,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll take care of it.”

Ramsey walked away, and Sam went back in with the girls.

Freddie went out to meet the pizza guy and returned with the food, which the girls dove into like they were starving.

Sam could barely eat because she was so revolted by what she’d stumbled upon at the run-down motel, but she made an attempt to try to maintain some normalcy for the sake of the girls.

“Not hungry?” Freddie asked.

“Not anymore.”

“I know. Me either.”

Watching the girlish delight Ginger and Amber exhibited over the pizza gave Sam hope that maybe they weren’t beyond a chance at a normal life. Even though she was pressed for time and dying to help Hill dig into Darren’s lead, she forced herself to go slowly and to treat the girls with the kid gloves they deserved.

Ginger finished a second piece of pizza and washed it down with a long swallow of cola that she seemed to relish. “I’ve missed soda.”

“I miss it too,” Sam said. “I used to be a diet cola addict, but my doctor said I can’t have it anymore because it was messing up my stomach.”

“So you can’t have it
ever
?” Amber asked.

“I’m not supposed to, but I sneak one every now and then.”

“Is that right?” Freddie asked, drawing girlish giggles from both their guests.

“You guys are good friends,” Amber said.

“I’m his boss,” Sam said. “He has to do what I tell him to.”

“But you’re a girl,” Amber said. “Girls don’t get to be the boss.”

“Around here, girls get to be the boss. In a lot of places girls get to be the boss. Someday maybe you can be the boss too.”

“Do you think so?” Amber asked, her voice full of yearning.

“I know so.”

“You need us to tell you what we saw at the motel,” Ginger said.

Sam wondered if the food had softened her disposition and made her more inclined to cooperate. “That would really help.”

“He came in a cab after the baseball game,” Ginger said.

“How did you know about the game?”

“Bruce watched it in the office. He was really mad when that guy dropped the ball. He said Rick would come to us after the game because he’d be too upset to go home.”

“So he’d been there before?”

“He came a lot. He said it was the one place he could totally relax.”

“What did relaxing entail for him?”

“Getting high, getting laid, getting drunk. All the things he couldn’t do at home, or so he said.”

“Did you have sex with him, Ginger?”

“Many times.” This was said without a hint of emotion. “I was his favorite.”

Sam recalled Lind’s hulking size and tried to picture him with petite Ginger. The image made her sick. “Did he pay to have sex with you?”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Bruce about that. If he did, I never saw any of the money.”

“Was he nice to you?”

“Nicer than most of them.”

“There were a lot?”

“Six or seven a day on a slow day.”

Freddie gasped and then cleared his throat to cover it.

“Have you had medical attention at all?”

“No.”

Sam felt her composure wavering, but fought through the urge to punch something—or someone. “Did Rick have any visitors while you were with him?”

“Just one.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“I don’t know her name, but she has long blond hair. She was angry, and he asked me to leave so he could talk to her.”

“Are you able to describe her in any more detail?” Sam realized that Ginger was most likely the second to last person to see Rick Lind alive.

“She was very pretty and skinny. Super skinny.”

“You said she smelled rich,” Amber reminded her friend.

“Right. She was wearing fancy perfume, and her clothes were expensive. Quality. I thought she might be his wife.”

“Did he seem happy to see her?”

“No, he was mad she was there. He told her he had nothing to say to her. She said she had plenty to say to him.”

“Had you seen her before?”

“Once. She came to the hotel earlier in the summer. He’d had another bad game, and I heard her yelling at him. And then I heard them having sex.”

“How did you hear that?”

“I was in the room next door with another guy. The walls are really thin. I could hear them.”

“Can you tell me what she was saying to him?”

“It was a long time ago, but I remember because she was so mean to him. She said she pays him to win, and she can’t afford to lose. That everything was riding on this season.”

“Could you hear what he said?”

“Not clearly. His voice was a low rumble. She was screaming though.”

Sam got up and went to the murder board to remove the photo of Willie in his uniform. “Have you seen this man before?”

Ginger studied the photo.

“I have,” Amber said softly. “He was a regular of mine.”

Sam had to fight to keep her expression neutral. “When was the last time you saw him?” she asked.

“The other night after the game.”

“How long were you with him?”

“A couple of hours, but then he said he had to go home. He never spent the night.”

“Did he say anything about what had happened at the game?”

Amber shook her head. “He wasn’t there to talk.”

Sam expelled a deep breath as she pushed yellow pads across the table to them. “Will you please write down anything you can tell me about either man? How often they visited the motel, what they might’ve said or done, what kind of sex they liked to have. No detail is too small.”

Amber glanced at Ginger, who nodded and handed her friend a pen.

“While you’re working on that, I’d like to contact your families. Is there anything you can tell us that would help us to find them?”