In Her Tracks (Tracy Crosswhite #8)(28)

Miller had a half-eaten plate of food in front of him, steak and eggs, as well as an—as yet—untouched stack of pancakes.

As Tracy and Kins made introductions, Miller looked sheepish at the amount of food on the table. “I’m carbo loading before my workout.”

“What are you curling, small cars?” Kins said with a smile.

Miller laughed. “I’m training for a competition coming up. It’s tough when I’m working the First Watch.” His voice was higher pitched than Tracy expected, given the man’s size. “But at least I can get to the gym.”

“What kind of competition?” Kins asked. Tracy figured this was a male bonding exercise and let Kins continue.

“Powerlifting. I got into it when I was at the U.”

“Did you play football there?” Kins asked. “You must have been the entire offensive or defensive line. I would have loved to have run behind you.”

“No football,” Miller said. “My dad is a neurologist. He didn’t want me hitting anybody with my head. I had a track-and-field scholarship. Hammer throw, shot put, discus. You played at the U?”

“Four years, one year in the NFL. Wish I had your dad advising me. Could explain a lot of things.”

“Concussions?”

“A few, but I retired when I hurt my hip. I got a new one before I turned forty. Lucky me. I don’t let my boys play football.”

Tracy and Kins ordered from the waitress as she filled their coffee mugs. Kins chose an omelet. Tracy selected a Danish.

“You’re the detective that caught the Cowboy,” Miller said to Tracy.

Tracy had received considerable recognition inside the department and from the news media for arresting the Cowboy. She wasn’t surprised Miller, working out of the North Precinct, knew the case. “I am,” she said.

“I thought I recognized the name when you called. You’re working cold cases now?” He sounded surprised.

“I am,” Tracy said.

“You said this had to do with Elle Chin. Something new come up?” Miller poured half a jar of syrup over the stack of pancakes and cut into it with his fork, taking a wedge the size of a slice of cake.

“Just giving it another look,” Tracy said.

Miller cut to the chase. “I imagine you want to talk to me about my report the night the little girl went missing.”

“First, let me ask, how well did you know Bobby Chin?”

Miller swallowed his pancakes with a drink of milk. Then he said, “Not that well. Bobby and I were close in age. I think he was the class ahead of me at the Academy, but we didn’t hang out or anything.”

“What kind of guy was he?”

Miller shrugged those big shoulders. “Good guy. I liked him. Like I said, we didn’t hang out or anything. He was married.” Miller made a face when he said it.

“Did you know his wife?”

“I’d never met her, until that night, but I knew of her. All the patrol officers in the North Precinct knew about her.”

“Bobby talked about her?”

“Not like you’re thinking.” He shook his head. “But he’d get phone calls while he was on patrol, and his partner would overhear and let some of the guys know. You know how that goes. You can’t keep secrets in the station.”

“I know.”

“Then there were the reports about Bobby beating on her, and the domestic violence charge she filed against him,” Miller said. “That was also pretty hard to keep quiet.”

The police department, like many organizations, was a fishbowl. If you didn’t want everyone to know your personal business, you kept your mouth shut—or threatened to shoot your partner, which had always worked for Tracy and Kins.

“Did you believe it?” Tracy asked.

“The DV? I didn’t. Not at first. Thought she was making up stuff. Heard the divorce was ugly. But then Bobby pled. So I guess it was true.”

“You ever ask Bobby about the DV charge?”

“No. I figured that was his business. But what I heard was Bobby fessed up to it. Said he slapped her, I think. No excuse for that.”

“Did Bobby ever strike you as violent?”

“No,” Miller said without hesitation. “But I didn’t work with him. He seemed pretty even-keeled to me, though he liked heavy metal music. Drove his partner crazy.”

“I heard Bobby left the department. You know anything about it?”

“Shortly after his daughter disappeared. He was put on leave,” Miller confirmed. “Had to be tough for him—the uncertainty, I mean. And his wife was in the news quite a bit, saying she believed Bobby took their daughter. She didn’t have any evidence of it, but that didn’t stop her from using it as a bat to beat him over the head in the media, that’s for sure. From what I understand, Bobby was blowing the same horn, saying his wife and the boyfriend took the daughter.”

Tracy wanted to ask Miller about his report. “You were first to arrive at the Chins’ house that evening?”

“I got the call to haul ass and find out if the wife and boyfriend were at home or not.”

“Who told you to do that?”

“Patrol sergeant.”

“Do you know who called him?”