Look For Me (Detective D.D. Warren #9)(55)

Total silence from Neil.

“I’m sorry.” She couldn’t quite help the sarcasm leaking into her voice now. “Have you magically found Roxy and just forgot to tell me? Neighborhood patrols turned her up? You’re staring at her as we speak?”

“No,” Neil admitted grudgingly.

“Have you heard about Hector’s shooting? Did you know Flora helped identify Roxy’s hideaway across the street? Or that Roxy is carrying a light blue backpack, which we can now add to our search description?”

“So Roxy shot Hector?” Neil asked, no longer so hostile, more like resigned to his fate.

D.D. sighed heavily, her own temper fading. “I want to say yes, but honestly, I’m not sure. Roxy was tucked away in an empty office across from the scene. Someone matching her description fled the area. We have uniformed officers scouring the area, as well as pulling security tapes that might show us if it definitely was Roxy and her backpack people saw running away. My problem is, why would Roxy shoot Hector?”

“Let alone her entire family,” Neil finished for her. “At least on this end, Carol and I haven’t uncovered anything to suggest Roxy was feuding with her mom or involved in anything illegal. Not even any evidence of an evil boyfriend.”

“All reports are that she loved her siblings,” D.D. agreed, “and went out of her way to protect them.”

“So if Roxy’s innocent, why hasn’t she turned herself in?” Neil asked. “What’s she hiding for?”

“If I had to guess—I think she’s afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Honestly, Neil, that’s what we’d better figure out.”

D.D. ended the call. Phil had put away his own phone and was now waiting for her.

“I have two sets of contact info,” he announced. “One for the girls’ foster placement, the other for Juanita’s lawyer.”

D.D. considered the matter. “Any allegations of abuse the foster parent is going to deny, deny, deny.”

“On the other hand, the lawyer might have already dug up some evidence of the truth,” Phil provided.

“Lawyer it is.”

D.D. glanced at her phone. The text from home she still hadn’t read. The photo she still hadn’t opened.

Family. So much in life came down to family.

She slid her phone into her pocket and followed Phil to his car.





Chapter 21


THE FIRST FEW TIMES I walked past the high school, I missed Sarah completely. I was looking for a thin female in neutral clothes tucked behind a tree or lurking around a bush. But directly across from the school was a sea of concrete. Deli, mini-mart, pawnshop, all with a shared parking lot. Not a tree or twig in sight for obscuring a wannabe spy. And inside the stores it would be too difficult to peer deep into the school grounds, keep tabs on Mike Davis.

I headed up the sidewalk in front of the school, then back down, keeping my head low. As Sarah had said, the school grounds was a busy place. Various kids running around in sports uniforms, others clumped together in tight groups. I spotted Mike in a shadow near the end of the school building. He was doing his rocking back and forth on his heels. Maybe he had earbuds in. Maybe he was just listening to the music in his mind.

Third pass, getting nervous now, I heard: “Psst.”

I turned toward the street and, sure enough, Sarah. Not skulking. Not pacing. But tucked down in the passenger’s seat of a parked car. She cracked the door open as I approached.

“I didn’t know you had a car.”

“I don’t. Found the door unlocked. Helped myself.”

I nodded in admiration. “Nice improvising.”

“As you can see, there’s no good place to stand around watching. And given that I’m too old to be a student and too young to be a mom, I wasn’t sure how long I could walk laps around the athletic fields without someone becoming suspicious.”

I squatted down next to the vehicle. Basic silver economy car. Student parking sticker on the windshield. Collection of hair scrunchies wrapped around the shifter.

I was more and more impressed. Sarah could be anyone’s older sister waiting for her sibling’s practice to get out. She had her phone out in her hand. Another nice touch. Bored and texting to pass the time. Most people walking by probably didn’t even see her. And those who happened to peer in, notice a lone female staring at her phone? Nothing interesting to see there.

“So, anything to report?” I asked.

“Regarding Mr. Bojangles?” Sarah was chewing gum, a concession to her nervousness over her first surveillance mission. Now she blew a bubble, let it pop. Method acting, I thought. “Nah, he’s just been bouncing around the same small area. Sometimes, I swear his lips are moving. Maybe talking to all the voices in his head.”

“Or he has Bluetooth and is talking to someone on his phone.”

Sarah blew another bubble, let it pop again. “No way I can get close enough to make that determination. I’m here to observe any meet-and-greets. So far, nada.”

I nodded, peered through the car windows to spy Mike doing exactly as Sarah had reported: bouncing on his toes, murmuring to empty air.

“So this is Roxanna’s BFF?” Sarah asked.

“Apparently.”

“She’s got a nurturing streak.”