‘I remember that one all too well. I’m surprised you don’t – oh, wait. You were over in the Gulf then. What do you want to know, specifically?’
‘Everything we’ve got on the guy who did it. Name was Trent Bracken.’
‘Okay,’ Cal said slowly. ‘Although he was acquitted by a jury, you know.’
Marcus didn’t care that he’d been acquitted. He was more concerned about Scarlett at the moment. ‘Just get me whatever we have on file. This one is personal.’
‘A new case?’ Cal asked, unable to hide his excitement.
‘No. Like I said this morning, we need to lie low for a little while, until this morning’s case is solved. Speaking of which, save room in the printed edition for another article about the possible perpetrators. I was out at the house where this morning’s victim was being held. Starting in an hour or so, I’ll be embedded in the MCES task force.’
Cal whistled. ‘How’d you swing that?’
‘Kissed the lieutenant’s ass.’
‘You’re sure you didn’t kiss that pretty detective’s ass? Because if you didn’t, I’ll give it the old college try.’
Marcus rolled his eyes. ‘You’re an old horn dog, Cal.’
Cal chortled. ‘And you didn’t deny kissing the detective’s ass. Anything else I should dig up while I’m in the archives?’
‘Yeah. Actually, this is something Jill can do. Have her search for anything on human trafficking in the tri-state area – any cases, victim profiles, arrests of perpetrators. I want a wide-net search. If she gets a hit from our archives, I want pictures and any original documentation. She’ll likely get a lot of hits, but most will be anecdotal in nature. I want her to separate out anything that includes hard data or an account of trafficker convictions.’
Marcus didn’t have the numbers, but he couldn’t recall more than a few actual convictions or even trafficker arrests.
Cal was quiet for a second. ‘The girl this morning . . . she was being trafficked?’
‘It appears so. I’ll also need a mobile camera unit.’
‘You planning to carry it on your back?’
‘I was, yes. Why?’
‘Because I saw how you were favoring it this morning. Let me go with you.’
Marcus was stunned. ‘You want to go out in the field?’ Cal had been manning the archives and the press runs for twenty years.
Cal’s answer was gruff. ‘Yeah.’
‘Mind if I ask why?’
‘Yeah, but I’ll tell you anyway. One of the women at our synagogue helps out victims of sex trafficking. She did a presentation for the congregation a few months ago. Not a dry eye in the house. Mine included. If the girl in the alley was trafficked, I want to help.’
‘It’s a scorcher out there, Cal,’ Marcus said gently. ‘And I’ve been shot at twice today. I’d feel a lot better if you stayed here and put the intern to work in the archives.’
‘Twice?’
‘Yeah. Just keep it quiet for a while, okay? Gayle’s gonna chew me a new one when she finds out. I’d like to delay that as long as possible.’
‘I can’t say that I blame you. I’ll get to work on the archives. Be careful, Marcus. I only got a few months till retirement and I don’t want to have to break in a new boss before then because you got your fool head shot off.’
‘Such tender words,’ Marcus said, then looked up to see Stone in his doorway. ‘Thanks, man.’ He hung up, motioned Stone to come in and close the door. ‘I’m about to make you a very happy man.’
Stone’s eyes lit up. ‘You’re reassigning Jill to Diesel?’
‘Not that happy a man,’ Marcus said dryly. ‘Diesel would kill me. But I am assigning her to Cal. I need a retrospective on human trafficking. In the meantime, I need your polishing skills.’ He quickly emailed Stone the summary he’d written in Isenberg’s office. ‘This is an account of what happened at the Anders house. They were the people who owned Tala. It’s the bare-bones facts. Make it sound good.’ Marcus had done some reporting for the Ledger when he was younger, but Stone’s writing skills had always been superior. ‘Take the byline. I’ll be sending you regular updates.’ He lifted his brows. ‘From the front line, as it were. I just got embedded in the CPD/FBI task force.’
Stone ignored Marcus’s announcement of his new role. ‘You have a bandage on your head,’ he said quietly.
Marcus touched it lightly. ‘Yes. Scarlett bandaged me up.’
‘I’m not going to like what I read in here, am I?’ Stone asked through clenched teeth.
‘Probably not. But I was wearing Kevlar.’
Stone closed his eyes. ‘Hell, Marcus.’
‘I’m fine. Really. Now I’m going home to shower and change my clothes. I’ve been sweating like a damn pig in this torture device. It’s heavy as hell. What’s the status on you and Jill checking out the threats list?’ he asked to change the subject.
Stone’s continued glare told him he hadn’t been terribly smooth about the topic change. ‘We should have done this check a long time ago. A few of the guys we’ve removed from homes are back to business. A few have new families. A few have new jobs. I sent you a list. It’s in your email,’ he said tersely, ‘but you’ve been too busy getting shot at to read it.’
Back to business. Abusing their wives and kids. Marcus sank back in his chair, feeling like he’d just been bitch-slapped. ‘Well, shit. We got them out of their homes and it didn’t do any good at all.’
Stone nodded, his eyes still angry. ‘I sent the list to Diesel to see if he could get anything on them quickly. Apparently a number of them learned from the last time, though, and they’ve password-protected their home computers and are using proxies so damn well that Diesel might not be able to break in.’
‘Maybe Scarlett can do something with that list,’ Marcus murmured, eyes widening when Stone surged to his feet, jabbing his finger toward his face.
‘No way. No way in hell do you bring that woman into our business. If you want to get yourself arrested, fine, but you let her in and you drag the rest of us down with you.’ Stone was furious, his big chest working like a bellows. ‘You better choose whose team you’re on, Marcus. I don’t need this. I had a career. I could go back to it in a heartbeat.’
Marcus blinked at him, startled not by the outburst itself, but by the knowledge that Stone was unhappy that he’d come back to work for the Ledger. ‘Okay, okay. Settle down. I won’t drag you down with me.’
‘All right,’ Stone grunted. ‘I’ll get this article polished up. You want to see it before it goes online?’
Marcus nodded. ‘Yeah. I need to make sure I didn’t forget anything in the heat of the moment.’ But that wasn’t the real reason. Anything he printed now might as well have Scarlett’s byline on it too. She’d put her career on the line when she stood up for his right to tell this story.
‘Yeah,’ Stone said grimly, and it was as if his brother had read his mind. ‘Fine.’
Stone stomped out, passing Cal in Marcus’s doorway.
Cal came in. ‘The mobile camera unit you asked for isn’t here. I remembered that Phillip used it last. He always forgets to return it. It’s probably still in the trunk of his car.’
‘Tell him to go get it,’ Marcus said, annoyed. ‘And chew him out for not returning it like he was supposed to. He lives in a fucking hellhole. I’d be surprised if some punk hasn’t stolen it out of his trunk by now and sold it on Craigslist.’
‘I would tell him, but he’s not back yet. Last I saw him, he’d gone to your place to walk BB because you were still out. Maybe he decided to make a stop on his way back here. I called him, but he’s not answering his cell.’
Marcus frowned at this. The youngest member of their team, Lisette’s brother Phillip was forgetful about equipment, but his cell phone was permanently velcroed to his hand. If it rang, he’d have answered. ‘I’m going home now. I’ll look for his car on the way. Maybe he got a flat.’