Part 15 (1/2)
He smiled. ”Then you should always wear it. Everyone needs a little luck.”
The elevator came to a stop. As the doors slid open, Herbert reached into his pocket and pressed the bottle of holy water into her hands.
Sadie looked up at him in surprise.
”Use this to keep you safe,” he said evenly. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes intently.
Sadie thanked him before allowing him to zip swiftly out of the lobby ahead of her.
She was walking to her van when an unmarked car sped past her and rounded the corner to the alley.
”d.a.m.n! I forgot to call off the dogs,” she muttered and broke into a run, with her shoes pinching her feet as she went.
She reached her van just in time to see Petrovich climbing out of his car and eyeing her quizzically.
”What's the emergency?” he called out. ”I couldn't make heads or tails over what you were saying on your message.”
”Sorry.” Sadie held up her phone. ”I was just about to call you.” She quick-stepped up to where he was waiting beside her van. ”I heard someone in the room upstairs.” She indicated the upper floors of the Pacifica with a wave of her hand. ”I thought maybe the killer returning to the scene of the crime and all that.”
”Who was it?” he asked.
”n.o.body really.”
Sadie hesitated. Should she tell Petrovich an ex-priest was cleansing the room with holy water? She shook her head and decided against it. Herbert Sylvane only appeared guilty of Catholic guilt. Suddenly, she put a hand on the van because she felt momentarily unsteady on her feet.
”n.o.body? Are you sure?”
”False alarm.”
No need to get Herbert Sylvane interrogated for sprinkling holy water, and no use in getting Petrovich more annoyed than he already was.
”So, you're all done here then?”
Sadie said she was and Petrovich opened his mouth as if to say more, then slammed his jaw shut. His eyes grew hard and he pushed Sadie away from where she stood against the hood of the van.
”Somebody's left you another present.”
Sadie looked with dismay to see a clear Ziploc baggie once again under her winds.h.i.+eld.
”Just once it would be nice to get diamonds,” she said. ”Or even a coffee gift card, you know?”
Petrovich shushed her and ordered her to stay put while he went back to his vehicle and called in the crime-scene techies who'd take over.
”You've still got my car and now you're going to take my van?” Sadie shouted.
”We're done processing your Corolla. I'll get one of the guys to drive it over here, since they're on their way anyway.”
Although it was highly irregular, Petrovich put in the request and then once again stepped forward to join Sadie by her van. She'd turned her back so she didn't have to look at it, but Petrovich was staring hard enough for both of them.
”Looks like there are two,” he muttered under his breath.
”Two what?” Sadie asked, knowing the answer but hoping he'd come back and say something upbeat like I saw two kittens, or puppies, or cute shoes . . . anything but- ”Fingers,” he said. ”Near as I can tell without picking up the d.a.m.n bag, it looks like there are two fingers in that bag.”
”Oh G.o.d.” Sadie pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. ”So now we've got three fingers and four bodies.”
”Four?”
”Counting Marlene. I know you've only found three girls, but if her ghost is around, there's got to be a dead Marlene somewhere.”
Petrovich rubbed his eyes. ”I asked Bev Hummel to check her employee records and n.o.body named Marlene worked here in housekeeping or otherwise.” He turned and faced Sadie. ”Could you be wrong?”
”About the ghost named Marlene telling me a serial killer is slaughtering women for my benefit and won't stop until I'm dead?” Sadie smirked. ”As fun as that sounds, I didn't make that up for entertainment value because my life is boring.”
”I know, but maybe your wires are crossed or something.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared. ”I don't know how this thing you do works, but I'm guessing it's not science. I can't see it, touch it, or smell it, so I can't go building a case around it, you got me?”
”Yeah,” Sadie said, unenthusiastically.
”That doesn't mean I don't respect you as a person. You're the best blood-'n'-guts person in the business and I know you've helped me when the occasional”-he paused, searching for the word-”otherworldly thing needed to be dealt with, so what I'm trying to say is this.” He placed his hands on Sadie's shoulders and looked hard into her eyes. ”Be safe. Do what you gotta do to protect yourself. Maybe take a holiday until we catch this guy.”
”I hear Hawaii's beautiful this time of year.” Sadie sniffed back tears. ”Too bad I can hardly afford to go around the block.”
”Then stay home and watch TV for a few days,” he suggested. ”Stay in bed with Zack. I'm sure he'd find that a real hards.h.i.+p.”
Sadie bit back tears. ”Do you have any leads yet?” Her voice broke slightly, so she cleared her throat.
Petrovich blew out a breath and hesitated before answering. ”Blood samples show the girls were drugged with a c.o.c.ktail containing Rohypnol and other stuff.”
”The date-rape drug?” Sadie nodded. That explained why the ghosts had no idea what happened to them. ”So some guy is dragging drugged prost.i.tutes through elegant hotel lobbies and n.o.body sees a thing?”
”I'm thinking he had them meet him in the hotel rooms and drugged them there. We've gone over the security tapes from both hotels and don't see anybody who looks the same at both locations, and we don't even see the girls coming and going. He could've disguised them. Had them wear wigs. Had them dress as men . . . anything.”
”That would make more sense than him sneaking drugged hookers through the lobby,” Sadie agreed.
”That's the thing with these cla.s.sy-a.s.sed places,” Petrovich grumbled. ”There are security cameras everywhere. Still we got zilch. The girls don't show up on the videos as entering the hotels.”
”And both hotels are owned by Torpor. You knew that?”
He nodded. ”Torpor Inc. owns both hotels. Could be coincidental or not.”
”Oh! I just remembered.” Sadie clapped her hands together. ”WATS.”
”Whats?”
”W-A-T-S,” she said, spelling it out. ”It stands for Women Against the Streets. All three women-May, Opal, and Olivia-got help from there.”
”And you know this because?”
”They told me,” Sadie replied.
”Of course they did.” Petrovich released a world-weary sigh not unlike the one often released by Sadie's own mother.