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Silently blessing his decision to drop Tansy off a block over, he outlined the part of his story he felt able to share. “All I know about your Jane Doe is that her first name is Wendi. I took her to the motel after we picked her drugs up at the Gulch. That’s how I got the address. Seems she used to go out with the guy who runs the place. Says he’s a head cook. Only name she gave me was Jay.”
“Nope, we never picked up a guy by that name.”
“No doubt. The ruthless bastard’s been texting me death threats since you shut the lab down. Any chance you picked up a male on any of your videos around room 204 at the Madrona last night? I’m thinking after the raid.”
Bill chuckled, a sound with no wit whatsoever. “What? You figure he followed you two?”
“Maybe.”
“No such luck. But we do have a kid who showed up. Stayed for a while and then left, running. No identification except for the build, which is why we figure it’s a young person.”
Luke didn’t want to share what he knew about Tansy until he had a chance to talk with her. If he sent a bunch of cops crawling around, he’d lose her trust. He needed her with him as long as she could lead him to Zed. That low life was the only one he had a lead on who could get him closer to the people cooking the lethal shit. All he had to do now was find her.
Flint’s question broke into his thoughts. “You need back up?”
“Not yet. But two things I do need. If you can get this Jay off my back, it would help. And keep Wendi’s death under wraps. I think I know a way to use her, but I’d need her alive.”
“You got it. Also, we questioned the other three people that we found at the same warehouse. They’ve refused to cooperate… they all asked to be lawyered up.”
“Which means you’ve got squat.”
“Yeah. Pretty much. We’re going through all the databases for anything we can find. Particularly for known criminals hanging around the perps we have in custody, but nothing so far.”
“Maybe dig into Wendi’s background, especially her online persona. She’s the type to have posted all kinds of crap. Could be that if Jay and her were a thing, he might show up there.”
“Good idea. You be safe. I’ll have a few men in the joint tonight just in case. They’ll love the undercover assignment with you onstage.”
Luke didn’t argue. Instead, he shut down the call and put his gear back in the glove compartment. He seldom used the disposable phone with only one number. Yet it came in handy when he needed to reach Flint immediately.
Luke checked his watch and saw he had a few hours until he’d have to show up at work. He headed to Jess’s place on the off chance he might catch him home.
When Jess saw who knocked on his door, he stepped back and waved Luke inside. “Su’p bro. You’re in a lot of shit. I just got off the phone with Melanie, and she says she can’t talk Honey down this time. She’s royally pissed about last night. What happened, man?”
“I can’t tell you much except that she thinks she saw me at her mother’s place, and I didn’t acknowledge her.”
“She right?”
“Yeah. But there were cops crawling all over the place, and they know me. I didn’t want to get hassled and make things harder for everyone. After all, they were already having to deal with a dead body.”
“She wouldn’t have cared.”
“Maybe. But you know what it’s like having everyone think you’re a loser. All I want to do is keep my head down and play my music. You gotta remember that feeling.”
Jess pointed to the kitchen chairs and headed to the fridge for a couple of cold brews. “Yeah. I remember. After Julian got into all that trouble, I couldn’t leave the apartment for days. I’d tried to talk him into turning himself in, but he wouldn’t listen. Told him I knew what he was going through. That I’d had my own issues, but I’d cleaned my act up.” Jess pulled out a chair by the table to join Luke. “Even tried to get him to talk with our dad but he was too ashamed.”
“Is that why you don’t visit the old man?”
“Haven’t been able to face him. I got better though.”
“Except you never played music again. Can’t imagine giving that up.”
“At the time, it seemed the least I could do. You know… payment for all the bad shit that went down… stuff I’d been involved in.”
“I guess. Look, I came here for a reason. Not just to cry on your shoulder over losing the best thing that ever came my way.”
“Amen to that.”
Luke bowed his head, sharing his remorse before making his request. “Do you remember that Wendi girl who hung out at the bar and ended up almost losing her life?”
