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“I hope Hanson is all right,” I murmured, concerned for my own partner. The fact he hadn’t answered when the deputy chief called wasn’t a good sign. He’d never intentionally ignore her, which meant that he was either dead to the world in bed, in trouble—or he was the trouble.
I prayed he was just sound asleep.
“I’m sure he’s snoring as we speak.” Sewell flashed me acomforting smile. “By the way, I talked to Heather from the crime scene team. They’ll be here shortly.”
“Good. The sooner they get to work, the sooner we’ll have a lead to follow. At the moment, we’ve got next to nothing.”
“That’s unfortunate.” He glanced around, then frowned. “Did you leave her apartment unattended?”
“No.” My cheeks heated, and embarrassment coiled in my gut. “West is there.”
“West, as in, your husband?” He looked confused. “Why is he here?”
“We were out together when I got the call.”
“Uh-huh.” He seemed to be processing this. “Who reported her missing?”
“One of her coworkers.” I started toward the stairs. “Come on.”
He huffed. “Can’t we take the elevator?”
“The stairs will be good for you.”
He grumbled behind me as we took the stairs back up to the fourth floor. We were both breathing more heavily by the time we arrived, although neither of us were nearly as red-faced as Hanson would have been.
I led Sewell to the apartment, where West was waiting by the door.
“Good to see some backup,” West said, greeting Sewell with an up-nod.
“I’d rather be in bed,” Sewell replied, from behind me. “You haven’t been inside, have you?”
West’s lips twisted. “Only while Joanna was with me. I haven’t touched anything.”
He gave me a look, and I could sense he was frustrated that Sewell’s presence would limit his ability to participate and speak freely, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.
“Thanks for standing watch.” I kissed his cheek and murmured, “A man, less than six feet tall, possibly white,” quiet enough that only he could hear.
“No problem. I’ll wait out here if you want to show Detective Sewell around.”
“Sure.”
West stood aside and I opened the door and gestured for Sewell to precede me.
“Holy shit, this is a mess,” he exclaimed.
“Someone was looking for something.” I gestured for him to look into the bathroom and bedroom.
While he was doing so, a tiny ding sounded from somewhere nearby. I looked around, confused. That had sounded like metal hitting metal.
Nothing within my line of sight moved.
Ding!
I jerked, shocked to realize it was coming from outside. I strode over to the window and opened it. I hadn’t thought there was anything out here, but I’d been too hasty in coming to that conclusion. A metal fire escape staircase passed by the window, zigzagging from above, with a small balcony accessible by climbing through the window.
I leaned farther out, squinting in the darkness as I searched for whatever had made that noise.
Ding!
