Jillian used her badge to unlock the side door. “Let’s talk in your office.”
Carl took the door handle and held it open for her, gesturing for her to enter first. “After you.”
They walked the rest of the way in silence, heading down the corridor that led to a wing of mini labs. The building was quiet and empty save for the janitors who worked their way down the tiled corridors behind industrial mops that cleaned a day’s worth of foot traffic. The officers patrolling overnight wouldn’t return until at least six. For now, Jillian and Carl practically had the entire building to themselves.
Inside one of the labs, Carl closed the door to his private workspace behind Jillian and pulled the blinds. “I’m assuming whatever this is, it’s off the record?”
“For now, please.”
He made a motion as if zipping his lips.
“Thank you, Carl. I knew I could count on you.” She fished the notes from Katarina’s call out of her bag and spread them on Carl’s desk. “A call came into the tip line tonight. Decker transferred it to Ellie’s personal cell phone.”
“Is that standard procedure?”
Jillian shook her head. “No, but the caller wouldn’t talk to anyone but Ellie.” Her eyes widened as a dark thought occurred to her. “Decker transferring the call didn’t give the caller access to Ellie’s personal cell number, did it?”
Carl shook his head. “That’s not how it works.”
“Good. I didn’t even think of that until now.”
“If that was a concern, I would have something in place to prevent it.” Carl grinned, rubbing his chest with one thumb. “That’s why they pay me the big bucks.”
Jillian rolled her eyes. “All right, I admit it, you’re amazing, and you’re a whiz with technology. That’s why I’m here. I was hoping you could trace the call. She gave us a name, and she was involved in a previous case, but we could never trace her or how she fits into Ellie’s kidnapping.”
Carl’s eyes widened. “The tip was about Ellie’s kidnapping?”
Jillian nodded. “You should’ve heard this woman. She was enjoying taunting Ellie.”
“Are you sure the call was legit?”
“Ellie is.” Jillian shuddered, rubbing her arms instinctively as goose bumps rose, even though she wasn’t cold. “I don’t know what to think, but the woman knew so much.”
Carl nodded his understanding and turned to his computer. His fingers flew over the keyboard. Turning the screen toward her, he said, “Only one call came into the public tip line after six. It lasted fifteen minutes.”
“That’s it.”
Carl nodded as he typed the number in on CPD’s secure database. “The phone is prepaid, so that’s a dead end. No surprise there.” There was a soft chime, and a dialogue box popped up on the screen. Carl’s eyes widened. “But the burner phone is in our database.”
Jillian leaned forward, eyes narrowed as she scanned the text on the screen. “Why is it in our…” She gasped. “Oh. Katarina Volkov. Confidential informant for Detective Jones. Oh boy.”
“His name keeps coming up.”
“Yes, it does.” Jillian pointed at the screen. “What else do you have on her?”
Carl used the mouse to click on her name, frowning when the screen changed. “This is weird.”
“That’s a pretty small file for an informant. The case number will help.” She jotted down the number.
“That’s what I was thinking.” He scowled, tried to click a few disabled links, and shook his head. “I’ve only ever seen this happen one other time.”
“When?”
“A few years ago. A fraud case that stretched from New York down to Atlanta. The informant was picked up and charged with a host of felonies, then their file was locked down, and they were in the wind. I brought it to Captain Browning, and he told me some criminals are more useful to us on the streets.” He shook his head. “I never looked at anything the same after that. This guy was a really bad man, and bodies were piling up, but he was a small fish compared to the people he worked for.”
Jillian frowned at the screen, the now familiar anger swelling in her chest. “Justice isn’t always just.”
“I’m sorry I can’t get you more.”
Jillian smiled at him, thankful for his help and what he did find. “This is more than I had, and more than I could’ve gotten with my clearance. Thank you.”
“I’ll keep this between us.”
“I appreciate that.” She grabbed her things and hurried to her office, surprised that the hallways were still quiet and empty. She was so wired now, there was no way she could go home and go to bed. Besides, she had work to do.
She used her code to unlock the door and fired up her computer. Typing in the case number from Katarina’s file, she noted the hard copy’s location and retrieved it. The cool touch of the metal chair seeped through the thin fabric of her slacks as she sat at the nearest table and laid the contents of the file out in front of her. Ellie’s familiar handwriting on the police report caught her attention, but she wasn’t surprised.
Katarina and Ellie had a history, and now Jillian knew why.
When Ellie was a beat cop and had rescued young Harmony Jackson, witness cell phone videos had gone viral. From the moment the terrified little girl was pulled from the water until Ellie carried Harmony through the crowd, every harrowing moment was caught on tape. And when Ellie leapt off the dock and onto a boat to capture the fleeing kidnapper, all of Charleston had taken notice of the fearless police officer. Ellie Kline had been celebrated as a hero, and Katarina Volkov, or Katarina Wolf as she had been booked, was arrested for child trafficking.
Jillian’s stomach clenched as she read through the file, making notes along the way.
Some criminals are more useful on the streets.
The words of Captain Browning that Carl had mentioned echoed in her head. That Katarina might be tied to the same group that had been operating in the deepest shadows of Charleston made
