Sin glanced at McGuire and back at the Stoklers. “You are both giving us pieces of a larger puzzle. I need you to fill in the rest. What the hell is the Ghoul School?”
“One of the buildings on the campus was rented to a school of mortuary science,” Ashley said. “Campus security found Joel sleeping in the back of that building. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the next thing I remember was Miranda telling everyone that the problem was taken care of. After that, he stuck to her like glue.”
“Any idea what happened to him?”
“I have no idea,” Ashley said. “I’m not the high school reunion type of girl.”
George didn’t answer as fast but after glancing toward his sister, he said, “I think I heard he joined the military after Miranda passed.”
“Which branch? Who did you hear that from?”
George looked at Sin. “I don’t know. Just the military. As far as who told me, no one specific. Just a rumor going around campus when no one saw him again after Miranda’s death.”
Sin ate a few bites of food before standing to leave. “After you eat, I need the two of you to sit down with a composite artist. Tell the artist everything you can remember about Joel. No detail is too small.
“As a favor, I am asking you both to stay in town in case we need you.” She looked across the table at Anthony Freitas. “Will that be a problem?”
He shook his head. “No, my clients will be glad to stay in Miami for as long as you need them.”
“Thank you,” Sin replied.
“Wait,” Ashley said, as Sin turned to leave. “You never did say what the connection was between us and Vincent Ash.”
Sin could see dread in both of the Stoklers’ eyes. So much so that she almost didn’t want to tell them. Suck it up, Sinclair.
“Vincent Ash was Joanna Ash’s husband. That was your mother’s married name. She was the one who figured out that he was the Midwest Mauler. She was also the one who killed him. When the case was closed, she disappeared. Seven years later, she resurfaced in Miami using the name Miranda Stokler.”
George turned six shades of crimson before fading to pure white. He stood on wobbly legs, excused himself from the table, and stumbled into the hall in the direction of the bathroom.
Sin could hear the sound of retching from where she stood.
Ashley looking a bit pasty as well, quickly excused herself from the room.
“Counselor,” Sin turned to Freitas, “I am putting them in your hands. Make sure they don’t leave town or do anything stupid.”
He poked around at his plate with chopsticks, and nodded. Putting them down, he wiped his mouth, balled up his napkin, and tossed it on the table. “What you just did, what you just told them and the way you told them, was absolutely uncalled for. My clients have cooperated fully. They didn’t need that extra smack.”
Sin placed her hands on the table and leaned toward the attorney. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind but thought better of it. Standing, she shot a glance at Jack before departing. “Call me when you have those two tucked into bed.”
“Will do,” he said. “Be careful out there.”
“Being careful has gotten us nowhere,” Sin mumbled, walking out of the room.
38
Sin spent the next few hours on her boat at the computer, hoping to get a trace on Joel. Well, she thought, I’ve put Joel Ash, Joel Stokler, and Joel Vincent in Charlie’s military data bases. Let’s hope I get a bite.
Sitting on the deck of her boat, Sin contemplated her next move. Day turned to night, and she still hadn’t heard from Fletcher or Garcia. She hoped they’d received her message.
Staring at her cell phone, Carmelita’s words rang through her mind.
You are the Pearl Angel of Death. The righter of wrongs.
“She’s right,” Sin said, “and it’s about time I start acting like it.”
Sin grabbed her keys off the deck table, walked across the street to the parking garage of the hotel, and mounted her bike.
Sin pulled out of the garage and tore across the 41st Street Causeway not noticing the white van parked off to the side of the road.
“I wonder where she’s headed,” Ash mumbled.
“Who gives a damn,” she shrieked. “It’s time to set the stage for your greatest display yet.”
Her loud cackle was like an ice pick to his brain. Ash had to squeeze the sides of his head to stop the pulsating headache. But, as always, he knew there was only one way to stop the verbal assault and that was to do as she demanded.
It had been that way his whole life. The only way to stop the pain was following her command to the letter.
When Sin arrived back at HQ, there was a tornado of activity.
“What’s going on?” Sin asked Evelyn.
“A raid in the drug case. The team is reviewing the final plan.”
Sin noticed that Evelyn seemed hesitant in her words and actions. “Okay, but why are you looking at me that way? What else is going on?”
Evelyn moved her eyes toward a chair in the waiting area and then back at Sin. “Detective Anderson from the FDLE has been waiting to see you for over an hour. I told him that I didn’t know when you’d return, but he said he’d wait.”
Sin turned her attention toward the officer and saw a look of desperation on his face. “Detective, how can I help you?”
Anderson stood and shook Sin’s hand. “I was hoping for a few minutes of your time. I think it’s an emergency.”
“You think?”
“If we could talk in private, I’ll explain.”
Sin could hear the sincerity in his voice, so she didn’t push it. “Follow me,” she said with a wave.
They entered the conference room, and Sin asked if he would like a cup
