Page 98 of Hours to Kill
The living room led to the left, and he followed it through a door and into the first of two bedrooms. The small room held an unmade double bed and tripod with camera. The closet was bare, the room unoccupied. Mack couldn’t focus on what the camera equipment meant right now—he had to keep moving.
“Clear,” he called as he backed out.
Kiley was stepping out of the hall bathroom. “Clear.”
Sean marched to the second bedroom and shook his head. “No one here.”
Mack wanted to curse. Shout. Punch. Do anything other than not find Addy. “We might have a storage space on the patio.”
He crossed the room and whipped open the sliding door, disappointed when he didn’t spot a door to a storage space.
“Let’s get some lights on and see what we can find.” Inside, Kiley flipped on an overhead light, revealing the tattered black furniture and personal possessions that turned out to be piles of young girls’ clothing. Suggestive clothing and costumes too.
Kiley slung her rifle strap over her shoulder and glared at the piles. “He was filming girls here.”
Mack’s gut churned. “We’ll need to get forensics out here so we can prosecute Zamora for trafficking girls, but first we search for a lead on Addy. Look for anything that might tell us Razo has been here and where he might’ve taken her. I’m gonna grab Bear and take the first bedroom. Sean, you have the second one. Kiley, you get the living area. Put gloves on and do a careful search so we leave the place like we found it for forensics.”
They split up, and Mack rushed down the stairs to the SUV. He opened the back door and tapped his leg. “Come.”
Bear eagerly bounded out of the vehicle and sat at Mack’s side.
“I’m guessing you don’t mean me,” Cam’s tone was rife with his usual sarcasm. “What’d you find?”
“Nothing other than proof that Zamora was filming girls in this apartment.”
Cam shook his head. “Sick.”
“You got anything?” Mack reached in to grab one of Addy’s gloves that she’d left in the rental vehicle.
“Not yet.” He looked back at his computer.
“We’re heading back inside.” He grabbed Bear’s leash. “Come, boy.”
They marched across the lot and up the stairs. He gave Bear a sniff of Addy’s glove and released him. Nose down like a vacuum cleaner, Bear crossed the main area but didn’t light on anything. Mack led him to the bedroom. Nothing. No sign of recognition, and he stopped to look up at Mack. He grabbed a treat from his pocket and gave it to Bear. The dog’s wet tongue scooped it up and he devoured it one bite, then sat expectantly. He’d been trained to do his job in the police world for rewards. Usually not food but a toy that came out only after a search, but sometimes a snack was the easiest thing to have on hand.
“Sorry, boy.” Mack ruffled the dog’s fur. “That’s it. Don’t want you to get fat.”
Mack’s heart sinking, he ignored the pain of not finding Addy and looked at Sean. “No indication that Addy’s been here. I’ll get on searching that other bedroom.”
As he left the room, Bear trotted behind him. If only Bear knew that Addy was missing, maybe he could lead them to something. The dog might be highly trained, but he couldn’t know the person who loved him so much was in danger until he got close enough to her.
“Search,” Mack commanded, and while the dog did his job, Mack went straight to the computer sitting on a scarred nightstand. He shouldn’t touch the machine. Just waking it up would alter evidence, but finding Addy trumped evidential procedures. He could have one of the team image it first, except that would take hours, and if she was in the hands of a man who would traffic young girls, she was in very bad hands.
Mack put on latex gloves and woke up the device. Explicit pictures of a teenage girl who should be going to prom, football games, and movies filled the screen, and his heart tore. He’d seen bad things in his career, but trafficking of innocent girls was one of the hardest to take.
He minimized the photo to do a quick search, but only learned that the computer was used solely for capturing pictures and wouldn’t help him at all. The only good news in all of this was that the quantity of photos on the machine would surely put Zamora and maybe Razo behind bars for a very, very long time.
Bear sat and looked expectantly at Mack. The dog had struck out too. Mack gave him a treat.
Before leaving the room, Mack checked under the bed with soiled bedding and found nothing. Disappointed, he joined Kiley and Sean in the living room and shared his findings or lack thereof.
“My bedroom held nothing of interest other than traces of illegal drug use,” Sean said. “Toiletries in the bathroom suggested both male and female occupants.”
“Zamora and the girls. Or maybe he had girlfriends here too.” Kiley cringed. “The costumes he had them wear are all piled over there,” she said, pointing. “Should be able to get good DNA from them, and maybe it will help bring home some missing girls.”
Bear came to sit next to Mack. He handed over another treat and looked around the room. “How could neighbors not have seen this man bringing young girls here?”
“People mind their own business these days, even if it means others suffer.” Kiley bent down and stroked Bear’s head, likely needing some comfort.
