Colby Brass. Debra Webb

where he might have taken her? Where he lives or works?”

      “Why aren’t the police doing something?” she shrieked. “There’s no telling what he’ll do! He’s a dopehead! A no-good son of a bitch!”

      “Ms. Boles,” Trinity said coolly, hoping his rational tone would calm her, “the police are at the hospital with Wanda. They’ll probably be here soon. We’re trying to get a head start on finding the little girl. We promised Wanda we would find her. Anything you can do to help us will help Lily.”

      “We need as much information about him as you can provide,” Jim reiterated.

      She trembled, took a deep, shaky breath and squared her shoulders. “Kobi lives on the street, as far as I know. Don’t have a job or a phone. But,” she said when Jim would have interrupted, “the one thing I know for sure is that he hangs around with some other troublemakers over in Rogers Park.” She shook her head. “I don’t know any names of his friends,” she added before Trinity could ask. “I heard Wanda say something about his friends in Rogers Park when she was yelling at him the last time he had the nerve to show up here. Before he broke her jaw. A couple of months ago.”

      “We’ll check it out.” Jim pulled a business card from his jacket pocket. “Ms. Boles, please call us if you think of anything else or hear anything related to Mr. Larkin or Lily.”

      Boles accepted the card, stared at it a long moment.

      “What about the police?” She looked to Jim first, then to Trinity. “Won’t they come here, too? Aren’t you working with them? Do they understand that he’s capable of anything? Just because he’s Lily’s father doesn’t mean he’ll take care of her.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Trinity answered, “the police will likely be here soon and have questions for you, as well. As we explained, we’re trying to get a head start with locating the father so we can help Lily.”

      “Every second we waste,” Jim said, his tone dull, emotionless, “may be the one that could have made the difference in how this turns out. You have my word that we’ll do everything possible.” He moved around the bewildered woman and headed for the door. “Call if you think of anything at all.”

      “Thank you, Ms. Boles.” Trinity tried to reassure her with his eyes. “We’ll find Lily.” He started for the door.

      “If it’s not too late already,” Ms. Boles called after him. “Kobi’s crazy. He could do anything.”

      Trinity didn’t slow his momentum.

      Jim was right.

      Every second counted.

      Chapter Three

       Toy World, 3:40 p.m.

      The police arrived at the toy store a full three minutes after Von, forcing her to adopt a different strategy for questioning employees.

      In the past fifteen minutes they had taken four employees, one at a time, into the manager’s office for questioning. Von couldn’t eavesdrop so she had initiated her own approach.

      First she’d visually examined the sidewalk and street in front of the toy store. No blood. Didn’t make sense. The woman had been bleeding. Quite possibly her coat, assuming she had been wearing one at the time, had soaked up the initial blood lost. But where was her coat?

      According to Victoria, the incident had taken place on the sidewalk in front of the store. Since the checkout counter and the restrooms were at the back of the store, it made sense to Von that any employee who’d witnessed the confrontation would have been working the aisles at the front of the store.

      Von wandered the action figure aisle, the end closest to the two-story glass store front, and watched for the red apron the employees wore. The lastminute shoppers were out in full force. The thick crowd helped her to blend in. She glanced at the street beyond the heavily decorated wall of glass. Von doubted the two police cruisers parked out front were discouraging business since Christmas was just three days away. Some parents would walk over hot coals or dodge flying bullets to fulfill their kids’ Christmas wishes.

      Which was dumb in Von’s opinion. Christmas was a waste of energy and resources.

      A young guy, younger than her twenty-eight, rolled a float stacked high with boxes onto the aisle where Von waited. Depending on how long he’d been stocking these shelves he may have witnessed the confrontation between Larkin and her ex.

      Half a dozen steps and she stood right behind the store clerk. “Excuse me.”

      He didn’t turn around or acknowledge her presence.

      She tapped him on the shoulder.

      He jumped.

      Then she saw the reason he hadn’t heard her. His shoulder-length hair hid the wire extending from his ear to his MP3 player.

      He snatched the earbud free and jammed it into his apron pocket. “Can I help you?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, sorry.” He forced a smile. “How may I help you, ma’am?”

      The distinct flicker of worry in his eyes warned that he’d committed this transgression before and wanted no part of that kind of trouble again.

      “Have you been stocking on this aisle all afternoon?” Might as well get straight to the point.

      He glanced past her, then searched her face a moment as if attempting to determine if she was a spy for management. “Since about one.”

      She hitched a thumb toward the front window. “My best friend had a big fight right outside with her ex. Did you see it happen?”

      He stiffened. “I already talked to the police. I told ‘em everything I know.”

      Von produced a trembling smile. “I can’t get the police to tell me anything and I’m really worried. She’s at the hospital and her ex took her little girl.” Von shrugged. “I really want to find that bastard before he does something even more stupid.”

      The clerk licked his lips, checked both directions of the aisle. “I wish I could help you.” He shrugged. “I really do. But I really did tell the cops all I know.” He gestured to the floor to ceiling, wall to wall window. “I could see them arguing but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The dude grabbed the kid’s hand and walked off. The woman ran after him. Looked like she was yelling but I couldn’t hear what she was saying.”

      “Which way did they go?”

      He pointed left and shrugged again. “That’s all I know.”

      Von gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

      The police would continue questioning employees until they were certain no one had seen or heard anything. Von had other plans.

      If the violent part of the confrontation hadn’t happened in front of the store, then it had to have occurred after the ex walked away with the kid in tow. Von moved out the front entrance and turned left.

      Concentrating on the snowy sidewalk, she passed a restaurant, a bookstore and a pharmacy. When she reached the end of the block she turned around and retraced her steps.

      No blood. Just the slush of snow beaten down by foot traffic.

      How far had Larkin and her ex gone before the physical confrontation occurred? The Colby Agency was five blocks away. A street over and four blocks down. The woman had been bleeding profusely. Wherever she was attacked, presumably with a knife, there would be blood close by. If not on the sidewalk near the toy store … if not in front of witnesses who surely would have called the police—It had to be in a more secluded place. Some place no one would look on a busy afternoon only a few shopping days from Christmas.

      Von checked the wide alley between the pharmacy and the bookstore. Some trash, a few empty boxes and a Dumpster but no blood. Double-checking as she retraced her steps,