Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

choke her. She inhaled deeply . . . and smelled Joseph’s aftershave on her hand.
    His scent calmed her. Greedily she covered her nose and mouth and breathed until the heartbeats in her head had quieted. The panic was gone. For now.
    Dropping her hands to her lap she looked up. Hector and Coppola stood in front of her. ‘How long does it take to get to that Timonium address from here?’ Daphne asked.
    ‘Not too long,’ Hector said. ‘Thirty minutes.’
    ‘Thirty minutes,’ Daphne repeated. ‘Then we’d best get busy.’
    ‘Doing what?’ Coppola asked.
    ‘Figuring out who the hell this Doug guy is.’
    ‘You don’t think they’ll find Ford there,’ Paige said softly.
    ‘No. I don’t. I think George was telling the truth.’ She leaned left to look around Coppola. George was still in the interview room, still sitting in the chair. He’d stopped crying, now sitting with the expression of a man who knew he’d lost everything that mattered. ‘I think they’ll find Marina’s baby in the Timonium house, unless one of Bill’s devotees has whisked her away. But Ford’s not there.’ She squared her shoulders. ‘Let’s go upstairs to one of the conference rooms. I can’t think in this room.’
    Because it was dark and she was underground. Normally she could lie to herself that Interview was just a windowless room on the first floor, but today her mental walls were weak and she could feel the panic closing in.
    When they reached BPD’s homicide floor, they were met by Lieutenant Peter Hyatt. To Daphne’s utter shock the lieutenant wrapped his beefy arms around her in a bear hug, nearly lifting her off her feet. He released her, his expression fierce.
    ‘Anything you need, Miss Montgomery, and I mean anything , you need only to ask.’
    ‘Thank you.’ Daphne didn’t dislike the man, but she didn’t always trust him. He liked to grandstand and he could be a real prick. But there was honest pain in his eyes today and it helped ground her somehow. ‘We came up here to explore some new leads. Can we use the conference room?’
    ‘Of course. I happen to know the commander isn’t using his right now and it’s a lot more comfortable. Come with me.’ He set off with long strides. ‘Nice to see you, Miss Holden,’ he tossed carelessly over his shoulder.
    Paige’s lips twitched. ‘Always a pleasure, Lieutenant.’
    Paige and Hyatt had really gotten off on the wrong foot while working the Muñoz case nine months before, Daphne recalled. But after helping Hyatt’s detectives catch a killer, Paige had earned his trust and respect, and maybe even a little affection. Daphne had always suspected that Hyatt had a softer heart than he let on. That bear hug confirmed it.
    He led them to the conference room and showed them in. ‘There’s a washroom through that door and snacks in the cabinet. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you.’
    When Hyatt had closed the door behind him, Hector let out a low whistle. ‘Can we make whoever stole the real Hyatt keep him?’
    ‘He’s not so bad,’ Paige said, raiding the snack cabinet. ‘Mostly bark, minimal bite.’
    Daphne sat down near the white board. ‘Would one of you mind being the scribe? The smell of those markers makes me dizzy and my head is already killing me.’
    ‘I’ll be scribe,’ Coppola said. ‘I love the aroma of markers. Especially the red ones.’
    ‘You have a headache because you haven’t eaten,’ Paige said, dumping several boxes and cans on the table. ‘We’ve got most of the major food groups here. Nuts, raisins, crackers, and Cheez Whiz is dairy. Kind of. Eat, Daphne.’
    Daphne grimaced. ‘Cheez Whiz is not even close to dairy.’ But she took a few cashews to keep Paige from nagging her. ‘What do we know about Doug?’
    Hector leaned back in a chair, getting comfortable. ‘We only have George’s word that he exists,’ he said and Coppola noted it on the white board.
    ‘He’s Caucasian, average everything,’ Coppola added. ‘Height, weight, coloring.’
    ‘George said he texted him,’ Daphne said. ‘We can get a phone number.’
    ‘Nice,’ Paige said. ‘I’m betting everyone has disposable cells, but George probably had his cell on him when he was arrested. We can check the call and text logs.’
    ‘Let’s get CSU on the line,’ Daphne said. ‘They need to hear this, in case they have evidence we don’t know to ask for.’ She dialed the CSU lab.
    ‘Lab. This is Peterson.’
    ‘Hi, Drew. It’s