the turn in the conversation. She flipped through her notes. “Mindy’s your stepdaughter, isn’t she?”
“I’m not her biological father, no, but I did legally adopt her a few years after Leah and I married. Mindy was three or four at the time.”
“Where’s her biological father? If we could talk to him, he—”
“You’re wasting your time, Lieutenant. Connor, Leah’s first husband, died when Mindy was only a few months old. Hunting accident. He fell out of a tree stand and his gun accidentally discharged.”
Tasha winced and her inhaled breath whistled as it passed through her clenched teeth.
“After Leah and I married, it just seemed easier to adopt Mindy than have her grow up with a different last name. Oh, I know it’s common now for kids and parents to have different last names, but I think it’s confusing for the kids and can be frustrating for the parents. I wanted to save Mindy and Leah from having to go through that.”
Tasha nodded her understanding. She made a few notes in her notepad and redirected the conversation. “Where did you see Mindy?”
“The coffee shop on Jefferson Boulevard—Mug Shots.”
“And you don’t know what she and her cousin were talking about?”
“No, and there was someone with them. A boy. As I said, I was running late for a meeting. I ran in, grabbed a cup of coffee, saw Mindy and Piper sitting in the back, and waved. They must not have seen me because they kept talking.”
“If you didn’t hear the conversation, what makes you think there was anything wrong?”
“Mindy looked as though she’d been crying.”
“Did you recognize the boy with them?” Tasha asked as she quickly scribbled notes.
“No, but I think he may have been Piper’s boyfriend. The two of them were sitting beside each other, and he had his arm draped over her shoulders.”
“Can you describe him?”
Allen took a deep breath and tilted his head, staring out the window behind her. “I only saw his profile, but he had sort of longish brown hair, wore one of those knit caps with the brim, flannel shirt over a white T-shirt, jeans. There was a denim jacket hanging on the back of his chair.”
“And you’d never seen him with either Mindy or Piper before that day?”
He shook his head.
The cell phone clipped to the waistband of her slacks vibrated, and Tasha checked the text message that showed up on the screen.
SUSPICIOUS VEHICLE AT COONE’S AUTO SALVAGE. PROPERTY OWNER REPORTS STRANGE ODOR EMANATING FROM TRUNK.
Tasha added the last of the description that Allen had provided to her notebook and rose. “I’m sorry to cut this short but I have an urgent call. I have to go.”
Allen stood with her and shook her hand. “You’ll let us know the moment you hear something, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
He escorted her to the entrance and thanked her for stopping by.
Tasha heard the door close behind her as she hurried to her car. Backing out of the drive, she thought she saw Leah staring out from one of the second-story windows. The vision was gone almost as soon as she spotted it, leaving only shadows backing the windows, and she couldn’t help but wonder if those windows reflected a darkness growing within.
five
ALEX LEANED AGAINST THE TRUNK OF VARIK’S CORVETTE and hugged herself as she watched the flatbed tow truck winch Mindy Johnson’s car into place. It was being transported to Jefferson Police Department’s impound yard and its contents would go with Freddy and Reyes for further forensic processing.
Other Enforcers and uniformed Jefferson police were dispersing in separate vehicles, returning to patrols and assignments. She envied them. Less than two hours back on the job and she was already feeling the pressure of Damian’s scrutiny.
“Tell me again about this vision,” he said, shifting his stance to block her view of the tow truck.
The vision she’d received when she picked up the doll flickered through her mind and she shuddered. “We’ve been through this once. Do we really need to go over it a second time?”
“We’ll discuss it as many times as I think necessary. Now start talking.”
She sighed and jammed her hands in her jacket pockets. “I saw a room lit by candles. There was a circle drawn on the floor with some kind of weird writing around it.”
“Would you recognize the writing if you saw it again?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really get a good look at it because that’s when I saw the girl.” Alex glanced at Varik as he joined Damian. “She was lying in the center of