Read Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me? for Free Online

called to say he hadn’t phoned in Ford’s location. I called Phyllis to see if he’d come home from his night shift. He hadn’t, so I tracked him here.’
    ‘Tuzak is Zacharias?’
    ‘Isaac Zacharias. Two Zacs. We called him Tuzak at the Academy. It stuck.’
    ‘You were in DCPD together?’
    ‘Yeah. I left, he stayed. He was a good cop. Smart. He never would have let some punk get the drop on him. How the hell did this happen?’ He turned to Joseph, his eyes suddenly suspicious. ‘And how did you know to come here?’
    ‘Ford didn’t show up for work this morning. Dad asked me to check it out. I found Ford’s SUV on the street at the other end of the alley. It’s probably been there all night.’
    The suspicion faded from Maynard’s eyes, replaced with a weary dread. ‘This is going to kill her,’ he murmured. ‘She was terrified something like this would happen.’ He turned, his gaze returning to his slain friend. ‘How do I tell her? She’s pregnant.’
    Joseph’s teeth clacked together, hard. ‘Daphne’s pregnant ?’
    Maynard shook his head. ‘No. Phyllis Zacharias. The baby’s due in a few weeks. Tuzak was just looking to make a little extra . . . for expenses.’
    Joseph pointed his flashlight to the AFID tags, noticing there were even more a few feet away. Zacharias’s killer had fired multiple cartridges. ‘Taser.’
    ‘Sonofabitch,’ Maynard swore viciously, then swallowed hard. ‘Sonofabitch,’ he repeated, this time in a whisper. ‘Phyllis can’t see him this way. She can’t.’
    ‘We won’t ask her to do the ID,’ Joseph murmured. ‘But we have two missing persons and I’m going to have to ask questions.’
    ‘Then ask me,’ Clay said harshly. ‘Phyllis only knew that he was working for me.’
    ‘Okay, we’ll start with you. Did Zacharias see anything weird? Anyone suspicious?’
    ‘No. He said it was a cream puff job, following around a squeaky-clean kid who didn’t even know he was there.’
    ‘Ford didn’t know he had a bodyguard?’
    ‘No. Daphne tried to get him to agree to have one, but the kid is stubborn. She started getting threats and—’
    ‘What kind of threats?’ Joseph demanded. ‘From whom?’
    ‘Violent threats. You-have-to-sleep-sometime threats. Isn’t-that-son-of-yours-a-handsome-young-man threats. I’m certain they came from the family of the murderer she’s prosecuting. Millhouse. I have to tell her.’
    ‘No, you don’t. Let us handle this.’
    Maynard glared. ‘This is my business, Carter. My employee. My friend. My goddamn responsibility.’
    ‘I know,’ Joseph said quietly, knowing he was dealing with a man on the edge of control. I’d react the same way . And he had. ‘And you have my word that I’ll respect that. But this is my case and you’re going to have to trust me. I know my job.’
    ‘Wait. You’re Homeland. You’re out of your jurisdiction. Why is this your case?’
    Joseph wasn’t surprised Maynard had known he’d been Homeland Security. He did have to admit to being a bit surprised – and impressed – with his brother’s fiancée’s discretion. Paige hadn’t mentioned his transfer to her own partner. Good to know .
    ‘I’m VCET now. FBI/local task force.’
    ‘I know what VCET is,’ Maynard said, jaw clenched. ‘And for the record, I trust Feds about as much as I trust most cops. Which is about nil.’
    ‘Look, you’re standing here talking to me and not cuffed because my brother trusts you. And because he does, I’ll explain how this is. Before Homeland, this is what I did – finding missing people and killers. If you don’t trust me, you’ll have to trust Grayson.’
    Maynard said nothing, so Joseph tried a different tack. ‘Clay, Isaac was your friend. You’re not objective. You know it’s true.’
    ‘And you’d step aside if you were me?’
    No . If somebody killed someone I cared about, I’d find the sonofabitch and kill him with my bare hands . And he had. And he wasn’t