Gallery of the Dead

Sixty-Eight

Agents Fisher and Williams had just joined Hunter and Garcia by the photograph-covered wall when Agent Brandon, who had stayed upstairs giving the forensics team a whole new set of instructions, walked into the room.

‘You were right,’ he said, his voice animated, his stare moving straight to Hunter. ‘It was worth checking with blood-donation centers around town. Timothy Davis did donate blood recently. In fact, he did it yesterday at a Red Cross blood bank in central Tucson at around eleven in the morning. After his donation, he was seen talking to a tall man in the snacks room at the blood center. The information we got is that they were seen leaving together, and that was the last time Mr. Davis was seen alive.’

Agent Fisher first looked at Hunter as if asking, ‘When did you instruct anyone to check with blood-donation centers?’ before her gaze moved over to Agent Brandon with a new unspoken question: ‘And why wasn’t I informed about this before?’ But the agent managed to swallow her pride and the question she finally asked wasn’t a bickering one.

‘Please tell me that this blood bank downtown has a CCTV system in place?’

‘They do,’ Agent Brandon replied, but didn’t give anyone a chance to rejoice. ‘But unfortunately, it isn’t working.’

‘What? Are you joking?’ Agent Fisher looked like she was about to punch someone. ‘How convenient.’

‘No,’ Agent Brandon clarified. ‘The system hasn’t worked for months. It didn’t just all of a sudden stop working yesterday.’

‘Months?’ Agent Fisher queried, her voice moving up the irritation scale at least a couple of notches. ‘And they never cared to fix it?’

‘We’re talking about the Red Cross here, Erica.’ Hunter tried to calm her down. ‘A volunteer-based movement where the budget is tight at the best of times. Fixing a CCTV system in a blood bank in Tucson probably isn’t very high on their priority list.’

‘Fine,’ she said, throwing her hands up in the air. ‘CCTV or no CCTV, we still need the names of everyone on duty at the blood bank yesterday morning, together with whoever else was inside that snacks room at that particular time. We need to talk to all of them, and we need to do that now.’

From his pocket, Agent Brandon produced a notepad.

‘There were three volunteer nurses on duty at the center yesterday. A fourth volunteer took care of the snacks room. According to their records, there could’ve been as many as three other people in the snacks room at that time, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. The only other person we’re sure was in the snacks room with Mr. Davis is the tall stranger, whom the blood center seems to have no record of.’

‘No record?’ Agent Fisher again.

Agent Brandon shook his head. ‘Despite him being in the snacks room, which in theory you can only gain access to once you donate blood, no one can find him in yesterday’s donor’s list. This tall stranger doesn’t seem to be in their system.’

‘OK, so how the hell did he get into the snacks room?’

‘Maybe the retina scan and the voice-signature security systems were also down,’ Garcia joked, though his voice sounded serious. ‘It’s a Red Cross blood bank, Agent Fisher, not Fort Knox. The room was full of cookies and juice, not gold bars. He probably strolled in through the front door. Nobody would really scrutinize his presence there, would they?’

Before the agent could reply, Garcia turned and addressed Agent Brandon. ‘What else have you got?’

‘Well, all four volunteers who were on duty yesterday are back on duty today. All we need to do to talk to them is drop by the blood bank. And,’ Agent Brandon informed everyone, but his nod once again went Hunter’s way, ‘forensics has already started going through the live fence outside. If you’re right, with a bit of luck, we might get something.’

‘Is the blood bank open?’ Agent Williams asked.

Agent Brandon checked his watch. ‘Yes, they opened a little while ago.’

‘OK, so let’s go,’ Agent Fisher said, motioning toward the door.

Hunter would have liked to spend a lot more time inside that basement room, but preferably undisturbed and alone. Under the circumstances, there was nothing else he could do there.

Garcia didn’t have to be asked twice. He, for one, was glad to get out.

Once the group was outside, Agent Fisher’s cellphone rang inside her pocket. As she reached for it, Garcia, who was directly behind her, caught a glimpse of the caller’s photo on the display screen. The image showed the smiling face of a teenage girl with Down syndrome.

‘Oh!’ Agent Fisher said, doing her best to hide the concern in her eyes as she addressed the group. ‘You all go right ahead. I’ll catch up with everyone in just a minute. OK?’

She brought the phone to her ear and though she kept her voice as quiet as she could, as she moved away from everyone, Garcia overheard her first few words to the caller.

‘Hi, darling, is everything all right?’

Those words were flooding with worry.

As the remaining four rounded the house, moving back toward the driveway, Garcia looked at Agent Williams.

‘Cruella DeVille has a daughter?’ he asked, sincerely surprised.

The agent nodded. ‘She does, yes. Heather. She’s fourteen years old and as sweet as sweet can be. Funny, too. You’d fall in love with her if you met her.’

‘Wow. I had no idea. She doesn’t look like a mother, if you know what I mean.’

‘Agent Fisher isn’t a bad person, Detective Garcia. She’s just—’

‘Rude and a massive pain in the butt?’ Garcia beat Agent Williams to the punch. ‘And c’mon, call me Carlos. We’re like old friends now. We’ve known each other for...’ He looked at his watch. ‘Almost twenty-four hours.’

Agent Williams smiled. ‘Sure, Carlos, she can be rude at times, but I was about to use the word “dedicated”. She’s a very strong woman, who’s been through one hell of a lot in the last few years.’ He shook his head to indicate that that was all he was prepared to reveal. ‘This job and her daughter are pretty much all she’s got left, so every day, when she wakes up and grabs those credentials, she gives it one hundred and ten percent. Never less. Yes, to a lot of people she might come across as arrogant, intense, pushy, rude, and no doubt a pain in the butt sometimes, but the one thing you can always bet on is that she will get the job done. And she’ll always have your back. No matter what situation you might find yourself in, if you ever need her, she’ll always be there for you.’

They’d been sitting inside the SUV for less than ten seconds when Agent Fisher rejoined them. The only seat left was the one next to Garcia.

‘Is everything all right?’ he asked.

Agent Fisher had to do a double take. She had detected absolutely no sarcasm in the detective’s voice. In fact, she could swear that there was concern in his words.

‘Yes, everything is fine, thank you,’ she replied, her tone a little skeptical.

Garcia smiled and once again Agent Fisher picked up no cynicism in his action. For some reason that prompted her to reveal a little bit more.

‘I haven’t been home for almost two weeks now. My daughter just wanted to hear my voice.’

‘That’s really nice,’ Garcia said, his words sincere. ‘So where is home, DC?’

Agent Fisher chuckled. ‘Not for any amount of money. No, I’m also in California. Not that far from LA, actually.’

‘Is that so?’

Agent Fisher nodded. ‘Fresno. When I heard that I was flying to LA yesterday, I had high hopes of maybe making it back home, even if only for a night. Unfortunately, The Surgeon had other plans.’ The agent’s harsh look softened a touch. ‘Have you got any kids?’

‘No,’ Garcia replied. ‘My wife and I haven’t decided if we really want kids or not.’

Hunter and Agent Williams were both sitting back on their seats, quite enjoying the scene playing out before them. Agent Brandon was also relishing the unusually cordial exchange between the two, but it didn’t last very long. Just a couple of seconds later Agent Fisher was back to her normal self.

‘Why aren’t we moving yet?’ she asked Agent Brandon as their eyes met in the rearview mirror. ‘Go, go, go. We’ve got no time to lose here.’

Agent Brandon put the car into drive and hit the gas.