Page 17 of Fearless Encounter

Gabriel stood by the desk. “How was your weekend?”

“Ah, pretty good,” Amalie said. “Normal stuff. Saturday night I went to a party with a few friends. How about you?”

“That’s a story,” Gabriel said. “I’ll fill you in after I get some coffee.” Amalie gave him a wide-eyed look, but he held up his hand. “I need caffeine first.”

Gabriel went down the short hallway to find Weston in the lunchroom, coffee in hand. “Rough weekend?” he said, watching Gabriel go for the brew.

“You could say that.” After filling his mug, Gabriel sat at the table. “Any updates on our cases?”

Weston sat across from him. “I’m buried in work, if that’s what you mean.” He leaned back. “I made notes of any progress, so you’ll see that when you log in.”

Gabriel relied on Weston for research, a skill he’d honed over many years. As part of the younger generation, he’d grown up with computers. His specialty was cybercrime, and he had hacking abilities that netted a lot of information. Gabriel had learned not to ask too many questions, as long as his partner kept it legal—which he’d promised to do.

Amalie came in, got a bottle of water from the refrigerator, then sat at the end of the table. “Well…what’s the story you have to tell us?” She smiled. “You met a woman you like?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, “but not in the usual way.” He started the story with the surprise of running into Brooke at the parade, then covered the events since, taking care to mention any important details.

“Wow, that sounds like the start of quite the relationship,” Amalie said with a frown.

“And still no word from the PD about the identity of the woman?” Weston said.

Gabriel shook his head. “Not so far, but I need your help. We won’t take any new cases this week. We can outsource temporarily, because I need you able to focus on this.”

“You’re expecting this to turn into something?” Amalie said. “I mean, so much happens during this season. Is it just because you know Brooke?”

“I would say that’s one thing,” Gabriel said. “I’ve volunteered to protect her, and I won’t let her down. But also, a woman doesn’t get carried off in an alley without a reason.”

“Hmm,” Amalie said, then gulped her water. “I’ll see what I can find.”

When she left, Gabriel said, “I know it’s not much to go on yet, but…”

“I’m on it,” Weston said, heading back to his desk.

If anyone could dig up a clue about the abduction, it would be his team. While they got to work on that, Gabriel went to meet Abe at the scene. Before leaving, he told Weston to text if there were any updates.

*****

When he arrived, Abe was already in the alley scoping things out. He knew what to do without Gabriel’s direction. Prior to joining the PD, Abe Stewart had been a Navy SEAL. At that time he’d been married, but that relationship hadn’t lasted. That had been a heartbreak for Abe, something he’d shared with few people other than Gabriel. His strong personality got him through many things. There had been no children in that first marriage, which Abe considered a good thing, as divorce was hard on kids.

Gabriel looked around the quiet alley. He could see it more clearly than he had that night. “You said you had an idea?”

Abe nodded. “I want to see what we can learn from the scene. As you can see, there are routes to escape without being too obvious.”

“I don’t have much hope of finding anything,” Gabriel said. “The perp could have grabbed his victim while drunk or acting like he was, so carrying her off wouldn’t attract too much attention. Besides, the parade was drawing all the focus. From what I could tell it was vacant in this alley, except for Brooke trying to use it as a shortcut.”

“A parade during carnival season is a good way to hide a crime,” Abe said. “It’s a rowdy environment, creating plenty of distraction.”

Walking down the alley, Gabriel didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Well, I know you didn’t call me out here to search an empty alley.”

“Actually, I did.” Abe waved, and another officer strode toward them with a German shepherd on a leash. “These days, the canines are trained to detect Rohypnol. I’m sure you’re familiar with it.”

“Sure, that was used as a date-rape drug while I was still on the force,” Gabriel said.

“The dogs can sniff it out,” Abe said.

With the officer in tow, the dog lowered its head, moving back and forth in a sweeping motion down the alley.

Gabriel understood what Abe was after. Low doses of the drug produced muscle relaxation and had sedative effects for up to eight hours—plenty of time to make off with a victim. Chloroform had fallen out of favor. It was risky to use, since it could cause heart failure.