‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
She squeezed his hand, relieved to hear his relief. ‘Given what we know this man is capable of, drugging you is definitely within the realm of believability. Don’t go doubting your sanity yet. So what happened with the IV bags?’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t die, so something obviously happened.’
‘Maybe you’ll remember more later. Or maybe you could find the nurse who worked your shift that night and ask what she remembers.’
‘She wouldn’t remember back nine months.’
‘Don’t be so sure. You were quite the celebrity. You lying there in that bed, so handsome and brave and heroic. A man who jumps in front of bullets to save a stranger is quite a turn-on for a lot of women.’ She batted her eyelashes, making him laugh again.
‘As long as it is for you,’ he said, kissing her hand. ‘Where are we going first?’
‘To the Ledger to see Stone. I want to know about McCord.’
‘What about the two people who may have seen Drake?’
‘I called the shelter. Tommy and Edna are there, trying to stay out of the heat. Tommy’s got a heart condition,’ she explained. ‘Dani’s there and she’s going to hold them for me. When we get to the Ledger, I want you to go straight in. Same with the shelter.’
‘I’m wearing Kevlar.’
‘The sniper yesterday was aiming for your head so keep your head down. Don’t wait for me and don’t be a gentleman. Not when people on roofs might shoot you.’
‘What about you?’
‘They ain’t gunnin’ for me. Besides, I’m suited up, too.’ She tugged at the collar of the thin Kevlar vest she wore under her shirt. ‘Damn thing chafes. Promise me, Marcus. No heroics.’
He made a disgruntled sound. ‘All right, fine. I’ll tuck and roll.’
He kept his promise, hurrying into the Ledger’s lobby when she stopped the car. He grabbed her as soon she came through the door, and before she could protest, his mouth was on hers, his hands moving her head this way and that as he tasted her thoroughly.
‘People, people, get a room,’ someone called. Sounded like Diesel.
Scarlett smiled against Marcus’s mouth before pulling away. ‘Very public, Marcus.’ Which had likely been the point. There had been a possessiveness to the kiss, as if he wanted his whole world to know.
‘I know,’ he said, then turned her to face the lobby.
Diesel sat behind the desk, grinning at them. ‘Detective.’
‘Mr Kennedy,’ she said with a nod. She looked around the lobby, noting the presence of the newly hired armed guard in the corner. ‘Where is Gayle?’
‘I told her to take a coffee break, so I could install extra firewalls on her computer. I shored up the network server already, but Gayle’s computer needed extra.’
‘Because of Jill,’ Scarlett murmured, and beside her Marcus sighed.
Diesel just shrugged. ‘So what’s up with you two? Other than the need to get a room.’
‘We came to see Stone,’ Marcus said, serious now. ‘You should come too.’
Diesel came to his feet with a frown. ‘Okay.’
Marcus led them past his own office and through a door to the back where the rest of the staff worked. Offices with doors lined the walls and the middle was divided into cubicles. He stopped at a closed door with Stone’s name on it and knocked.
Stone opened the door right away and gave Scarlett a look that wasn’t quite welcoming but was considerably less hostile than before. ‘I got your text saying you needed to talk, Marcus, but I didn’t expect a party. What’s this about?’ he asked when he’d shut the door.
Marcus showed them a copy of the sketch of Demetrius, told them what the Bautistas had suffered and what he himself remembered from his hospital stay.
Stone was visibly shaken. ‘They tried to kill you in the hospital? Holy shit, Marcus.’
‘You attract trouble even when you’re unconscious,’ Diesel added, stunned and furious on behalf of his friend. ‘What the fuck?’
‘The obvious threat that week was from Leslie McCord,’ Scarlett said, ‘but she was dead by the time Marcus was in the hospital. There’s a puzzle piece missing. What can you remember about that investigation?’
Both Stone and Diesel winced. ‘That was a bad one,’ Diesel said softly. ‘I . . . I still can’t get those pictures out of my head, and I only looked at a few. As soon as I saw what McCord had on his home hard drive, I backed out.’
‘I wrote the story,’ Stone said, ‘then we tipped the Internet Crimes Against Children task force. As soon as they confiscated McCord’s computer, we went live with the story.’
‘Where are the photos now?’ Scarlett asked.
‘With the ICAC task force,’ Stone said. ‘We didn’t keep copies.’
‘I always keep copies of the hard drives that I hack,’ Diesel said, ‘except when it’s kids. I don’t want it and I can’t handle it,’ he added with brutal honesty.
‘Not many can,’ Scarlett said. ‘What can you give me?’
Stone typed a command, and a minute later his printer was spitting out pages. ‘This is the story and all my notes. We got tipped off that McCord was too friendly with some of his students by a few of the boys on the JV football team. Marcus was a volunteer coach.’
‘The Ledger sponsors youth sports,’ Marcus said. ‘It’s an environment that can make kids vulnerable to predators, but it also fosters a spirit of communication.’
‘Not the Ledger,’ Diesel told Scarlett in a theatric whisper. ‘Sponsoring sports was Marcus’s idea. And mostly his money.’
She smiled up at the giant of a man who was even larger than Stone. She patted Marcus’s thigh as he sat in the chair beside her. ‘I’m not surprised.’
Marcus rolled his eyes, embarrassed. ‘It’s expedient with respect to our team’s goal. Kids will talk to a coach or a team sponsor about things they might not tell a teacher – especially when that teacher is the predator. McCord taught freshman science. Some of the boys were creeped out because of how he would get too cozy when he was checking their lab setup. They said the girls felt the same way – uncomfortable. None of the kids would come forward with anything specific, though, so I had Diesel dig.’
Diesel raked his fingers across his shaved head as if he still had hair. ‘I . . . I was not expecting what I saw. I mean, I’ve seen porn collections and I’ve even seen some kid photos when I poke around people’s computers as part of this job, but McCord’s collection took it to a whole new level. He had photos, video files . . . big files. Long videos, not just clips.’ He swallowed hard. ‘Like I said, I backed out as soon as I figured out what I was looking at. I’m no lover of cops, no offense, Detective, but I pitied the ones who had to analyze that vile shit.’
‘Okay,’ Scarlett said gently, because Diesel was actually trembling. ‘You said you turned the entire hard drive over to ICAC. You didn’t keep copies of the photos or videos, but what about the rest of the hard drive? Was it all pictures, or were there other file types?’
‘Files,’ he said on a rough exhale. ‘Word files, a few spreadsheets. Hell, I didn’t even open them. I ran a check to be sure there were no picture files embedded, then I put them in my safe at home with the drives from all our other investigations.’
Scarlett glanced up at Marcus. ‘We need to have a look. I can do it, if you want.’
He nodded grimly. ‘I’m gonna accept that offer. I just don’t think I can.’
She squeezed his knee, then began skimming the pages Stone had given her. ‘So you anonymously tipped ICAC, they got a warrant, found McCord’s stash. He’s arrested, you publish the story, the community shudders – appropriately – in horror and disgust. McCord loses his job, his pension, goes to jail . . .’ She turned the page and frowned. ‘He hired an attorney who was going to fight the charges.’ She looked up at Stone. ‘Fight with what? What did McCord have to bargain with?’