Tuesday
Late Morning
Keri did a cursory pat-down of Penn before cuffing him to the radiator. Then she searched the property, calling out Ashley's name. She opened as many doors and banged on as many walls as she could without messing things up too much for CSU. When they got to the cabin, they'd want the scene as pristine as possible and she didn't want to do anything that might compromise evidence. But she found nothing tying Ashley to the place.
Meanwhile, the whole time she searched, Payton Penn repeated the same word over and over like a mantra: "Lawyer."
Eventually she decided to take him in, but not to Pacific Division, which was a two-hour drive and had an angry lieutenant waiting to confiscate her badge and gun. Nothing that had happened at the cabin was likely to change Hillman's mind about that. She called the Twin Peaks substation of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department to let them know they'd be having visitors.
As she did a more thorough body check of Payton Penn before walking him down the hill, she discovered a phone in his pocket. It was emitting a soft beeping noise every three seconds.
"What's this?" she asked.
"Lawyer," he answered.
Keri tossed it on the couch in frustration.
"Seriously," he said, "it's an alert beacon that goes out to my lawyer. I pushed it while you were illegally searching my home. Since I don't trust you to let me contact him, I did it myself. So if you're thinking of roughing me up any more, just know that my attorney will be here soon."
"What kind of person has an alert beacon on his phone to reach his lawyer? It's like the bat signal for assholes."
"Lawyer," Payton Penn said, returning to his non-cooperative ways.
Keri left the phone on the couch as they headed down the hill. If the lawyer was tracking it, he'd at least be delayed a bit.
*
Keri was frustrated. As she sat in the Twin Peaks substation two hours after arresting Payton Penn, she was no closer to finding Ashley than she'd been when she busted through that cabin door.
She had tried to question him multiple times through the small cell in the corner of the room but he just kept saying "lawyer" and repeating a phone number with a 213 area code. That meant his lawyer was based in downtown Los Angeles and not some local bumpkin. The sheriff, a man named Courson, must have realized that too because he eventually pulled Keri aside and told her he had no choice but to call the number. They didn't want a civil rights violation lawsuit from some rich LA attorney. They couldn't afford it.
Then he gave her even worse news. He'd contacted her boss at Pacific Division to read him in, a guy named Hillman, who wanted her to call in immediately. The sheriff told her she could videoconference from his office, where she'd have some privacy. She thanked him and reluctantly made the call from the sheriff's surprisingly hi-tech video set-up.
Hillman and Ray popped up on the screen. She was at least glad it wasn't the whole squad.
"Care to explain yourself?" Hillman asked. She launched in.
"Sir, Payton Penn has a motive to abduct Ashley. His own brother suspects that the threatening letter they received came from him. And that note in the van everyone was so sure Ashley wrote could have been forged. Payton stayed with his brother's family last spring. Mia told me he wasn't supervised. He could have easily gotten the stationery from Ashley's room. He could have taken things she'd written and used them to trace a note that credibly looked like her handwriting. If he's been planning this for a while, then he'd have lots of time to get it right."
To her surprise, neither man spoke.
"What is it?" she asked.
Hillman looked almost sheepish as he spoke.
"About that-the FBI tells me that they've started preliminary analysis on the note from Ashley and they've found some…anomalies."
"What does that mean?"
"It means they're no longer certain she wrote it."
Ashley tried not to gloat but couldn't resist one little dig.
"Do you still want my gun and badge?"
The sheepishness disappeared from Hillman's face.
"Don't get cocky, Locke. We both know your phone didn't cut out earlier. Besides, my understanding is that you didn't find anything incriminating at the cabin."
"I only got to do a cursory search. I need to go back and do a more thorough one."
"And you will, once we get a warrant."
"Exigent circumstances, sir."
"When you first busted in, maybe. But that won't fly anymore. We need to do this by the book from here on out. Give us an hour or two down here and we'll have the paperwork sorted out. You can wait at the station up there and lead the search once we get approval. I'm sending Sands up to assist. He should be there by the time we get the warrant authorized."
Ray shifted uncomfortably beside Hillman but said nothing. Sheriff Courson poked his head into the office.
"Penn's lawyer is here," he said. Keri nodded.
"I've got to go," she told Hillman.
"Okay. But you're not to take any further action without authorization. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir," she said before hanging up and returning to the station bullpen.
Even before the sheriff introduced him, Keri was put off by the lawyer. On the surface, he was attractive. His jet black hair was slicked back like some 1980s Wall Street warrior. He had a broad smile that vaguely reminded her of the Joker from the Batman movies. His teeth were unnaturally white and his skin was unnaturally tan. His suit probably cost upwards of five thousand dollars. Almost everything about him oozed insincerity. Everything, that is, except his eyes, which were bright and alert and currently focused on her.
"Detective Keri Locke," said Sheriff Courson, "this is Mr. Penn's attorney, Jackson Cave."
Cave stepped toward her and extended his hand. Keri forced herself not to react visibly even though every nerve ending was on edge. This was the man who could potentially lead her to the Collector and maybe even to Evie.
"Nice to meet you, Detective," he said as he clasped her hand between both of his and gave her that cheesy political handshake that was so common these days. "I've been hearing a lot about you lately."
"Right back at you, Counselor," she said, staring at him unblinkingly.
"Oh, that's intriguing," he said, seemingly genuinely curious. "Perhaps we could get a drink sometime and swap war stories, somewhere a little less…rustic."
Out of the corner of her eye, Keri could see that Sheriff Courson appreciated Jackson Cave about as much as she did.
"Don't hold your breath."
"No, of course not. And I suggest you don't hold your breath when it comes to keeping my client locked up much longer. He'll be making bail in the next few hours, just as soon as we return to an LA courtroom and show a judge video footage of Mr. Penn at work all day yesterday, including the exact time of his niece's alleged abduction. It would seem that you wasted a trip up here on a wild goose chase, Detective."
"I wouldn't call it a waste, Mr. Cave. After all, I got to meet you. And I have a feeling we'll be running into each other again."
She nodded at Sheriff Courson and he followed her into his office.
"Sheriff, I need to ask you a favor."
"What's that?"
"Can you drag this thing out as long as possible? Don't offer to drive Penn back to LA. Demand that LAPD or the County Sheriff come up and take custody. Take your time with the paperwork. In general, drag your heels. I need time to get ahead of this case before that asshole Cave starts mucking everything up. A girl's life may depend on it."
"Frankly, Detective, I was inclined to do all that on my own. Payton Penn has been a pain in my rear for years and his lawyer hasn't endeared himself to me much either."
"Great. Can I leave here directly from your office? The longer it takes before Cave realizes I'm gone, the more of a head start I can get."
"The door's right there," he said.
Keri didn't need to be told twice.
*
She called Ray from the car on the way back out to Payton Penn's place.
"I'm going back up to the cabin," she told him, skipping the pleasantries entirely.
"Nice to speak with you too, partner," he said, clearly as annoyed with her as she was with him. "Don't do something dumb, Keri. I'm on my way up there now. We'll have the warrant soon. Just wait it out."
"Ashley could be dead by then."
"We're still not even a hundred percent sure she was abducted at all, much less by this guy."
"Raymond, would you rather be overly aggressive and be wrong or too lax and be wrong? If I'm wrong, the worst that happens is I get fired or sued. But if she was taken and we slow boat this, a girl could end up dead. It's not a tough call."
"Okay, but what if he is the guy and you find something without a warrant? It might be inadmissible in court."
"I've got latex gloves and I'll be careful not to leave any traces. I was already in the place once to arrest him. So finding my DNA won't be a shock."
"Is there anything I can say to get you to hold off?" he pleaded.
"You can tell me Ashley Penn was just discovered safe and sound. Short of that, no."
She heard Ray sigh heavily.
"I'll be up there in about ninety minutes. Please be careful."
"You got it, Godzilla."
