Sam grimaced. “That would suck.”

  “It did, and truthfully, he was never the same after that. Do what you’re told, Lieutenant.”

  “For once in my life?”

  He grunted out a chuckle. “You said that. Not me.”

  Sam took a seat at the table across from Best. “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”

  “I haven’t slept in three days, but that’s not uncommon.”

  Before Sam could express shock at that, McBride and Malone came in and closed the door.

  “Detective McBride, I wanted to give you an update on the Carisma Deasly case, which has become the Daniella Brown and Xavier Iker case. We’ve tied them to more than two hundred missing children and young adults. We suspect there’ll be more before we’re done.”

  “Jesus,” Sam said on a whisper.

  “Carisma is due to be released from the hospital tomorrow and will be going home with her mother. They’ve asked to see you, Detective.”

  “I… I’ll call LaToya and set it up,” Jeannie said.

  “We’re holding a press conference tomorrow at our office and would like to have you there, since this is technically your case, your bust,” Best said.

  Jeannie glanced at Sam, who nodded. “You definitely need to be there.”

  “Thank you for including me,” Jeannie said.

  “We wouldn’t be where we are right now without your fine work, Detective. I’ll send you the details of the press conference as soon as I have them.” Best got up to leave the room. “See you tomorrow.”

  “He’s not long on small talk, is he?” Sam asked.

  “Never has been,” Malone said. “But the man is good at what he does.”

  “What’s his story, anyway?” Sam asked. “I’ve worked with him for years but hardly know him.”

  “His younger sister was kidnapped when they were kids. She wasn’t found, but he’s never stopped looking for her. His entire professional life is fueled by his obsession with missing people, especially his sister.”

  “Wow,” Sam said, deeply moved. “I don’t know how people can bear to live when their loved ones are missing. I’d go mad.”

  “I would, too,” Jeannie said.

  “While we have you,” Sam said to Jeannie, “we had an interesting chat with the mayor this morning. Your name came up.”

  “How so?” Jeannie asked, brows furrowed.

  “First of all, she was impressed—as we all are—with your work on the Deasly case, but she also mentioned a job opening that she thought might interest you.”

  Jeannie gave her a wary look. “What opening is that?”

  “Deputy chief.”

  Sam enjoyed watching Jeannie’s expression go completely flat with shock.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. She very much wants a woman in the post, and your name came up.”

  “What about you?”

  “Can you picture me as the deputy chief?” Sam asked with a snort. “I’d be like a cat on a hot tin roof in that job, but I think you’d be great at it.”

  “Did she ask you first?”

  “She mentioned it, but we all know I’d suck at it.”

  “Is this for real?” Jeannie asked, arms crossed.

  “As real as it gets,” Malone said.

  “And the captains and the other higher-ups would be okay with a detective being promoted over them? Can that even happen?”

  “It’s not the norm,” Malone said, “but the mayor’s the boss. She wants a woman, and we’re sadly lacking in women at the captain rank.”

  “There’re other female lieutenants.”

  “None who have recently brought down a massive human trafficking ring,” Sam said, “or survived a brutal attack that led to other high-profile arrests. She wants you.”

  “Because I’m Black—and female.”

  “That doesn’t hurt anything,” Malone said, “but without your accomplishments, your name wouldn’t be in the mix.”

  “This is for real,” Jeannie said, sounding incredulous. “Like, she really wants me?”

  “She really does.” Sam handed her the business card from the mayor. “She’d like you to call her.”

  Jeannie stared at the card for a long moment before she took it from Sam. “I, uh… You guys… Seriously?”

  Sam laughed. “Dead seriously, and you should consider it, Jeannie. You’re going to be a mom. This would take you off the streets and give you—more or less—a day job with regular hours.”

  “Congratulations,” Malone said. “I hadn’t heard about the baby.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Sam said, wincing. “I didn’t mean to blab.”

  “It’s fine,” Jeannie said. “People will find out soon enough, and thank you, Captain. We’re excited.” She took a deep breath and blew it out as she glanced his way. “Tell me the truth… Would people accept me as the deputy chief? People who are currently sergeants, lieutenants and captains?”

  “At first, it might be rocky,” Malone said. “I won’t lie to you about that, but I think you could handle it. If you show up, do the job and don’t let the promotion go to your head, which you won’t, eventually people won’t remember that you were promoted over more-senior officers. The bottom line is that the mayor is impressed by you and wants you for this position.”

  “Thank you for your candor, Captain. I need to speak to Michael about this before I call the mayor.”

  “Let us know what you decide,” Sam said, “and congratulations. I couldn’t be happier for you or prouder of you—and not just now, but always.”

  Jeannie blinked rapidly as if trying not to cry. “Goddamned pregnancy hormones.”

  Sam laughed. “Go call your husband and tell him the news.”

  “He’s going to think I’m lying. Hell, I think I’m lying. I sure didn’t see this coming. Thank you again, both of you, for your support.”

  “You got it,” Sam said. After Jeannie left the room, she glanced at the captain. “I love when good things happen to good people.”

  “Which makes you an outstanding boss and friend, because most people would be envious of a colleague being promoted over them.”

  “I’m not at all envious of anyone who gets that job. Don’t forget… I’ve had a bird’s-eye view of what it’s like moving from the streets to the admin suite. My dad hated that job for the first two years. He was bored senseless.”

  “I remember that,” Malone said with a chuckle. “I had to talk him into coming to work most days.”

  “He was miserable, talked about retiring constantly. He even asked the chief to demote him back to detective, but Uncle Joe talked him out of that.”

  “Joe wanted his best friend riding shotgun. He admitted to being selfish about that, and over time, Skip grew into the job.”

  “I never would have. You know that, right?”

  “Yes, Sam, we all know that. You’re right where you belong here.”

  “I’ll be very happy to spend the rest of my career in this office. I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do than this, and on that note, can you check to see where we are with the FDS?”

  “That’s going to take months, well at least the national search will. The local one might be back sooner.”

  Sam moaned. “Why does it have to take so long?”

  “We’re asking multiple agencies to run our sample through their databases. We’ve told them it’s 911, but I’m sure everyone who asks for this says that. We just have to be patient.”

  “And while we’re being patient, we have to hope this guy doesn’t kill again.”

  * * *

  Jeannie grabbed her phone off her desk and told Matt she’d be right back. In a state of disbelief, she walked out to her car, got in and turned the engine on for heat. Then she took a couple of calming breaths before she called her husband.

  “Hey, baby, this is a nice surprise.”

  They normally didn’t talk during the day when they were both busy at work.

  “Jeannie? Hello?”

  “Sorry, I need to talk to you.”

  “Is everything okay? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, but something happened just now…”

  “You’re freaking me out, sweetheart. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s something good, at least I think it’s good. I don’t know.”

  “Quit talking in riddles and tell me what’s going on.”

  “The mayor has asked me to consider being the deputy chief.”

  “Holy shit, Jeannie! That’s amazing! I told you the Daniella Brown bust would turn out to be a good thing for you.”

  “It’s not just that. She wants a woman. That I’m a Black woman makes me that much more appealing.”

  “Baby, you’d rock that job, or any job for that matter. They know how great you are, or they’d never be talking to you about this.”

  “You’re not even slightly biased, though, right?” she asked, amused by his enthusiasm.

  “I know how hard you work and how dedicated you are to the job. Others see that, too.”

  “I’m not sure I should do this.”

  “Why not? What’s the downside?”

  “I’d be skipping three ranks and suddenly outranking people who’ve been here a lot longer than I have. They’d probably cry foul. It’s apt to be more headaches than anything, but the upside is it would get me off the streets and into a regular nine-to-five kind of job.”

  “That’s a huge upside, especially with the baby coming.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you want the job?”

  “I don’t even know. It’s not something I’ve considered for even a second, because it never occurred to me that I’d be offered it.”

  “Well, now you have, so you need to think about it. What does it entail?”

  “It’s a lot of admin stuff, budgeting, interaction with city hall, the council, that kind of stuff. I wouldn’t be doing as much actual police work.”

  “Would you miss it? The police work?”

  “I would, but I’d still consult on cases as needed, so I wouldn’t be completely cut off from it, and after the Deasly case… I’ve just been so heartsick over that. As deputy chief, I could ask to oversee the review of Stahl’s old cases to keep my hand in things.”

  “It sounds to me like you might be interested.”

  “Do you really think I could do it? That I could handle the blowback from the officers who’ll cry foul about me being promoted over them?”

  “I think you, my love, can handle anything that comes your way. You’ve already proven that countless times.”

  “I can’t believe we’re even talking about this. When I came to work this morning, I sure as hell didn’t see this happening.”

  “I think you’d look super sexy in the white shirt, baby. Would you make me ask for permission to come to bed every night?”

  Jeannie laughed. “You bet I would—and I’d make you salute me.”

  “I’d be happy to. This is such marvelous news. I couldn’t be happier for you—or myself, because worrying about my pregnant wife chasing murderers is the stuff of nightmares.”

  “Am I going to call the mayor, then, and tell her I’m interested?”

  “Only if it’s what you really want, but my vote is an enthusiastic hell yes. They need you in a command role in that department. You could help fix the problems the FBI report identified and clean up Stahl’s mess in addition to so many other contributions. You’d have real power to make changes.”

  “That part definitely appeals to me.” She let out a nervous laugh. “I guess I’m going to do this.”

  “Congratulations, love. I’m so, so proud of you.”

  “Don’t congratulate me until it happens.”

  “I’m congratulating you on being asked, and it will happen. If you make that call to the mayor, you’d better be ready for that.”

  “Jeez, am I really going to make that call?”

  “Yes, you are. Now go do it and let me know how it goes. I’ll be dying until I hear back from you.”

  “Don’t do that. I need to keep you around.”

  “Then hurry up and call me back. I love you so much, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

  “Thanks for the support. I love you, too. Here goes nothing.”

  “Call me back.”

  “I will.”

  Jeannie ended that call and gazed at the business card with the direct line to the mayor written on it in ink. She dug deep, searching for the Zen she’d worked so hard to find after being kidnapped and assaulted. Alas, there was no Zen or chill to be found in this surreal moment. Before she could talk herself out of it, she dialed the number and listened to it ring.

  “Monique Brewster.”

  For a second, Jeannie was so surprised that the mayor herself answered that she forgot what she needed to say.

  “Hello?”

  “This is Detective Jeannie McBride.”

  “Detective McBride! I’m delighted you called.”

  “Thank you for thinking of me. I’m in shock, to be honest.”

  The mayor’s laughter helped Jeannie to relax a bit. “I don’t know why you’d be shocked after orchestrating some of the most important arrests in recent memory. Everyone is talking about you, Detective, and in the best possible way.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “I’ve been following your career since the earlier incident that we don’t need to rehash now. But let me just say I admired the way you handled yourself after that, and your superiors have nothing but praise for you and your work. It’s an honor to offer you the deputy chief position if you’re interested.”

  This was it. “I’m interested—and nervous. It’s not every day that a detective is promoted three ranks. I expect to have some pushback from my colleagues.”

  “Which I’m sure you’ll handle with the aplomb and professionalism you’ve exhibited thus far. I made it clear from the beginning, after Conklin was relieved of his position, that I wanted a woman in the job. Your boss turned me down cold, twice, but she enthusiastically recommended you, as did Captain Malone and Chief Farnsworth.”

  That brought tears to Jeannie’s eyes. She had so much love for Sam Holland as a boss and a friend and tremendous respect for the captain and chief. “That’s nice to hear.”

  “So, have I found my new deputy chief of police?”

  “I should mention I’m expecting my first child this summer.”

  “We can work around that, but thank you for letting me know—and congratulations.”

  “Thank you. We’re excited, and now this is happening.”

  “Does that mean you accept my offer?”

  “I believe it does.”

  “Excellent! We’ll hold a press conference at city hall in a day or two to announce the news. In the meantime, tell the people you need to tell so they hear it from you. The deputy chief works closely with me and my office, and in the wake of the FBI report, it’s safe to say we have hard work to do. I’m looking forward to doing that work with you, Deputy Chief McBride.”

  Hearing that title attached to her name for the first time would go down as one of the most amazing—and surreal—moments of Jeannie’s life. “Thank you for your faith in me, ma’am. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

  “Likewise, and please, call me Monique. I’ll be back in touch about swearing you in, and in the meantime… Jeannie, you might want to see about acquiring new uniforms.”

  “I’ll do that. Thank you again.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Jeannie ended the call and sat for the longest time in her car, trying to process that this was really happening before she remembered Michael was waiting to hear from her. She pressed his name at the top of her Favorites list.

  He answered on the first ring. “So?”

  “How does Deputy Chief McBride sound?”

  “I think it sounds wonderful. Aw, baby, I’m so proud, I’m bursting.”

  “There’ll be a swearing-in ceremony at city hall in the next day or two. Can you be there with me?”

  “I wouldn’t miss that for anything.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Sam called Freddie into her office. “I want to start over—again—with this investigation, and I want you to help me do it.”

  He eyed her skeptically. “Help you how?”

  “Let’s hit the streets with Vernon and Jimmy driving us. Let’s do what we do while we wait for FDS, which can take months. We don’t have months with this guy raping and murdering women right under our noses. He’s brazen. He does this in a public park where anyone might hear them scream for help. That tells me we’re looking for someone who’s fearless, who thinks he’s unstoppable and untouchable. Let’s go find him.”

  “I hate to be the one to remind you that you’re on desk duty and not allowed to work in the field.”

  “I don’t need to be reminded of anything, Detective. We’re going to walk out of here like we always do, and you won’t say or do anything to draw attention to what we’re doing. You got me?”

  “Playing devil’s advocate, but what if someone comes at us, and my partner is unable to defend herself or me? What then?”

  “We’re going to talk to the families and friends of the victims. Who’s going to come at us?”

  “Someone is always coming at us.”

  “Go get your stuff and be cool. I mean it. Don’t tip anyone off, or I’ll partner up with someone else for this mission.”

  Rolling his eyes, he turned to see to her orders.

  They were leaving the pit when Jeannie came in, looking wide-eyed and amazed.

  “I talked to her,” Jeannie said to Sam. “And I accepted.”

  “Yes!”

  “What’s happening?” Freddie asked, his gaze darting between them.

  “You may as well tell everyone at the same time.” Sam turned to return to the pit. “Listen up, everyone! Jeannie has something to tell you.”

  Gonzo, Cruz and O’Brien gave her their full attention. Green, Dominguez and Carlucci would find out soon enough.

  “Mayor Brewster has asked me to take the deputy chief’s job, and I’ve accepted her offer. And no, I can’t believe this any more than you can.”