“It sounds like a scene of incredible violence,” I say softly.“Overkill?”
“Or sending a message.That area of town… It’s a known location for all sorts of nastiness.What did you say you did again?”
“Find missing people,” I murmur, then: “Is there a particular gang or group that’s known to operate in this area?Such as the Russians or Mexican drug cartels, or…”
“Honey, have you looked at a map lately?Tucson sits close enough to the border to have more ICE agents than local LEOs.We don’t just have internationally known factions, we have internationally known factions of factions.Come now, I showed you mine.Time to show me yours.”
Aliah does the honors.“I don’t know what happened,” she begins.“But the video of the woman walking away.The police said they would like to interview her.Let me just say, I have a friend who owns a hijab exactly like the one in the video—dark blue with tiny turquoise-and-white flowers.”
Roberta stares at her.“Seriously?You had Daryl call in a personal favor over a matchingscarf?”
Now Aliah is insulted.“My friend is missing.Has been missing for three weeks!And your police hasn’t made any effort to find her, not even pinging her phone—”
“You know it’s her, you can absolutely positively identify herfrom blurry footage that doesn’t even show her face?”Roberta arches a brow.
“I know that fabric!”
“Really, and how well do you know your friend?”
Aliah rears back with a gasp.I hold up a hand.
“All right, all right.Enough already.Aliah knows what she’s talking about.And you know she knows what she’s talking about, or you wouldn’t be here.”I regard Roberta for a minute.“Your brother the homicide detective can’t talk about a crime scene, but he provided you with details to act in his stead.Because he loves Daryl, your parolee-turned-dance-partner, that much?”
Daryl shrugs as if to agree he’s not that worthy.
“He sent you.He approved you giving up certain information because…” I glance around me.“Kabul Corner.Daryl said to meet here, and the second your brother heard you were going to an Afghan restaurant, that caught his attention.Homicide may not know who the men are, but they know where they’re from.Afghanistan, yes?That’s the connection.”
Aliah appears suitably impressed.Roberta merely scowls at me.Her gaze returns to Aliah.
“Tell me about your friend.Where did she work?What was she involved in?”
“Sabera worked as a chambermaid at a resort.She was involved in trying to help herself and her family adapt to an entirely new country in a matter of weeks.”
“Do you think drugs?”I cut to the chase.“The two dead men, are they drug dealers or criminal syndicate members or something equally dangerous and terrifying?”
“I wasn’t lying before,” Roberta allows.“No one knows who they are.”
“If they got into the country—”
“Oh, please, like there aren’t a million ways to get in this country.”
“Sabera is a mother!”Aliah pounds the table, clearly having had enough.“She is not some villain.And she went through rounds and rounds of screening and interviewing and questioning.We all do.She’s not some closet criminal.”
“Really, because according to you, she’s disappeared.No one knows where she is.”
“Because she’s a victim.”
“Or she’s caught up in something bigger than you know.”
Now Aliah positively glares at Roberta.“You have never met my friend.You have no right—”
Aliah’s tirade is interrupted by a loud chime from her phone.She glances at the screen, frowns.“I must take this.Also”—she rakes Roberta up and down with a look of disdain—“I will never cook for you again.”Aliah stalks away with her phone glued to her ear.
“I see you haven’t lost your charm,” Daryl murmurs after Aliah has disappeared into the kitchen.
“This is serious.Stay away, Daryl.Whatever the hell happened in that warehouse, you want no part of it.Marc showed me photos.Just a few, but it was enough.That is some sick stuff.”
“Which was possibly witnessed by a missing woman whose safety is already in question,” I point out.
