Winning was cathartic. He’d walked away when he was too tired to focus. But he didn’t end up in bed until five that morning . . . and now Jack was calling him at eight.
He jumped in the shower to wake up, then dressed in the same clothes he’d come in wearing. He put a hundred-dollar bill on the pillow for housekeeping, then left.
Chapter Five
Detective John Black showed up at the hotel just after nine that morning.
He was a tall, imposing cop—over six and a half feet was Lucy’s guess—and he clearly knew both Megan and Jack.
“John, thank you for coming,” Megan said and shook his hand. “This is my sister-in-law Lucy Kincaid, from the San Antonio FBI office. She’s here for the conference.”
“Kincaid,” John said with a nod. “You said possible missing person.”
Megan said, “Ellen Dupre, owner of Pride Tactical. She missed a six o’clock meeting this morning and didn’t show for her eight a.m. presentation of a new surveillance drone her company developed. The drone is also missing.”
“I had the hotel manager let me into her hotel room for a welfare check,” Lucy said. “She didn’t sleep there last night. The last person to see her was her partner at approximately nine thirty last night.”
“Partner—you mean her ex-husband.”
Lucy forgot that everyone seemed to know one another.
“Did you take Marc’s statement?” John continued.
“Just basic information.”
Jack said, “Marc and I went to the tactical van this morning. Ellen wasn’t there, and neither was the drone. He thinks that something else is wrong inside the van, but he doesn’t know what’s missing. I called my partner Sean Rogan, who helped Ellen develop the drone software. He’s on his way here now.”
“Okay. Let me know when he arrives, I want to walk with him through the van. No one goes inside it without me. Let’s talk to Marc, get a firm time line, and I’ll start the process to trace her phone.”
Jack said, “We can do it faster.”
“I’m aware that RCK has shortcuts, but we don’t know what’s going on here, Jack, so we use the system.”
Megan said, “Lucy, you go with John—Jack and I have known Marc and Ellen for years, it’s better to have an impartial cop work this.”
Lucy didn’t quite know what to make of that. Did they think there was a chance Marc was guilty of . . . something?
“Agreed,” John said, and motioned for Lucy to lead the way to where Marc was pacing in the vendor room. A man was talking to Marc, but stopped and looked at them when she and John entered.
“Where’s Jack and Megan?” Marc said.
John showed his badge. “Detective John Black, Sac PD. You’ve met FBI agent Lucy Kincaid.” He looked at the man standing with Marc.
“Steven Decker,” he said. “I’m with NorCal Tactical Gear, friends of Marc and Ellen.”
John made a note.
“We need to look for Ellen!” Marc said. “This isn’t like her. Tell them, Steven.”
“Ellen is never late,” Steven agreed.
“That’s why I’m here,” John said. He was calm and had a commanding presence.
“I told Jack and Megan everything,” Marc said. “I shouldn’t have to go over this again, we’re wasting time.”
“I’m a senior detective with Sacramento PD, and we’re in the city of Sacramento. You want things to happen fast, talk to me. You want to delay, keep arguing.”
Marc looked frantic, but he focused on John.
John said, “You last saw Ms. Dupre at nine thirty last night. Where?”
“In the tactical van. We were talking about the presentation today, and she stayed because she wanted to test the night-vision camera. We planned to meet at six this morning—she didn’t show.”
“You came here and she wasn’t in her room?”
“No—breakfast near here. She was late—she’s never late. I waited fifteen minutes, tried calling her, she didn’t answer, so I went to her house in South Land Park. She wasn’t there. I called her at least half a dozen times, called the office—we have a warehouse and office in West Sac. No answer. I came here, because she had a room here—but she didn’t answer when I knocked. She didn’t show up at her presentation. Something happened to her!”
“Did you go inside her house?”
He hesitated. “Yes, why?”
“Because I need to know whether to send an officer for a welfare check.”
“I have a key.”
Marc sounded defensive, and there wasn’t a reason for that.
Lucy said, “Marc, Detective Black wants to help, but he needs all the information you have. It helps to know exact times, conversations, anything Ellen may have said that had you concerned. For example, did she say anything about being worried about security for the drone?”
Marc rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “No. I was late last night. Steven and I were in the bar talking and I lost track of time.”
John looked at Steven for confirmation. He nodded, and John made a note. “Then you went to the van,” he prompted Marc.
“Yes, I got there about nine ten. I was supposed to be there at nine, and Ellen was always of the mindset, If you’re not early, you’re late. I’m always late . . .” His voice trailed off.
“Anyway,” he continued, “she was irritated, we were going to run the tests together. But we talked, and then she said she wanted to check a couple other things, and we planned the breakfast.”
“What time did you leave the van?” John asked.
“About nine forty, take or leave five minutes. I got home at ten fifteen, and I live in Arden Park.”
“What did you talk about in those thirty minutes?” John asked. “All business?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
Why was Marc acting like he was hiding something?
“Some business. Um . . . about . . . I, um, told her I wanted us to talk about getting back together.”
“Back together?” John asked.
“We were married. Divorced five years ago, but . . . it’s complicated.”
“You still own Pride Tactical?” John said.
“We’re partners. How does this help find Ellen?”
“What was her mindset when you talked to her last night? When you told her you wanted to get back together?”
“Who cares?”
“Was she upset?” Lucy prompted. “Did this come out of left field or was it something you’d been discussing for a while?”
“She wasn’t upset,” Marc said, emphatic. “It was her idea that we go to breakfast this morning to talk about it. Just because we were divorced didn’t mean we weren’t still friends.”
“I wasn’t suggesting—”
“Yes, you were!”
Lucy said calmly, “Jack told me you were all friends, my point is that maybe Ellen needed time to process the information if it was unexpected.”
“Not to the point that she would miss her presentation! Something’s wrong. I know it.”