“First of all, thank you all for coming in on such short notice. As many of you already know, this case involves Ashley Penn, the daughter of US Senator Stafford Penn. Even if he wasn’t close friends with the mayor and the governor, this would be a high priority. But he is, so the pressure is really on. We can expect assistance from our friends at the Bureau shortly. But for now, we need to proceed as if this will remain our case. My understanding is that the senator isn’t confident that this was an abduction. He thinks his daughter may be off partying somewhere. That’s possible. The video footage of her getting in that van is inconclusive. But until his suspicions are borne out, we will run every lead to ground, understand?”
Heads nodded and there was a general murmur of understanding from the assembled. Hillman continued.
“Apparently, word has spread among the students at the girl’s school, West Venice High, and this thing is already starting to blow up on social media. We’ve already received the first call from a local reporter poking around. By morning, it’ll likely be the lead story on every news outlet in the state. So let me be clear – when the media approaches you, and they will, you have no comment. No matter who’s asking the question, you refer them to the public information officer. Is that understood?”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay, good,” Hillman said. “Right now, we probably have just a few hours to work this before the Feds formally claim jurisdiction. Let’s make them count.”
With that, he tuned to Ray and said, “Detective Sands, would you please bring us all up to speed.”
Ray, leaning against a wall in the back of the room, shifted uncomfortably and said, “If it’s all the same, sir, Detective Locke broke this case and knows a lot more about it than I do. I think she’s better prepared.”
Everyone looked at Keri, who was standing next to her partner.
Hillman scowled but said, “Detective Locke, it looks like the floor is yours.”
Her chest tightened. A vision of a white van tearing down a road as her bloody feet burned flashed before her eyes for the briefest of moments.