But Eli knew. “I don’t know why I picked it up. Sorry. Gloves—”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about contamination. You scared the shit out of me.”
“She’s dead.”
A beat of silence went by. “Who?”
“The girl who had the clip. I don’t know how long ago she was there, or if she died there.” Eli tried to stay in the present. He looked out of the window. There was a kid riding his bike. A woman pushing a stroller. The world went on.
“Would you know if she was actually in the unit at all or it was just the hairclip that was there?”
Eli paused. He’d never actually thought about that. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “It could be either.”
“Did you see anything?”
“No,” he whispered. “I don’t think I—”
“Because the feeling was bad enough?” Daniel guessed.
Eli didn’t answer, but he didn’t think he needed to. “Just pain.” He blinked rapidly. “She’d been wherever she was for a long time, or what seemed like a long time to her.”
Daniel was quiet for a moment as he obviously considered what he wanted to ask. Eli could have guessed.
“How did you know?”
Eli pressed his lips together and ignored the tightness in his throat. The heaviness in his chest that made inflating it harder. “I heard her crying, begging for her mommy,” Eli whispered, not sure if his voice would work. “Then I heard her stop.” And she had been silent for a long time before she’d died.
“You don’t mean because she died then, do you?” Daniel asked somberly. “You mean because she’d given up asking?”
Eli nodded and closed his eyes again. He didn’t cry. He never cried. Then he felt Daniel’s hand close over his, and he could breathe.
“It won’t get us a warrant,” Daniel said apologetically. “Although I would love to be a fly on the wall if Gregory tried for one.”
Eli laughed weakly. It was all shit, and he knew what Daniel was doing. “We ought to get back and tell the guys.”
Daniel raked his eyes over him. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“Yes,” Eli said. He couldn’t go home to lick his wounds every time…and he stopped. Because he had imagined Daniel’s apartment when he had said home, not either of the ones he’d lived in for a year with Sawyer. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“We’re gonna have to be careful,” Daniel mused as he started the car.
Eli glanced at him. “No one saw us.” The receptionist didn’t follow them, and Cruz hadn’t returned.
“No.” Daniel shook his head. “I mean with accidental touches. If this is your new ability.”
Don’t touch it, Daniel had shouted to him, but it had been too late. He thought it had been because he didn’t have gloves on, but maybe Daniel was more clued in than Eli was. It would be good to have a partner that could watch his—
And Eli put a brake on that thought right away. Because he was just here until he got Caffrey, and he mustn’t forget that. No matter how easy it would be to get used to Daniel.
It didn’t take long to get back, and Talon was just coming out of his office as they got off the elevator. Talon studied Eli for a moment, then waved them into the conference room. “We’re waiting to hear from the hospital when we can go see Agent Lin, but I want everyone together while I go over the new information.”
“We have something to tell the team,” Daniel said. Eli sat next to Daniel without even questioning if he should. He’d been right about the suit. Daniel looked like he should be on some magazine cover, not chasing down criminals.
Daniel looked at Eli questioningly, and Eli nodded. He was happier letting Daniel do the talking.
“Eli had another incident this morning at the storage facility.”
“Eli?” Gael went to stand, but Eli shook his head, and Daniel continued to explain what had happened, including the hairclip they had put into evidence.
“We’ll request DNA. It looked like there was some hair in there, but it will depend on if the hair has a follicle attached.”
“What about fingerprints?” Sawyer asked.
“It’s unlikely with a child,” Daniel replied and looked at his fingers. “Ninety-nine percent of adults would leave fingerprints on a suitable surface, but children not so much until they hit puberty?”
“Why?”
“Because there isn’t usually enough oil built up on a child’s skin to leave a recognized imprint.”
“And I doubt if missing persons would help without a description,” Talon admitted.
“And this was different because there was no visual?” Jake asked.
“Yes,” Daniel replied. “We have had two incidents so far, but obviously if it’s a developing ability, it could be escalating.”
“Shit, Eli, that’s rough,” Sawyer said quietly. Eli glanced at Sawyer. It had been awkward between them for months because Eli had been an ass and accused Sawyer of selling out and being okay with the regulars. At one point they’d even tried for friends with benefits, but Eli hadn’t been able to go through with it, and in the end Sawyer wasn’t really a friend, and not because Sawyer hadn’t tried. Eli didn’t want any friends.
Talon stood up and picked up the remote for the screen, but he kept his gaze on Eli. “If at any point this gets too much, I expect you or Daniel to tell me. No one will think any less of you for missing this one out.” Talon didn’t wait for an acknowledgement and clicked on the first picture.
“This is a picture of a large club due to open next week off Route 528 about three miles east of Orlando International Airport. It’s called—unsurprisingly—the Mile High Club,” Talon said dryly, and Eli turned his attention back to him. “And the proximity to the airport seems to be a recurring theme. Private rooms are called hangars. First Class is the most exclusive level upstairs. The main downstairs area is called Baggage Claim.”
“And this has what to do with the case?” Gael asked.
“Because the owner is Max Caffrey,” Talon explained.
Eli stared at the screen. “He has a nightclub?” It was the strangest thing he’d ever heard of. The Max Caffrey he’d known was a slob. The storage units made sense because they were just a continuation… He had to tell them.
“He has three,” Talon corrected him. “His other two are in Atlanta where he moved to after he came out of the hospital.”
Eli curled his fingers in a ball. He couldn’t let it pass any longer. “There’s something else.”
Everyone turned to listen. “I’m not sure I’m remembering right.” There, that sounded better. “But one of the things we had to do at Caffrey’s was clean the trailers he rented. Well, some trailers that could be towed and some storage containers that were static. You know, like those that get put on massive boats. I think being near the port he got all sorts of crap.” Eli bit his lip. “They were—” He shook his head.
“Do you mean after they were used?” Daniel said very gently. No one else said a word. Eli lifted his head. If he concentrated on just telling Daniel, pretended like no one else was in the room, it wouldn’t be as bad.