Cleaning Up Chapter 3

Two weeks later

"Have you heard anything else from Rosalind?" Bailey asks, dishing out coq au vin next to bowtie pasta on large plates.

John's hand halts on the way to his fork. "I would have told you if she contacted me. But she led Lucy and the FBI on quite a chase. While Chris was convalescing he got pulled in by an online forum that was tracking her actions. Unfortunately, Rosalind was one of the posters. And of course, Lucy got into it and picked up a clue Rosalind planted. That sent her and a special unit of the FBI after wild geese in Seattle."

Bailey pokes at her pasta. "Which left Lucy with egg on her face and couldn't have looked good for the FBI either."

"Lucy's gone completely vegan. She doesn't eat eggs anymore. But she was damn frustrated. So was Chris. You know how it is with someone hunting you, from when Jason was out there. And Rosalind did kill the dog. We all want her back in prison. But Lucy thinks as long as Rosalind has a network of apprentices doing her bidding, we'll never get close. Harper and Lopez agree. So do I. But I can't work on it. Training Celina is enough – more than enough."

"You could have washed her out on day one. You've still got bruises from rescuing her after she ran off after that kidnapper."

"I would have been pretty hypocritical to do that. I went off half-cocked on my first day as a rookie too. My first TO, Bishop, and Grey both wanted to wash me out. Captain Anderson saved my butt and gave me another chance. I was holding the captain when she died. I wouldn't be honoring her memory if I didn't give a chance to Celina. And Celina's got skills she didn't even know she had. She's like one of those Native American trackers in the movies who notices the tiniest thing on a trail. She's just got to match up what she sees with valid probable cause. If she can do that, she could be sniffing out the bad guys faster than the K-9 units sniffs out drugs."

Bailey inhales the lingering fragrance of wine from her chicken. "Too bad she can't sniff out Rosalind."

"Maybe she can," John considers. "Harper and Lopez have the photos from the zoo. I could show them to Celina. I could also take her there and see if she comes up with anything. Lucy should have access to the photos from Seattle too. An extra pair of eyes can't hurt."

Do you think you should throw Celina into the whole Rosalind Dyer mess so soon?"

John sighs. "With Rosalind's fascination with me, she probably already knows about Celina. So Celina may be in Rosalind's sights anyway, just as you may. I might as well give her a chance to fight back."

Bailey settles against John's shoulder. "I wish I had one. I'd love to kick the smile off that bitch's face."

John nuzzles the top of her head. "That is something I would pay to see."


After double-checking that Celina's completed her checklist, John settles in behind the wheel of his shop. Even after Celina's recent behavior, he'd be inclined to let her drive, the way Bishop did him. It put him way out ahead of Lucy and Jackson in terms of experience as a primary. But with Grey on his back about following normal procedures, he has to keep Celina in the passenger seat. However, she doesn't have to be behind the wheel to employ observational skills honed since she was a nine-year-old. The abandoned zoo is on the edge of their patrol area. He'll start off in that direction and see what happens. He's crossing his fingers that he doesn't have to bust a drug dealer or chase down a stolen car before they get there.


Nolan's cell goes off just as he's parking the shop near the building where he found the dog. Urgency edges Lopez's voice. "Nolan, the lab found human DNA on the dog's lips. It didn't belong to the owners. It didn't belong to Rosalind either, but it's female. The phenotype says redhead, probably five-six to five-eight, blue eyes."

John nods grimly. "Rosalind's grooming an apprentice in her image."

"It looks like it," Lopez agrees.

"So did the dog bite her?" John asks.

"No. There was no blood or skin tissue. The lab said it looks like she kissed the dog before she killed it."

"Sick like Rosalind, too. I'll keep my eyes open for a Rosalind doppelganger. And I'd better warn Bailey."

"I'll call her, Nolan. It's better if the warning doesn't sound like it's coming from an overconcerned boyfriend."

"All right. You'll keep me updated on anything else you get?"

"You know it."

"I heard some of that," Celina admits. "I've also heard a little about Rosalind Dyer. Every cop in the LAPD has been on the lookout for her. How twisted is she?"

"She makes a pretzel look straight. But if you picked up what Lopez said, you know Rosalind wasn't here, but she sent one of her minions. She did that before. She's repeating herself. I don't know how, but that may be something we can use to trip her up. The crime lab's already gone over where I found the dog. But you're fresh eyes, and you've spent most of your life alert to anything that might be out of place."

Celina looks unsure. "I don't know what I'm looking for, Sir."

"Neither do I. And you might not see anything. Just give it a shot."

Nolan's gut wrenches as he leads Celina to where he found the canine body. Her eyes sweep over the floor and the walls. 'Sir, how long was the dog here?"

The owners said they'd seen him in the morning before I found him. But his food dispensed automatically around noon, and he didn't eat it. So, close to 24 hours, maybe more."

"Then Rosalind's helper would have taken him somewhere to poop. This place is closed in, and no one would want to be around the stink."

Nolan points to a hatch in the floor. "There's a tunnel that comes up near some woods outside. She might have taken him that way." He pulls out his flashlight. "We can follow it, but be careful. The last time Rosalind had an apprentice here, he tackled me down there."

With her own light in hand, Celina follows Nolan as they traverse an empty tunnel. A hatch at the other end opens easily near a dirt path into the trees. Nolan walks carefully, his eyes on the path ahead.

Celina sniffs. "They were close by. I can smell it. She points to an almost dried pile of doggy business at the edge of the path. Is that a capsule in there? Was the dog drugged?"

Nolan pulls an evidence bag from his utility belt. "Not if the capsule's still whole. It probably went right through the poor pooch. We should get it to the lab for ID. It could point us at Rosalind's apprentice." Nolan hands Celina the bag. "It's your find, Boot. Do the honors." Without hesitation, Celina uses the bag to pick up her discovery. "And don't forget to accurately record the time, place, and your ID on the bag," Nolan adds. "The last thing we need is to run up against losing evidence to a chain of custody screw-up."

Celina pulls out a marker to enter the information. "Yes, Sir. I understand."