Текст книги "Alone in the Dark"

Автор книги: Karen Rose

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Текущая страница: 36 (всего у книги 49 страниц)

She winced. ‘Oh. So because your father had a history of going there to meet hookers, the police would buy the robbery setup.’

‘He told me this like he was giving me a gift. Looking back, I realize that the truth about my father’s role in our kidnapping would have whipped the media into a frenzy, and that would have hurt Stone, Mom and me, so it was for the best. There was a minor scandal and heads wagged, but it blew over quickly, mostly because my mother’s father stepped in and spread the rumor that she’d already filed for divorce before the kidnapping. He made sure that my mother was described as a divorcee in the Ledger articles, rather than a widow. Ledger articles were quoted in other papers and soon everyone believed my mother had been divorced. The power of the press,’ he added.

‘So your mother didn’t look like the pathetic cheated-on wife.’

‘Exactly. Anyway, I told the hit-man that I still felt guilty for telling him where to find my father, and he said that he would have found the cabin in the public record eventually and gone hunting. Then he said, “When I said it was done, I mean it’s all done. You don’t have to worry about either of the other two guys ever coming back.” It was like he really cared, which was strange. I guess in his eyes he’d righted a wrong. Then he said that they’d suffered for what they’d done to my brothers.’ He exhaled heavily. ‘And I was glad.’

‘Me too. What about the money?’

‘He said he got all but a few thousand that they’d blown on drugs. That his boss had been paid and the slate was clean.’

‘But you still haven’t told me about that damn gun.’

‘I’m getting to it. After he told me about the kidnappers, he gave me a paper bag with that gun in it.’

‘Holy shit. He gave you a gun? Why?’

‘He said he’d found it with my father’s things, saw my grandfather’s name engraved on the grip and thought I might want to have it. I wanted to know if it was the gun that he’d used to kill them all, but I was afraid to ask. I wanted it to be and I didn’t want it to be, all at once.’

‘I think I can understand that. The gun symbolized justice, but also your freedom because they couldn’t come back to get you. But I didn’t see a name on the grip.’

‘I scratched it off.’ He gave her a sideways glance. ‘At the same time that I scratched off the serial number.’

‘You scratched them off? Why?’

‘Because if it had been used to kill someone, I didn’t want my grandfather to get dragged through the mud. He’d already been through enough.’

‘You’re a kind man. In a twisted sort of way. But I still can’t believe he gave a gun to a little kid.’

‘I know. I remember gazing up at this terrifying-looking man and saying, “Mister, you realize I’m only eight years old. I’m not even allowed to touch guns.”’

Scarlett chuckled. ‘What did he say?’

‘He patted my head and said, “You won’t always be eight, kid.” Then he wished me luck and left. I shut the door and thought that was the end of it.’ He drew a breath and let it out. ‘And then I turned around and there was Gayle, stepping out of the shadows.’

‘Shit. Busted big time.’

‘She was pale and shaking and holding a rifle I didn’t even know she owned. She thought the man was there to kidnap me and she was going to blow his head off. But when she saw I wasn’t afraid, she listened to the conversation. She asked me why I’d done it. I told her everything, and she sat down on the floor and cried. Big, huge sobs. I hugged her, told her it would be all right. She said she was crying for me because I’d had to make that decision, because I’d felt so alone and had no one to help me. I thought she’d tell my mother, but she never did. She did take the gun away, though, and gave it to my grandfather when we moved to Ohio once Stone was able to travel. Mom sold the apartment in Lexington and never went back. My grandfather put the gun in his safe, but his combination was easy to guess.’

‘The date of the liberation of Bataan?’

‘You got it. When we moved to Cincinnati, I was still having nightmares. Stone’s were worse, so I took the gun and slept with it under my pillow. My grandfather’s house – which now belongs to my mother – has eight bedrooms, but Stone and I shared a room until I joined the Army. When he was really little, my having the gun made him feel better, knowing I could protect him. Later, he got his own guns.’ He sighed. ‘He has more weapons than a lot of small countries. Knows how to use them, too. He’s a helluva shot and he has black belts in three different martial arts.’

She was quiet a long moment. ‘Did you ever tell him what your father had done?’

‘No. He was so fragile for so long that I didn’t dare. But I did tell him that the men who hurt him were dead. I cut out the article from the newspaper and showed it to him.’ Marcus swallowed hard. ‘He slept with that article under his pillow until the paper disintegrated. I went to the library and downloaded a copy and laminated it at school. I don’t know what he did with it after that.’

‘You protect him.’

‘He’s my brother. He knows I carry a lot of guilt, but he thinks my hero complex is because I didn’t save him from the men that hurt him. And because I couldn’t save Matty. I’ve considered telling him a thousand times, but I always figure, what’s the point? He has enough issues to work through.’

She was quiet for so long that he glanced over at her. ‘You don’t agree?’ he asked.

She shrugged. ‘He’s your brother. But I suspect he may be stronger than you think. Anyway, back to the gun. Didn’t your grandfather ever miss it out of his safe?’

Marcus smiled grimly. ‘He knew. Who do you think taught me to shoot?’

She shook her head as if to clear it. ‘He let an eight-year-old have a loaded gun? What kind of man was your grandfather?’

‘A man who knew what it was like to fight with demons in your dreams. And he didn’t let me have it. Not at first. He kept putting it back in the safe and I kept taking it out. He kept changing the combination and I kept figuring it out. Finally we came to an understanding that I wouldn’t keep it loaded. He took the clip. He didn’t know I’d hidden a loaded clip of my own.’

She frowned. ‘That gun could have gone off in the middle of the night!’

‘No, because I kept the gun under one pillow and the clip under the other. I practiced until I could load it in seconds. But I was careful. I didn’t want Stone to get shot by mistake.’

She shook her head again, harder. ‘I was thinking about it going off and shooting you in the middle of the night.’

He hesitated, then decided to trust her with the rest of it. ‘I don’t think I would have cared, Scarlett. There were times I almost hoped it would.’

She turned fully in her seat to face him and it took only a glance to see that all the color had drained from her beautiful face. ‘What?’ she whispered.

‘I still wrestle with what I did that day. I know you think I’m absolved because of my age, but three people are dead who never got their day in court.’

‘You think they deserved their day in court?’

‘No, but my mother deserved to look her husband in the face and know that she wasn’t to blame for Matty’s death because she called in the FBI. I could never tell her.’

‘Because if you’d told her, you’d have had to tell her what you did too. Oh, Marcus.’

‘I made my bed. I’ve had to lie in it all these years. It’s hard enough now that I’m old enough to process everything that happened, but then I was just a messed-up kid. The year I was nine, I came damn close to not seeing ten.’

‘You wanted to kill yourself?’ she asked in a trembling voice. ‘When you were nine?’

He nodded gravely. ‘But I never did. Partly because of Gayle. That she knew and still loved me . . . it made a difference. And partly because Stone still needed me. I couldn’t leave him alone. But some days I wished for quiet in my mind because all I heard was killer, killer, killer.’

‘How did you survive the Army? You had to have killed the enemy.’

‘More than my share,’ he murmured. ‘The Army helped Stone conquer some of his fears. It helped me too. Because by the time I joined up, I was old enough to understand what I was doing and it helped me keep the perspective that the people who kidnapped Matty, Stone and me were the enemy. It helped me square it in my own mind. But it still haunts me. All of my kills do. That’s one of the reasons we rarely get physical with the people we target at the Ledger. I draw the line at gentle coercion. Although recently . . . especially after Mikhail, it’s been hard. I’ve found myself tempted so many times to just shoot the damn bastards and be done with it. Then they can’t hurt their families again. But I’ve stayed on my side of the line. Just barely.’

She nodded unsteadily. ‘Me too. So we’ll prop each other up. But you have to promise me if you ever consider . . . ending yourself again—’

‘I haven’t,’ he interrupted, ‘not since I was ten. That’s when Mom met Jeremy. We were a real family then. Mom was so happy. She got pregnant with Audrey and then we had a baby in the house again. Mom meeting Jeremy O’Bannion was the best thing to ever happen to us – the dad he didn’t have to be. He was only twenty-one when he met Mom. Only eleven years older than me. He could have taken the role of big brother, but he seemed to know how much I needed a father. And he’s always been that for me.’

Scarlett wiped her eyes. ‘I’m glad,’ she said simply, then pointed at the road sign. ‘This is the exit for Saint Barbara’s. Remember, don’t call me Detective.’

‘I won’t.’ He didn’t want to lie to the Bautistas, but he didn’t want to scare them away either.

She smoothed her dress and checked the visor mirror. ‘I look like I’ve been crying, but it makes me look like less of a cop, so the puffy eyes are okay.’

‘You look beautiful.’

‘Thank you. So do you. Do you need anything before we talk to Mila and Erica?’

He squeezed her hand. ‘Just be with me.’

‘Let anyone try to pry me away.’

Twenty-nine

Georgetown, Kentucky

Wednesday 5 August, 8.40 A.M.

Scarlett and Marcus met Trace in the vestibule of Saint Barbara’s. Scarlett had been nervous about seeing her uncle again, but Trace obliterated any nerves with a huge bear hug. She held on a few more seconds than she needed to, because for that moment in time he’d made her feel like a child again. Like the past ten years of her life hadn’t happened.

Like she wasn’t standing in a church of her own free will.

He set her down and tipped her face up, his smile changing to a frown. ‘You’ve been crying.’ He turned his frown on Marcus. ‘What did you do to her?’

‘He’s done nothing,’ Scarlett said firmly. ‘We’ve been talking and I’ve been emotional.’ She slid her arm around her uncle’s waist. ‘Uncle Trace, this is Marcus O’Bannion. He tried to help Tala, was with her when she died. Marcus, Father Trace.’

Marcus stuck out his hand. ‘Father,’ he said politely. ‘You’re the first member of Scarlett’s family that I’ve had the privilege to meet.’

Trace looked down at Scarlett, his brows lifted. ‘Oh, he’s good.’

She laughed. ‘I know.’

Her uncle shook Marcus’s hand. ‘They’re waiting for you in the choir room. Scarlett, I’ve told them only that you’re my niece.’ He hugged her to him again. ‘You look very non-coppish. I’ll let you decide when to tell them who you are.’

‘Are they okay?’ Marcus asked. ‘Physically?’

‘Their feet are pretty cut up. They walked for miles without shoes. I’m so thankful they were picked up by a good person. The trucker recognized that they were afraid and he didn’t ask many questions. One of the women in the church washed their feet and bandaged them, but you’ll want to have them seen by a doctor. You won’t have any trouble communicating from a language standpoint. Their English is impeccable. But they didn’t say much. I showed them the pictures of Mr Bautista and young John Paul, but other than crying and giving prayers of thanks that they were safe, they didn’t say anything more. They’re still very afraid.’

He led them into the church and Scarlett suddenly found it very hard to breathe. She hadn’t been lying to Trace. After all the talking she and Marcus had done, her emotions were like a seething cauldron in her gut. Adding to that the memories of Michelle that had been dredged up when she’d found Tala dead in the alley . . .

She swallowed back the lump in her throat and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. But then Marcus took her hand and held it securely in his. Breathing in the scent of his aftershave, she let it calm her.

‘You okay?’ he whispered.

She tightened her hold. ‘Yes.’

They followed her uncle into the choir room and both she and Marcus went abruptly still. Two petite women sat on metal folding chairs, holding hands even more tightly than Scarlett held Marcus’s. The older woman was visibly trembling, her eyes bright with tears. The younger was barely sixteen, according to the copies of the visas Immigration had provided, but she looked so much older. Her expression was remote, her dark eyes cold and her shoulders bowed.

‘She looks just like Tala,’ Marcus murmured, sounding spooked. He released Scarlett’s hand and stepped forward, going down on one knee in front of the women so that they could look him in the eye. ‘I’m Marcus,’ he said quietly. ‘And I’m so sorry for your loss.’

Mila Bautista’s body began to shake with suppressed sobs, which broke free when Marcus put his arms around them both. Tala’s mother leaned into his shoulder and cried, her heart broken.

Beside Scarlett, Trace sighed softly. ‘He’s for real?’

Scarlett had to blink away her own tears, Mila’s grief and Marcus’s compassion reaching right into her chest and squeezing her heart until it felt bloodless. She pressed the heel of her hand to her sternum to relieve the ache. ‘Yeah. He’s very real.’

‘I read online that he met Tala Bautista in an alley and tried to help her. Is he in the habit of helping strange young women in the middle of the night?’

She glanced up at Trace who was frowning worriedly. ‘Yes, actually, but not like you’re thinking.’ She quietly explained the situation, adding that Marcus had been shot at a second time and that his friend and the doorman had been shot last night. ‘But I still have to wonder who was the target in that alley – Tala or Marcus.’

‘It was Tala.’ Erica Bautista had pulled out of Marcus’s embrace, stroking her mother’s hair as Mila continued to cry against Marcus’s shoulder. The girl’s expression was hard and angry, and Scarlett certainly couldn’t blame her for that.

Scarlett pulled another folding chair over so that she could sit facing Mila. ‘Why are you so sure?’ she asked softly.

‘Who are you?’ the girl asked, her eyes narrowing shrewdly.

‘My name is Scarlett. Father Trace is my uncle. Marcus is my boyfriend and I’m afraid for him, for his safety, so I came along. We want to help you, but nobody really understands what’s happening here.’

Erica continued to study her. ‘You’re with the police,’ she said flatly.

Scarlett blinked, startled. Mila pushed Marcus away, lurching to her feet in panic. Scarlett knew that if she stood up she’d tower over the woman, so she remained seated. ‘I’m not Immigration. I’m not calling them. I’m here as my uncle’s niece. I’m not going to turn you in to anyone. You have my word.’

Mila looked down at Marcus, seeking confirmation, and he nodded. ‘She isn’t lying,’ he said. ‘She really is Father Trace’s niece and she really is my girlfriend. And she really wants to help you. I called her two nights ago when I knew I was meeting Tala. I wanted a woman there that I could trust.’

‘You trust her?’ Mila asked, trembling so hard that Scarlett thought she’d fall down.

‘With my life,’ Marcus said simply, and Mila slowly sat back down.

Scarlett breathed a silent sigh of relief. ‘How did you know?’

Erica shrugged. ‘He is Father Trace Bishop. You are Scarlett. The article in the newspaper said that Detective Scarlett Bishop was first on the scene.’

Scarlett winced. ‘Oh. I didn’t mean to deceive you. Well, yes, I did, but only so I wouldn’t scare you. I meant what I said. I’m not going to turn you in.’

‘Your partner is with the FBI,’ Erica said coldly.

Scarlett mentally reviewed the Ledger article in her mind, then turned to Marcus, puzzled. ‘You didn’t mention Deacon in that article, did you?’

Erica’s eyes rolled. ‘I Googled you, Detective. I used the church’s computer. I used to use computers all the time before we came here. It’s not that hard. Even for someone like me.’

‘Someone like you?’ Scarlett said gently. ‘You mean a victim of a despicable crime perpetrated by evil people who deserve to be locked up for the rest of their lives?’

Erica looked taken aback. ‘No. I meant . . .’

‘I know what you meant,’ Scarlett said. ‘I also know your father was a teacher and your mother a nurse. I know you are educated and smart. I just don’t like being tripped up so easily.’ She smiled at Erica and watched some of the girl’s tension drain away. ‘Your sister was incredibly brave and sacrificed everything to try to get her family to safety. I won’t let her sacrifice be in vain.’

Erica’s lips quivered at the mention of her sister, and both she and her mother began to cry. ‘We told her not to go,’ Erica sobbed. ‘We told her it was too dangerous.’

‘She was desperate,’ Mila added, wiping her eyes. ‘Because of Malaya . . . Tala was determined that her baby wouldn’t be raised in that house. So she took the chance.’ Her fists clenched. ‘I want to kill that man for what he did.’

Marcus covered Mila’s fists with his hands, a comforting gesture. ‘Chip Anders?’

Fire flashed in the eyes of both women. ‘Yes,’ Mila hissed. ‘And his wife and that daughter they spawned.’

‘He’s missing,’ Scarlett said. ‘It appears he and his family were taken away by force. Do you know by whom?’

Mila and Erica looked at each other, satisfaction mixing in with their fury and grief. ‘Not by name,’ Mila said. ‘But he was very scared yesterday when he realized Tala was missing.’

‘When did he find out?’ Scarlett asked.

Mila opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Erica leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder and answered for her. ‘When the tamper alarm went off,’ the young woman said. ‘Our trackers were wired into the house alarm. Mama and I weren’t allowed to leave.’

‘But Tala was,’ Marcus said. ‘Her job was to walk the dog.’

Mila’s lips thinned and she looked away. ‘No. Walking the dog was Stephanie’s job.’

‘The Anderses’ daughter,’ Scarlett said. ‘She’s home from college.’

‘She’s a bitch,’ Erica snarled.

Mila looked startled. ‘Erica! We are in a church.’

Erica didn’t look like she cared. ‘She is, Mama. You call her a spawn, I’ll call her . . . what I called her.’ She looked Scarlett in the eye. ‘I hope whoever took her makes her suffer like she made Tala suffer. I hate her.’ Her fury disintegrated into a choked sob. ‘She killed my sister. Her or that boyfriend of hers.’

Scarlett’s ears perked up. ‘Boyfriend? We don’t know about a boyfriend.’

‘Drake Connor,’ Erica spat.

Scarlett took the girl’s hand long enough to give it a brief, encouraging squeeze. She could barely contain her excitement at this new information, which she sensed might be the link they were looking for. ‘What did he do?’

Erica dropped her gaze to her lap, but not before Scarlett saw the shame in the girl’s eyes. ‘Whatever he wanted,’ she said, her tone gone dead.

Scarlett glanced at Marcus. ‘Do you want Father Trace and Marcus to leave?’ she asked quietly, and Erica nodded.

‘We’ll be outside,’ Marcus said, giving Scarlett’s shoulder a stroke as he walked away.

‘We’re alone,’ Scarlett said. ‘You can tell me anything you want without shame.’

‘Everyone will know,’ Erica whispered miserably. ‘They will know anyway because why else would he buy three women?’

‘You’re talking about Anders now. He bought you. Not Drake, right?’

Erica scoffed. ‘Drake was poor. He didn’t have any money. Stephanie dated him just to make her father mad. Her father bought us, all of us. He sent my father and brother away to work in his factory and he made my mother take care of his mother.’

‘You mean his aunt?’

‘Her too, but when we first came, Mama had to take care of his mother. She was bedridden.’ Erica faltered. ‘She wasn’t mean like him. She wanted to tell someone that we were being forced to work for no money, that he was . . . using us. But then . . . she killed her. Mr Anders’s wife put a pillow over her face and suffocated her.’

‘Marlene Anders,’ Scarlett said, and Erica nodded. ‘So Chip’s mother was killed by his wife?’

‘Because she sympathized with us,’ Mila whispered. ‘Marlene liked nice things. Liked having servants. She just didn’t want to pay for them. She liked having control.’

‘What about Aunt Tabby?’ Scarlett asked.

Mila’s eyes filled anew. ‘Is she alive? All Father Trace knew was that she was in the hospital. What happened to her?’

‘She’s unconscious, but still alive,’ Scarlett said. ‘I called to check on her on my way down here. She’s holding on. She was beaten severely by Chip.’

Both women gasped. ‘We left her alone there,’ Mila whispered, guilt ravaging her face. ‘That beast beat her because she cut our trackers and let us go.’

It was true, and Scarlett wasn’t going to insult them by denying it. ‘Marcus found her under a bed. She told us about you, said we had to find you and keep you safe.’

Mila bowed her head. ‘She is a good woman. We didn’t want to leave her there, but she made us. We’ve prayed for her all night.’

Good luck with that, Scarlett thought, startled to realize that there was more hope than sarcasm in her mental voice. ‘Can we get back to Drake?’ she asked gently, and watched Erica’s shoulders tense and her gaze drop back to her lap. ‘He could be important to our investigation. You said he was Stephanie’s boyfriend. Did he live close by?’

Erica shrugged. ‘Close enough to come by several times a week.’

‘You said he did anything he wanted.’ She gently took Erica’s hand. ‘Did he rape you,?’

A very small nod. ‘Mostly Tala, but sometimes me when Tala was . . .’ She covered her face with her hands. Scarlett very gently tugged her wrists, going down on her knees in front of Erica’s chair so that she could see the young woman’s face. ‘You have nothing to be ashamed of,’ she whispered urgently. ‘I know this is hard for you.’

‘How could you know?’ Erica flung back bitterly. ‘Have you been raped?’

‘No. But I’ve been a police officer for a long time and I’ve worked with too many women who have been raped. It’s hard for them to tell me what happened, but those that have and that can see their rapists come to justice . . . I think it helps them heal.’

‘It’s an American court,’ Erica said, her bitterness unabated. ‘They won’t listen to me.’

‘I’m an American police officer, and I’m listening to you,’ Scarlett said. ‘I will do everything in my power to find him and bring him to justice. That’s all I can promise. But I need your help. I need to know everything about Drake that you can tell me so that I can find him. I also want to know because someone is trying to hurt Marcus. If Drake knows anything about Tala’s murder, he could be the one trying to kill Marcus.’

‘Because Marcus is still alive,’ Erica said, back to that flat, dead voice. ‘Because he had on a Kevlar vest. Why did he? Did he know Tala would be killed?’

‘Erica!’ Mila exclaimed.

‘It’s all right,’ Scarlett said, knowing that part of Erica’s question was simply an attempt to change the subject away from her assault. ‘Marcus helps a lot of people who are in abusive relationships. He helps them get out. He thought Tala was being abused and wanted to help her too. He’s been shot before, so he wears the vest.’

Erica’s nod was grudging. ‘Okay.’ Her head still down, she looked up from beneath her eyelashes to meet Scarlett’s eyes. ‘Drake forced Tala to have sex with him every time he could. Every time Mr Anders wasn’t home and sometimes when he was. But when she was having her . . . monthly . . .’

‘Her period,’ Scarlett supplied, and Erica nodded again, miserably, but said nothing. ‘Drake would force you when Tala had her period?’

Tears began to roll down Erica’s face. A glance up at Mila showed she’d closed her eyes, her heartache so heavy that Scarlett could feel it too. ‘Can you tell me what Drake looks like?’

‘Tall,’ Erica whispered. ‘He was six feet. Big shoulders. Strong. Stronger than me. Blond hair, brown eyes.’ Her lips curved grimly. ‘A broken tooth.’

‘Who broke it?’

‘Tala. The first time he forced her.’

‘Good for Tala.’

Erica’s shoulders moved restlessly. ‘Not really, because Drake beat her and Stephanie got mad at him. Said her father would see Tala’s bruises and be angry. That Tala was his.’

Scarlett squeezed Erica’s hands. ‘You’re doing great, honey. Can you tell me which tooth Tala broke?’

‘His front tooth on the bottom.’ She tugged one of her hands loose to point to her own mouth. ‘This one.’

‘Very good. Did you notice any scars or tattoos?’

‘One tattoo on his left upper arm.’ Erica slipped her hand back into Scarlett’s. ‘A snake with its mouth open.’ She shivered. ‘It scared me.’

‘It would scare me too,’ Scarlett said ruefully. ‘Was he dark-skinned, light-skinned?’

‘White. But he’s tanned now because it’s the summer. For a while he worked for the landscapers that cut the grass at the house.’

‘That’s very helpful. Do you know the name of the landscaping company?’

‘Belle’s Bluebells,’ Mila said stiffly. ‘I remember the truck. It’s owned by Drake’s sister. He quit in June when Stephanie came home from college. She was supplying him with more money than he could make cutting grass.’

‘All right, give me a second.’ Scarlett took out her phone and typed a text to Deacon.

Locate Drake Connor, sister owns Belle’s Bluebells Landscaping. DC is bf of Stephanie Anders. Maybe Tala’s killer.

She showed the text to the two women. ‘I’m sending this to my partner, Special Agent Deacon Novak. I want you to see that I didn’t mention your names, but we need to find Drake.’

‘Your partner knows you’re here talking to us?’ Erica said suspiciously.

‘He doesn’t know where “here” is.’ Scarlett hit SEND. She almost told them about Kate Coppola and the FBI investigation into human trafficking, but she decided to wait. Her instincts told her that the two women were far from being convinced of their safety.

Scarlett moved from the floor back to her seat. ‘Anything more you need to tell me about Drake or Stephanie?’

Mila’s jaw tightened. ‘Stephanie was abusing my Tala as well. Sexually.’

Erica’s head whipped around to stare at her mother in new horror. ‘Mama, no.’

‘Yes, Erica,’ Mila said heavily. ‘They also made her buy their drugs.’

‘Because Stephanie got in trouble once before for buying drugs at college,’ Scarlett said, and Mila blinked at her in surprise.

‘This you knew?’

‘I guessed.’ She didn’t want to tell Mila that Tala had been found with drugs in the pocket of her jeans. ‘Your daughter was killed in an area known for its drug dealers. I couldn’t figure out why she was there or how she got there until I learned of Stephanie’s arrest record. You said that it was Stephanie’s job to walk the dog. Why was Tala doing it? And how? If your and Erica’s trackers were programmed to alarm if you left the house, why wasn’t Tala’s?’

‘Drake was lazy, but good with computers. He and Stephanie wanted to take Tala with them to buy the drugs, so he got into Mr Anders’s computer and figured out how to change the settings. I don’t know how. Sometimes Stephanie wanted to have Drake to herself, so she told Tala to walk the dog, and that she’d be following her on the computer. Tala didn’t know if she would be, but she was afraid not to believe her.’

‘I understand. Especially since they could overhear your conversations with the trackers.’

Mila looked ashamed. ‘No privacy, even when they let me see my husband for the last time. We knew they were listening, laughing. Like we were animals in a zoo.’

Scarlett sighed, emotionally drained, and she’d only borne witness to their ordeal. They’d lived it. ‘When we find the Anderses, they will be punished. What about the people that brought you into this country?’

Mila shook her head. ‘My husband managed all the details. He was tricked.’

‘He’s being taken care of by the FBI now. They’re making sure he has nutrition and medical attention – both Mr Bautista and John Paul.’

Mila went very, very still. ‘Then it’s true?’ she asked, the words no louder than a breath. ‘They really are alive?’

Scarlett felt like she’d taken a physical blow. The woman had been sitting there talking to her while still wondering if her husband and son were alive or dead. ‘Yes, they’re both alive. Father Trace told you this, didn’t he? Did you think he was lying?’

New tears rolled down Mila’s face as she embraced Erica, who was also crying. ‘No,’ Mila sobbed, ‘but he had pictures that were old, taken before we came here. I thought he might be wrong.’

‘Or that the police were lying to him,’ Erica added through her tears. ‘The Anderses told us that Papa and John Paul were dead.’

But they believe me. The responsibility was immense. ‘They are alive. I promise. If you’ll allow it, I’ll ask my partner to get recent photos. He may have to ask another agent in the FBI. They may guess that you’ve been found.’

Mila and Erica looked at each other, then both slowly nodded. ‘Yes,’ Mila said hoarsely. ‘I want to see them.’

Scarlett shot the text to Deacon and put her phone down. ‘Mila, let’s talk bluntly. Pictures will not be enough. You want to see your husband and son in person, don’t you? You want your granddaughter back, yes?’

Mila nodded, but said nothing.

Erica started to rise from her chair. ‘You promised not to turn us in.’

‘And I won’t. But this situation may not be as bleak as you believe. You have options. Please, hear me out.’

Erica sat back down. ‘What options?’ she asked with cold suspicion.

‘Do you remember the lady that Tabby called to take Malaya? Her name is Annabelle Church.’ They both nodded. ‘She took very good care of Malaya, bought her formula and diapers, and when the time came for her to turn Malaya over to Children’s Services, she brought her lawyer along so that Malaya’s rights were protected.’