‘This is Kimble,’ he said, going into the hallway to answer the call.
‘It’s Mia Mitchell. I’m here with Abe Reagan and a friend of ours. Her name is Dana. We told her about Linnie Holmes coming to Chicago with Shane. She may have a place for Linnie to stay.’
‘That’s . . .’ Adam had to clear his throat. ‘That’s wonderful.’
‘Hi, Detective Kimble.’ The voice was throaty and warm. ‘My name is Dana Buchanan. I’m on the board of New Start, a halfway house for young women coming out of the sex trade. I believe you have something similar in your town? Mariposa House?’
Adam chuckled. ‘We do.’ He looked through the doorway at Wendi who perched on Colby’s knee, deep in planning with the other women while Colby looked content. ‘I’m looking right at the woman who runs it, in fact. I’m in a hospital waiting room filled with nearly all their volunteers. They’re Dr Fallon’s friends.’ And Meredith was their glue. Mine too. ‘She provides counseling services to Mariposa.’ Pro bono, he’d learned.
‘We’re sorry,’ Reagan said. ‘We meant to ask how Dr Fallon was doing first, but somebody jumped the gun.’
‘Sorry,’ Mitchell muttered. ‘How is she?’
‘Awake. She’ll be hurting when the meds wear off, but the doctor expects her to make a full recovery.’
‘That’s good,’ Reagan said. ‘We’ve been sending prayers and good thoughts.’
‘All appreciated. We’d keep Linnie with us, but she and Shane need each other.’
‘And Linnie might need a fresh start,’ Dana said.
‘That too. What are the housing arrangements and will she have access to counseling?’
‘Every resident has their own room. She’ll have access to health care – physical and mental health. She can choose to go to college if she wants, but if she doesn’t want that, she can train for a variety of different jobs. Is it okay if I send information to your email?’
‘Please do. I’ll make sure Linnie gets it. When could she move in?’
‘We’ll have a vacancy after the new year.’
‘We appreciate this,’ Adam said, not surprised when his voice was gruff. He wasn’t going to fight it. ‘Linnie deserves a new start.’
‘That’s why we’re here,’ Dana said. ‘We’ll be in touch.’
‘Give your LT our regards,’ Reagan said. ‘And Merry Christmas.’
They ended the call and Adam stood there a moment, feeling happy. Linnie could have a future. And he’d helped.
‘Hey, Adam.’ Trip’s deep rumble pulled him out of his thoughts. Quincy was with him. They looked wary. ‘How’s the doc?’
‘Awake.’ Adam had repeated the word a number of times and didn’t mind at all. ‘What’s up?’
Both men relaxed. ‘Follow-up,’ Quincy said. ‘We’ve found out a few things in the last twenty-four. Can we talk somewhere?’
Adam looked wistfully at the small table with his half-finished picture of a gingerbread man. He’d have to finish it later. He might need to, if he was going to hear difficult news. ‘I haven’t eaten. You want to walk with me to the cafeteria?’
‘I could eat,’ Trip said.
‘You can always eat,’ Adam laughed. The three of them got sandwiches and found a table in the corner of the cafeteria, away from prying eyes and ears. ‘So hit me.’
‘First,’ Quincy said, ‘we searched Mike’s garages – he owns three. His mechanics say they’ve done a lot of repairs on black SUV’s. We found the vehicle used on Saturday. The seats and the back window had been pulled out for replacement.’
‘Because Linnie bled on the seats,’ Adam said. ‘And she said he shot at her as she fled from him Saturday afternoon.’
Quincy nodded. ‘Yes. The mechanics said that Wyatt would just change one black SUV for another whenever they needed to be fixed.’
‘We also found barrels of peroxide and acetone in the garage’s storage area,’ Trip said. ‘Ingredients for TATP, the same explosive in the bomb Wyatt strapped to Andy Gold. There were triggers, fuses, cans . . . Mike could have made several more bombs. I don’t think Wyatt knew about them or he would have burned that garage down too.’
‘Good to know,’ Adam said. He was about to take a bite of his sandwich, but Trip and Quincy glanced at one another strangely. He put the sandwich down. ‘What?’
‘We got into Wyatt’s safe,’ Trip said. ‘He had three fake passport – one U.S., one Canadian, and one Bahamian. There was also a list of bank accounts and passwords.’
‘How much did he have hidden away?’ Adam asked, not really wanting to know.
‘Over forty million bucks,’ Trip said quietly.
The very number made Adam’s stomach churn. ‘Enough incentive for him to try to get into his house once more.’ Because he’d wondered why Hanson had taken that risk.
‘Yes,’ Trip agreed simply. ‘He also had all kinds of records in there – dirt on a lot of politicians and influential people. He kept a notebook, written in code. Decker translated it.’ Because Kate’s Decker was good with codes. ‘Some of it was potential people he could blackmail later. The Buon Cibo hostess, for example, skated on an arrest for possession. He knew she was desperate for money and he had her phone number because he was the arresting officer. So when he needed a favor from that restaurant, he knew where to go.’
‘He had entries about all the neighbors, all his “employees,” money and favors he paid out and his “property,”’ Quincy said. ‘You want the hard stuff first or the harder stuff?’
‘Let’s work our way up,’ Adam said warily.
Trip nodded. ‘Okay. Wyatt took in blackmail money from a lot of people, but he paid John Kasper, your sponsor. More specifically, he paid John’s wife’s doctor bills. She’s sick. Cancer. That’s why John sold you out.’
Adam drew a breath. ‘I guess it’s a better reason than a free SUV.’
‘Still a betrayal,’ Quincy murmured.
‘Yeah. How will his wife get her care from here on out?’
The two looked at each other again. ‘She’s gone too,’ Trip said quietly. ‘Isenberg and Deacon did the notification and she was found dead the next day. She’d OD’d on painkillers. I don’t think she knew her husband had betrayed you.’
‘Good,’ Adam said. ‘I wouldn’t want her to suffer any more.’
Trip sighed. ‘You’re a good man, Adam. Which makes the next thing harder to tell you. So I just will. We found Paula’s family. They live in a very rural part of southeastern Ohio. Lots of farms. Paula was playing outside six years ago and disappeared. There was a notation in Wyatt’s notebook – a street address and a date. No city or state. It would have taken us a while to search all the addresses against reports of missing children. Her family found me. I put her photo out online yesterday and her family saw it last night.’
‘Wyatt just . . . just took her?’
Quincy nodded. ‘Looks like it. She’d just come home from the state school for the deaf. It was the first day of summer vacation.’
‘You informed her family?’ Adam asked, torn between gratitude and irritation.
‘We did,’ Trip said, his voice heavy with sympathy. ‘They’d like to meet you sometime. I told them you were tied up in personal matters now, but you’d be willing to see them when Dr Fallon is out of the woods. They want to thank you. For trying to help their daughter. And for paying to bury her.’
Adam looked away, overcome. ‘They want to thank me?’ he whispered. He gave up the pretense of control and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. ‘Does Nash know?’
‘Not yet,’ Quincy said. ‘We were going to see him next.’
‘He’ll want to meet them too. He’s been putting flowers on her grave every month.’
Trip hesitated. ‘If you two need anyone to go with you when you meet with the family, I’m happy to go too.’
Adam was so finished with trying to go it alone. ‘Thanks. I’d like that.’