“Just a little,” Angie answered.
“Well, it won’t break Louise’s heart. More for us and maybe the Karlsons. Goodness knows they can’t resist her lasagna. But hey, it’s the thought that counts.” Walt patted Gabriel on the shoulder and turned his attention to Angie. “And how are you holding up? Any new leads on your runaway?”
“I’ve got a guy on it.” Angie wasn’t about to bring up the scare she had down in Baltimore. Better if her father thought her job was only a tick or two less safe than an accountant’s.
Talk of Nadine reminded her of the photograph of the girl. She showed Walt and her dad the image NCMEC had prepared.
“So who is this pretty woman?” Walt asked.
“This is the girl in the photograph I found in the attic,” Angie said. “Aged about thirty years.”
“I told you about that, Walt,” Gabe said.
“Oh yeah,” said Walt. “Let me see the original.”
Angie got her copy and showed it to Walt. Madeline took another look, as well.
Walt held up the image of the young girl and the age progression version for comparison. “Amazing what you can do with computers these days.”
Walt and Gabe were products of a different era, when a room full of computers wasn’t nearly as powerful as the phone in Angie’s purse, and a fax machine was something of a novelty. Her father had always worked in finance, a little staid compared to Walt’s distinguished career in law enforcement. When they could speak in private, Angie would tell Walt all about the two thugs she took down and show him the bullet hole in her car. He would get a kick out of the story. It would be the opposite of her dad’s reaction.
Angie and Walt frequently talked guns, police techniques, and law enforcement trends when they got the chance. He had begun his career with the Washington PD, but found his true calling when he’d joined the U.S. Marshals. He’d been with the Marshals Service for thirty years, accruing plenty of commendations and accolades along the way. He was also a wellspring of stories.
Angie enjoyed her long chats with Walt on the back deck, drinking beer and talking shop. He spoke of his marshal days with reverence. She wondered if one day she would look back on her time with DeRose and Associates with the same misty-eyed recollection. Having built the agency from the ground up, she held every expectation she would.
With his marshal days long behind him, Walt enjoyed traveling and spoiling his five grandkids. It wasn’t uncommon for him to take off on lengthy solo adventures, or for him and Louise to be gone months at a time. Sometimes, Angie’s parents had gone with them, but her dad wasn’t big on traveling. Instead, he and Walt went on local fishing trips together or blew off steam at the gun range.
Her father owned several firearms that he kept in a gun safe in the basement. As a young girl, Angie found the unfinished basement creepy, and never went down there alone. Her parents used it for storage, though her father kept an elliptical machine down there he used on occasion. Hopefully, he would start using the elipical more.
“So any idea who this girl might be?” Walt asked.
“No idea at all,” Angie said. “But I’ve got my guy Bao working on it. He’s trying to figure out the code on the back.”
Walt turned the image of the young girl over and read it for himself. He gave a few head scratches as if to say Bao had his work cut out for him, and handed both pictures back to Angie. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, you let me know.”
“Will do. I have to get back on the Nadine case soon. I think we’re close. This may have to wait.”
Gabriel coughed to get attention. “What do you mean by soon? I’m in need of some help here, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Dad, you are not in a nursing home and you’re not even that sick. You just need to take better care of yourself, that’s all.”
“What about the Nats games? I have tickets for tomorrow night. I wanted to take you.”
“I’ve got to get back to Baltimore,” Angie said.
“I’ll go with you,” Madeline said.
“Hey, you didn’t give me a chance,” Walt said, grinning.
Gabe took a look at Madeline. “Yeah, maybe next time, Walt.”
The next several hours, the four sat in the TV room and watched the Nats dismantle the Cubs. Well, Madeline, Gabriel, and Walt watched the game. Angie was busy going over e-mail, answering voice messages, and making sure the agency and her farmed-out cases continued to run smoothly. She touched base with Bao only to learn he had made more progress with his skateboard tricks than her mom’s mysterious code, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
She also got in touch with Mike Webb, who was at a bar a few blocks from Angie’s Alley, as he called it.
“Any luck getting inside that apartment building?”
“I haven’t seen Hat Man or Casper the Hefty Ghost since you went all ninja on them,” Mike said.
“Well, are you looking?”
“I’m at a bar. Of course I’m looking.”