“Impulse? Emotions?”
He shook his head. “Then why spend years hunting down her sister? There had to be a reason that would impact his wallet or reputation.”
“And that would be?”
“I think this is the way it went down. Walsh was working for the Castino cartel in Mexico City right before Jenny was killed, according to Interpol. It’s logical that the chain started there. Castino was dipping his hands in human trafficking as well as his other criminal pursuits, and it would be natural for Walsh to be involved as his enforcer. So I called Mexico City Police and asked some in-depth questions. You know I spent a few weeks down there this year at that cartel seminar.”
“I remember. You made quite a few contacts.”
“And one of them was Detective Má?ez, who has been investigating the cartels for the past twelve years. I believe we managed to work it out together.”
Eve leaned forward. “Tell me.”
“Castino’s is only one of several cartels in Mexico. Probably the most powerful, but there are others who are constantly at war with them. Needless to say, the fighting gets very vicious. No holds barred. A man can make a fortune playing both sides.”
“Walsh.”
“Juan Castino had a beautiful Russian wife, Natalie, and they had two children. Unfortunately for her, both were girls. Our macho Castino wanted boys. But he would never admit something he owned wasn’t perfect. He made a big play about being besotted with the girls. Which made them automatic targets. Kill the girls, hurt Castino. The police think Walsh was hired by Alfredo Salazar, who runs a rival cartel, to double-cross his boss and do it. But it was too dangerous to do it on Castino’s home turf, so he waited until he was due to escort a group of slave laborers to Southern California to work the fields down there. He arranged to kidnap the girls and send them in the trucks bound for the fields. It was a quick and easy way to transport extremely hot merchandise. When he got there, he was supposed to kill them and safely dispose of them. No one was supposed to know that Salazar had funded the kill. It would have started a messy gang war. Salazar wanted the satisfaction of destroying the children Castino cared about and wanted to be able to gloat without consequences. It was important that no bodies be found. So Salazar chose an expert, Walsh.”
“A monster…”
“But something evidently went wrong. He wasn’t as efficient as Salazar had hoped. One disposal clumsily handled, one child escaped and went on the run. That probably had something to do with Elena Pasquez, who might have helped the children to escape.”
“Who?”
“Elena Pasquez, a young nursemaid, who disappeared at the same time as the children, probably also kidnapped by Walsh.”
“Elena Pasquez. She changed her name to Elena Delaney?”
“That would be my guess. She probably changed her name many times while she was on the run.”
“But if she helped Cara to escape, why not just go to the police?”
“Her entire family was involved with the cartels. No one ever went to the police, and those who did usually ended with their entire family being targeted.”
“So Elena was alone and trying desperately to hide from Walsh. He must have been relentless.”
“We both know how egotistical Walsh is. I believe he’s been trying to rectify that mistake for the past eight years. Not only did he have to keep Castino from knowing he’d sold him out to Salazar, he had to make the correction to preserve his spotless reputation.”
“And Jenny had to remain lost and unknown. Cara had to be found and killed, no matter what the cost.”
Joe nodded. “That about covers it.”