“Give me a minute with Carina, okay?” Lucy asked Max.
“Take all the time you want.” Lucy watched as Max pulled Andrew away from the group and out of the room. Lucy couldn’t worry about either of them. She went over to her sister who looked frozen. There was no other word. She hadn’t spoken the entire meeting, hadn’t asked a question, just watched and listened.
“Are you okay?” Lucy asked.
She nodded. “You and Max built the case. It’s solid. I didn’t think it could be done … I’m floored.”
“Fresh eyes,” Lucy said. She sat down. “Carina, you can’t go back. You weren’t a cop then, you did everything you could. Don Katella did everything he could, believe me. At the time, there was no way of knowing that Danielle Sharpe had killed Justin. No evidence, no witnesses, no connection to Andrew or Nelia—except a tenuous connection at the district attorney’s office. She fixated on the family but except for one incident at work, she never did anything to tip her hand.”
“Incident?”
“Andrew can explain. Then she left months later and waited years before she killed again.”
“You did an amazing job, Lucy, really. And I guess you get along with that reporter.”
“She’s very smart. She thinks like a cop, but doesn’t have to follow the rules.” Lucy realized that she didn’t always follow the rules, either. Maybe she was a little jealous of Max’s freedom. Except that while Max could expose a killer, only Lucy and other law enforcement agents could bring a killer to justice.
“I don’t know if Mom and Dad are going to be satisfied,” Lucy said, almost surprising herself.
“I’ll talk to them. Nelia did, but they worry.”
About Nelia and Carina, Lucy thought. Did they worry as much about her? After what her father said, she realized she had a different place in the family than she’d thought. There were some things that couldn’t be forgotten, some things that—maybe—would never be forgiven. Lucy had made peace with what happened on her high school graduation. It had taken her years, but she was stronger now. Maybe her father was right and it changed her in a fundamental way. But she couldn’t go back. She couldn’t undo the past. She was who she was because of how she was raised—if she hadn’t been raised as she was, would she have been able to overcome her attack?
“I’ll come by before I leave San Diego,” Lucy said.
“When are you going back to work?”
“After we find Danielle Sharpe.”
Max was waiting for Lucy when she walked away from Carina. “I’m not cutting you out,” Lucy said. “But this is now an official FBI investigation. And I promise, they’re not going to drop it.”
“Oh, I know that. And I have what I need from Chief Causey and from Andrew.”
“What?”
“Promises of quotes and interviews. An exclusive. And I talked to your brother earlier.”
“Which one?”
“Dillon. The one who doesn’t want to strangle me.”
“You haven’t met them all,” Lucy said, trying to lighten the conversation.
“I’ve done enough research to know I don’t want to be on the bad side of any Kincaid—or Rogan, for that matter.”
“You’re not. Without you, we’d never have identified Danielle Sharpe and we’d never have known what really happened to Justin.”
“We still don’t. We have theories, but you need to stop her. I have complete faith in you, Lucy. And I don’t say that to a lot of people.”
“I appreciate it. I’ll let you know what’s happening.”
“Thanks. And if my staff or I learn anything new, I’ll shoot it to you.”
Lucy extended her hand. “Thanks for everything.”
Max tilted her head. “I’m sure I’ll see you tonight or tomorrow.”
“It might be a zoo, especially if we arrest her.”
“Before you leave, I’d like to take you—and your husband if he’s back—out to dinner.”
Lucy smiled. “I’d like that.”
Lucy left the police station and walked outside. A brief horn alerted her to Ken’s location parked in a red zone. She slid into the passenger seat.
“Where are you staying? Your parents’?”
“The US Grant.”
“Wow. They must pay you better in San Antonio.”
“Why?”
“You need to pack a bag, just in case.” He pulled rapidly from the curb and immediately into traffic. “I always have an overnight in the trunk—been stuck too many times in the boondocks.”
“In case of what?”
“We have three departments working double time on this right now. Sacramento already reported back that Sharpe no longer lives in the house up there—the landlord said she moved out more than two years ago. They’re getting her rental agreement and interviewing the neighbors and talking to her former employer, but it’s not going to get us anywhere. So I followed up with the lawyer in L.A.—Gillogley? Donovan’s partner, the tax lawyer. She’ll talk to us, but only with a warrant. Gave us a bone—said the lawyer is in Los Angeles. My boss is working with the AUSA, we should have it in an hour or two.”
“Andrew can expedite it.”
“Yeah, but we have to keep him out of it from here on out.”
“Then why am I involved?”
“You’re not the kid’s mother. You were related to him, but it’s a degrees of separation thing.” He glanced at her. “Do you want out?”
“No.”
“Good. So we’re heading to L.A. If we hit the road now I’m hoping to miss most traffic, though it’ll still be a mess once we reach Orange County.”
“Backtrack—why can’t the L.A. office interview Gillogley and her lawyer friend?”
“First, it’s going to take time—I’ll take bets on whether we get the warrant before or after we hit the L.A. County line. We’re going to talk to Gillogley about whom she referred Sharpe to—the lawyer who called to thank her, according to your reporter friend. L.A. can handle it, but we’d have to get them up to speed, and then we have the not-so-sensitive information about this chick. That she may be stalking another family. It could take a day to put together a team from L.A.—why take the time? By the way, based on the timeline that referral call was only a short time after Sharpe left Sacramento.”
“She’s built another nest,” Lucy muttered.
“Nest. Sure, I guess. Whatever it is, it’s likely she’s still there. She stays two to five years in each place. I got another agent building on the reporter’s timeline with addresses, employment records, filling in the blanks. By the time we get to L.A. we’ll have a broad warrant. Talk to Chris Donovan’s mother, the lawyer, and follow up with what we learn. Boots to the ground and all that. Sacramento may have been a dead end—but if her MO holds, she’ll be entrenched somewhere else. That’s what you said, right?”
“Yes.”
Lucy left Ken in the car and ran up to her room. She packed a bag, sent Sean a text message, and was back in the car in less than ten minutes.
Sean responded.
I’ll see you when you get back, Princess. I’ll make sure Maxine doesn’t get out of line.
She rolled her eyes and almost laughed.
“All good?” Ken said.
“Good.”
“Want to take that bet?”
“About the warrant? It’s what, two hours to L.A.?”