He hung up.
Kane Rogan made one fatal mistake. He may know who was looking for the bearer bonds—many people over the years had been looking for them for a variety of reasons—and he may think he would be able to capitalize on that knowledge to create a diversion at the Flores compound. But Dante knew who he’d stolen them from in the first place. And he couldn’t wait to expose Kane.
He truly hoped both Kane and Sean survived Dominick Flores and the rest of the Flores clan. Because the real fireworks were to come later.
And Dante, for one, couldn’t wait to witness that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Adam Villines walked out onto the porch of Honeycutt’s house and told Nate and Lucy, “I have a general location of George’s phone.”
John came out of the house. “I’m coming with you,” he said.
“No,” Adam said.
“Adam, you don’t understand! This girl—she’s been through hell. And now three cops are going to storm her place? She’ll be terrified. She needs to see a friendly face!”
Lucy rose from the bench. She still felt queasy, but she was pulling herself together. “John, she will see a friendly face. Siobhan Walsh is a friend of mine. She’s been looking for Marisol and Ana ever since they went missing. She’ll be with us.” Lucy pulled the photo of Marisol, Ana, and Siobhan from her file. “This is Siobhan with the girls when they were younger.”
“But—”
Adam put his hand on John’s shoulder. They were both tall men, but Adam was broader and more muscular than his brother-in-law. “Johnny, stay with your parents tonight. Keep the house locked up, guns by your side, just in case. Call me if there is anything suspicious going on. And I give you my word, we’ll do everything to help those girls.”
John nodded, though he still looked unhappy. “Thank you, Adam.” He turned to Lucy. “Anything my parents and I can do, we’ll do. We don’t have a lot of money, but we have this property—a safe place for them to stay. Food. My mom was a school nurse for thirty-five years, she can take care of them. Their—special needs.”
The compassion she witnessed helped Lucy more than she could have explained to John or anyone. Here was a family willing to share everything they had to help someone they had just met. Not just Marisol, but them. Both the girls. The babies. The Honeycutts were the light in the world, a light Lucy desperately needed right then.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’ll make sure Marisol knows.”
They walked back to the cars after John went back inside. Adam said, “He should have called me when he found her, I’m sorry.”
“She’s scared of authority, but he’s a good man. Don’t be hard on him—you have a good family here,” Lucy said.
“I do,” Adam said with pride. “They just should have trusted me.”
“They do. But you and I both know that not all cops are the good guys. And Marisol didn’t know if anyone would believe her, or even where she was. She knew there’s at least one bad cop in the neighboring county. It would be smart for her captors to bring in one man in uniform to intimidate the girls, so they would be scared to go to the police.”
Nate opened his door. “Where are we going?”
Adam gave them the street. “The phone company couldn’t pinpoint the exact address, but they gave us a radius downtown. There are several motels in the area, restaurants, some apartments and businesses.”
“If Angelo did in fact pick her up, he may have taken her to a motel. Let’s check there first, show both their photos.” Lucy turned to Nate. “Did Zach come through on Angelo?”
“No known record, at least in the US. Has a Mexican passport, and he used it to fly into Laredo on Friday afternoon.”
“He flew? It’s a what, four-hour drive or so?”
“About that,” Adam said. “So he’s been here since Friday.” He frowned.
Lucy nodded. “You’re on the right path, Adam—he knew she was missing before she called him.”
“She could have contacted him before Tuesday morning,” Adam said.
“That wasn’t my impression after talking to the Honeycutts. They seemed to think she hadn’t spoken to him in two years.”
Adam rubbed his face. “I’ll call in backup.”
“And I need to alert Siobhan. John is right, Marisol needs a familiar face, and she’ll trust Siobhan.”
On the drive back to Laredo, Lucy called Siobhan and told her to meet them at an intersection near the two motels. She didn’t give her any more information, though Siobhan had questions. She quickly got off the phone and called Noah. She filled him in on everything they had, and then gave him her theory. He was silent when she was done.
“I’ll run Zapelli’s name up the food chain. He may not have a record and he may not be flagged, but that doesn’t mean he’s not on someone’s radar. I’m on my way down.”