*
She flipped through the copy again. The babies were few and far between—some of them months—during the first year. The program must have become lucrative because more than half the seventy-two babies had been born in the last nine months. She took some quick notes. “Nate, there were fourteen girls pregnant at one time just last month—including Marisol and Ana. The house in Freer only had eight beds. There must be another place. More girls.”
“Hopefully not like that trailer.”
“I think the trailer was a way station. They had to put them someplace, they were angry because Marisol had not only escaped, but had taken her baby with her, and in doing so brought down the authorities. Eight beds—” She gestured toward the trailer where the deputies were bringing out a body bag. “Five girls here. Plus Eloise, Macey, and Marisol.”
She paused. “Zapelli had to have known about this baby ring, and when Marisol told him she was pregnant, he sold her—and her baby.”
“Then why did she call him?”
“Because she didn’t know that he’d done it. I don’t think Loretta knew, otherwise she would have rubbed it in—she complained that Marisol went on and on about Angelo saving them. And he was the person she trusted the most to call when she escaped.” Shouldn’t she have seen the truth? Maybe not. Zapelli was a slimy bastard, but maybe he had a charming side. Marisol and Ana were girls from the country. They might not see the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
After finding Marisol, there was nothing Lucy wanted more than to see Angelo in prison. And Marisol would help put him there.
That may give her some satisfaction. Some peace.
Death is the only peace. Would it have given you peace if Adam Scott had been arrested? Prosecuted? Living behind bars? Hardly. You killed him because he was evil and would have raped and murdered again and again until he was dead.
She couldn’t go there. Not now. Not when her emotions were so … jumbled.
Nate picked up his phone. “It’s Noah,” he said to Lucy. “Noah, you’re on speaker. Lucy’s here.”
“We traced the Honeycutt phone to a house just outside Laredo, fifteen minutes south from the trailer. I sent you the address. As deputies attempted to reach out to the occupants, they fired shots. Put on your vests if you haven’t already done so—we have one cop in critical condition and they have multiple hostages.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
By the time Lucy and Nate arrived at the standoff, the entire block had been evacuated and a dozen police cars, including a SWAT tactical van, were parked around the perimeter. Noah and Villines were both on the phone, and the head of the Webb County SWAT was speaking into a loudspeaker.
“Mr. Dobleman,” SWAT said, “please pick up the phone so we can discuss the situation.”
Silence.
Noah put his phone down. “We don’t know how many hostages they have, but there are at least three gunmen,” he told Lucy and Nate. “We’re trying to resolve this without any more bloodshed.”
Villines said, “My deputy is going in for surgery right now—he made it that far, he’s going to pull through.” He spoke it as if speaking it would make it so. Lucy hoped he was right.
Less than an hour had passed since the first shots had been fired at the two deputies who had initially approached the house. Zapelli had never driven his rental car to this place, but the phone the Honeycutts gave to Marisol had pinged to this neighborhood. The deputies had been going door-to-door.
“We have one positive ID—Lance Dobleman,” Noah said. “He answered the door and fired the first shots. One officer was winged, managed to get his partner to safety, and ID’d him from his photo. Now no one will pick up the phone. There’s no way out—we have it surrounded. There’s no basement. They know they’re out of options.”
Villines said, “SWAT wants to get them into negotiation mode to buy time and reduce the tension. If we can develop a dialogue then maybe we can end this without anyone dying.”
The sun had long set and the headlights of every cop car were on, illuminating the block in bright, artificial light. Everything seemed sharper, clearer. SWAT was setting up two mobile spotlights at either end of the block aimed straight at the house. There had been no gunfire after the initial burst. Everyone was on edge.