Drawing in a breath, she glanced in her side mirror and saw Bowman approaching. He’d drawn his gun, holding it close to his side. She unclipped her holster and reached for Cooper’s tracking line.
Without a word she was out of the car. She quickly leashed the dog and moved toward Bowman.
“Tell me you would not have come here alone.” Bowman wasn’t looking at her. Instead, his gaze swept the building and the motor home at a methodical pace.
“Under normal circumstances, no.”
“Never was the right answer.” He raised his weapon. “Stay.”
“What? Like Cooper?”
He shot her a look that silenced her next comment. He moved to the first building, doing a careful sweep of the structure. Then he moved to the second and the third and so on. When he returned to her side, he nodded toward the motor home. “Any movement?”
“Nothing.”
The motor home curtains were drawn, and out front stood a trio of lawn chairs, which she supposed served as a waiting room when the place was operational.
He carefully pulled off dark glasses and tucked them in his pocket. “You think Darla is here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has Carter made bail?” he asked.
“He wasn’t scheduled to be in court until tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get an earlier date.”
“Do you think they would have taken off?”
“Not while Jo-Jo is still alive. They’ll wait for her to be released from the hospital. In their minds, she belongs to them.”
She stared at the dingy motor home. She’d never turned a trick on the streets. Never used. But her time on the streets had amounted to only a few weeks. If it had been months, and she was hungry enough . . . desperation could easily have led her here.
A muscle ticked in Bowman’s jaw. He moved to the motor home and banged on the door with his fist. Both stood in silence, waiting. He reached for the door handle.
“Last I checked, you’re a civilian now,” she said.
The edge of his mouth ticked up. “That’s amusing.”
“I’m police. You’re not. You get shot and it’s my ass.”
“I’m not going to get shot.”
“If you do find anything, it won’t be admissible in court.”
A curtain in the trailer fluttered, and his gaze caught it at the exact moment Riley did. He motioned for her to stand to his left, away from the front door. He banged on the door again with his fist.
She shouted, “Police. Trooper Tatum. I’m here for Darla.”
Silence. Then steady, controlled footsteps. No rush. No worry. She guessed Darla had encountered police enough to see them as an annoyance rather than a real threat.
The doorknob rattled, turned, and the door opened—to Jax. Bowman raised his gun, and Riley held her ground with Cooper alert at her side.
She was struck by Carter’s muscled build. In the woods, he’d been sitting against the tree, but now he loomed tall. A gold-capped incisor matched a thick necklace hanging around his neck. Dark running suit, metallic T-shirt, and expensive athletic shoes—he’d mastered the style of the pimp as if he’d been born to the job. A cigarette dangled from his fingers.
“Jax Carter,” she said. “So you did make bail early.”
“Trooper Tatum.” His grin widened until it swept right and landed on Bowman. Straightening, he sniffed. “Nice of you to pay me a visit.” He lifted up the hem of his pant leg to reveal an ankle bracelet. “As you can see, I’m not going anywhere. Playing by the rules like a good boy.”
“We’re looking for Cassie,” Riley said.
Carter leaned his forearm on the doorframe. The thick scent of body odor mingled with cheap aftershave. “Do I look like a halfway house?”
Bowman didn’t speak, but a controlled ferocity radiated from him, much as it would from a guard dog.
“Is the girl with you?” she asked.
He couldn’t suppress a smile. “I don’t know a Cassie.”
“Darla does.”
Carter held his hands chest level and stepped out of the motor home. “You’d have to ask Darla. I was in lockup until late Friday.”
Bowman shifted. “Where’s Darla?”
Carter sighed, and turning his head slightly, shouted, “Darla, get your ass out here. Police want to have a word.”
Footsteps slightly rocked the motor home before she appeared in the doorway. Greasy dark hair hung around her round face. Thick eye shadow accentuated her wide-set eyes, and smudged lipstick drew attention to full lips. She wore a tank top and faded jeans that hugged full hips.
“Jax, who’s this?”
“This is Trooper Tatum,” Carter said. “She’s looking for you.”
Darla folded her arms. “What do you want, Trooper Tatum?”
“Where’s Cassie?” Riley asked.
“I don’t know a Cassie,” Darla said.
“That’s not what I heard. I know Tony is hunting you,” she said. “He wants his girl back.”
Darla’s muscles tightened, drawing attention to a rose tattoo on her arm. “I don’t know a Cassie.”
“Where’ve you been the last couple of days?” Riley asked.
“Here at the trailer, waiting for my baby,” Darla said.
“You have ID?” Riley asked.
“Yeah, somewhere.” She patted her pockets but only found a half stick of gum. “I don’t know where it is. And I don’t have to give it to you. I know the law.”
Always testing. Riley reached for her phone. “I bet Jax has something in that trailer that’s violating the terms of his bail.”
“I have your ID, baby,” Carter said.
Darla smoothed long fingers over a bruise on her forearm. “You don’t have to show her.”
His grin widened. “We don’t want trouble.”
Cooper was silently watching, but his tension radiated up his tracking line into her arm. Carter handed her the ID, and she studied it. Darla was twenty-three.
Riley held on to the license as she spoke. “I know Kevin Lewis bought Vicky. Who bought Cassie?”
Darla rubbed the underside of her nose with her index finger. “I don’t know Cassie. And girls like her take off all the time.”
“She didn’t take off. You sold her,” Riley said.
Darla’s bloodshot eyes sharpened. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“What did you do with the money the john paid for Cassie? Did you tell Jax about it?”
“Of course I told Jax,” Darla said.
Carter glared at his girlfriend. “Shut your mouth. They’re fishing. They ain’t got nothing on us.”
Darla fingered a gold hoop earring. “This is harassment.”
Bowman was silent, but he didn’t miss a detail. His hand wasn’t on his weapon, but it was close. At Quantico, his draw was one of the fastest.
“Are you gonna arrest us or not?” Carter asked.
“Not,” Riley said as she handed the ID to Darla.
“But we’ll let Tony know that Darla is with you,” Bowman said.
Carter shook his head. “What the hell? Don’t go spreading lies to Tony.”
“The real sharks are swimming on the outside of the tank, aren’t they, Jax? But you already know that,” Bowman said.
“Little fish like you don’t have a chance against the sharks,” Riley said.