“First and foremost, I’m in agreement with Mrs. Burnham,” he stated, meeting Alexander’s eyes, then glancing at Olivia to his right. “We shouldn’t get Homeland Security involved until we can guarantee your little girl’s safety. That’s our priority right now, not the illegal status of a bunch of women who ran away from home to save their lives.”
Alexander nodded. At first, he wanted to jump at the opportunity to get Melanie back and didn’t care who was hurt along the way, but Olivia was right. She was always more methodical than he was, always looking at the big picture when he had a tendency to act on instinct, consequences be damned. She couldn’t live with the thought of being responsible for their deaths. He couldn’t, either. He’d been living with the guilt of Landon’s death for a year now. He didn’t want any more blood on his hands.
“Now, we need to move these women to a secure location. They can’t stay where they are.”
“I’m already on it,” Alexander informed Moretti. “I have my team arranging their relocation as we speak.”
“All of them?” Moretti raised his eyebrows.
“It’s risky, but it’s too dangerous to keep them all together. My company has several safe houses in the area. We’ve split them up into groups of three or four, and are moving a few girls at a time using different agents, automobiles, and routes so as not to raise any suspicion. It’s not foolproof, but it’s better than not doing anything.”
“Agreed,” Moretti answered. “Where exactly are these safe houses located?” He grabbed his pen, about to make notes in his pad, the rest of his team also anxious for Alexander’s response.
He glanced around his office, feeling as if his own personal secure space had been invaded by this team of law enforcement agents. “It’s my company’s policy not to give out that information. It would defeat the purpose of having a safe house.”
“Yes, but it’s part of my investigation.”
“The location of where my company is keeping these women is irrelevant to the investigation. All you need to know is these houses are incredibly secure and well-protected. There will be a team of at least two agents keeping an eye on each house around the clock. No one gets in or out without an agent knowing about it. That’s all I’m comfortable saying.”
Pinching his lips together, Moretti flipped his notepad closed. Alexander wanted to ask him why he took copious notes of his investigations if he had a so-called eidetic memory, but stopped himself.
“Well, I suppose that’s all for now then. We’ve received information from your contact at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan about a few of these girls’ family members who were named Maleek. We’re looking into each of them to see if it’s our guy. That may get us closer to finding out precisely who put a bullet in his head and took Melanie.”
Moretti stood from the couch and signaled for his team to follow him. His sudden departure caught Alexander off guard.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to Maleek’s house to see if we can find anything that will give us a clue as to where your daughter could be.”
Alexander sprang to his feet, ready to go with them.
Moretti held his hand up, stopping him. “Mr. Burnham, I hope you can understand that it’s our policy to only allow agents working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to visit crime scenes,” he said, a smug look on his face.
Alexander opened his mouth to argue he’d already been at the crime scene, but Moretti cut him off.
“I’m just not comfortable letting someone I’m not familiar with into my crime scene where he could potentially contaminate evidence.” His smug expression turned severe. “Not so much fun when the shoe’s on the other foot, is it?”
He spun on his heels as Alexander’s nostrils flared. He could show him he wasn’t willing to back down and head over to Maleek’s house anyway, but what good would that do? He doubted the FBI would come across anything that would help find his daughter. But he potentially had something that could.
“What are you going to do?” Olivia asked once she, Martin, and Alexander were alone in the room once more.
“I’m going to use what I know about this guy to find Melanie.” Alexander shook his head. “There was something about that voice—”
“I thought you said he disguised his voice,” she interrupted.
“And he did, but… I don’t know. Something about it was eerily familiar. I can’t explain how, but it was. And the fact that he disguised his face and used a voice modulator leads me to no other conclusion than that I know him. So I’m going to listen to the audio over and over again and see if anything stands out.”
“How? I thought—”
“When the rest of the FBI agents were preoccupied with how to trace the call, I made sure to record the audio with my cell phone so I could reference it later.” Alexander smirked.
“You really think you’ll be able to find Melanie with just that audio?” Olivia asked.
Alexander shook his head. The truth was, he had no idea, but it was better than nothing. “I’m not going to make you any promises I can’t keep, but I refuse to believe this audio holds no clues as to where our daughter is.”
“What can I do to help?” Olivia asked.
He placed his hands on her arms, rubbing her soft skin. “Go relax. Try to forget about all of this.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to just sit here while you’re off trying to save the world, Alex. I’m part of this. And I’m going to remain a part of this whether you like it or not. I know it’s dangerous, but I’ve been putting my life on the line without you knowing for months.”
“I know you want to help and I love you for that, Olivia.” He brushed a curl that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear. “I thought I knew the woman I married, but I was wrong. You’ve surprised me today…”
She looked away, pulling her lip between her teeth.
“In a good way.” He grabbed her chin, forcing her to gaze into his eyes. “You did what I was too selfish to when Landon came to me. I should have helped him. Maybe if I had, none of this would have happened. Maybe the shelter wouldn’t have been attacked and Landon wouldn’t have been taken—”
“You can’t think like that, Alex,” Olivia said, running her fingers over his cheek. “It’ll eat you up if you go back and say ‘what if’. Don’t torture yourself like that. You don’t deserve to go through that. But you can learn from it. This is no one’s fault, other than whoever this guy is. I’m not to blame, and neither are you. So be the Alexander Burnham I fell in love with and do everything within your power to find our daughter.” Stepping back, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket, straightening them.
“And you’ll stay here?” He raised his brow.
“I don’t like being a prisoner in my own house. I know you’re worried about something happening to me, too, but you don’t have to be. I can’t just sit around and do nothing when I can do something to further Mischa’s and Landon’s legacies.”
Alexander hesitated. The thought of Olivia leaving the house, completely unprotected, didn’t sit well with him at all. He knew he’d never be able to focus on finding Melanie if Olivia wasn’t safe.