brown and took a quick shower. After a couple of hours’ sack time, she’d hit the road again. But before that happened, she checked in with Tanya Spencer, her only lifeline.
“Hey, it’s me.” Alexa didn’t say her name. “You got anything new?”
She’d used a prepaid cell, a number that Tanya wouldn’t know, but she figured the analyst would recognize her voice and take everything in stride like the pro she was.
“Yeah, I think I found something.” Tanya dispensed with the usual formalities of asking questions and kept her focus. “But it doesn’t make much sense.”
“What do you mean?” With a towel wrapped around her wet hair, Alexa sat on the corner of her motel bed, a room she’d paid for in cash.
“Someone with access to our internal resources is using satellite time to track a cell-phone GPS signal in Mexico. And as far as I can tell, no one at the Sentinels has an operation in that country. Normally, I wouldn’t make a big deal about this, but since we’re looking for anything out of the ordinary, it piqued my interest.”
“Do you have a name of the owner of the cell, or maybe the coordinates of that GPS signal?” she asked.
“No name, but I do have coordinates.” Tanya gave her a location outside Guadalajara, Mexico. “And I’ve got Seth Harper working this on the QT. With him being located in Chicago, he’s got no one looking over his shoulder to see what he’s up to.”
“Good call. Not many people connected to the Sentinels know Harper, and the guy can keep a secret.” Alexa tightened the towel that she had wrapped around her body. “So what’s near there? Can you tell if the signal is coming from a residence?”
“Did some digging on that. It’s not just a residence, it’s an estate, honey. And the property had a few layers of corporations heaped on top of the name of the real owner. I had to call in a few markers to dig that deep.”
“And? Who’s playing the shell game?”
“Manolo Quintanilla Perez is the owner of record. He’s the head of a drug cartel, an upstart group that’s trying to make a name. What they lack in longevity, they more than make up for in brutality. A fun bunch.”
“So if you can’t find any record of this op, what makes you think Garrett is involved?” Alexa asked.
“My Logistics contact came up with those AWOL operatives who don’t have a specific assignment. And one name got my interest. Hank Lewis. Besides you, Hank is one of Garrett’s ‘go to’ guys. It’s just a gut feeling, but I think this is the thread of information we’ve been looking for. We may not get anything better, Alexa.”
For the first time since she had learned of Garrett’s disappearance, Alexa felt the pang of regret. Whatever Garrett was involved with, he hadn’t included her. He’d chosen Hank Lewis to confide in and lead the team that would back his play.
Why hadn’t Garrett asked her?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Tanya said after her silence left an awkward wake in the conversation. “And when we find him, you can ask why he was so bullheaded about not making you a part of his team, but right now we’ve got work to do.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Alexa took a deep breath and rubbed her temple. The tension headache that had started earlier in the day had gotten worse. “I’m going to Mexico, Tanya. I don’t think we’ve got another choice.”
“Honey, I knew you’d say that.”
Tanya had already worked out the logistics for her trip to Guadalajara. She’d leave at first light. If Garrett was in Mexico, she would find him.
She had to.
Jessie gulped down the last dregs of cold coffee from a lidded styrofoam cup and ate what was left of the Cheetos as she drove through Wisconsin. With orange fingertips, she gripped the wheel of her rented Taurus sedan and watched the center stripes roll by under its high beams.
The sun had gone down hours ago, taking with it the last of the scenery worth seeing. Rolling green hills dotted with picturesque dairy farms and placid lakes that mirrored the waning sunset had been replaced by darkness and miles of self-doubt. She had plenty of time to think. In her state of mind, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
She had paid the price for getting a late start on her drive to La Pointe. Thinking of Seth had made the trip easier, but it was hard to ignore the nagging thoughts about her past. She had talked with Seth over breakfast and explained why she’d come to Chicago. And like she had expected, Harper had plenty of questions as they sat at his dining-room table.
“Do you really think this old case might give you a lead on your mother? That’s huge, Jess.” Harper leaned closer, elbows on the table, as he grabbed her hand. “I mean, how does that make you feel?”
Jess shook her head, and said, “I don’t know, exactly. After all this time, a part of me wants to know what happened, but maybe this will make things worse.”
If she had to let go of the only good memory she had—the only shining moment of the woman she believed was her mother—Jessie wasn’t sure she could handle that. Her whole life had been about abuse—what one sick man had done to her and what she had done to herself when she didn’t feel she deserved to be happy. Jessie wanted to believe she had gotten past it, but she knew that wasn’t true.
She never would.
“I can come with you,” Seth had offered. “I can have someone look after Floyd while we’re gone.”
“But what about that assignment you have with Tanya?”
Harper launched into geek speak, telling her about his new laptop, courtesy of the Sentinels. He had plenty of juice to keep in touch with Tanya Spencer on the road.
“My new laptop is ubersexy. I can stay connected with New York. No worries.” He squeezed her hand and fixed his gaze on her. “I just don’t think you should make this trip alone.”
Looking into Harper’s eyes made anything possible. Jess thought about his offer as they sat in silence. She’d have to keep her explanation simple and something Seth would understand. She would avoid telling him the real reason she needed to make the trek to Wisconsin alone, mostly because she didn’t want to hear the words come out of her mouth.
If her mother had anything to do with how she ended up with a serial pedophile, Jessie wasn’t sure how she would handle that. She’d rather face that reality alone and deal with it on her own terms. And if there had been a reason why she was never claimed by a family after her ordeal as a child, maybe Chief Tobias Cook might know what it was.
“I appreciate the offer, Seth, but I think this is something I’m gonna do on my own. I hope you understand.”
Of all people, Harper would understand her need to uncover the truth about her mother by herself. For years, he’d been dealing with the fragile relationship he’d had with his father while growing up. In her eyes, Harper’s father would always be a hero, but that hadn’t been the way Seth saw it.
His old man was a retired cop who had been an AWOL dad when Harper needed him. It didn’t matter that his father had sacrificed his personal life for the sake of his job. To a small boy, that didn’t matter. And in a strange show of irony that life often dished out, now Harper was responsible for his father’s care after dementia had sidelined him at a nursing home with no one else to take care of him. Seth had dealt with his burden on his own, too, even after he and Jessie had met and grown close. Sometimes, family problems hit too close to home to share with anyone.
“Yeah, guess I do. Family stuff can really mess with your head,” he said. “But I want you to call me, anytime. You hear?”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Don’t say that unless you mean it, Jessie. Swear to me.”
“Pinkie swear.” She raised her hand and offered her pinkie. When Seth took it with his, she added, “I’ll call you.”
Under the table, Floyd sprawled at her feet and groaned. When he moved, the dog passed gas. Jessie tried hard not to take it personally.
“Oh man, Floyd. Give it a rest, big guy.” Harper grimaced as he waved his hand. “Sorry about that. He must like you.”
“I’ll be sure and send him a thank-you note.”
