Alejandra anxiously viewed the photos as Troy brought Sin up to speed on the latest body.
“Same M.O. as the others,” he said. “The forensic specialist was in the middle of his autopsy when I arrived.”
“Your first?”
“Nah,” he said running his hand through his hair, “just not something I ever get used to. That’s some sick shit.” He wiped the perspiration from his brow with a paper towel.
“The autopsy?”
“No,” he exclaimed, “the stuff the doc said happened to the girl.”
He told Sin what she already knew from seeing the pictures back in D.C.
Alejandra handed the photos back to Sin; her posture showing a hint of relief. She spoke in Spanish as she handed the pictures back.
“What is she saying?” Troy asked.
Sin looked at him incredulously. “You too,” she said. “You no speaky Spaneesh?”
“I took it in high school, but not really.”
Sin just mumbled under her breath. “Alejandra said Tia wasn’t one of the girls. She also said she would pray for the girls and their families.”
“I’m glad Tia wasn’t one of the girls fished out of the water here,” Troy said, “but that doesn’t tell us what happened to her.”
“No it doesn’t,” Sin said. Her eyes sparkled as a thought came to her. She asked Alejandra if she had a recent picture of Tia.
“Si.” Alejandra searched in her bag and handed Sin a photo of her daughter.
Sin studied it. In the picture, Tia looked to be around nine years old. Even at that age, she was beautiful. “How old is Tia?” Sin asked.
“She is fourteen,” Alejandra answered.
The picture was old, but it would have to do, Sin thought. She handed it to Troy and asked if he could get the State Police to run it as an Amber Alert.
“I don’t think that should be a problem,” he said taking the photo.
“Ask the nurse over there if she will make a copy of it for you,” she said. “I’d like to have one also.”
“Will do, but what do we do with her,” he asked, glancing at Alejandra.
“I will call Carmelita and see if she can stay with her. I’m sure she won’t mind in view of the circumstances.”
After Carmelita arrived, Sin said goodbye to Alejandra and told her she would do everything she could to find her daughter.
Sin was quiet as Troy drove her home. “Earth to Sin,” he said.
“Sorry,” she said, “it’s just been a long day—a lot to think about.”
Troy exhaled through pursed lips. “Yeah, I know.”
He pulled his truck into Sin’s driveway and looked at her. “You spent some time in Central America, right?”
Sin was taken aback. “Yeah, what’s your point?”
“No point,” he said. “I was just wondering if you ever heard of any girls being taken from their homes or going missing, that’s all.”
Sin turned in her seat, so she was facing him. “Troy, this stuff you’re witnessing isn’t new. Girls and boys go ‘missing’ not only in Central America but from all over the world—even in our own country―all the time. Slavery didn’t end with the Emancipation Proclamation. It just shifted from Africans being bought and sold for cheap labor to these young people being bought and sold for sex.” Sin opened the door of the truck. “I’m not saying that’s what is happening here, but if it smells like a fish and tastes like a fish, it’s probably a fish.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond, she just stepped out of the truck and headed for the front door. “Good night, Troy,” she called over her shoulder. “Call me tomorrow.”
25
An hour later, Sin was sitting across from Charlie in the library of the Johnson place. She held a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other as she watched him hunt and peck on the keyboard.
“After all the conspiracy theories you have hunted down, you would think you’d be a better typist by now.”
He kept his head down, index fingers pecking away. “Eat shit and die,” he mumbled.
Hearing Charlie’s comment, a teeth baring smile surfaced on Sin’s face.
With one final peck, Charlie looked up at Sin and with his eyes he guided her to the wall monitor. She turned to face the screen as he tapped the enter key.
Pictures of all of the dead girls filled the first monitor. A record of Veloz’s activities in the past year flooded the second and the third screen showed a detailed schematic of the Church of the New Son.
Charlie pointed to the second screen. “I was able to dig up some of Veloz’s activities through some of my ‘unofficial sources.’ ” He glanced back at Sin. “So where do we begin?”
Sin ground the butt of her cigarette in the onyx ashtray and pointed at the first screen. “Can you check your super spy stuff and if see if any of these girls have been reported missing?” Charlie nodded and tapped at his keyboard. “While you’re at it, can you scan this picture into the database and see if you get any hits?”
Sin handed him a copy of Tia’s picture.
“Hits as in . . .”
“As in—has she turned up in any morgue as a Jane Doe in the past few months?”
Fifteen minutes later, Charlie had some preliminary results. “It will take a few hours to run a complete review of all of the files, but based on these results I’m doubtful any of these girls will show up.”
“Why’s that?”
“You know as well as I do, the people that run these slave rings make sure they cover their tracks.”
Sin lit another cigarette. “You think their parents were killed.”
“Or bought off. Either way, no one is looking for them,” Charlie said. “The fact that Alejandra was able to get up enough money and come looking for her daughter was a miracle.”
“Right now a miracle is what I need, she mumbled. “Okay,” she said, “screen two. What’s my old friend been up to since I last saw him?”
“Same ole’ shit,” Charlie said. “He’s holed up in an abandoned
