“How did you know where to find Amber?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“I had someone keep tabs on your office,” she admitted. “When those two agents came to speak to me a few weeks ago, I assigned one of Davis’s men to tail them back.”
“So when Davis contacted you,” I surmised, “You already knew who we were and where Agent Hills’s family lived.
“Yes,” Baker nodded. “But I didn’t tell him to hurt anyone! I never meant for that old man or the little girl to get hurt.”
“Funny what happens when you work with ruthless criminals who will do anything for money,” I remarked sarcastically. “Tell me about the earrings.”
“What?” she blinked at me in confusion.
“The tracking devices,” I clarified. “We found earrings on the majority of the children we recovered. Our intelligence analyst was able to deduce that they were tracking devices. Whose idea was that?”
“Oh,” Baker replied. “Right. That was something I mentioned to Davis back when we were first working out the details of our… partnership. I’d noticed something similar on a pair of children who came through my organization over a year ago. Davis liked the idea and began placing them on the children he acquired in order to keep tabs on them.”
“So it was just an idea you copied from someone else?” I asked, feeling disheartened as I realized that this was probably another dead end as far as the flower symbol case was concerned if it was just something Baker had imitated.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I still have the original earrings in my office. I used them to create the design that Davis uses. Those children weren’t from the Caribbean, though.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It was a long time ago,” she responded. “Long before I ever got in contact with Davis or even realized how horrible the conditions that I was sending some of these children back to were. The kids who arrived wearing those earrings were from Europe. Romania, I think. Trafficking is a big issue in eastern European countries, especially.”
“I see,” I responded. So this was a dead-end, but at least I’d learned something from the interrogation. The first time we’d encountered the symbol, we’d traced it back to Greece. Now that we had a potential lead in Romania, we could at the very least narrow our search to Europe. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Baker.”
I stood and left the interrogation room then. I was surprised when I glanced down at my phone to discover that we’d spoken for nearly an hour. It felt like time had gone by in an instant.
Now that the final interrogation was settled, and I’d gotten a full confession, we could finally close the case. I’d need to speak with Wallace about what she’d told me regarding the mysterious symbol, but I wasn’t about to let that detail dampen my spirits. I actually was excited about having a fun evening with everyone, so I pushed the negative thoughts aside and went to get ready.
41
Charlie
“In the end, she admitted to everything,” Junior informed me over the phone. I was still on leave from work, looking after Eliza and Amber, and he had called me to give me an update on the conclusion of the case. “Oh, and everything is going well as far as the kids are concerned. Wallace told me after I gave him my report over the interrogation. The kids we found in the mine all seemed healthy and unharmed. A lot of them have been returned to their parents. Social services is still working on locating some of their families, and the ones with no home to go back to have been placed in foster care.”
“That’s good,” I smiled. This case had been both physically and mentally tiring, and it was nice to hear that the children were well taken care of. “What about you? How’s your arm doing?”
“Better,” Junior responded. “Still can’t use it, but the doctors are hopeful that I’ll make a complete recovery.”
“I’m sure you will,” I lied smoothly. The truth was that there was a possibility that the injury might result in some nerve damage. I didn’t see how bringing that up would help, though. Even if that was the case, I doubted someone as tenacious as Junior would let an injury keep him down. “Anyway, are we still doing that thing tonight?”
“Yeah,” Junior chuckled. “Miranda was going on about it earlier today. She seems really excited about it.”
“She is,” I sighed. “Once she gets an idea in her head, she’s unstoppable. I’ll see you later, then.”
“Alright,” Junior responded before ending the call. I left the bedroom and walked back into my living room, where Eliza and Amber were watching some kids’ show.
“Was that your friends?” Eliza asked as I reentered the room.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “They were just giving me an update on the case. And badgering me about going out tonight.”
“It’s good for you to get out sometimes,” Eliza smiled. “You spend too much time brooding all on your own.”
I smiled back at her as she gently admonished me. Eliza and Amber had been staying with me ever since Junior and I had rescued Amber. Eliza had been terrified to go home on her own, and I’d offered to let the two of them stay with me until she felt better. She’d relaxed considerably since then, especially after I’d told her everyone involved had been arrested and were currently awaiting trial. Still, Amber had been having such a fun time that she’d since been hesitant to leave. It had been cramped having three people living in a one-bedroom apartment, but we’d made it work.
“Uncle Charlie, did you bring me anything from your trip?” Amber suddenly asked. She’d been lying on the floor in front of the television and had bolted up into a seated position as soon
