conversation was being recorded. Her heart broke for what they had suffered.
Kerry said, “You got to let them go. Let them escape. If Reverend Edmonds gets his hands on Sara, you’ll never get her back.”
“The FBI isn’t going to send Sara back to a bad situation,” Kate said. “All she has to do is tell us she was raped and we’ll keep her in custody, give her a full medical exam.”
“And what if he gets to her first?” Kerry said. “What if he takes her home? Are you going to break down his door and take her away? I’m telling you, if he takes Sara back to the mountain, no one will see her again.”
Lucy said, “Kerry, I give you my word, when we find Sara, we will protect her.” She ignored Kate’s look of concern. There were promises agents couldn’t always keep. But Lucy would do everything possible to keep this promise. “You have to understand there is a killer searching for Sara and Ivy and Mina. And you, for that matter. We have to find the girls first. Do you have any idea where they might be?”
Kerry sounded distraught, and Lucy could hear Mrs. Carson consoling her in the background. “Ivy called Jocelyn, because Jocelyn always promised to help. And now Jocelyn is dead. Would you go to someone you care about if you thought they might get killed for it?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Lucy said. “Not for me. But if I was protecting someone, if someone else counted on me to keep them safe, I would do anything to guarantee their safety.”
Hans said, “Kerry? We know that Ivy stole five thousand dollars. What would she do with it?”
“Buy two passports so they could go to Canada,” Kerry said without hesitation. “That was her plan all along, and she had the passports, but they were destroyed in the fire.”
“Where did she get the first two?”
Kerry didn’t speak. Then she hedged, “I thought of someone she might go to. She was really close to the black lady who had a little church and school on Thirty-first Street.”
“Marti North,” Kate said.
“She’s not dead too, is she?”
“No. We spoke to her and she claimed not to have seen Ivy.”
Lucy frowned. There had to be another place.
“How did you and Ivy communicate?”
“We all had disposable phones,” Kerry said. “But I’ve been trying to reach Ivy and her phone isn’t working.”
Lucy pictured the two phones underwater in the sink of the Hotel Potomac.
Lucy pulled out the rental agreement that the owner of the Hawthorne Street house had faxed over. She asked, “Do you know Paul Harris? Ivy listed him as her father, but we know that’s not true. Was it a false name?”
“Father Paul,” Kerry said. “She hasn’t talked about him in years. He helped her when she first came to DC, and once or twice she’d mention something in passing about Father Paul. I don’t know where he lives, I’ve never met him.”
“Father Paul?” Lucy asked. “Is he a priest?”
“I don’t know, I guess he could be.”
Lucy typed the address from the rental agreement into her mapping program on her laptop. She smiled and said, “St. Anne’s Catholic Church.” She stood, antsy.
Kate held up her finger. “Kerry, thank you for your help. We’ll find Ivy and Sara, and it’ll be because you helped.”
They disconnected and Kate said, “We need backup, Lucy, we’re not going in blind. I’ll set it up.”
The phone rang again and it was Hans. Kate answered. “I’m sorry I hung up on you. I need to put a team together for this op.”
“We just got a search warrant for Betty Dare and Noah and Stein are already on their way. I’ll have a SWAT team meet you two blocks east of St. Anne’s-you don’t want to tip your hand. I don’t think Ivy is violent, but I do think she’ll kill to protect her sister.”
Lucy concurred, but didn’t comment.
“And Lucy?” Hans said.
“I’m here.”
“Good job.”
While Kate put the team together, Lucy went upstairs to change. She was still sore, but the ibuprofen she’d taken earlier had finally kicked in. She opened her bedroom door and jumped back, an involuntary yelp escaping before she recognized the back she was staring at belonged to Sean.
He turned around. “I’m sorry-I heard you and Kate on the conference call and came up here to write a note.”
“You could have come into the family room.”
He crumpled up the paper he’d been writing on and tossed it in the garbage gan. “Now I can tell you in person that I love you.” He smiled and hugged her, not tightly. “You’re still sore,” he said.
“A bit. We have a lead on Ivy Harris. She’s friends with a priest at St. Anne’s, a small Catholic church. Kate and I are going to talk to him now.”
“I hope you find her.”
Sean wasn’t quite himself, but Lucy couldn’t figure out what it was in his demeanor that was off. If roles were reversed, Sean would know exactly what was bothering her. His insight into her personality and moods could be annoying, but she also found it comforting at times. And right now, she suspected Sean needed something from her.
“Sean, what’s wrong?”
He smiled and kissed her. “I’m sorry I didn’t come back last night. I wanted to, but got wrapped up in a project.”
“That’s okay. You’ll make it up to me, I’m sure,” she teased. But that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. Lucy pushed. “Is it a difficult case?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” He played with her hair. “I don’t want to keep you, I know you have work.”
“I have a few minutes.” She sat down at the foot of her bed, and patted the space next to her. “Sit.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He did, then pushed her gently back onto the bed. “You, me, bed-want to play hooky?” He kissed her neck, then her jawline, all the way to her lips.
He was avoiding her question. She recognized his ruse to sidetrack her.
“We both have work to do,” she whispered.
“I missed you, Princess.” He sounded like they’d been apart for a week, not one night.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” She sat up. Sean still lay on his back. “You always listen to me, I want to know what is bothering you about this project.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, but that was okay with Lucy. She let him think about it while she changed. He sat up to watch her. Though being watched by strangers still made her extremely uncomfortable, Sean didn’t. He was one of the few she felt so relaxed with that she almost felt normal. He’d healed wounds so deep she hadn’t even known they were there until he exposed them to light, and to love.
When she was done dressing, she sat back on the bed and kissed him.
Sean said, “It’s a complicated case.”
She didn’t say anything, but let him continue at his own pace. Sean was rarely reticent-he shared everything, his thoughts and emotions, both good and bad. His sharp wit and biting criticism of law enforcement had often gotten him in trouble with Noah and others, but one of the many things Lucy loved about Sean was that he didn’t keep everything bottled inside, like she did. He believed in addressing problems head-on.
“A college kid, from my alma mater MIT, did something stupid.” He hesitated again.
“I’m not going to turn him in to the feds, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not.” But he relaxed, just a bit, and Lucy wondered if that’s what his fear really was-that he couldn’t share something because of her position with the FBI.
“Sean, you know you can trust me. I’m not so naive to think that RCK doesn’t handle some less-than- squeaky-clean cases. Two of my brothers work there. Don’t let my job make you think you have to keep secrets.”
“I trust you, Luce, more than anyone.” He took both her hands, kissed them, then held tightly. “It’s just
