‘Or at least that we can make him tell us where they are,’ Alec said. ‘But yes, we realize those are assumptions. I also assume you don’t have Denny’s cell records yet.’
Joseph didn’t react to Alec’s blatant goading, and Taylor wondered if that meant Joseph was controlling his temper or if he normally displayed no affect at all. ‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘I may not have this information legitimately for a few days.’
Ford glanced at Fitzpatrick. ‘You’ve been on this case for hours. Do you have a better plan?’
‘Not really,’ Fitzpatrick admitted. ‘But if Denny calls Gage back, your trap will be prematurely sprung and you won’t even know. That’ll just piss Gage off more and he might retaliate by hurting the kids that we aren’t even sure he has because Lilah won’t fucking talk to us.’
Ford and Alec looked at each other blankly. ‘Was there a question in there?’ Ford asked.
Sighing inwardly, Taylor directed her answer to Alec and Ford. ‘I think he means that we’ve neglected to consider that Denny might respond to “Gage’s” text with an actual voice call, because we are all under twenty-five years old and never use the phone to actually talk.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘My dad always made Daisy and me call him from college at least once during the day so that he could hear our voices. He worried that I’d be grabbed and that Cl— I mean, the assailant would use my phone to text him that I was okay, and that I could be three states away before he knew I was missing. So we always had to voice-call.’ She blinked hard because she’d lost her point. Oh, right. ‘It really doesn’t matter either way, though, whether Denny calls or texts him back. If he replies to our text in any way, it will go to Gage’s phone, not back to us. Right, Alec?’
Alec nodded. ‘Yes, and I did think of that – the text part of the response, anyway. We’d write the message so that Denny would be too upset or afraid to answer.’
‘That’s a big risk,’ Daphne said quietly. ‘If one of them smells a trap, they could work together to form an ambush and we wouldn’t know. Our people could get hurt.’
‘But we would know,’ Alec said. ‘That communication happened, anyway. Not the content of the communication. We can see Denny’s cell account. His provider updates his call log online every twenty minutes or so. I’ve been watching most of the afternoon.’
Fitzpatrick’s brows shot up. ‘Why?’ he demanded. Alec had clearly crossed a line. ‘I figured you’d go in, copy records, and back out. Lurking around all day is not what I signed on for. Why would you take such a risk?’
Alec shot Fitzpatrick a dirty look. ‘Partly because I thought that if Gage and Denny called each other again, you might like to know. But mostly because Clay got shot doing your dirty work and now I’m losing my fucking mind because he might die,’ he snarled. ‘So pardon me for getting a little obsessed with Denny’s call log. And you’re fucking welcome, by the way.’
Fitzpatrick straightened, stunned. And clearly pissed off. ‘Wait just a damn minute, Alec . . .’
Novak and Ford each gripped one of Alec’s arms, urging him back in his chair when he would have lurched to his feet. ‘Alec,’ Novak murmured. ‘Whoa. Breathe, buddy.’
Wincing a little, Taylor said nothing, because what could she say? Alec considered Clay’s guarding her to be dirty work. That was always so nice to hear.
Alec closed his eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘For what?’ Fitzpatrick asked, glowering.
‘Not for what I said to you,’ Alec snapped, then calmed his voice. ‘To Taylor,’ he said, and when he met her eyes, he did look apologetic. ‘I guess I’m more churned up about the prodigal daughter returning than I thought I was. It wasn’t a dirty job. It was a necessary job that Clay wanted to do. Nobody could have stopped him. I hope you can forgive me, because I was way out of line.’
Taylor found a small smile. ‘Nobody’s killed a fatted calf yet, so I think we’re good.’
Alec gave her a nod of thanks, then turned back to Fitzpatrick and Joseph. ‘You may not have “signed on” for me to lurk in Denny’s account, but will you use this information?’
‘Depends on what the message is going to be,’ Joseph said. ‘But we’re still listening.’
Which was at least encouraging, Taylor thought as she pushed printouts of both Denny’s and Eunice’s call logs in front of Joseph, side by side. ‘I’ve highlighted—’
‘Where did you guys find a printer?’ Fitzpatrick interrupted suspiciously. ‘You didn’t give this to anyone here in the hospital to print, did you? Tell me you weren’t that stupid?’
Taylor, Ford and Alec took a collective deep breath. Anyone could see that Alec was still holding to his temper by a thread, but he pursed his lips and said nothing. Taylor counted backward from ten. Twice.
Fitzpatrick glared at the three of them when no one immediately answered. ‘Well, did you?’
Drawing another deep breath, Ford leaned over to whisper in her ear. ‘JD’s not usually such a dick. He’s scared too.’ He cleared his throat. ‘No, JD,’ he said quietly. ‘Alec has a printer in the trunk of his car. He used that. Battery-operated, so we didn’t even use the hospital’s electricity. No one knows about this except us. Now, as Taylor was trying to say . . .’
Taylor pointed to the pages she’d put in front of Joseph. ‘I’ve highlighted calls from Denny to his mother. Ford and I went down to the ER to visit her while Alec was printing the phone records. And just so you know, we asked Officer Meyer to accompany us. The ER nurses were getting Eunice ready to go to ICU.’
Novak tilted his head. ‘Why did you visit her, Taylor? Do you feel sorry for her? Because if Gage has those two kids, it’s because his mother delivered them right to him.’
Taylor wished once again that she could see his eyes, because she had the feeling that this was a test. ‘Most people would think that Eunice brought her injury on herself by agreeing to meet a known addict – probably in secret, because Lilah didn’t know about it and wouldn’t have approved if she had known. And,’ she admitted with a shrug, ‘I’m one of those people, especially because her blind faith endangered Jazzie and Janie. But I can think that and still feel compassion for her. Yes, she allowed herself to be duped, but sometimes the people we love the most are dirty, rotten, filthy liars.’ Right, Mom? ‘But because we love them it doesn’t occur to us that they’re lying, so we believe them. And even when we find out that we’ve been lied to, it’s hard to just stop loving them or hoping that someday they’ll change. So yes, part of me does feel sorry for her. Can you understand that, Agent Novak?’
One side of Novak’s mouth lifted. ‘Yeah, I can. So, from the look of all the highlighted calls on Denny’s phone record, he calls his mama a lot.’
She must have passed muster, she thought, absurdly relieved. Or not so absurdly. Novak, Joseph and Daphne were all important to both Clay and Ford. Their approval was damned important. So far, so good.
‘Denny calls his mother every morning and evening,’ she said briskly, ‘like clockwork. Three times on Sunday.’
‘So Denny’s a good son,’ Joseph said. ‘Or possibly a mama’s boy. Either way, you’re thinking of using Eunice as the bait?’
Ford nodded. ‘Yes. Denny called her this morning and they talked for four minutes, which is the average length of all their calls. He called her again about an hour ago. The call length was just long enough for him to leave her a message. He doesn’t know she’s here.’
‘Or he does and he’s not coming,’ Joseph countered. ‘Lilah could have called him after the hospital called her. If she called his landline, it wouldn’t be on those cell records. Some people still have landlines,’ he added with a sarcasm so mild that Taylor nearly missed it.
‘I think he’d be here if he knew,’ Taylor said, trying not to sound stubborn. ‘Look at these records. Denny calls Eunice. She never calls him. Their calls are short
. She doesn’t get chatty with him. She told Detective Fitzpatrick that Denny was basically the loser son. If she told a cop that, she certainly hasn’t kept it a secret from Denny himself. There would have been digs through the years. And yet Denny still continues to call faithfully. He wants her to love him. If we make him think she’s in danger or sick, he will go to where she is.’
Her voice had become passionately loud and now everyone around the table was staring at her. ‘He will,’ she added softly. Then closed her mouth, pursing her lips to keep herself from babbling further.
Joseph lifted a brow. ‘So says your psychology degree?’ he asked mildly.
Her spine stiffening, Taylor felt Ford bristle beside her. She patted his knee, hoping he’d get the message and settle down. Joseph was still testing her, maybe testing all three of them, and it was making her frustrated too.
‘Just a minute, Taylor,’ Daphne murmured when Taylor started to answer. ‘Joseph, leave her alone. She’s right, you know. Last Mother’s Day, Denny’s wife Missy got a pretty bouquet of tea roses delivered to her desk. Nothing fancy, but I complimented them and she got this bitter look. She said that if I liked hers, I should see what Denny sent his mother. Apparently he sends Eunice extravagant flower arrangements on all the holidays, but gives Missy much smaller bouquets – and that’s when he remembers her at all. Missy started to cry and said she’d always played second fiddle to Eunice with Denny. And Taylor’s also right that Eunice made no secret that she never really liked Denny. Gage was her blatant favorite. Denny busts his hump doing things for Eunice. When she still had her house, he mowed her lawn, fixed appliances, generally asked how high when Eunice said jump, and all that when his own home needed repairs. Gage was always too busy working to do his part. And when Gage went off the deep end, Eunice forgave him over and over while making Denny feel like he’d never be good enough.’
Novak’s white eyebrows appeared over the top of his wraparound shades. ‘Do you feel sorry for Denny, Taylor?’
Because Novak sounded genuinely curious rather than accusatory like Fitzpatrick had been, Taylor answered him honestly. ‘I might have if he hadn’t aided a murderer. Eunice didn’t know that part. Denny did.’
Fitzpatrick nodded reluctantly. ‘I have to agree that Denny knew. I was able to connect him with the sheriff’s deputy who provided Gage’s alibi. The deputy’s wife has a cousin who owed Denny for getting him off on what would have been a very long prison sentence. But I can’t prove it.’
‘You will,’ Ford said, ‘when you get Denny’s cell phone records through your legal channels. Two days after Valerie Jarvis was murdered, Denny placed a call to a Texas area code. It’s a diner in the same town where the deputy’s wife works.’
‘Then I’ll make sure the local Bureau field office has that information,’ Joseph said evenly. ‘They’ll investigate. But for now, let’s focus on Denny. I also agree. He knew.’
Another test. Once again Taylor pushed her irritation away. ‘So, we thought to text him something like this.’ She unfolded the paper she’d written it on and read it aloud. ‘Met Ma in the park. She followed me back, got overheated. Passed out. Can’t call 911. Too many cops looking for me. Ditching this phone, so don’t contact me. Come get her.’
Ford opened his phone to the photo he’d taken. ‘Then we can attach this picture of Eunice. We snapped it when we went to visit her in the ER.’
‘Now that makes sense as a reason for your visit,’ Novak said. ‘But it’s not a great picture, Ford.’
‘We did it on the sly, D,’ Ford said, exasperated. ‘It wasn’t like we were gonna ask her to sit up and say cheese.’ He passed the phone to Joseph. ‘We Photoshopped out as much of the tubes and monitors as we could, so Denny won’t see them unless he looks hard.’
‘You’re hoping he’s too upset to look closely,’ Daphne said, and Ford nodded.
‘Whose idea was it to use Eunice as the hook?’ Joseph asked, studying the photo.
Taylor had to yank her hand back because she’d started to raise it like a kid in school. ‘Mine,’ she said flatly. And he hates it. Wonderful. ‘So if you don’t like it, blame me.’
‘It’s a damn good plan,’ Alec muttered, and Taylor shot him a grateful smile.
‘So, Joseph,’ Ford said warily, ‘what do you say?’
Joseph passed Ford’s phone to Fitzpatrick and Daphne. ‘It’s a damn good plan.’
Taylor blinked at him, trying to keep her temper locked down. The man had been wasting their time. Had wasted Jazzie and Janie’s time. ‘This was a test, wasn’t it?’
Joseph met her eyes directly, and a shiver of discomfort raced down her spine. Damn, but the man could be cold.
‘Yes,’ he said unapologetically. ‘If I use this information, I have to be prepared for the consequences if anything goes wrong. I’ll call you my confidential informants, but I need to know that my informant network is emotionally mature enough to handle an interrogation without cracking.’
‘Are you satisfied that we are?’ Taylor asked.
‘Not entirely. But enough to consider the logistics of your plan. Are you three planning to text from one of your own phones?’
‘I can’t, even if I didn’t have enough of an “actual brain” to know that was stupid,’ Taylor said pointedly. ‘You took my phone as evidence.’
A flicker of discomfort appeared in Joseph’s eyes, but was quickly extinguished. He inclined his head. ‘I’d forgotten that your phone was evidence. My apologies.’
‘Accepted,’ Taylor said gracefully, wondering if he was apologizing about the phone or for insulting her brain earlier. She figured it was the latter, because Daphne covered her mouth to hide a smile and Ford coughed to disguise a laugh.
‘I’m not using mine either, Joseph,’ Ford said
‘Me either,’ Alec said, looking a little confused. ‘We’ll use a burner phone. I’ve got at least a dozen in the trunk of my car.’
Joseph sighed. ‘Of course you do.’
‘I’ll get one for you too, Taylor,’ Alec said. ‘You can go to your online account to forward your calls to your burner number, so you’ll know if your other dad calls.’
Taylor’s smile bloomed. ‘Thank you, Alec.’
Alec shrugged, but looked pleased. ‘Least I can do.’
Feeling a bit more in control just knowing she’d have a phone in her hand again soon, she turned to Joseph. ‘Are you planning to tell Lilah about the ruse?’
‘No, I’m not ,’ Joseph said. ‘She’s been less than honest with us. I don’t care why she’s holding back. We can’t trust her. Why?’
‘Because those girls are traumatized, and Jazzie in particular is leery of men. If Lilah’s not going to be on hand for them once we get them back, they need someone they trust. They know me.’ Taylor held up her hand when the men got all huffy. ‘Let me finish, please. I’m not asking to be part of any showdown and I will not touch another gun, but when you do find them, after it’s all over, let me at least be nearby to hold them. Please. I’ll stay in the car, I’ll wear whatever body armor you say. I’ll cower on the floorboards. I’ll wait three blocks away. I promise.’
Joseph looked at Fitzpatrick. ‘Can we keep her safe?’
Fitzpatrick nodded, displeased. ‘We can put her in one of the bullet-resistant SWAT vans and park her far enough away. But you have to promise to stay put, Taylor. No getting anyone else distracted so that they forget the plan.’
Stunned, Taylor’s eyes widened. You condescending asshole. She swallowed hard to keep those words – and others that would have been far worse – from clawing their way up her throat and escaping out of her mouth. Stop it. They’re letting you be on hand for the girls. Don’t lose it or they’ll change their minds.
‘Thank you,’ she said, then pursed her lips to keep from saying any more.
Fitzp
atrick frowned. ‘You didn’t promise,’ he said, sounding truly worried.
She made herself smile, drawing on the experience of every one of the years she’d schooled her expression while in hiding so that no one was alerted to how scared and angry she really was. ‘I promise,’ she said sweetly. ‘Sir.’
From the corner of her eye she saw both Novak and Daphne wince. Under the table, Ford squeezed her hand before mercifully taking the conversational baton, because she didn’t think she could get another word past the lump in her throat.
‘Going back to Lilah,’ Ford said. ‘Has anyone been able to make contact with her, other than when JD talked to her earlier?’
‘Hector did, but only through the door,’ Fitzpatrick said. ‘She’s still claiming that the girls are in the apartment with her. That they’re still napping.’
‘She’s lying,’ Ford said, very quietly.
‘Of course she’s lying!’ Fitzpatrick snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘She also knows judges who believe her when she says her two nieces are currently in her care. Expect a call, Joseph. She threatened Hector that she’d report both him and me for harassment.’
‘I’ll take care of it,’ Joseph said calmly.
A muscle twitched in Ford’s cheek. ‘But Gage could be in her apartment for all we know, holding her and the girls at gunpoint. Can’t you just get a friggin’ warrant, JD?’
‘No, I can’t just get a friggin’ warrant,’ Fitzpatrick shot back. ‘Don’t you think I would have if I could? Did you hear the part about her knowing judges? I tried. Twice. Two different judges. Both said I didn’t have enough cause for a warrant. They’ll probably call you too, Joseph. I was . . . insistent. They still said no.’
‘Still, it would be nice to know if the kids really are missing,’ Novak commented mildly, pointedly ignoring Fitzpatrick’s irritated glare. ‘Before we go to all this trouble. Especially seeing as how Joseph’s going to have to act on a tip provided by a confidential informant. This could blow up in his face.’