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“Okay, the woman in the picture is the sole witness to a murder by none other than Phillip Brinkman.”
“The car salesman?” I asked. “His commercials are ridiculous.”
“The word on the street is that the car dealership is a front and that he is really a drug kingpin.”
“Seriously? Isn’t there a TV show about that?”
“He allegedly beat a guy to death in a fit of rage. When he realized his girlfriend was still in the house and saw the whole thing, he tried to kill her, too. She barely escaped and is now in WITSEC.”
“Witness protection? What the hell? What makes these guys think I can find out where she is? WITSEC is tighter than my ski
“I don’t know, but I do know that the person in charge of the case is your friend Agent Carson. Seems the FBI had been investigating him for a while on separate charges. They can’t make anything stick, so they’re trying to get a conviction on this murder.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“They don’t have a body.”
“Oh, wow. That makes it difficult. Okay, anything else?”
“Yep. I’m not sure if you want this now, but the Fosters’ son has moved back home and is living with his parents while he finishes up his master’s degree at UNM.”
“Really? He’s there? Did you find a picture of him?”
“Sure did. Several, in fact. He’s on Friendbook.”
“Perfect. And?” I asked, curiosity burning inside me. Either that or I’d already had too much coffee.
“He looks nothing like him,” she said, the disappointment in her voice undeniable. “Seriously. Like there’s not even the slightest resemblance. Are you sure the Fosters didn’t adopt this guy? He’s really … white.”
I burst out laughing. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I mean like albino white without the actual condition. Which is fine, normally. I just expected him to be more Reyes-like. Have you seen pictures of the Fosters?”
“Well, no. That’s why I really wanted to get a glimpse.”
“This is a big fat disappointment, I don’t mind telling you. I mean, he’s nice looking. He’s just not Reyes. Not even close.”
“Look at it this way: You can see Reyes all the time now that he’s in our building. And sometimes you can even see him naked. As can your twelve-year-old daughter.”
She let a forlorn sigh slip through her lips. “That’s true. I’ll send you the Friendbook link.”
“Perfect,” I said, holding back a giggle. “Thanks.”
“Sure. Anything else?”
“How’s your escort?”
“Cute and married.”
I chuckled out loud that time. “I need to go talk to Special Agent Carson and get the lowdown on Sleazy Car Guy. I think I’ll head that way.”
“I think that’s a good idea. So, about the pizza—you were kidding, right?”
“I was kidding. I’ll be a while. Grab lunch when you can.”
“Will do. Reyes is making his famous green chile chicken quesadillas.”
Damn him. “Enjoy.”
I hung up and clicked on the link.
With the noon hour fast approaching, my stomach decided to do its gurgle-and-growl thing. I watched Captain Eckert in my rearview for a while. And as entertaining as that was, I needed to go see a good guy about a bad guy and figure out why Sleazy Car Guy thought I could help him find his ex, the woman who allegedly saw him commit murder. Sucked when that happened. Lunch would have to wait.
But I still couldn’t figure out why the Men in Black thought I could find her. The only co
I dialed her number. Got her voice mail. Waited for the beep. Then I did my best creepy kidnapper voice. “This is a ransom demand,” I said, my voice raspy. Kidnapper-y. “Deliver one hundred boxes of Cheez-Its to the unmarked—ignore the license plate—cherry red Jeep Wrangler sitting in your parking lot by noon today, or you will suffer the consequences.” I paused to cough. Raspy was hard on the esophagus. “They will be dire.”
I hung up. That was my way of letting Agent Carson know to expect a visit. She could have been out of the office, but I’d just have to take that chance. She usually ignored calls when she was in meetings, which meant she should be at the FBI headquarters. Thus, with sound logic guiding me, I headed that way.
Much to my surprise, however, she called me back almost immediately.
“Hey, girlfriend,” I said in lieu of hello, hoping it would bring us closer.
“You might want to block your number when making ridiculous ransom demands.”
“That demand was not ridiculous. Have you ever thought about changing your name to AC? Or SAC since you’re a
special
agent.”
“Charley—”
“We could call you Sack.”
“I’m kind of the middle of something.”
“Sorry. Sorry. I just have one question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you have any friends in the Secret Service?”
She hesitated before saying, “No.”
“Darn it. I was hoping you could smooth things over a bit. I seemed to have ruffled some feathers. They’re very sensitive.”
I could hear her run a hand down her face. She did that a lot when I was around. “What’d you do now?”
“Nothing, I swear. They just get really nervous when you butt-dial the president. Over and over. Like seventy-eight times. These jeans are really tight.”
“Charley, is this conversation going anywhere?”
“I hope so or I’m wasting my gas for nothing. Can we meet for coffee?”
“Sure. Meet me at the Flying Star on Paseo.”
“Paseo?” I asked. “As in Paseo del Norte? What are you doing up there?”
“I am a field officer, Charley. I go out into the field and investigate.”
“Oh, right.” I scratched that whole “she should be in her office” thing and did an amazing seven-point U-turn. Not many appreciated my driving prowess. Or the fact that I stopped the flow of traffic in several lanes. “A woman’s life is at stake here!” I yelled out my window. Or I would have if it’d been down.
* * *
I walked into the café, ordered my usual fare, which often had the word
mocha
in it, a tuna melt with sweet potato fries, and a slice of their salted caramel cheesecake—because YOLO—then sat down with my almost good friend.
No. My soon-to-be good friend.
No! My nigh good friend.
I seemed to have a lot of relationships at the moment in that very fragile “nigh” stage.
Meeting in a public place was a good idea. If I were being followed—by someone other than the captain—no one would see me walk right into the FBI field office. It worked out beautifully.
“Hey, Sack. Can I call you Sack?”
“No.” She sipped her coffee, her short brown bob perfectly coiffed, her navy business suit perfectly pressed. I felt very slobbish next to her. Oh, well.
She was reading the paper, completely ignoring me. It was awkward.
“So, how’s work?”
“Great.” She closed the paper. “Did you look into that case?”
The Foster baby abduction case. How did I tell her I knew exactly who and where that baby was? I didn’t. Not yet. I needed a little more info before I cast that stone and caused any lasting ripples in the universe. Tossing out the fact that I’d known all along where that missing baby ended up could crack our fragile bond. But if I went to her with irrefutable proof of her dad’s suspicions—mainly that there was more to the case than met the eye—our bond would be cemented like that time I accidently superglued my fingers together. That was an awkward week. One never appreciates opposable thumbs until one no longer has them.
“Sure did,” I said, taking a sip myself. “I still am, actually, but I have a strong lead.”
Though her pretty expression remained impassive, her emotions spiked inside her. She really wanted to solve that case for her father. And I wanted that for her, but I had a more pressing case at the moment.