ask. But I’ll have to deal with this drug situation if they call. I’ll ask Leo if he can help if that happens.”
Lucy agreed with the plan and sent Leo a message. He responded immediately. “Leo will be here in fifteen minutes. I’ll wait for him, you and Aggie go talk to Marie Ynez.”
She hugged Nate because she needed a friend, and he was the best friend she and Sean had here in San Antonio. Maybe ever. He was a rock and she loved him.
“Be careful,” she said. “If they’re watching what went down today at the courthouse, they might not like that you were released.”
Nate and Aggie left, then Lucy went up to talk to Jesse. When Leo arrived, she secured the house, then she and Garrett left. This time, Garrett drove—which was fine with Lucy.
This time, the SAPD officer didn’t follow them. She was about to mention it to Garrett when her phone rang.
“Kincaid.”
“Lucy, it’s JT. I talked to Nico, our PI in Los Angeles. He hasn’t seen Elise since Wednesday afternoon.”
“Forty-eight hours ago?”
“He and his team have been watching since Tuesday morning. He first laid eyes on her Tuesday afternoon. She left Wednesday morning, went to the mall, the gas station, a salon, then was home that afternoon. He confirmed she entered the property. There are two ways in and out, and they had them both covered. But since he hasn’t seen her, he’s been checking his surveillance film and believes she left in a delivery van that arrived Thursday morning. That’s the only way she could have eluded him, unless she went out on foot in the middle of the night, which is a possibility.”
“She knew she was being watched.”
“I’m emailing you and Nate photos of everyone who has gone in or out of the property since Nico has been monitoring the situation. Rick is working on identifying them, but you need to keep their faces in your head. Rick is having Blair Novak go to the prison to talk to Elise’s father, Jimmy Hunt. She’s the agent who liaised with the DEA in extraditing Hunt from Mexico.”
“Nate and I were just talking that Hunt might be behind this. How’d you think of it?”
“I didn’t. Rick did. He’s been on top of this. He told me you called, he knew you were upset with him.”
“I shouldn’t have been. He’s under a lot of pressure right now—”
“No apologies. We all love Sean, Lucy. He’s family. He shouldn’t be going through this and we’re going to get him out.”
“Thank you.”
“But what I really wanted to tell you is that Rick already had the prison logs checked. It helps to have the assistant director of the FBI making the calls himself. Elise Hunt visited her father the day she landed in Los Angeles, three weeks ago. It could be that he gave her marching orders, or told her what was happening. He’s in prison for life, and we can make his life hell if he doesn’t cooperate.”
“Thank you,” Lucy said.
“I don’t know that we can trust anything Hunt says, but Novak is good, and she was instrumental in pulling together evidence once the FBI extradited him back to the U.S. from Mexico. So give her a chance. Megan is flying down tonight to join her.”
Megan Elliott was Jack’s wife, an FBI agent based in Sacramento.
“Why Megan?”
“Why? Because we’re a family, blood or not, and no one is going to let either you or Sean fend for yourselves. We’re going to get to the bottom of this. I promise.”
JT’s reassurance gave Lucy hope that they would. That by Monday, Sean would be home and they’d know who killed Mona Hill and framed him. That they’d find Brad safe, clear Nate’s name, and put an end to whatever revenge plot Elise had concocted with her father.
In the back of her mind, though, she couldn’t help but fear that the worst was to come.
Chapter Sixteen
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
While Aggie and Nate were driving to Marie Ynez’s group home, she got a message from Brad’s administrative assistant that Salter had the video of Brad’s abduction.
“I need to make a stop,” she said. “You have to stay in the car.”
Nate looked at her without comment as she sped toward DEA headquarters.
“Fine, come in, I’ll be suspended for disobeying Salter’s orders not to get involved in your case.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Yes, you do,” she snapped. “But go ahead, play maverick, get Marie to talk. Because she won’t tell you anything, and you know it. She’s