she regularly carry her firearms with her?” Lucy asked.
“No. I need to call her.”
Lucy didn’t stop him, but it was clear he didn’t reach her when he left a message. “Erica, it’s Bill. I need to talk to you tonight. Call me.”
He frowned. “I don’t know what else to do.”
Lucy looked around the small closet. It, like the rest of the house, was well-organized. She had three uniforms all hanging in dry cleaning bags. She hung her T-shirts and pants. She owned only a few dresses, several pairs of comfortable work shoes, sneakers, and two pairs of heels.
Garrett spoke up. “Bill, you should file a missing person’s report. That you haven’t heard from your ex-wife since whatever day she canceled her weekend with the kids.”
“Should I?”
Lucy glanced at Garrett. Erica wasn’t missing, she was working on something—and likely for Elise. Lucy didn’t know why—but there was always a reason. A threat? Money? She didn’t have a good read on Erica. Her ex-husband seemed to get along with her, but she didn’t have custody of her kids. That seemed odd.
But missing? Nope.
Bill nodded. “I’m going home, I’m going to try calling her again. If she doesn’t get back to me tonight, I’ll call the police. Thank you.”
Bill locked up the house and they left.
Lucy got behind the wheel of her car. There was something very odd about Erica Anderson’s behavior. She needed to find her, sooner rather than later.
“You shouldn’t have gone in there,” Garrett said.
“I had permission.”
“He’s her ex-husband. He may have permission, but that doesn’t give him the right to bring law enforcement inside for a warrantless search.”
“I didn’t search. She’s missing a .45. That’s according to Bill, not my search.”
“The police have the weapon they believe was used. They found it in Sean’s plane.”
“And it’s not Sean’s!”
“You can’t possibly think that a corrections officer with no ties to the victim or your husband killed a woman in cold blood to frame him.”
“I’m not saying or thinking anything. I’m letting the evidence speak for itself.” And right now, the evidence was quiet. Because Garrett was right: why? Why would Erica kill anyone? Even if Elise had something on her, something that could hurt her or damage her career or her custody agreement, would Erica actually kill anyone for her?
Maybe. If Elise threatened her family. Or for money.
Lucy needed to find Erica, talk to her, convince her that Lucy was the only person who could help her against Elise.
She called Kathy Pine, who answered on the second ring. “Kathy, it’s Lucy Kincaid. I was doing a welfare check on Erica Anderson, and talked to her ex-husband—”
The warden interrupted her. “Agent Kincaid, did you think I wouldn’t find out that your husband was arrested for murder?”
Lucy didn’t know what to say.
“That’s not—”
“Are you doing an end-run around Houston PD? I don’t like being lied to.”
“I didn’t lie to you, Warden.”
“I just got a call to send over Elise’s files to Houston PD. I asked why, and learned that your husband claimed that she’d threatened the woman he’s accused of murdering. And you didn’t think that was important to tell me?”
“It’s complicated.”
“It’s not complicated. You used your badge to get information from me not in your capacity as an FBI agent, but because your husband is in jail.”
“Elise Hunt is dangerous and I think that Erica Anderson is in trouble because of her.”
“I want nothing to do with this, Agent Kincaid. You crossed a line. If you want anything from my office, you’ll go through the proper channels. Good-bye.”
She ended the call.
Garrett had heard everything—Kathy had not been quiet.
“You have to back off,” he said.
“No!” Lucy wasn’t going to be deterred. She was onto something, she knew it, and the police weren’t going to follow up on Erica Anderson’s odd behavior or Elise Hunt.
“You could lose your badge, Lucy.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong or unethical.” Borderline, maybe.
“That’s not my call, nor is it yours.”
But Lucy was only half listening to Garrett.
“We’re being followed,” she said.
Garrett looked in the side view mirror. “The dark Honda?”
“Yes.”
It was dusk, and visibility was poor.
“Erica’s neighborhood. They weren’t parked on her street, but when I turned out of the neighborhood onto the highway, they were behind me.” She hadn’t been suspicious at first but she’d intentionally slowed down and they hadn’t passed her.
Lucy had been followed before, and last year she and Jesse had been run off the road. She wasn’t going to let that happen now—though a Honda that was the same basic size and shape