to him since he left, but he has Aggie with him. Thanks for coming over, Leo. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime,” he said. “I’m free all weekend if you need me—I’m not even on call. Mind if Jess and I finish up this battle?”
“Stay as long as you want.”
She left them and went to the kitchen, where Garrett was drinking a water bottle. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.”
“Are you okay here?” Garrett asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Leo’s still here and Nate will be back soon.”
“You’re not going to leave the house tonight, are you?”
“I don’t plan to.”
“I guess that’s good enough. I’ll be back in the morning to take you to Houston. Felicity sent me a message—Sean is at the Houston Administrative Jail. This is a good thing. It’s a federal facility, but they often keep local prisoners there before their court date, so the city uses it as well. It’s the safest place he can be.”
The best place he could be right now would be home, but Lucy didn’t say that.
Garrett continued. “Visiting hours are from ten until four tomorrow. It’s a three-hour drive—I’ll be here at six thirty?”
“Thank you.”
“Lucy, I understand what you’re going through.”
She doubted that.
“And I know you’re a trained agent. But you have to back away from this investigation. I didn’t hear the entire conversation, but that girl clearly wanted the witness to hear what she said, and you didn’t come off looking good.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“She barely looks eighteen. You are an armed federal agent. You approached her and made demands—she’s not a wanted criminal. If you get a call about it, anything—call me. Don’t talk to anyone, just call me and we’ll work through it. I was there, I can testify to exactly what I heard and saw, but it felt like a setup.”
She knew Garrett was right. “It’s her MO. She convinced her shrink that I had threatened her, and because she spoke so quietly on tape, the tape didn’t catch what she said. She’s an actress. She set me up and I walked right into it. Dammit!”
“Tread carefully, Lucy.”
Leo came out of the video game room shortly after Garrett left. Lucy was trying to force a slice of pizza down, but her stomach was so twisted she was afraid she was going to throw up.
Leo gave her a hug. “Jess is fine, he’s a great kid. Worried about his dad, but he’s doing good, okay? Do you want me to hang out until Nate comes back?”
“No, I’m okay. I need a shower; I have an early day tomorrow.”
“You need me, just call. Anytime, I mean that.”
“I really appreciate it.”
“Oh—someone named Duke called Jess, he’s talking to him now.”
“Sean’s brother.”
“Jess seemed glad that he called. You have a great family, Lucy, you’re going to get through his. Sean is going to clear his name. He’s a good man.”
“Thank you.” She was on the verge of tears and she didn’t want to cry.
She walked Leo to the door, then reset the alarm and went up to Jesse’s room.
He was just hanging up his phone. “That was Uncle Duke.”
She sat on the edge of his bed, scratched Bandit behind the ears. Sean didn’t like Bandit being on the furniture, but the dog seemed to know that Jesse’s bed was the exception.
“Duke doing okay?”
“Yeah. He wanted to make sure we were okay. Said that everyone is fighting for Dad and he knows he didn’t kill anyone. That the truth will come out.”
“It will.”
Jesse scratched Bandit, too. “I fed him. He misses Dad.”
They all did. Sean was the life of the house. Without him … no, she wasn’t going to go there.
Jesse asked, “Did you learn anything?”
“Yes and no.”
“Where’s Nate?”
“He and Aggie aren’t back yet. Are you hungry?”
He shook his head. “Leo got pizza, but I wasn’t hungry. It just didn’t taste good.” He looked at her, serious, worried, a young version of Sean. Her heart was breaking.
“I’m scared, Lucy.”
She leaned back into Jesse’s bed and hugged him. “I’m scared, too.”
Chapter Eighteen
Nate didn’t like working with Aggie in the field.
They were staking out an apartment building in a sketchy area and Aggie was certain that if Mitts Vasquez was in town, this was where he was staying. She was positive that “Aunt Rita” was Marguerita Fernandez de Garcia. The DEA had a file on her. She’d never been arrested, but she’d been questioned in several investigations that involved her late husband, who was suspected of running a meth lab ten years ago. He’d been