Found at Sea - By Anne Marie Duquette Page 0,79
and endangered her whole family.
Jill checked her notes. According to Tanya, a Mexican family who remained nameless and two adults whom Tanya also refused to name had helped spring her and her mother from jail. The aunt—Aurora—had somehow ended up with the bends, and she could still die of it; this had apparently happened while she was rescuing the girl’s father. Jordan, the partner, kept vigil. Jill suspected Jordan and Aurora were somehow involved in the jailbreak, but Tanya refused to confirm this suspicion. A bishop of the San Diego Mission sheltered the Mexican family, while the girl’s father, Gerald, waited by the mother’s bedside at a civilian hospital.
“And there are two dead divers and two who escaped?” Jill asked.
Tanya nodded. “They tried to kill Jordan by beating him with baseball bats and tossing him off the pier—at least, Jordan says they’re the ones. Rory rescued him. But then they tried to kill Rory, only that backfired. They’re lying on the bottom of the ocean. Two escaped with a boat. Jordan said he was going to report them all to the Coast Guard. I don’t know if he did that yet or not, or if he said anything about me—or how I caused all this.”
“Your father—Gerald—was released from jail legally, you say?”
“Yeah, but he was kidnapped by Flores right after. Flores is the boss of those same men who tried to kill Jordan.”
Names and crimes and plots spun in Jill’s head. She listed them with military precision on her little notepad. “Okay. Is there anything else you haven’t told me—other than some specific names?”
“Rory said that Flores burned her boat, Neptune’s Bride, in the harbor. The Oceanside Harbor Police have suspected arson for a while, apparently. So did Donna Diamond.”
Jill reached for her pen again. “Donna?”
“My aunt’s P.I. friend. Only her last name isn’t really Diamond.”
“Do you know her number?”
“It’s in the phone book...under the Diamond Detective Agency.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t want to get high anymore. I’ve got too much going on as it is.”
Tanya pulled a tissue from the box Jill always kept in her office. Jill noticed the girl’s eyes were dry. Tanya twisted the tissue into little shreds.
She pushed the box of tissues toward the girl. “A few last questions.”
“Aren’t we done yet?” Tanya complained, then blushed. “Sorry, Reverend. Ask away.”
“Question number one. Do you feel like hurting yourself?”
“No.”
“Having any suicidal thoughts?”
The girl shook her head.
“Question number three. Would you like me to get you a lawyer?” Jill watched Tanya blink, then grow pale. “I think you’re going to need one, sweetheart,” she told her quietly.
“Why bother? I know I’m going back to jail. I just don’t want to go until I know my family’s gonna be okay. And I won’t give you any more specifics. I won’t get anyone in even more trouble, especially my mother or my aunt. If they live. If they don’t, my dad will probably kill me. Either way, makes no difference.” Tanya shrugged and dropped the shredded tissue into the trash can. Bits of fluff drifted slowly down.
“Call the cops, tell them it was all my fault and let’s just get this over with, okay?” Tanya reached for another tissue and began shredding it, too.
“All right,” Jillian said softly. “Before I go, I have to tell you that you are entitled to privacy with regard to what you’ve told me. However, I think I can do much for you if you let me share that information with others. If you don’t want me to disclose anything, that’s your right, too. But frankly, child, I don’t think you can hide for much longer—even if I do remain silent.”
Tanya shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t care what you tell them.”
“All right. Let me talk to some people. This may take a while. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
* * *
JILL CLOSED HER office door behind her and stepped out into the main reception area. Her yeoman lifted his head as she stopped before his desk.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
“I’ll need a social worker down here from Juvenile, someone from Legal to represent said juvenile, and the MPs. Tell them we’ll probably be notifying the provost marshal’s office on this one, and have them send me two female guards—one of them with some smarts and rank. We’re dealing with international violations, two deaths, illegal drugs—and that’s just for starters.”
“Anything else, Chaplain?”
“Yeah. Get the phone number for Mission San Diego for me, then get the C.O. on the line. We’ve got a boatload of