The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,12

I can give out right now, because of our investigation and ongoing security issues at the facility,” Mansur said.

“Well, goodness, I’m not asking you to tell me how they broke out or where the secret tunnels are. Imagine!”

“The fact is, we didn’t come here to brief you. We’re hoping you might be able to tell us something about your daughter that will help us find her.”

“What do you think we can tell you?” Zhorzha said. “My mother just wants to know something. Is—is LaReigne alive?”

“We have no reason to suspect that she’s been harmed,” Mansur said.

“Well, thank you for that,” I said. Zhorzha snorted and turned her back on the marshals.

“Did she ever talk to you about the inmates she volunteered with?” Smith said.

“I asked her if it was safe,” I said. “These aren’t men like my husband. He was a good man. Of course, yes, he was involved in that robbery, but he was not a violent man.”

“Did she ever mention these men to you?” Smith asked. “Tague Barnwell. Conrad Ligett?”

“Which is the younger one? The handsome one?”

Zhorzha scowled at me, but with regards to LaReigne, it was certainly a valid question. She’d never been interested in homely men, and why should she be when she looked like that?

“Barnwell is in his thirties. Ligett is in his forties,” Mansur said. “I’m not sure I would describe either of them as handsome.”

“Well, Ligett is bald,” Smith said, which was at least useful information. I couldn’t imagine LaReigne falling in love with a bald man, and, after all, that’s what they were insinuating. Why would they question us unless they thought LaReigne was involved somehow? And why would LaReigne be involved unless there was a handsome man? That’s the kind of girl she was. She got that from me.

“Does the name Craig Van Eck ring any bells for you? He’s serving a life sentence for murdering a police officer and his family,” Mansur said.

“Yes, he was a friend of my husband’s. He had flowers sent to me after Leroy passed away.” I’d never asked why Craig was in prison. He was Leroy’s friend; that was enough for me.

“What did these guys do? Barnwell and Ligett,” Zhorzha said. “Why were they in prison?”

“They’re both serving life sentences for that shooting at the Muslim student center five or six years ago.” Mansur looked at his notebook as though he needed to look that up, whereas I knew it perfectly well from watching the news. They’d mentioned it dozens of times.

“So the prison let her volunteer with murderers?” Zhorzha paced into the kitchen, and when she came back she stayed behind my chair, where I couldn’t see her. Her breathing sounded sniffly, like she was trying not to cry.

“Did she ever talk to you about these men?” Apparently that was the only thing Smith knew how to say.

“I recognize the name Tague. Not the other one,” Zhorzha said. “And she talked about a few of the volunteers. This woman named Molly. LaReigne stayed at her house a few times, when she had a headache and didn’t want to drive home at night. So you’re telling me you don’t know anything yet? Two prisoners can escape, and there’s no surveillance footage or anything?”

“Actually,” Mansur said. “We have surveillance footage. It shows your sister driving away with the escapees and the other volunteer.”

“So you at least know the make and model of the car they’re in?” I said.

“Ma’am, it was her own car. That’s one of the reasons we’d like to know if she ever talked about Barnwell or Ligett.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zhorzha said. “Yes, she knew the one guy. Yes, she talked about him. That doesn’t mean she helped him escape.”

“Miss Trego, you understand, we have to follow all possible leads. There are—”

“That’s fucking bullshit. Why aren’t you out looking for my sister?”

“Zhorzha, there’s no need for that kind of language,” I said. “Don’t be such a hothead.” Just as she was about to open her mouth and spill out another heap of curses, the door to the garage opened, and Gentry came stomping into the room.

“My lady,” he said. “These knaves outragen thee?”

“I’m fine. I just lost my temper,” she said.

I’d thought it was charming at first, but it was really too much that he talked that way in front of the marshals. There was a time for that sort of thing, and this was not it. Still, he stood in between her and the marshals, looking uneasy but defensive. Zhorzha was