Chapter 3
Chapter 3
V icky lowered her head as they left the room. She was grateful, of course, they had Melissa safe.
“You all right?” Adrien asked her.
She nodded. “Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking. If we’d been a day earlier, we might have gotten both women back safely. If—”
“We didn’t have everything we needed. And we do have leads on how we’re going to find Kasey.”
“We do?” Vicky asked.
“We have an unknown man who must know something. He’s apparently the salesman. And we have Jimmy Trent. And we have . . .”
“What?”
“Well, a slew of officers and agents and the two of us,” he said, nodding and lifting a brow to her.
Vicky smiled weakly. He wasn’t such a jerk at all. He knew how to be nice; how to try to make her feel better. She was stronger than that. She’d earned her way into her position, and she knew how to handle herself when things went right—and when they went wrong.
“So—”
“So. It will be an hour before our unknown guy is out of surgery,” Adrien said thoughtfully. “We can get to the station, talk to Jimmy Trent, and then get back to the hospital. In all honesty, I don’t think Jimmy Trent is going to be able to tell us much. We need to speak with the guy in surgery.”
“Let me call Hank, see if he’s gotten anything,” Vicky said. They’d ended the communication with their earbuds when they’d left Melissa’s room. But even as she drew her phone out to call Hank, she saw that Hank was calling her.
“He wants to talk to you,” Hank said dryly.
“What?” She glanced at Adrien as she said the word. “Hitting the speaker button, Hank. Adrien is with me. We were going to come in because our unknown guy won’t be out of surgery for at least another hour. We both think he’s going to be our best bet, but we don’t want to just sit around driving one another crazy, either.”
“You do know it’s night, right?” Hank asked her, laughing softly.
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re in for the duration—though you will need to sleep somewhere along the line. And hey, you’re my partner! Never mind, the Fed did good.”
“Thanks,” Adrien added, reminding Hank they were on speaker.
“Right!” Hank said. “Anyway. So, Jimmy Trent is playing it like a kid, or he’s smarter or meaner than we suspected. He’ll only talk to ‘the redhead.’ ”
“We’ll be there soon. We got a ride with patrol here—”
“You’ll find a police vehicle is waiting for you right out front,” Hank told her.
“Okay, thanks.”
“Yep, thanks, again,” Adrien added.
“You got it,” Hank told them.
And as Hank had said, there was a patrol car waiting for them at the entrance.
“Once we get to the station, we’ll have my car,” Vicky told Adrien, smiling as she opened the rear door; the front was occupied by two officers Vicky knew, Lyle Cavanaugh and Betty Woods, both solid and caring, in their mid-thirties and dedicated to the job. She greeted them both, thanking them for the ride and introducing them to Adrien.
“Hey, we’ve got the easy part,” Betty assured them, turning around to see them as Lyle drove. “We hear you two had quite the day, Vicky.”
“And not over yet,” Lyle said, glancing at them through his rearview mirror. “We’ve been driving the streets, looking for anything and . . .”
“The problem is Kasey Richardson could be in an airplane out of the country right now,” Betty added. “But Eames is working with DDLE and the FBI, U.S. Marshals, you name it. They’ve covered the airports, the train stations.... We just don’t know how much of a head start this man has had—or even what his endgame might be with his captives.”
“Two things—he wants redheads,” Adrien said. “So, he’s either got a revenge motive going if a redhead wronged him; or he is trafficking, and he’s been asked for redheads.”
“Hopefully, we can learn more when we get to the station,” Vicky said.
“Jimmy Trent said he’ll talk to Vicky,” Adrien added.
“Right. We’ll get you there and get back on the road, searching,” Lyle assured them.
“It’s the senator’s niece who is still missing, right?” Betty asked quietly.
“It is. And, yes, they forced federal involvement because of her, but whether it had been Kasey or Melissa who had been discovered, I wouldn’t be leaving,” Adrien said.
“That’s good to hear,” Betty murmured. “Sorry. I’m a mom. And I think my kids are just as important as kids in a politician’s family!”
“I’m with you on that,” Adrien assured her.
“Good to hear it!” Betty said, smiling.
“We’re here. We can wait—” Lyle said.
“No, no, get back out there,” Vicky said. “My car is here.”
“And it may not be a car we need,” Adrien murmured.
“What?” Vicky asked him.
“If this man hasn’t hopped something that will get him out of the country, he’s gone into hiding. And that may well mean he’s gone into the wilderness. We’re right on the edge of the Everglades, areas that are state, federal, and tribal lands.” He looked at Vicky and shrugged. “Horseback may be the best way to go.”
“You think he could have dragged a protesting woman—” Vicky began.
“Or one he’s drugged, knocked out, or is forcing along at gunpoint,” Adrien said. “I can go it alone in there, and you and Hank—”
“We’ll see,” Vicky told him.
She thanked Lyle and Betty as they got out of the car, feeling ever so slightly resentful again. So, he was a cowboy—assuming she couldn’t ride a horse.
Okay, she didn’t own one, and certainly not an amazing buckskin running quarter horse, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t sit in a saddle!
“That’s your plan?” Vicky asked him. “What if—”
“Let’s see what you can get out of Jimmy Trent,” Adrien told her. “Then I’ll decide on a plan. Right now, I have ideas, nothing more.”
They headed into the station; Eames was there, aware they were arriving. She had always respected him; he was a man who had arrived at his position by working his way up. He was almost sixty now, tall, dignified, with a cap of thick white hair and a well-sculpted face, with deep grooves in his lean cheeks that betrayed the scope of his experience.
He was quick to introduce Adrien to the desk sergeant and a few of the other officers in the area; then he led them toward the rear of the station and the interrogation and observation rooms.
“You ready for this?” Eames asked Vicky. “She’s good,” he told Adrien. “But this time, the wretch took you—”
“I’m fine. And we think that time—” Vicky began.
“Is of the essence,” Eames finished. “Come on. Hank is in the observation room, keeping an eye on him. He’s been just sitting, not trying to pace, not fighting his restraints . . . just sitting.”
“He knows his goose is cooked,” Vicky murmured.
“I suspect he knows he’s going to prison. Hank tried explaining that cooperating was going to be his best option, but . . . he said he’d only talk to the redhead.”
Vicky gave them a nod, aware Eames and Adrien Anderson were heading into the observation room as she went in to speak with Jimmy Trent.
“The dogs!” Jimmy said anxiously. “They aren’t bad dogs. Blue . . . please, don’t let them put her down. None of this is her fault. Hercules is just a puppy, really. He’s a big shepherd, but he’s not even a year old. I know you were honest about one thing. You care about the dogs.”
“I’m going to do everything I can for the dogs,” she told him, sliding into the chair across the table from him. “But my first concern has to be for a human being. Who is the man who took Kasey Richardson? Where was he taking her? You work with me, and—”
“They’re going to want to kill my dogs,” he said. “You let me know my dogs are going to be okay, and I’ll tell you anything I can.”
“I’ll make sure the dogs are okay.”
“What? You’re going to take them to some shelter where they’ll humanely put them to sleep?”
“No! There are no-kill shelters—”
“And they’ll never make it to one. They’ll say the dogs were vicious!”
Vicky was surprised when the door opened and Adrien walked in. “You said you wanted to talk to the redhead. Well, she’s here. Now, what you are worried about is the dogs. Guess what? Vicky has been worried about them, too. But I have a solution. I have family here with a nice spread of acres not far from your place. I’ll take the dogs, and I’ll promise you—and Vicky—that the dogs will be all right. My brother has two teenaged sons who work with animals and know dogs, how to train them, how to make them feel at home. I promise you. The dogs will be okay.”
Jimmy Trent stared at him a long moment.
“You’re telling the truth? I think it’s legal for you to lie to me in interrogation!”
“I’m not lying, and you also have a right to an attorney—”
“No, I just want to talk to her,” he said, looking at Vicky.
The door opened again. Hank was there. “Animal control is taking your pets over to Special Agent Anderson’s family’s property. It’s happening while we speak,” he said, looking from Adrien to Jimmy Trent.
“Really? Are you lying now?” Trent asked.
His face was twisted with hope and concern, making him look very young. Vicky had a feeling if they looked into his background, they would have found something very sad. He’d been used by stronger individuals.
But a young woman was still missing. And he had been the one to lure her into whatever fate was awaiting her.
“Listen, Jimmy!” she said. “You’re right. I love dogs. And obviously, Special Agent Anderson isn’t lying. You saw him with his horse. He loves animals. We’ll take care of the dogs, I promise. In the best way. But you need to have the same compassion for Kasey! Please, help us!”
But Jimmy shook his head. “I—I don’t know more. I just know Richard told me we had to deliver redheads to Carlos or else he’d see that they killed us and the dogs.”
“Deliver redheads to Carlos. Okay. Did he tell you what Carlos wanted the redheads for?” Vicky persisted.
“He . . . he was working upstate before, for someone else, I guess. I heard him talking to Richard one day. He was laughing and saying, ‘It’s redheads this time.’ But he’s bad, really bad. Richard was in with him on some kind of a drug deal, and it went bad, and if Richard didn’t do what he said, he was going to see we all died. Horribly.”
Jimmy Trent seemed to be telling the truth. He was a broken man.
Vicky nodded and rose, looking at Adrien and Hank.
They had what they could get from him. Except for one thing.
“What’s Richard’s last name?” she asked Jimmy Trent.
He looked at them curiously. “His last name? Trent. He’s my cousin. That’s why . . . he always looked after me. I’d get beat up at school, and Richard would make sure it never happened again. He’s my cousin. And I swear, he never killed anyone! He just . . .”
“Just gave young women to this Carlos so he could kill them?” Vicky asked softly.
“No, no, no . . . just, um . . .” He paused and looked up at her, shaking his head. “I don’t know! I just know I owed it to Richard to help him stay alive!”
“Okay, thank you,” Vicky said. She looked at Adrien. “We must get back to the hospital and see what Richard Trent can tell us. Hank—”
“You two do that and keep in touch. I’m going to be out on the road—searching,” Hank said. “I swear, I think we had the airports, train stations, and even the major docks on alert. But I think this Carlos fellow may know we’re on to him. If so, he’ll lay low for a bit, which means he’s out there. We have renderings now, pictures of Kasey Richardson up everywhere. This Carlos is going to need to find a way to change Kasey’s appearance if he has any hope of getting her out of here.”
“Move, everyone move,” Eames said, entering the room. “We don’t know how much time this poor girl has! Oh, and thanks, Trent. We found your cousin in the system. You repaid him. He disappeared off the grid almost a year ago—after the cops lost him when they were looking to arrest him in the matter of a drug bust. He hid all that time. Thanks to you!”
Jimmy Trent sobbed softly.
The man was far from being a hardened criminal.
Vicky quickly left the room and didn’t pause to speak with anyone else as she hurried out. Her car was in the lot, and she knew Adrien was following her as she walked hurriedly toward it and clicked the doors open.
She wondered if he was going to protest and insist that he drive.
He didn’t.
He slid into the front passenger seat and was silent for a minute, looking out the window.
“Are you uncomfortable with someone else driving?” she asked him.
“No. Why?” he asked with a frown.
I don’t know! Wincing inwardly, she also knew what she might have said— Because I’m being ridiculously defensive because. . .
Why? Because he was the epitome of masculinity? But he had never acted as if he felt the least superior in any way!
“Sorry. Just some people get nervous when someone else is driving.”
He laughed. “I assume you’re a good driver. No, I was thinking it was almost midnight.”
She glanced at him. “Past visiting hours? They’ll let us in. We’re law enforcement.”
He nodded. “I wasn’t afraid of not getting in.”
“Then?” she asked.
“Just thinking.”
“And you think that.... ?”
“I think he’s holding her somewhere near the Trent ranch, and he is going to need to leave her alone long enough to buy some makeup and hair dye,” Adrien said. “Unless, of course, he came prepared.”
“We don’t even know that he knows we have Melissa.”
“I have a feeling he does. And he’s holding Kasey somewhere.”
“Maybe just a nearby house,” Vicky suggested.
“Yeah. Maybe.”
But he didn’t think so; she could see it. The one thing she’d discovered about the man was that he was professional. He wouldn’t rule anything out until he had a fact or, at the very least, a lead.
He looked over at her and smiled. “We’re inching forward. Only inching, but . . . after we speak with Richard Trent, we can inch even further.”
“At midnight,” she murmured.
“Sadly, criminals don’t tend to keep nine-to-five hours,” he said with a shrug.
“Too true,” she agreed. She paused, frowning. “Was that the truth—about the dogs?”
He nodded, staring ahead. “My brother does have teenage boys, and they’re pretty amazing kids. Josh is into horses and dogs, in that order, and Jordan is into dogs and horses, in that order. They’re great students, too. He and Mandy are what parents need to be, I guess. I mean, they’re kids. They love video games and all, but Jordan is going to graduate this year, and he wants to go to FSU and major in criminology and work with canine units.”
“They do sound like great kids.”
“I should be so lucky one day.”
“Me, too,” she murmured.
They were quickly back at the hospital, producing their credentials, and being led to the room where Richard Trent was recovering from surgery.
He was sedated, but awake. His arm and shoulder were bandaged and in a special cast that kept him from making any movements with it.
He stared at them balefully as they entered the room, knowing immediately who they were.
“You have security for that girl!” he said. He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I’m the one in danger here. And Jimmy . . . you may be holding him, but they’ll get to him somehow!”
“They? Who are they?” Adrien asked.
He shook his head miserably. “Who knows? Carlos has . . . a small army. And he means it; when you fail him, he sees to it you’re killed.”
“You know more about him. You were working with him before,” Vicky said. “As we explained to Jimmy, the more you help us, the better it will be for you when charges are filed and you go to trial.”
He almost smiled. “What difference does any of that make if you’re dead?”
“If this is as big as it’s beginning to sound and you help us, there is the Witness Protection Program,” Adrien told him.
He frowned. Then he almost smiled. “So, Red. You’re a local cop? And you’re something else—with the Feds, huh?”
“Something like that,” Adrien said. “I’m telling you, help yourself. Your poor cousin is a mess—he was a good guy, right, caught up in saving you? Here’s the thing—let us stop Carlos. Then you won’t have to worry about being dead.”
Richard Trent, so much harder and resolved than his cousin, lay back wincing and closing his eyes. “You could have killed me today. You didn’t.”
“We try not to kill,” Adrien said flatly. “You will heal—”
“And Carlos will kill me,” he said.
“Not if we get Carlos,” Vicky persisted.
“I don’t know his real name. He goes by Carl when he’s being Anglo to get what he wants, and he goes by Carlos when he’s trying to work someone with a Cuban, Colombian, or other Hispanic background. He’s good, and he knows how to get what he wants. I don’t . . .”
“You don’t what?” Adrien persisted. “Look. I’m going to warn our guys to watch out for you as well as the victim. I believe they’re already on to that.”
“And they’ll care?” Richard asked dully.
“They will protect and serve—yes. Even you,” Vicky said.
“He’s not going to kill her. I think . . . all right, he was making it pretty big in the drug trade. Then he had a stash, and the cops got wind of it, and millions of dollars of stuff was taken off the market—and away from him. We both evaded capture and then he found me. He’s changed what he’s doing . . . he just wanted redheads, said there was a huge market for them.”
“So, he’s human trafficking. Where will he be taking her?”
“I don’t know. But I do know he was . . . close. I think he was close enough to watch Jimmy’s ranch and the house and . . . that’s how he found me. And . . .”
He paused, frowning.
“What is it?”
“He was never the kind for a heart-to-heart talk, but one day he said something about hunting out in the Everglades. They have this thing called ‘the Great Florida Python Challenge’ where people go out and try to bag the biggest invasive snake. He was laughing and saying with his experience, he could have won the whole thing if he wanted. I figure . . .”
“You figure he has something out there, deep through the marsh, out on a hardwood hammock somewhere?” Adrien asked.
“Yeah. Close to Jimmy’s place. He sits right on the eastern edge of . . . of nothing but gators and sawgrass.”
“All right. That is a help,” Vicky told him.
“Don’t forget boats,” Richard said.
“Boats? He’s got a boat out there, you think?” Vicky asked.
Richard Trent looked at her, a far different man from the one who had threatened her earlier that day.
“No. Don’t forget little boats, or not-so-little boats. Grab a solid motorboat and you can be in the outer Bahamas from the ports on the coast in a matter of hours. If it were me, that would be my first thought. Get the hell out of the States and get anywhere from there.”
“All right. Thanks,” Adrien said. “And don’t worry; I’m going to talk to our people watching over the hallways. They will protect you; it’s their job.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Richard said dully. “At least I’m sedated. Can’t hurt much more to die than it did to have this shoulder shattered.”
“Sorry about that,” Adrien said. “Necessity at the time.”
They turned to leave. As Adrien had promised, he stopped to speak to one of the officers on duty in the hallway.
“They’ve got four of us on and one undercover keeping an eye on everything,” the young officer assured him. “We’ve got this.”
“Thanks!” Adrien said, with Vicky echoing the word.
They headed out.
“You can drop me at my brother’s, my old homestead, if you don’t mind,” Adrien told her.
“Drop you?” she said. “Hell, no.”
He sighed. “All right, I’m going out—”
“Yeah. And I’m going with you.”
“You know, we have jobs that aren’t nine-to-five. But Vicky, you don’t have to indulge me and go riding into a swamp when it’s past midnight—”
“You’ve got a horse for me?”
“Vicky—”
“I won’t slow you down, I promise. I’m telling you, I know how to ride a horse. No, I don’t own one, and I actually learned when we did summers up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I don’t like the Everglades in the darkness, but I’d like to believe you have animals that can help me avoid any of the creatures that prowl by night. Even human ones.”
He smiled at her.
“Shiloh.”
“Pardon?”
“Shiloh. She should be perfect for you. She’s a mustang rescue. My brother is into rescuing things, too, so . . . well, you can say hello to old Blue before we head out!”