Chapter Fourteen
“She’s gone. Everyone from the prison guards to local PD and a few federal officers are looking for her.”
“They did. Local PD came with a dog right away. They tracked her about a half mile away to the side of the road, where it
appears someone picked her up,” Kessler answered.
“How did this happen? How did she escape? And what about cameras? Were there any in the area? Can you figure out who picked
her up?” Maya asked. She knew she was firing off questions faster than Kessler could answer. It wasn’t like he and other officers
didn’t know what they were doing.
“We’re investigating who might have picked her up.
I found out that her paperwork was changed and she was switched to low security.
There’s no fences in that section and you can walk away.
No cameras either where she was picked up.
Abigail is smart and she knows her stuff from being a detective.
She won’t be easy to find. I’m bringing a couple of agents to help me.
One of them specializes in kidnappings and the other worked a bank robbery investigation with Abigail in Montana.
He knows her better than we do and I thought he’d be a good asset to have. ”
Maya and Josh locked eyes. She knew they were thinking the same thing—could one of these men be Abigail’s partner? Maya also
knew that Abigail was going to use Hope to her advantage somehow. “The help will be great,” Maya said, wanting what she was
saying to be true. If one of these men or even both were on her payroll, that was going to be a problem. “We need to find
our missing girl. ASAP. But we also need to share some information when you get here. Don’t want to get into it while you’re
driving.”
“Okay. I’m heading your way soon and we can talk more,” Kessler said. “I wanted you to know because I’m worried she might
come after you. Be careful. With Hope in the area, she obviously has a plan and I think she wants you to come to her. Maybe
we can even use this to catch Eric too.”
“We won’t need to do that,” Maya said.
“Why not?”
“Because he turned himself in. He still has contacts in law enforcement here and there. He’s been working on another case
involving Abigail. One that’s not only personal to him, but would change her prison sentence if she was convicted. She’d never
see the light of day.”
“What could do that? She was already looking at a long sentence or maybe even life depending on the judge.”
“This was a murder for hire . . . of another police officer. A young guy in the department who was going to be an informant against her with the FBI,” Maya said.
“If he has evidence and we could pin it on her then she could be looking at life or even the death penalty in the federal
system.”
“I know,” Maya said. “It would certainly add to all her charges.”
“Do you think Eric will talk with us? Or lawyer up?”
“I will tell him to trust you,” Maya said. “I bet I can get him to at least talk to you. But I have a favor to ask.”
“What’s that?”
“If he cooperates, can he stay here in the Western River County holding cells while we look for Hope? We might need him. And
I know he’s been on the run and has his own list of things that he’s guilty of, but maybe if he helps, you can work on getting
the charges against him knocked down?” Maya’s heart pounded knowing she wanted Kessler to say yes, but also understanding
there were no guarantees.
“You know I’m not the prosecutor so I can’t make any promises, but if he helps us, I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you,” Maya said. “See you soon.” She ended the call and stared down at the floor, processing everything. She had to
get all the details sorted out and then go to battle. Clearing her mind, she took a deep breath, letting her heart rate slow
down.
“Maybe Abigail will leave town and head to Mexico or something,” Josh said, breaking the silence.
“We both know she’s not going to do that,” Maya said, looking back up.
“She’s hell-bent on revenge. You know for a while she was sending me letters telling me that Eric’s my father.
She wanted me to know about him. She knows that’s a weak point for me and she loves exploiting things like that.
No, she’s not leaving town. Abigail has a plan and we need to be ready for anything. ”
“I agree,” Josh said. “And that’s why I want you to be careful.”
Maya nodded. Abigail’s first contact was almost six months ago when she’d told Maya that Eric Torres was her biological father.
Maya hadn’t known for sure and the letter pushed her to find out if what Abigail said was true. But Maya always knew that
there was an endgame with Abigail. She’d always had a plan. By letting Maya know the truth about Eric, she’d opened the doors
to Maya discovering she had a half brother and sister—she’d always wanted siblings. Something more Abigail probably sensed
and could use against Maya.
There had been a few more letters, but as they arrived, the notes had become more and more threatening. Maya had sent them
to Kessler as evidence and to add to the reason why Abigail should remain locked up. But she should have known better. Kessler
was right, Abigail was smart and she knew how to work the system. She either paid someone off on the inside or figured out
some other way to manipulate them. That was how she worked.
“Let’s go tell Pops and Eric about this,” Maya said.
Josh gently wrapped Maya into a hug, rubbing her back, then he softly kissed her. “We’ll find Abigail and we’ll find Hope. It’s going to be okay.”
“You’re telling the biggest lie in law enforcement,” Maya said.
“I know, but I believe it. We have a great team and we have two K-9s who excel at finding people. I bet Juniper would love
nothing more than to bite the heck out of Abigail and now she may get her chance.”
Maya laughed. “You’re right about that. Let’s go fill in Pops and Eric.”