“And she saw Cara get into her aunt’s car?”
“No, she had to go to her next class. But she recognized her car, a dark blue Camaro.” She paused. “Can we find it?”
“If she doesn’t get rid of the car and buy a new one. Give the license number to Nalchek.”
“You can’t do it?”
“I’m a little busy right now. Give it to Nalchek.”
She was silent. “Okay. I don’t believe she would have gotten rid of the car. Nalchek arranged for me to look through the apartment. Obviously, very limited means, and you don’t usually have ready cash if you’re a waitress at Waffle House.”
“Nalchek is local, and he might get a faster response.” He paused. “If you don’t think he’s dirty. Evidently, you must have some faith in him. You seem to be using him quite a bit today.”
“I don’t know either way. I can’t put credence in Margaret’s take on him when even she’s not certain. It just seemed involving him was the easiest way to get things done.”
“Since I’m obviously out of the action.” His voice was without expression.
“Even if you weren’t. You said you were going to use him, too.”
“And so I will.” He added mockingly, “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t intend to construct a few scenarios that would fit into Margaret’s view of our bold sheriff. After all, I have to keep myself busy.”
As long as it was at the hospital. “By all means, construct away. I’ll call you if I hear anything else.” She hung up.
“Do I detect trouble in paradise?” Margaret murmured.
“No. Paradise? Joe and I have never had an idyllic relationship. It’s much too real.”
“It seemed pretty close to it to me,” Margaret said. “I was with him when he was trying to find you after you were kidnapped. I would have settled for someone’s loving me like that.” She shrugged. “But what do I know? I’ve never really had a relationship, period. Sometimes it seems very confusing when applied to me. Like Nalchek said, I’m a little too weird for a normal relationship.”
“Did he say that?”
“Or words to that effect. He was a little upset with me at the time.” She changed the subject. “But I’m sorry that Joe is upset with you.”
“He’ll have to get over it. He can’t have everything his own way.” She looked around the apartment. “Did you find anything else that might give us a lead?”
“A few things. Not much. It looks as if they left in a hurry, and Elena just threw things in suitcases and took off.” She held up two yellow tickets. “Two expired bus passes. One adult, one child.” She handed Eve a small, tan book. “And this. It was in the drawer of the bureau. I think you’ll find it interesting.”
Eve slowly took the book and opened it. Two photos, faded with time. Two little girls, both evidently sisters with those very familiar features. Dressed in shorts and T-shirts, their dark hair wind-tousled. They were smiling at each other: love, closeness, warmth.… “Jenny and Cara,” she said softly.
Margaret nodded. “It looks as if the photo was taken on board a ship. Blue sky. Blue sea…”
“But where?” She looked on the back. “Not a professional shot. Maybe if Joe sends it to the FBI, we might be able to find out. They know all kinds of technical tricks.”
“We can try.” She studied the bus pass. “It’s a local pass. West route. Why would she have a bus pass there when her job is here in the southeast?”
“We’ll have to find out,” Margaret said. “Are you ready to get out of here? I don’t like this place.”
Eve could see what she was talking about. The apartment was neat and clean, and there were even rose and yellow colors in the pillows on the couch. But it was too neat, like a hotel room instead of a home, and there was a coolness about it. It looked … temporary.
“Yes, I’m ready.” She turned toward the door. “I need to get hold of a city map, compare it to those expired bus passes, and see if I can see anything.” She grimaced. “But heaven knows, it would help if I knew what I was looking for.”
* * *
The bitch was scared out of her mind, Walsh thought with malicious satisfaction. Elena Delaney had tried three times to lose him in the past hour, and now she was going faster, trying to escape through sheer speed. She’d be lucky not to be pulled over by the highway patrol.
Would she be tempted to tell them she was being followed?
No, she knew what would happen to her family if she did. She would be polite, accept the ticket, then get back on the road. But that would give him his chance to catch up to her.
No matter what she did, he would eventually have her.
And after a short but very painful time for her, he would also have Cara.
* * *
Eve didn’t call Joe again for another two hours. “I’m on my way back to San Francisco. Margaret and I went to the bus company and asked a boatload of questions but came up with zilch. The passes were paid for in cash and no one remembers Elena Delaney. It would have been too much to hope that she had a cozy conversation with the clerk about where she was going and why she needed a pass.”
“Sometimes it happens like that. Not often. Where does that bus go?”
“On the Pacific Highway, then into some of the subdivisions in the suburbs. I asked to talk to the bus driver who drives the route, but they had to check their records.” She added wearily, “And probably my credentials before they give me his telephone number. It’s been a question of hurry up and wait all day. I’m not getting anything done. I thought I’d start again tomorrow morning.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself. It’s a suspicious world. You know that no one wants to give out information unless forced by authority.” He paused. “Sounds like you need a cop.”
“Joe.”
“Just a thought.”
“Not a good one. You have two more days.”
“Maybe.” He said, “In the meantime, I’ve been looking into Nalchek.”
Eve glanced at Margaret next to him. “Building scenarios?”
“It’s hard to build any case against him. He was in Afghanistan when Jenny was killed. He came back over a year later and worked with his grandfather at his vineyard until his death. His father resigned as sheriff eighteen months later, and Nalchek ran for office himself and was elected by a sound majority.” He added, “No hint of corruption, and he won the Silver Star when he was in the service.”
“So he’s clean?”
“I didn’t say that. I’ve seen pastors who seemed above reproach turn out to be serial killers. I said that on the surface it appears it’s going to be difficult to dig up anything derogative.”
“I don’t want derogative. I want the truth.”
“And that’s what you’ll get. But not in a few hours,” he said. “I’ve got a call coming in from Sonderville. I’ll talk to you when I know something.” He hung up.
Eve glanced at Margaret. “You heard him. Nalchek evidently appears eminently respectable.”
Margaret looked away. “I heard him.”
“But you don’t believe him.”
“If Nalchek was a holier-than-thou type like that pastor Joe was talking about, I’d have more trouble. But he’s very human, and people make mistakes. I believe Nalchek’s capable of everything and anything. Just as we all are if the circumstances fall into line.”
Eve’s brows rose. “You appear to have made a study of him.”
Margaret shook her head. “Sometimes, I don’t think I know him at all. But I do know he’s very human.”
CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER
Joe opened his eyes when Eve pulled back the sheet and slipped into the hospital bed. “Hi, I wasn’t sure that you’d be coming back here tonight. I thought you’d go to your hotel.”
“You thought wrong. I dropped Margaret at the hotel and came to you.” She kicked off her shoes and pulled the sheet over both of them. “And if the nurse tries to kick me out, I’ll tell her I’m in di
re need of therapy, and you’re the only one who has the qualifications.”
“What type of therapy?”
“Not the one you’re thinking about. I’m not an exhibitionist. Though I would never be ashamed of anything we do together. It’s all good. Would you?”
He pulled her close and cradled her head against his shoulder. “Hell, no,” he said gruffly. “I feel sorry for anyone who’s missing out on what we have.” He brushed his lips against her temple. “What therapy?”
“It’s hard being away from you. It’s harder not to be able to say yes, to not give you anything you want.”
“You didn’t show it.”
“But you knew it. If you didn’t after all this time together, then we’d have a serious problem.”
“And the therapy you require?”
“Just this. Just to know that no matter how much we disagree, in the end, this is the only thing that’s important.”
He was silent. “You’re not going to get your way if I see a danger, Eve.”
“And I’ll do exactly what I told you I’d do.” Her voice was low. “And tomorrow night, I’ll come back to you like this and you’ll hold me and everything but what’s between us will fade away. Isn’t that true?”
He was silent again. Then he chuckled. “Who am I to deny you therapy? I seem to need it myself.”
“Say it, Joe.”
“Words?” His voice was silken soft. “Yes, it’s true. In the end, everything else just fades away…” He kissed her, then abruptly sat up in bed. “Turn on the lights.”
“What?” she said, startled.
“Do it. In the end everything else fades away. But this isn’t the end, and I have to fill you in.”
She was gazing at him in bewilderment as she got up and turned on the lights. “What are you up to?”
“Doing the only thing you allowed me to do. Pull up that chair.” He took his yellow pad from the bedside table. “I think I’ve got most of it figured out.” He showed her a pad full of notes and crossed-out sentences and questions. “Though there are a few things that didn’t make sense.”
“I can’t make sense of any of it.”
“Okay, take it from the beginning as I did. Walsh. What do we know about him? Yes, he’s a child killer, but what else?”
“You know the answer. Burglar, murderer, human trafficker, drug dealer, and who knows what—”
“Stop right there. Human trafficking. That’s the only crime most likely to connect to Jenny or any other child if you rule out serial killer. We’ve both noticed that Walsh is different; he’s in control, and though he enjoys the kill, he doesn’t let it rule him. He’s an enforcer, and he lived a good life obeying the Castino family. He wouldn’t let a careless, self-indulgent kill interfere with that life.”
“Human trafficking … You’re saying he kidnapped Jenny and was going to sell her?”
“That was my first thought.” He shook his head. “But everything connected to her death is too complicated. Why kill her instead of sell her?”
“Impulse? Emotions?”
He shook his head. “Then why spend years hunting down her sister? There had to be a reason that would impact his wallet or reputation.”
“And that would be?”
“I think this is the way it went down. Walsh was working for the Castino cartel in Mexico City right before Jenny was killed, according to Interpol. It’s logical that the chain started there. Castino was dipping his hands in human trafficking as well as his other criminal pursuits, and it would be natural for Walsh to be involved as his enforcer. So I called Mexico City Police and asked some in-depth questions. You know I spent a few weeks down there this year at that cartel seminar.”
“I remember. You made quite a few contacts.”
“And one of them was Detective Máñez, who has been investigating the cartels for the past twelve years. I believe we managed to work it out together.”
Eve leaned forward. “Tell me.”
“Castino’s is only one of several cartels in Mexico. Probably the most powerful, but there are others who are constantly at war with them. Needless to say, the fighting gets very vicious. No holds barred. A man can make a fortune playing both sides.”
“Walsh.”
“Juan Castino had a beautiful Russian wife, Natalie, and they had two children. Unfortunately for her, both were girls. Our macho Castino wanted boys. But he would never admit something he owned wasn’t perfect. He made a big play about being besotted with the girls. Which made them automatic targets. Kill the girls, hurt Castino. The police think Walsh was hired by Alfredo Salazar, who runs a rival cartel, to double-cross his boss and do it. But it was too dangerous to do it on Castino’s home turf, so he waited until he was due to escort a group of slave laborers to Southern California to work the fields down there. He arranged to kidnap the girls and send them in the trucks bound for the fields. It was a quick and easy way to transport extremely hot merchandise. When he got there, he was supposed to kill them and safely dispose of them. No one was supposed to know that Salazar had funded the kill. It would have started a messy gang war. Salazar wanted the satisfaction of destroying the children Castino cared about and wanted to be able to gloat without consequences. It was important that no bodies be found. So Salazar chose an expert, Walsh.”
“A monster…”
“But something evidently went wrong. He wasn’t as efficient as Salazar had hoped. One disposal clumsily handled, one child escaped and went on the run. That probably had something to do with Elena Pasquez, who might have helped the children to escape.”
“Who?”
“Elena Pasquez, a young nursemaid, who disappeared at the same time as the children, probably also kidnapped by Walsh.”
“Elena Pasquez. She changed her name to Elena Delaney?”
“That would be my guess. She probably changed her name many times while she was on the run.”
“But if she helped Cara to escape, why not just go to the police?”
“Her entire family was involved with the cartels. No one ever went to the police, and those who did usually ended with their entire family being targeted.”
“So Elena was alone and trying desperately to hide from Walsh. He must have been relentless.”
“We both know how egotistical Walsh is. I believe he’s been trying to rectify that mistake for the past eight years. Not only did he have to keep Castino from knowing he’d sold him out to Salazar, he had to make the correction to preserve his spotless reputation.”
“And Jenny had to remain lost and unknown. Cara had to be found and killed, no matter what the cost.”
Joe nodded. “That about covers it.”
“How did it all go wrong? What happened in that forest?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet. I have a few ideas. I think I’m getting close. It’s all beginning to fit together. I have to make a few more calls.” He tapped the Nalchek column. “And I haven’t developed any valid scenario for him, except for a feeling that he could be involved in something dirty.” He smiled faintly. “Give me another hour or so.”
Eve stared at the yellow pad. “You’ve accomplished an amazing amount as it is.”
“I had to know him. You had to know him. Any questions?”
“Yes, are we sure that these Castino daughters are Jenny and Cara?”
“I’m sure. Máñez e-mailed me the newspaper stories about their disappearance. Natalie was the typical heartbroken mother who only wanted her children back. Bragging about her Jennifer, who was a brilliant pianist and always entertained her guests. Wishing vengeance on the monsters who had done this foul deed. According to Máñez, she didn’t mention that the girls were always in the care of servants and seldom saw either of their parents.”
Jenny. Brilliant pianist …
They didn’t take away the music.
And other than her little sister, the music was all Jenny had.
Eve could feel the tears sting her eyes.
“Hey
.” Joe reached for his phone. “Stop feeling sorry for her. She was awesome. I had them send me a few pictures.” He handed her his phone.
Jenny at the piano in her white dress. Her expression intent, totally absorbed, lost in her music, almost ecstatic.
Jenny at a tall window looking out at the sunset, dreamy, wondering.
Jenny on the ship with Cara, laughing and full of love.
“I saw this last photo at the apartment. She loved her sister, didn’t she?” She shook her head. “No, she loves her. Present tense. What else is this all about?”
Joe nodded. “That’s what it’s about.”
She looked down at the photos again. “She was awesome. Thank you for showing them to me, Joe.”
“I thought you had to see them. All you’ve seen of her has been death and sorrow. You needed to see what she was, what she could be, what she should be. The complete package.”
“If Walsh hadn’t killed her.”
“No, you believe Bonnie hasn’t changed except to become more of herself now that she’s crossed over. You have to believe the same of Jenny. Walsh has to be punished, but he did nothing to damage what Jenny was or is.”
She cleared her throat. “I know that.”
“Then don’t forget it again.”
“I won’t.” She got to her feet and turned out the light. “But right now, I want to hold you. Is that all right?”