“The guy who rents this room,” Joaquin relayed, “is out of town this week with a roofing crew. He saw another guy go in and out yesterday evening, but he had the key in his hand and the rent’s paid until the end of the month, so he didn’t ask questions.”
Dewi opened her phone and showed the guy a pic of Henry. “Him?”
Joaquin exchanged words with him and the older man nodded. “Si.”
“¿Viste un bebé?” she asked, tapping the picture.
The man shook his head.
“I’m impressed, Dewi,” Joaquin muttered.
“Shut up. Tell him to go back to the office and go about his day and he’s not to say anything to anyone about CPS, not to call the cops, the usual. Nothing’s wrong. If anyone asks him about us, we’re visiting from out of town and waiting for a cousin to return from work.”
Joaquin escorted him out of the room while Dewi exited and closed the door, doing her best to arrange things so it was harder to tell from a distance that it’d been kicked in. Then she spotted a housekeeping cart several rooms down, walked down there, and had a conversation with the housekeeper, who fortunately spoke English so Dewi didn’t need Joaquin’s help.
Dewi gave her two twenties and a Prime order to keep the cart parked immediately in front of the room all day today, which temporarily solved one of their problems.
When Joaquin rejoined Dewi in the car, they sat there with it idling and the AC blasting while Dewi considered their options. “I need to be the one to confront Henry,” she said.
He shook his head. “I don’t like that plan, boss.”
“I have to Prime him. We can’t risk him running with the baby. If he sees both of us, he’ll spook.”
“This car is gonna spook him no matter what. You don’t see many Saleens sitting in front of shitboxes like this place.”
“Fuck,” she muttered. “We should have brought Emily’s car. Or yours.”
He fake gasped. “Are youactuallyadmitting I’mright? Oh, mygod! Should I write this down?”
She flipped him a bird and backed out of the parking space to find them a better and less obvious vantage point while they contemplated their next move.
Joaquin referred back to his phone. “We’re ten minutes from one of the recent addresses Ken found for Henry.” He looked the place up on the map app’s street view. “Single family residence. Street parking. Looks like an old neighborhood.”
“Let’s go. Which way?”
He gave her directions while she drove. Dewi kept her eye out for the car in question as the cruised by the house the first time. At least this neighborhood, while old, was filled with a mix of gentrified and rundown houses, including a variety of new and old vehicles in a variety of income levels.
They circled the area once without spotting the car and Dewi dropped Joaquin in the alley behind the house.
A moment later, he spoke up on the radio. “No one’s home. Even went up and knocked. Lights are off. No sounds inside.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up out front.”
She circled around and he jumped in almost immediately when she pulled up.
They drove off. “Where to next?” she asked. “Anything else close by?”
“Yeah. One of the friends Emily gave us the info for.”
Another goose egg—no one was home at the dumpy apartment. They also dropped by a nearby convenience store listed in Henry’s employment history from two years ago, but they had no idea who he was.
“I’m getting the sense Henry doesn’t run in wealthier circles,” Dewi snarked. “Back to the motel.”
They parked half a block away, where the room was visible from the car. “I’m going to go back in there and talk to the manager,” she said.
“Yes, because that workedsowell before,” he drawled.
She glared at him. “¿Dónde está el baño?” she said. “I know a little, okay? I’m a pregnant woman—I think he’ll get the hint if I smile and do the universal pee-pee dance.”
