She patted the guy down and took a .38 revolver off him while awaiting Joaquin. Moments later, Joaquin pulled up next to the man’s car and jumped out.
“Question him.” She handed the man off to Joaquin after giving the guy a mental Prime order to stand there and answer all questions truthfully while Dewi donned nitrile gloves and searched the car…
Which wasdisgusting. Thank the Goddess there wasn’t a baby inside. Apparently the AC didn’t work because all the windows were down, and it was filled with empty beer cans and food wrappers that made the inside stink. And there were suspicious stains on both front seats. The trunk was full of a bald spare that was low on air, old rags, more empty beer cans, and some plastic bottles of motor oil, transmission fluid, and power steering fluid.
Five minutes later, they’d learned Henry had paid Jorge Morales fifty bucks to come sit here and wait for anyone to show up looking for him. And that Henry would pay him $500 on the back end of things. Dewi took notes, including snapping pics of the man, his car, the license plate, and his driver’s license.
Morales didn’t know where Henry currently was because Henry had met him, alone, earlier that morning at a fast-food restaurant just a few blocks down the street. That meeting took place about forty-five minutes after Henry and Fawny left Emily’s.
“If he’s supposed to call Henry when someone shows up,” Dewi said, “and Henry’s supposed to bring the baby, that means Henry’s likely close by. Especially if Fawny and the baby weren’t with him this morning. We need to find him.”
“Then let’s have the guy call Henry and tell him the money’s here,” Joaquin said.
“I’d rather not give them a chance to put a gun to the baby’s head and get in a standoff,” she said. “Because if Henry’s plan is to come in first and he has Tawny watching and waiting to bring the baby, if she sees something sus she might take off and then she’s in the wind. I’d rather surprise them where they are with the baby. No chases, no attention, no cops. Easy-peasy.”
Dewi snapped her fingers at the guy. “Car keys and cell phone. And lock code for the phone.”
Joaquin translated and the guy surrendered the items. She immediately unlocked the phone and changed the code to 1234 so she wouldn’t have to remember it.
She grabbed the guy’s arm again. “Joaquin, tell him to go into the room and stay there, door closed, until either we return or tomorrow at noon, whichever comes first. Not to call anyone, not to leave, not to make any noise. He can watch TV, sleep, drink water from the tap, and use the bathroom. And tell him to take a shower. That’s it. And he’ll have no memory of us or how he ended up here unless we return to talk to him.”
Joaquin gave him the orders and the man pushed the cart aside and walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
“So he’s on ice and out of our hair for now,” Joaquin said as he moved the housekeeping cart back into position. “What’s our next step?”
“Even Henry can’t be stupid enough to think Emily could come up with $10k in a few hours.”
“You might be drastically overestimating his intelligence,” Joaquin sniped.
“Maybe.” She started checking Jorge Morales’ phone’s call log and found texts in Spanish and a call from earlier that morning. But the phone number wasn’t assigned to a contact, and it wasn’t the same number they had for Henry.
She handed Joaquin the phone. “What’s that say?”
He read them. “It’s the exchange from Henry about meeting him this morning. Told Jorge he had an easy job for him.” A low growl erupted from his throat. “Said he wants to stick it to his ex for being a bitch to him and not aborting the baby, and for not telling him her parents were loaded.”
She looked over Joaquin’s shoulder and called Ken to update him, putting him on speaker phone. “Can you start a trace on this number?” she asked, reciting it to him.
“Yeah, but also check to see if the guy has any social media apps on his phone where he’s friends with Henry,” Ken suggested. “We might be able to track Henry’s recent whereabouts that way.”
Joaquin started looking. “Ha! Ken, you’re a goddamned genius. Henry checked in yesterday afternoon at a bar three blocks from here.” He scrolled further. “And there’s a sandwich shop two blocks in the other direction. He’s got to have a place close by.”
“Stand by,” Ken said. “Let me see what I can find.” The pack had access to sophisticated software and resources to locate information thanks to their money and well-placed packmates in various levels of state and local governments. Even a few at the federal level, and at some major tech companies. It wasn’t magic, but with enough information they could sometimes work miracles.
“Fawny checked in at a different bar nearby two days ago,” Ken said. “And she’s not listed at an address close to there, but it looks like a guy who is crawling all over her profile and liking all her posts and pics has a car registered to an address smack in the middle of those places and close to the motel.”
Dewi crowed with victory. “Text it to us. We’re on our way.” She ended the call. “Let’s go.”
“We should take his car,” Joaquin said.
“I’m not leaving the Saleen here. And I’m damned sure not riding inthat.” She handed him the keys to the Impala. “Youdrive his car.”
He held the keys pinched between his thumb and forefinger like they were a piece of garbage. “Gee, thanks, boss,” he groused.
“I have a spare pair of tactical gloves in my trunk that will probably fit you. In the duffel bag.” She turned and popped the deck lid open with her key fob. “Use those. Besides, then you won’t leave prints.”
“Ugh. Is this about the chicken squeezy comment? Because I’m sorry.”
“Gloves, asshole!”
