“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Mendoza said.
“You called me Gina earlier.”Unless I’d imagined it.
He didn’t answer.“To continue.While the two of you were playing leapfrog behind the sedan, we were also tracking the sedan by GPS.We weren’t planning to make a move until morning, but once we saw the two of you being captured, we thought we’d better step up the schedule.”
“And we appreciate it,” I said.
This time he smiled.“You looked like you didn’t need much help.”
“I would have brained Yuri or Konstantin.But that doesn’t mean we would have gotten out.I might not have brained him hard enough.And then he might have killed me.So I’m grateful you showed up when you did.I have no need to be a hero.”
After a second, I added, “I’m sorry I almost hit you.”
He shrugged.“You didn’t, so don’t worry about it.”
“It would have been a shame to break that perfect nose, though.”
“I snore,” Mendoza said.
Well, it looked perfect from the outside.As for the snoring, I doubted I’d ever get to experience that for myself.“So what happens now?”
“ICE and vice fight over Yuri and Konstantin,” Mendoza said.“I’ll have to sit in on some of the interviews, to see whether they had anything to do with Griselda Grimshaw’s murder, but my gut feeling is they didn’t.”
I shook my head.“I’m wondering whether Anastasia didn’t shoot her.Steven probably gave her his gun so she could protect herself.Under the circumstances, it’s hard to blame him.She must have been terrified that Yuri and Konstantin would find her again.Maybe, when I showed up, and you showed up, and Zachary showed up, she got scared.”
“Maybe,” Mendoza said.
“I don’t know why that would make her kill Mrs.Grimshaw, but maybe she misunderstood something.Or maybe she didn’t mean to.”
Mendoza grunted.I have to admit I didn’t make a very convincing case for leniency.But there was no reason I could think of why Anastasia might have deliberately killed Mrs.Grimshaw.There’d be no reason for that.
Unless Griselda had threatened her somehow, I guess.
“She might actually be Steven’s daughter,” I said.“That’s what she told the other girls.And apparently what she told Steven.”
He nodded.“Doesn’t mean she actually is.”
No.“But Steven may have believed it.”
“And Griselda might have believed otherwise.”
So Anastasia shot her.That didn’t make any more sense, but was equally possible.“No way to know until we find them, I guess.”
Mendoza shook his head.“I don’t think these goons can help us with that.”
I didn’t, either.“If they knew where Anastasia was, I’m sure they’d have dragged her back here by now.In pieces if they had to.Just to show the other girls what would happen if any of them tried to get away.”
“That’d be my guess, too,” Mendoza said.
We sat—and in Mendoza’s case, stood—in silence a moment.
“You should go,” Mendoza said.
“Can I?”
“You haven’t been charged with anything.You’re the victim here.”
Hardly.“The girls are the victims.I just stumbled into this due to my own stupidity, and got a crack on the head for my trouble.But I wouldn’t mind going home.”
