“Tessa Lane didn’t just run away; she fell off the map eighteen years ago. I’m talking everything. No new credit cards, no usage on her current ones or access to her debit account.”
“I know all of that.”
“Yes, but what I did manage to track down is the name she was living under. Or rather names. She changed them every five years or so.”
She’d said as much. But I wanted confirmation. “How’d you do that?”
“Facial recognition software. I fed an old image of Tessa through a couple databases and got a hit. Tessa Lane is also Taylor Newport, Kate Angelo, Janice Lewis, and, most recently, Lisa Phillips.”
“What could you find on them?”
“Taylor lived in Sacramento, California, and Kate lived in Dallas, Texas. They don’t have anything but birth certificates and driver’s licenses. No credit cards or tax documents. They both have pretty clean records, and it looks like, as Taylor, she worked at a department store, while Kate was a receptionist at a veterinary clinic.”
“And Janice? Lisa?”
“Janice is where things get a bit dicey. She had that name for less time than the others because it got listed in a police report out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
“Assault?” I ask. Is this the same guy she spoke of before? Or someone else?
“Well, she was working at a truck stop outside of Tulsa, and it looks like she was involved in a domestic dispute with a Jaguar Billings. I looked it up—twice. That’s his birth name.”
Domestic dispute. “She said something about that last night. What did the report say?”
“She was treated at the local hospital for some abrasions and a sprained wrist. He’d been attempting to sexually assault her when someone intervened.”
Rage boils my blood all over again, and I have to bite it down to keep from exploding right here on the beach. “And after that?”
“Janice disappeared, and Lisa popped up in Savannah, Georgia, right after.”
So she’s been running since she left Stormwatch Landing. The thought of her out there alone, with no one to count on, makes my chest ache. “Anything on Lisa?”
“Not really. Lived a quiet life. Looks like she worked as a maid in a local motel a few months before she got a job as a secretary for Southeast Environmental Commission. It’s an environmental agency, though—” He sighs.
“What is it?”
“I’m going to look into them further, but on the surface, things are a little too smooth.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, a company like that? They’re bound to have some kind of lawsuit going on. Most environmental companies are fighting against big corporations in an attempt to bring about change and all that. But this one is squeaky clean. It could be because they’re relatively new, but I’ve got a nose for this, and something smells off.”
Which means it likely is. “I can do some digging. Thanks.”
“I’ll keep looking, too.”
“Be careful, Tucker. If they’re behind what’s happening now, they nearly killed the both of us last night.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “What happened?” The friendly tone from earlier is gone, replaced with a seriousness I’ve come to expect from the Hunts whenever someone they consider family is in danger.
I’m a lucky enough man to be on that list.
“Someone put a whole lot of new holes in the place where Tessa grew up—with us inside.”
“Oh, man. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. Me, too. If you want to leave this alone, I don’t blame you. We’ve got enough to deal with.”
“Nah, I don’t run from a fight. You know that. I’ll be careful, but I’ll see what I can find.” He’s quiet a moment. “Look, I know you tried to find her, but don’t kick yourself over it. I had to do some serious digging to find her, myself.”
