“How long will that take?”
Trey’s mouth flattened into a line in a way that told me I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “A few days. I’m going to have to do some hardcore hacking here.”
I nodded, doing my best to tamp down my rage. It wouldn’t do any of us any good, least of all Sutton, if I flew off the handle. I knew Trey would work as fast as he could. For now, Sutton was relatively safe at the department. I just had to trust we could find what we needed to get her out of there before Addie escalated further.
“I wonder…” I mused aloud, and Trey glanced sideways at me. I started talking before I could fully marshal my thoughts. “Addie is clearly crazy, right? She’s off her rocker, and she’s clearly spentmonthsputting this plan into action. Do you think maybe her team at the FBI has noticed a change in her? Do you think they could shed some light on her movements and her mental state?”
“I mean, it couldn’t hurt to try,” my brother said with a shrug.
“Can you get me her supervisor’s number?”
A few minutes later, I headed out into Trey’s living room to make a call to Supervisory Special Agent Erik Fontaine.
“Fontaine,” he said when he answered.
“SSA Erik Fontaine?”
“Yes, I just said that.”
A no-nonsense kind of guy. I appreciated that.
“Agent Fontaine, my name is Lane Lawless. I’m the?—”
“Sheriff in Dusk Valley. I remember you from that case about ten years ago. You know, I’ve actually been meaning to call you.”
“You have?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah. You remember that Jane Doe you found up there last summer?”
“Of course.”
“We caught her killer. A nasty son of a bitch that had been traveling across the country perpetuating his crimes.”
“How many?”
“In the end, he killed five women. All transients. Older teenagers or younger twenty-somethings who had run away from home or simply didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Fuck, I’m sorry.”
“The important thing is he can’t hurt anyone else, and the families will get justice. Including your vic. Her name was Helena Griffiths. Twenty. Originally from Oregon. According to her family, she was hoping to make her way south to somewhere warmer.”
And she was murdered one state over. A horrible end to a life that hadn’t even gotten started.
“Well, thank you for letting me know. It’s bugged me for a long time that I couldn’t solve that one myself.”
“She was his first victim, actually. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
I chuckled softly. “I’ll try.”
“Anyway,” he said, somewhat more cheerfully. “Was there a reason you called me?”
“Oh, yes!” Deciding to cut right to the chase, I asked, “Are you aware that Agent Caldwell, who I understand is under your command, accused a woman of physically assaulting her today?”
“I…” he started, then paused to clear his throat. “No, I had no idea.”
“Have you noticed anything off about her behavior lately?”
“To be honest with you, Sheriff, I haven’t evenseenCaldwell since the end of August. She randomly called in one day and said she was taking an extended leave of absence.”Holy shit. She’d been off work since Crew’s wedding? Since I got shot? Fuck, I was such a moron. “Tell me about this assault,” he demanded. “What’s going on?”
