After another pause, the officer said, “One moment.”
Faith rolled her eyes and checked the distance remaining to Caldwell’s address.Twenty minutes.Not that it would matter if it turned out that Houston lived somewhere else entirely.
“Okay, are you still there?”the officer asked.
Where the hell else would I be?Faith thought irritably.
“We’re here,” Jessica answered.
“It looks like Dr.Houston left the Tarrant County Animal Shelter last year.As per county policy, her personal records have been terminated from the system.”
Faith stared blankly through the windshield while Jessica voiced both of their surprise.“Are you serious?What the hell kind of policy is that?”
“I’m so sorry, Special Agent.I wish I could help you.”At least she sounded genuine.“Maybe check the DMV?”
“Yeah, probably should have done that to begin with,” Jessica muttered under her breath.“All right, thank—”
“Wait!”the officer interrupted.“Patty Houston!I remember now.My cousin knows her.She has a Pharaoh Hound, and she takes it to Patty’s new shelter in Arlington.It’s kind of like a Dobermann but a little smaller and not as aggress—”
“The address, officer.”
“Right.Hold on.Let me call her.”
She hung up, and Faith took a deep breath and released it slowly through her nose.She began tapping the steering wheel, but a frown from Jessica caused her to stop.
The seconds ticked by.Faith glanced at the GPS and was shocked to see they’d only been driving for three minutes.Seventeen still remained before they reached the address that wouldn’t matter in a few minutes.
The radio crackled.“Okay, I’ve got it.”
“Thank God,” Faith said.“Give it to us.”
Jessica punched the new address into the GPS as the officer provided it.The GPS recalculated and told Faith that they would reach their new destination in eighteen minutes.That wasn’t too much of an increase.
She glanced at the screen and saw that Houston lived in Arlington but on the southeastern edge of town away from downtown.After Jessica hung up on the officer, Faith said, “Jessica, calculate the drive time between Caldwell’s house and Patricia Houston’s.”
Jessica did that and reported, “Nine minutes.”
Faith’s face fell.He was definitely there already, which meant they were definitely too late.
Still, they had no choice but to do their best and cling to hope.“Call Oliver.Tell her to get officers to Patricia Houston’s home ASAP.We’ll be there shortly after them.”
“Will do.”
Jessica called Oliver and passed the information along while Faith drove as fast as she dared and tried to convince herself that everything could be okay.
She didn’t quite succeed, but when she glanced at Turk, she saw no fear in his eyes, only focus and determination.They were going to catch this bad guy.
She reached back to ruffle his fur and clung tightly to the thin thread of hope he gave her.
***
David’s heart thumped as the black SUV pulled in front of the gate of the annex and pulled into the testing facility beyond.While Marine Base Quantico officially owned all of the land in the area aside from the FBI Academy and the small town of Quantico, they used only a small percentage of it.This annex was technically part of the main base, but several miles of empty land lay between it and the rest of the active base.
He was parked in a stand of trees inside of that no-man’s land a few hundred yards outside of the fence.And now he was watching Sergeant Whitaker and Colonel Chastain step out of the SUV with Sierra in tow.Whitaker looked pissed.Sierra looked downcast.Her head was down, her tail tucked in between her legs.When she didn’t move as fast as Whitaker wanted, the handler jerked the leash, nearly pulling Sierra off balance.
“You bitch,” David muttered, taking pictures of the three.“You fucking bitch.”
It didn’t really accomplish anything to be angry like this, but it made David feel better.He would feel alotbetter once he had enough information to put them all behind bars.
