Eliana didn’t like the sound of that at all. “I think we are kidding ourselves if we think it’s all going to go smoothly, and nothing is going to happen. But I for one have no idea what she has in store for us. I think she might be capable of anything.”
Sylvia nodded. “You might be right about that.”
Eliana looked down at her phone. No text from Carlos.
“What is it?” Tony asked.
“Carlos hasn’t come back from getting coffee, and he’s been gone a while. He isn’t responding to me.”
“Luci might not be dead,” Tony said, “but it is still a form of grief to know that he won’t ever get her back the way she was.” His expression softened. “He might need some time by himself.”
She didn’t want to argue, because that would only make her feel self-centered, wanting Carlos here to support her when he was the one who needed support right now. Or to be alone. But that didn’t mean her instinct wasn’t to hunt him down and make sure he was safe. Everyone seemed to jump with the same sentiment toward her. Why couldn’t she have the same protective instincts for the people she cared about? Especially now that Luci was safe.
The niggling question about her missing friend didn’t leave her mind.
Tony said, “What is it now?”
How did he know there was something on her mind? But asking that would provide her with an answer she probably didn’t want. One that had to do with how much she looked like her mother. “How much research have you done into Carolena Diaz?”
Sylvia frowned. “The standard background check that comes with all our employees. If there’s something to know about her, we would’ve found it.”
“So you’re certain she couldn’t possibly be the Mother of the Reverence Sisters, or part of the group?” Before they could respond, Eliana said, “Most likely, that police detective is in charge of it, but I was wondering about Carolena. Maybe that’s why we haven’t been able to find her, and she hasn’t turned up dead either.”
Eliana winced thinking about what she’d just suggested—that her best friend could be the leader of a dangerous religious group.
“Forget I said that.” She shook her head. “It’s more likely that it’s the detective.”
“Nevertheless, I’m going to call Laramee Fox at the FBI and find out what they have to say.” Sylvia stood. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Tony was staring at her.
“What?”
“You want to go and find Carlos?”
She nodded.
“Let’s go. I’ll keep you company.”
“I can defend myself, you know.” She shot him a look of her own. “I have my knife.”
“Good. With this Lydia woman out there, you might need it.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Thank you, Son.” Javier Ryson sounded so tired. “Thank you for finding her.”
Carlos gripped the phone, holding it to his ear while he walked through the hall on the ground floor. He’d taken so many laps of the hospital since he left the waiting room that he had memorized most of the building while talking to his father.
“You’re welcome,” he replied in Spanish. “I’m just glad I was there.”
Never mind how he felt about the fact that the FBI hadn’t known his sister was in the house, or that the Shrine had taken over the scene, and none of them discovered her in that bathroom linen closet either.
His father started to pray in Spanish, a broken series of requests to the Lord to heal Luci and bring her fully back to them. Carlos listened, his eyes filling with hot tears. The only other time he had known his father to be this shattered was after Carlos’s mom passed away.
Lord, I don’t want him to have to lose her, too.
His route took him out to the main lobby, which stretched left and right into a wide expanse under the high ceiling. The last time he’d been in the hospital lobby, it had been packed withpeople. Right now, the place echoed with emptiness, except for the two or three people in here. Someone behind the reception desk. Someone else over by a coffee cart that looked like a street hotdog stand.
