But was that because he’d presumed so just because of the PD shield she wore and his loyalty to cops in general? Had he assessed her through a blue filter that didn’t even consider the idea she could be dirty—or some kind of cult spy—until she gave him a reason to wonder? He was all for the benefit of the doubt, but that went out the window when suspicion entered.
Carlos pulled up Wallace’s number in his contacts and dialed. He put the phone to his ear.
The call connected. “Detective Wallace.”
“Yeah, it’s Officer Ryson.” He stepped away from the two FBI agents. “Any updates on those murders you’re investigating?”
“I’m guessing you heard we talked to your friend at the Shrine.”
Carlos knew thisfriendhad to be Eliana. “You talked to Hope?”
“We know that’s an alias,” Wallace said. “We know who she is.”
“And, uh, how did that go?” Carlos didn’t know what else to ask. If they had talked to her, but they weren’t still at the Shrine now, that was good. Right? The FBI would need to surveil Maloney, dig into her life, and come up with a plan. His intent to find out where they were right now might backfire on him real fast.
“If we get a lead, I’ll be sure tonotkeep you in the loop,Officer.” Wallace hung up.
Great. Carlos had lost his shot at getting intel.
“Please tell me that wasn’t Maloney.” Fox had her arms folded.
Carlos looked from her to Glor. “Fishing for information from her partner didn’t work.”
“We got that.” Glor sat on the edge of the table. “So I’m guessing it won’t be worth putting a wire on you and having you talk to those detectives?”
“You’d be better off telling the Chicago PD that their investigation connects to your case and working with them until you figure out what her deal is.” Carlos saw that his missed call was from Maizie and stowed his phone, glad that at least Wallace and Maloney weren’t still with Eliana.
“You know, that’s not a bad idea.” Fox looked at Glor.
Carlos hadn’t let go of his thought of Eliana. The whole city was out of control, people like the detectives were discovering who she was, and someone had committed two murders.
At least so far.
But if he whisked her away from Chicago to keep her safe—and out of it—she would hate him forever, and he’d lose his shot at finding Luci. Even while he gave Eliana’s family what they wanted from him, it would destroy the friendship they had.
If he didn’t get her out of Chicago, on the other hand, he might have a shot at finding his sister. But Eliana would be at risk. She could die. She was untrained and completely in over her head.
Carlos had a serious problem, because getting Luci back might mean he lost Eliana, and he wasn’t sure he could make that trade and live with the consequences.
Carlos said, “Any connection between the Reverence Sisters andDominatus?”
Glor frowned. “The defunct group?”
Carlos shrugged. “If that wasn’t a theory you already had, don’t worry about it. It’s probably nothing.”
Fox put her hands on her hips. “Let’s make our case to the PD and join forces.”
“You probably wanna keep me out of it.” Carlos heard his phone ring again. The screen saidMaizie,so he swiped his thumb across it, putting the phone to his ear. “Hey, Auntie Maze.”
The special agents looked at each other, but he ignored them.
“Do you know where she is?” Maizie sounded frantic.
“What’s going on?” He turned away, but that meant he was now looking at the wall of missing women. Victims of the Reverence Sisters. Or true believers.
“I told Eliana something she didn’t want to hear, and she hung up on me.” Maizie sighed. “I tried to call her back, but it wasn’t going through. Which is fine if she doesn’t want to talk to me. But her phone”—she coughed—“alerted me that someone rebooted the operating system, and now they’re downloading files onto it. Which turned on the GPS. I’m sending you the location. I think she might be in trouble, because this isn’t like her.”
He lowered his phone, put it on Speaker, and clicked the Maps link Maizie sent him. “That’s an apartment building across the city. Why would she be all the way over there?”
