Page 165 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“I think there’s enough smoke that we can’t ignore him,” JP responded.

Sabre looked exhausted. “When I ask Bay, she just says ‘no names’. But I’m sure she knows Hannah.”

DuBois pointed at the printouts with the DR marks. “This symbol thing matters, especially with Bay carrying it tattooed on her arm.”

“Do you think it’s enough for a warrant?” JP asked.

“I think so, especially since a minor child is involved.” DuBois glanced between the two. “Do you have anything else?”

JP upped the pace. “We know Bay stabbed Maddox and ran. And we now think the blonde girl came back afterward.”

That got DuBois’s full attention. “How sure?”

“I got that from a neighbor. She never told police because she said Nelson didn’t ask the right questions, but I’m not sure she was remembering everything correctly. She said she was a little under the weather.”

DuBois rubbed his jaw. “Let me see if I got this straight. You think the blonde, who you believe to be Hannah, killed Maddox.”

“I think she is, at the very least, a witness and maybe a suspect. I believe she has more answers than we have questions.”

DuBois looked toward Sabre. “How afraid of this guy is Bay?”

“She thinks naming him puts both of them in imminent danger.”

DuBois closed his notebook. “Here’s the problem. If Rourke’s been controlling these girls for years and suddenly thinks Bay talked, he will be on the move. And if he relocates the other girl now,” DuBois continued, “we may lose Hannah, or whoever she is, permanently.”

Sabre looked worried. “What do we do?”

DuBois stood now too. “We don’t confront him yet. It’s too risky. We need location first. We need to get it quietly.”

“Agreed,” JP said.

The detective pointed toward Sabre. “You need to keep talking to Bay.”

“She’s barely hanging on.”

“I know,” he said. “But if she thinks we’re getting close, she may give you something else.”

Sabre nodded reluctantly.

DuBois looked over at JP. “And you dig into every person connected to Rourke. Quietly.”

“Agreed.”

“If he catches wind of our suspicions before we know where Hannah is we’ll probably never find her. I’ll get a warrant, then notify Nelson and Missing Persons. But we need a plan to catch him as soon as possible and without tipping him off.”

“We can’t go at him as cops,” JP said. “I can set up a meeting with him, then we follow him. He’ll eventually lead us to his house and to Hannah or whoever he has hiding there.”

“I’ll meet with him,” Sabre said. “He won’t say no to me.”

“I don’t really like that idea,” JP said. “But she’s not wrong. He’ll jump if Sabre calls.”

DuBois glanced from JP to Sabre. “Am I missing something?”

“JP thinks he’s smitten with me,” Sabre said.

“Which is all the more reason for you to stay out of it,” JP said.

“This is urgent,” Sabre said. “Besides, I’ll meet him for lunch or something, with lots of people around. And I know you’ll both be close by.”