She had enough—at least on the Mighty Men case—to take action.
But Katrina Miller still needed justice.
Abigail shifted as she heard the shower running in the bathroom across the hall. Marti or Gabe must have awakened. In the master suite next door, a drawer thumped closed. Nick was up as well.
Someone knocked on the study’s doorframe.
She jumped.
Gabe stood there, clad in the sweats and T-shirt he’d worn the night before. He blinked as if still waking up.
She folded her hands on her lap. “Hey. When I got up, I didn’t want to wake you.”
“There’s worse places to sleep than on the carpet in front of a fireplace.” He shambled into the room and settled on the futon beside her. “By the way...”
His stubble scraped her cheek as he kissed her.
“Ack.” She covered her mouth. “Sorry. I just realized I have zoo breath.”
He laughed. “You ain’t the only one.” He tapped the pages. “Find anything?”
“Probably. At least for the Mighty Men case.” An idea sprang into her mind. “I think we need to rattle Sal’s cage, or at least attempt to.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “How so?”
“You said someone put up tripwires?”
“Yep.”
“Do you think we could beat him at his own game?”
A gleam appeared in Gabe’s eyes. “Set up tripwires on the tripwires?”
“Uh huh.”
His lips curled. He nodded. “Tricky, but I can do it. Great idea. Let me get cleaned up, and I’ll start working on it.”
“I’ll be right there so we can implement Part B.”
With one last kiss, he left.
Abigail scrawled her findings in the red notebook. She drummed her pen on the paper. Who could she take this to? Who could she trust? Not the colonel, who was Sal’s CO and probably up for one star this year, meaning Sal would most likely get his position. Maybe the previous colonel? Could she trust him? Or her former CO in Germany? She’d have to think on that one. Once more, her eyes grew heavy. She set her work on the floor and curled up on the futon.
Gabe’s soft call awakened her. Once he’d headed downstairs, she ducked into the bathroom and turned on the taps. She soaped up and scrubbed down. The motions seemed to loosen her mind in terms of the case. Was there a way to place Sal at the Intelligence Center? Not so if Gabe’s read on the cameras was right. They were down for maintenance. Cameras. Wait! Military bases were nowadays loaded with them. Huachuca, as the big base for Military Intelligence, was no exception.
What a perfect way to run right over those tripwires. But it was risky. Gabe would be making it clear that he was the one doing it, and that would put a target on his back—if it wasn’t there already. Time to go big or go home.
She shut off the taps and snatched her towel from the rack. Excitement coursed through her. If they had Sal on camera, maybe they could make that link. And maybe they could catch whoever set up those tripwires.
Five minutes later, she charged down the stairs and found her friends plus Nick at the large granite island in the kitchen. “I’ve got it!”
Marti swiveled on her chair. “What?”
“We know the cameras were down near the room containing the computer terminals accessing the DIA servers. But what about elsewhere? Like the gate? Or entrance to the Intelligence Center?”
Gabe paused from his work. “Hey, good idea.”
“And Marti, we’ve got to go back through the Katrina Miller case. Give Chief Warrant Officer Osorio, who’s at Huachuca, a call. He’s the CID guy who initially investigated Katrina’s disappearance. Quiz him good. See if there’s something in the case file he might have missed. Nothing’s too small right now. Nick, can we borrow your printer?”
“Be my guests. I’ll see if those MS-13 guys have started talking.”
Abigail knew what she needed to do. Comb through Sal’s history. Learn everything she could about her CO. She thought she knew it all, but obviously she’d been wrong. And she needed to be alone to work. Grabbing her laptop plus a cup of tea Nick had prepared for her, she headed upstairs to the futon in the study.
She logged into the Army’s personnel database and tapped into Sal’s file. Nothing new there. All showed a fast-rising star destined to reach at least brigadier general before he retired. A perfect family. Married to his Rita ever since shortly after graduation from West Point. Two adorable teenaged daughters, as she very well knew. An all-around likable, all-American family. And from a very well-to-do family in El Paso.
Hmmm. She rested her elbows on her knees as she picked up the tea mug and sipped it.
The sharp, sweet taste stung her in a way. David had always liked peppermint tea and had turned her on to the flavor. A lump filled her throat. Just thinking about him induced a deep yearning within her. Lord, what are You trying to tell me?
Not that she’d get an answer, not with her mind crammed so full of other things.
She wanted to pull her hair out.
Okay, Lord, I get it. I’ll talk with David about our issues—after this is all over. Right now, I’ve got to focus.
One thing about the Army, they liked to keep tabs on their people. If they traveled, travel authorizations and expense reports would be filed. Personal leave was granted at the behest of commanding officers. Same with other types of leave. In other words, if Sal had traveled anywhere, the Army would have a record of it.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard faster and faster as her theory gelled.
She felt someone watching her and glanced up.
Nick stood there much like Gabe had earlier. A smile played about his lips as he sipped a mug of what smelled like coffee. “Man, watching you all excited like that makes me want a cigarette.”
Huh? What on earth? She flushed. “I’m, uh, not sure how to respond to that.”
He chuckled and flopped down beside her. “That’s one of the things I liked best about us when we were married. I loved to talk shop with you, to bat things back and forth. I think it made us both better at our jobs.”
He had her there. All too well she remembered the times before things went bad when they’d bounced ideas off each other just like the two detectives they were. “You know? I think you’re right.”
“It’s something I miss about us.”
A bit of unease uncurled in her. “Nick—”
He raised a hand. “Don’t worry. I know we’re not getting back together again. But it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate that about you.”
He’d just paid her a compliment, something that hadn’t crossed the lips of Nick Bocelli in recent memory. “I... I think you rendered me speechless.”
He cleared his throat. “What do you have?”
“If Sal murdered Katrina Miller and showed up at the Intelligence Center, he had to be at that location, right?”
“Of course.”
“And you know how the Army is in terms of keeping tabs on its people.”
“Do I ever.”
“I checked the records. The last time he was at Huachuca for business was shortly after he took command of our battalion. He filed his TA, plus an expense report as required. But last year? He didn’t file any kind of request to travel there.”
“What about leave?”
“Bingo.” She grinned. “No personal leave filed, but he did file emergency leave. Something about his brother Enrique being in an auto accident in El Paso.”
He nodded. “So call the EPPD already.”
“That’s what I’m going to do. If he spun that tale, then we have our man.”
“I’m staying until you call.”
“Let’s hope someone is there on a Saturday to help.” She found the appropriate number and dialed. When a woman answered, Abigail introduced herself and explained her purpose in calling.
“Wait one second.” The woman clicked the keys on her computer. “Yes, we did have a record of one Enrique Torres getting into an a
ccident.”
“Can you tell me any details?”
“A fender bender. Looks like someone T-boned him at low speed.”
Even low-speed wrecks could do some damage. Abigail knew all too well from her own experience that had led to her painkiller addiction. “Do you know if Mr. Torres wound up in the hospital?”
“Not from the report. Officer Melendez worked the accident. He’s actually on duty today, so I can patch you through.”
“Thanks.” Abigail glanced at Nick.
He grinned, positively grinned, when she gave him a thumbs up.
“Officer Melendez,” a male voice said.
“Sir, this is Major Abigail Ward with the Army Criminal Investigation Division. CID has been investigating a case, and we think you could help.” Once more, she ran through her story.
When she finished, he remained silent.
“Sir?”
“Sorry. Just thinking. Yeah, it’s coming back to me now. A fender bender near I-10. Some guy turning off the exit ramp didn’t look. It totaled the Torres car, a Tesla from what I remember. You don’t see a lot of those around a border town like this. Too much of a target for car thieves.”
Ah, yes, the understated oozing of old wealth.
“What struck you as interesting about it?”
“Enrique Torres acted his part, that of a stuck-up, high-society guy, if you get what I mean.” He chuckled. Cop to cop, she understood. “Anyway, he was pissed off. I got him calmed down.”
“Did he seem injured?”
“No. Maybe shaken up, but you would be too if an airbag had gone off in your face. He seemed fine. I told him to take some aspirin if he started feeling sore and to head to the ER if something felt wrong. He said not to worry, that he’d be fine. When I called him up later that day to check on him, he was sunning himself on the patio by his pool. Some injuries, huh?”
“Hey, I’m not one to judge. When was the wreck?”
“Mid-February or so. Hold on. I’m in my car. I can pull up the report.” He paused. “Yep. Ninth of February. Midday.”
Three days before Katrina Miller disappeared—and perfect timing to fake a family tragedy. Had the guy who hit Enrique Torres been in on the whole thing? “Officer Melendez, thanks. This really helps.”
“I’m glad I could. Is there anything else?”
“Nope. Thanks.” She hung up before he thought to ask why Army CID was involved. She preferred not to answer lest he started asking too many questions.
“What’d you find out?” Nick asked.
“Gold.” For the first time in a long time, a positively giddy feeling swept over her. “Sal filed for emergency leave on the pretext that his brother was in a bad wreck. It wasn’t even bad enough for him to see a paramedic. But it gave Sal the opportunity to head west. Let’s go and see what Gabe and Marti found.”
Laptop in hand, she returned to the first floor. Gabe squinted at his computer as he pecked at the keys.
Marti sat at the dining room table talking on the phone and scribbling notes.
Abigail asked, “Gabe, did you get those set up?”
“Yup. Tripwires on the tripwires. And I blundered all over those when I checked the base cameras on the night the terminal room’s cameras went down. Jackpot. Sal came in through the south gate at 1930 hours MST. I’ve tracked his movements all the way to an adjacent parking lot. He walked over to the Intelligence Center. Cameras caught him at a service entrance. His face isn’t visible right at the door, but I was able to hone an image on the approach to be clear enough to show him.”
“Emergency leave, my butt,” Nick muttered. His phone rang, and he stepped away.
“Anything else interesting?” She peered over Gabe’s shoulder.
“Yeah.” He adjusted his screen. “Here’s the image I have on his approach.”
She studied it. “Looks like he’s carrying something.”
“Exactly.” He clicked the mouse a few times. “Take a look at this one. It’s just inside at the first door that leads from the stairwell into the main hallway.”
“It’s clearer. Looks like he’s carrying a small athletic bag or something.”
“Exactly.”
She shivered. “You want to bet money this has Katrina’s eyes and hands in it?”
“He’d certainly not tote those around without hiding them.”
“When did he leave?”
“Fifteen minutes later. The cameras to the terminal room came back online at 2300 hours. Like I said, it’s a strange time for maintenance. He left post at 2030 hours.”
“It may not be a smoking gun, but it’s really, really close. Who do you think took down the cameras?”
“I’ll have to do some research on that. The moment they access the tripwires, I’ll know.”
“Abigail,” Nick called.
She raised her head. “What do you have?”
“Good news and bad news. Good news is our MS-13 guys sang like I thought they would. Bad news is they don’t know who hired them, only that the orders came from across the border and not down their typical chain of command.”
“A rush job, maybe?”
“Could be.”
“It’s enough.” She rested her chin on her hands.
“Next steps?” Gabe asked.
“Not sure.” She glanced up as Marti approached. A smile played about her sergeant’s lips. “Marti, tell me why you look like the cat that ate the canary.”
“Chief Warrant Officer Osorio and I had a fine and dandy chat, once I tracked him down at one of those kids’ water resorts. Seems he was more than happy to oblige me than to be in a wave pool surrounded by hundreds of squealing kids.
“I talked to him about what happened around the fringes of the time window of Katrina’s kidnapping. Seems he did ask questions about that. A couple of folks reported someone fitting Sal’s description as lurking around Katrina’s building the night before she disappeared. For some reason, he didn’t think it was significant enough to include, I think because they’d been having issues with drunks showing up, and the man played the part.”
“There we go.” Ecstasy filled Abigail. They’d blown the Athena file and Mighty Men cases wide open. Then she sobered. Now she had to finish both of them without getting herself or anyone else killed.
Saturday, April 22, 2017, 1730 hours EDT, near Quantico, VA
“Irena, watch for the shot. Watch for it!” Sal called as he and Rita sat in the stands at their daughters’ soccer match. A striker for the opposing team lined up the shot. Irena blocked it with her hip. Good move. He smiled and nodded as she batted it downfield toward her teammates.
“Amelia, here it comes. Be ready, be ready.” He leaned into the action as if he could get out there on the field himself.
Amelia got the ball from one of the midfielders and passed it to her teammate, who darted around a couple of defenders and passed it back. Amelia took it and dribbled toward the goal. She wound up for a kick.
It bounced off the goalie and spun out of bounds, which set up his daughters’ team for a corner kick and a good shot at a point. The ref blew his whistle.
Halftime.
Sal clapped and shouted, “Good job!”
Amelia grinned and flashed him a V sign.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at the text. Francis.
Not a good time. But was there ever a good time for Francis’s news? He turned to his beloved. “You want me to get us something to drink? It’s getting a bit warm.”
Rita smiled. “How about a soda?”
He kissed her, then headed toward the refreshment stand. As he reached it, he cast a glance over his shoulder. Rita now chatted with one of the other soccer moms. Sal darted around the stand and headed toward the parking lot where he could have some privacy—and get to his other phone. He powered it on and entered Francis’s number. “What are you doing calling on a weekend? I thought—”
“Our friend is back.”
Sal froze. “Which...
friend?”
“The one who likes to look at cameras.”
“Cut to the chase.”
Francis huffed out a sigh. “Gabe Santos has been accessing cameras all over Huachuca. Like the front gate, main roads, the Intel Center. He’s getting too close for my comfort.”
“Could you find his location?”
“No. He’s masked it. He’s probably a better computer guy than I am.”
“Is he local?”
“I don’t think so. I called his phone. Straight to voice mail.”
Sal narrowed his eyes. “Chances are he’s with Abigail. Any sign of her phone? Or her sergeant’s?”
“Negative.”
Sal kicked the tire of his Bimmer. He might have eliminated any chance of Abigail closing up the Mighty Men case, but she remained on the hunt. She was too close to the nasty truth. He’d taken Katrina’s life, so he could swipe the Athena file for the one man who now had broken all ties with him.
A low cuss word escaped him.
“Sir?”
“Nothing. You’ve done enough.”
“Gabe needs to go. He knows too much.”
Maybe Francis was right. Sal rubbed the back of his neck. “And how do you propose to do that if we have no idea where he is? Lay low for now, comprende?”
“I will.”
“Good.” Sal signed off, then began pacing in a tight circle as he considered his options. This had to end. Soon. And this time, he needed to be the one to take care of things, not Los Jaguares or even Enrique. He’d do it himself. But that didn’t mean he didn’t need help. With a low growl, he tapped out Enrique’s number. “We have a problem that has cropped up. Remember our hiding place in Utah?”
“Of course. It’s where we kept the helicopter until...” A string of curses floated his way.
Sal winced. “Enough! We have a more urgent matter. Abigail Ward is close to finding out we were the ones who kidnapped Katrina Miller and used her... parts to swipe the Athena file. We need to stop her.”
“And how do you suppose you could do that? Seems to me you failed on that account.”
Sal’s nostrils flared, and he ground his teeth. “I did not. MS-13 took care of the one witness who could remotely leave a smear on my record related to the Mighty Men’s annihilation, and I have a way to take care of our other issue. Ready our hiding spot in Utah. And have a squad standing by for further orders.”
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