The Investigator (Letty Davenport, #1) (80)

“Greet says his cell phone has to be a burner,” Kaiser said. “We need regular bills that aren’t on a government computer that everybody is wired into, that the parole officer would be accessing.”

“Utility bills. Greet already looked at some for Sawyer and Crain,” Letty suggested. “They usually go to the address where the service is.”

Kaiser ticked a finger at her: “That might be the thing. We could get Greet to call.”

“She might be tired of us asking for her help,” Letty said. “And it’s after hours in Washington.”

“Fuck her. That’s her job. Call,” Kaiser said.



* * *





Letty called Greet, who was still in her office and said that she would do what she could. “Problem is, places are closing down for the day. It’s getting late. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think it’ll do any good.”

“Tell me why,” Letty said.

“Because he’s gone underground. His parole officer can’t find him, you haven’t seen him. He’s got a fake ID and it’s a good one. I think Hawkes is gone, too. Do you think she sold her Jeep and now is walking around with thirty thousand dollars in her pocket? I don’t think so, either. She bought another vehicle, but she hasn’t registered one. Bought it under a fake name, with a fake ID, or a private sale, or all of that. But I’ll bet dollars to donuts that she’s got wheels.”

“How do we find them?”

“I don’t know,” Greet said. “I’ve been researching Hawkes, she was in the Army and did okay there, she’s bright, that shows up on her Army intelligence tests. We have good pictures of her now, from the Army and her college ID. If we distribute them all over, some cop will eventually spot her, but that’s not going to happen tomorrow or even next week.”

“Send them to my phone—the pictures,” Letty said.

“Yes.”



* * *





After talking with Greet, Letty called Pugh, the Monahans cop, and asked if she could go by Crain’s and Duran’s houses in Monahans to see if lights were on, if there were parked vehicles out in front of them.

“We could go back up there, if they’re around,” Letty told Kaiser.

“Four and a half hours gone,” Kaiser said.

“What would we do for four and a half hours, if we stayed here?” Letty asked. “We’re stuck.”

Pugh called back fifteen minutes later and said both houses were dark, with no vehicles around.

“They’re all moving,” Kaiser said. “It’s under way, whatever it is.”

“It’s like a fuckin’ nightmare,” Letty said. “One of those where you’re trying to find your school locker and you keep running from one to the next, and it’s never yours.”



* * *





Letty and Kaiser went up to their rooms to wash their faces and hands, then walked back to the pizza place again to get dinner.

Greet called as they were finishing the pizza and said, “I’m not getting anywhere. I can’t find anyone to talk to at the electric company; the gas company says they don’t have a Rand Low in their billing system. He has a driver’s license, he renewed it when he got out of prison, but he doesn’t live at the address on his license, not anymore, and that’s the same address that’s on his truck tag.

“His truck tag wasn’t renewed, but a guy at the state patrol office said he’s probably peeling the renewal sticker off somebody else’s truck and putting it on his own. Nothing on any of the big three cell services, he’s probably got a burner. I don’t see a Visa card under his name, but I did find an active Visa and an active MasterCard under Hawkes’s name, so he could be using one of those . . . The state patrol hasn’t issued recent traffic tickets to Crain, Duran, Low, or Hawkes. So far, I’ve struck out with the banks.”

“Billy, I know you gotta be annoyed with us . . .”

“No, no, we need you to keep pushing, I’m here all night if you need me to be,” Greet said.

“We know they’re anti-immigrant. Would the Border Patrol have anything under their names?”

“Shit. If you didn’t hear it, I just slapped my forehead. Let me see who I can wake up and ask.”



* * *





Letty and Kaiser walked back to the hotel, frustrated, agreed that if Greet called back with anything significant, Letty could wake up Kaiser anytime. “I’m going to finish that Furst book and then go to bed,” Kaiser said. “Maybe things will get clearer overnight.”

“Or blow up,” Letty said.

“Wash your mouth out with soap.”



* * *





Greet called back at ten o’clock, which would be midnight, Washington time—Letty had been confused about time zones for a bit, until she found out that El Paso was in the Mountain Time Zone, unlike the rest of Texas. “I was looking for the right Border Patrol intelligence guy, and it turns out he’s in a motel in El Paso. He’s there because there’s a big caravan of Central Americans headed your way, fifteen hundred people or so . . .”