Minutes to Kill (Scarlet Falls #2)(90)

“I want to go to Las Vegas,” Hannah said. Mac could keep the dog for a couple of days.

“OK.”

She lay back down.

“I’ll go with you.” Brody wrapped his arm around her waist and spooned against her back. “We’ll arrange flights in the morning.”

“You don’t have to go with me.”

“Tomorrow morning I’ll have a tome of a report to type. But I won’t be on active duty until I get medical clearance. According to the ER doc, I’m going to have a few weeks off at minimum.” He rested his chin on her shoulder. “And I am not ready to let you out of my sight.”

The thought of leaving Brody behind hurt more than any of her injuries. She’d almost lost him tonight. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

She rolled over to face him. Putting a hand on his chest, she said, “I don’t want this to end between us. I know we both said we didn’t love the idea of a long-distance relationship, but I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”

He kissed her. “I’ll do anything for you.”



Late the next afternoon, Hannah sat in a conference room down the hall from Detective Douglas’s office in Las Vegas.

Douglas scanned his report. “We found an arrest record for a weapons charge against Mick Arnette in Ohio. Some of his fingerprints weren’t clear, so they hadn’t been entered into the national database. After checking the missing persons reports for Ohio, we found a girl we believe is Jewel. Her name is Jenna Young, native of Toledo. Jenna ran away from home about a year ago. Her mother didn’t report her missing for several weeks.” He put a paper on the table in front of them. A dark-haired teenager smiled sadly at the camera.

Hannah sucked in a quick breath. “That’s her.”

But she looked different. Her eyes were mournful rather than panicked, and her face was fuller in the picture, as if she had lost weight since.

“Why wasn’t she reported missing right away?” Hannah asked.

“Her mother said Jenna had run away before. She thought her daughter would come back on her own.” Douglas frowned. “But the Toledo police found out that the mother’s boyfriend was a registered sex offender. He’d been convicted of molesting a twelve-year-old girl seven years before. Seems he hooked up with Jenna’s mother barely six months after his release from prison.”

“So you assume he molested Jenna.” The coffee in Hannah’s stomach soured. Brody put an arm across the back of her chair and gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze. She couldn’t have gotten through this day without him. His solid and quiet support made the most onerous subjects bearable.

“Probably a fair assumption,” Douglas said.

“Any ideas on how to find her?” Brody asked.

“We found a computer at the house. Our technicians think the e-mails you were sent originated from that unit. This girl, Lola, claims to have sent them. We recovered a computer. Most of the files have been wiped, but our cyber techs hope to recover deleted files from the hard drive. But we do have the records for Mick’s burner phone, and the cyber team followed a data usage trail. We strongly suspect Mick’s operation is part of a larger organization.”

“So what do you want from Lola?” Hannah asked.

“I’d like her to tell us what she knows. We want to bring down as much of this organization as possible. But she doesn’t trust us. Where she comes from, law enforcement is often as corrupt as or in bed with the criminals. With the Mexican cartels, either you do as you’re told or they kill you and your entire family.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Hannah offered.

“We know she’s afraid of being deported, but if she cooperates with us, we’ll help her. Several agencies have been to visit her. She won’t talk to them either.” Douglas stood. “I’ll take you over to the hospital now.”

They followed the detective to the hospital in their rental car. Twenty minutes later, Douglas pushed the number on the elevator. Lola was recovering in a room on the fourth floor. “How long will they keep her in the hospital?”

Douglas shook his head. “I don’t know. She needs to be detained. It’ll take some time to find a safe place to house her and the other girls.”

“They’re all witnesses.” And in danger. Hannah thought of Sam Arnette and the witness who disappeared before his trial. “I’m sure illegal trafficking victims who agree to testify have gone missing in the past.”

“Yes.” Douglas stopped at the end of the hall and showed his ID to a cop standing guard.

“She doesn’t speak much English, ma’am,” he said. “But I can translate.”

“There’s no need.” Hannah smiled.

“I’ll be right over there.” Brody pointed to a U-shaped waiting area. A flat-screen TV hung high on the wall. “Too many people in the room might intimidate her.”

“Thanks.” She kissed him. Thoughtful man.

She wasn’t looking forward to leaving Brody and going to London next week, but she was fit for work. Staying out any longer felt dishonest. She’d called Royce that morning. He hadn’t been available, but his secretary said he’d be in the New York office for a few days. Hannah was going to see him as soon as she returned from Las Vegas.