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“Calm down, Sean. You weren’t there,” Kate snapped.
She was right. But dammit, he cared deeply for Lucy! Knowing that some rogue federal agent had allowed her to be brutally raped and did nothing to stop it made Sean sick and angry.
Dillon said, “If Mallory and Fran Buckley got together, this sort of vigilante operation might just appeal to both personalities.”
Hans agreed. “If Mallory is involved, it would explain why Morton was a target. If he thought Morton was falling into his old tricks, then Mallory would certainly go after him.”
“I think Mallory would have gone after him no matter what,” Kate said. “That still doesn’t explain why Morton was in D.C., or why Ralston went to Seattle.”
“Where’s Mallory now?” Sean asked.
“We don’t know,” Kate said. “He disappeared after he got out of the hospital.”
“We need to find him,” Hans said.
The doorbell rang and Kate got up to answer it.
Hans leaned forward and whispered, “Dillon told me about the listening device you planted. Let’s keep that quiet.”
Sean looked at Hans differently now. He was no typical federal agent.
Kate returned with agents Noah Armstrong and Abigail Resnick.
“Morton went to Somerset, Maryland, the night he arrived in D.C.,” Noah said without preamble. “He parked on Eucalyptus Street, and Abigail and I interviewed every neighbor who was home this morning and ran the property records for the houses within one hundred yards of where Morton parked. No one matches a name on any of Morton’s contact lists, but there are a couple of rentals and we’re contacting the owners of the properties.”
Abigail said, “I’m going back tonight to talk to anyone we missed. He was there for twenty-five minutes, so he must have had a reason.”
“Maybe it was a prearranged meet on the street or in his car or a park,” Kate said. “Not in someone’s house.”
“Unlikely,” Noah said. “The neighborhood is established and well maintained. Someone would have noticed a stranger, and he was there just after eight in the evening. But anything’s possible.” Noah turned to Sean. “Rogan, we need to talk about Sergey Yuran.”
Sean tried not to bristle at Noah’s official tone. He didn’t trust Mr. Law and Order. Noah Armstrong was too black-and-white for his taste. But the faster they shared information and found Morton’s killer, the better off Lucy would be. If Morton’s murder was connected to the other dead parolees as he and Kate had speculated, all Lucy’s problems would be solved and Sean could take her away for a few days.
“I went to see him on Saturday.”
“Why?”
“He was one of Morton’s known associates. I knew who he was—not personally, but RCK has worked rescue missions all over the world; we know the players in human trafficking. It was an obvious place to start.”
“For me to start, not you.”
“He would never have talked to you and you know it. Criminals like Yuran have the system gamed, which is why there’s surveillance on him. My guess, it was ICE. I’m surprised they shared with you.”
Noah bristled. “Who told you that?”
“I spotted them.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Sean didn’t comment. He’d only further irritate the Fed. “If he’d had information about Morton or who killed him, I would have told you.”
“You’re not a cop; you don’t know what’s going on in this investigation or what questions to ask.”
Sean raised an eyebrow. “All he said was that he’d heard about a guy looking for an online sex trade expert and he put out some feelers, then nothing—said the guy disappeared or lost interest. He smelled something wasn’t kosher, so didn’t pursue it.”
“Dammit, Rogan, you’re screwing up this investigation right and left!”
“No, I’m not,” Sean said firmly. “Yuran didn’t trust the source because it didn’t come through his normal channels.”
