The elderly man said, “About five years now. Why do you ask?”
The Visitor nodded his head. “My sister lived here six or seven years ago. Probably was the last person who rented this place before you bought it. She … umm …” he paused, emotion clogging his throat. “She’s dealing with medical issues and ran away from the facility where she was receiving treatment. Her memory is impaired, and I’ve been trying to find her?—”
“And you thought she might come back to a place she lived before,” the man said, nodding. “Well, no one unexpected has come by here at all. Just the normal folks that come to see me and my wife. Do you have a picture of her?”
The Visitor nodded eagerly, reaching into his pocket to produce a photo.
“Pretty girl. Such a shame she’s missing,” the elderly man said. “Can I hang on to this? I’ll ask my neighbors if they’ve noticed her around.”
“That would be great. I appreciate it,” The Visitor said, then handed the man a card. “Please call this number if you or your neighbors see her. We really need to get her back to the facility. Every day she’s not being treated, the worse her memory loss and other injuries will get.”
The elderly man studied the card. “Sure thing. I really hope you find your sister soon.”
“Me too,” The Visitor said, his gaze sweeping down the street. “Her life depends on it.”
The words sent a chill over her as she reached a shaky hand into her purse. Pulling out the dark red metal card and the burner phone, she slid down against the house, hidden in the shadows, and texted the number on the back.
Chapter 13
“You’ve been here all week,” Everett Gilliam said, jaws clenched as he glared at Bobby.
Lachlan crossed into the room, unable to ignore the tension that radiated like a physical being between the two men. Kane Ambrose sat with legs propped on a desk in the corner, watching the fallout like a movie unfolding before his eyes.
“So what?” Bobby snapped. He continued to type on the keyboard, fingers moving quickly as coding filled the three massive screens on the wall of the command center.
“You know this could be done remotely. You can make these updates from anywhere,” Everett said, not backing down.
And when Everett said “anywhere,” they all knew he meant St. Basil, where Bobby lived with his wife, Remi Spade. The woman who also happened to be the love of Everett’s life.
“I’m where I need to be,” Bobby said, pausing to give Everett a look that screamed back off. “If you’d stop interrupting me, I could finish up and return home to my beautiful wife and show her exactly how much I missed her while I’ve been gone.”
The words were like a gut punch, flushing Everett’s face red with anger. His gray eyes turned to ice as he took a step toward Bobby.
Kane might be content to watch their friends come to blows, but Lachlan was not. Ike would never go for this open animosity between the two men. They all knew it. Lachlan hadn’t known the men as long as they’d been friends with Ike, but he’d forged his own friendship with each of them over the years. Bobby had become a close friend as the man worked tirelessly in setting up his and Britt’s new identities to have a safe life with their new baby. After Britt was murdered in the car bomb, Bobby had been Lachlan’s first call to help him, and Paloma get back to St. Felipe safely.
His friendship with Everett was newer, growing as they worked together to help Sebastian protect Ike’s sister Gabrielle from a stalker.
Lachlan crossed into the room and blocked Everett’s path.
“So, not sure if Sebastian told y’all, but Paloma and the Goat Scout Camp Kids got caught up in that crazy chase in Conrad the other day. Fucking scared the shit out of me,” Lachlan said.
Everett’s attention jerked to him, breaking the man’s plans to bash Bobby’s face. “You serious? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she hid in a slide while the guy chased that woman through the park. She waited until she heard her teacher and a cop before coming out,” Lachlan explained. He decided the guys didn’t need to know that his little girl had been directed to take that action by a vision of her dead mother. That would also mean he’d have to explain why that occurrence made perfect sense to him. His own vision of Britt had torpedoed his relationship with Stacy. If the guys knew, they’d drag him to that psychiatrist they were always pushing, hoping he’d finally deal with his grief. But no amount of therapy would make him stop missing Britt. He’d just have to learn to live without letting the grief ruin any future relationships.
“Smart girl,” Everett said. “Where is she now?”
Lachlan took a deep breath. “My first instinct was to lock her in the house and never let her see the light of day.”
Kane dropped his feet from the desk with a loud thud. “But you thought better of that, right?”
“Yeah, I did.” Lachlan nodded. “A couple of the parents with kids in the camp organized an extra donation to pay for plain-clothed armed guards to watch over the camp activities for the rest of the summer. Needless to say, I made a large donation for that effort and vetted the hired guards.”
“Good thing we’re ramping up our security services to take on clients soon. Looks like the islands need it more than ever,” Everett said.
“For damn sure,” Bobby said, then added, “I reviewed CCTV of the goon chasing the woman and did facial recognition. He’s with Quattro—known for not giving a fuck about his assignments as long as the price is right.”
“Why’d you do that? Don’t tell me you’re helping out the SFPD,” Lachlan said, unable to mask his surprise.
