What the heck was she talking about? And what did Cynthia mean that she would be perfect? Perfect for what?
Had what happened to her and Cynthia been more than Gomez Ramirez wanting to make Teresa back off from her investigation of the cartel?
Was it possible that Cynthia had been more involved with them being taken than anyone thought? Or known?
Steff was aware that Cass had run background checks on everyone close to her; Jag had told her, but everyone had come up clear. Nothing about Cynthia had raised a red flag.
How was that possible considering the information Cynthia had given her?
Had Cynthia been the reason why she’d been treated the way she had when they’d been taken?
“I can see you turning things over in your mind.” Cynthia opened the black box and pulled out a smaller one, this one Steff recognized. “I’ll continue once I put these in.”
Cynthia put the earrings in that Fox had given her.
“Why are you doing that? You know that’s going to bring them all here?”
She smiled evilly. “That’s what I’m aiming for.”
“Wait.” She thought about it all, and hope blossomed in her chest that help was closer than she thought it could be. “If you’ve had them with you, they would’ve been tracking us the whole time.”
“Oh Steff, sorry to break that little bubble of hope, but you see this?” She pointed to the box. “This device blocks the signal.They’ve been sitting in there ever since I got them. My other set, the ones Fox knows I wear, are at home. If anyone checked, they would’ve seen where I was.”
“But they knew I was meeting you. If Cass, for any reason, checked and found my earrings had stopped working, there’s no way she would’ve kept that information to herself, she would’ve told Dalton and the others. Fox would’ve tried to contact you.”
She shrugged. “He would’ve gotten my voicemail. He knows I sometimes turn my phone off. I told him I don’t like to use it much.” Her voice turned young girlish at the end.
“But you want them to find us?” Steff was getting confused with Cynthia’s motives and how she was going about it. Not to mention it was still the two of them. Unless whoever Cynthia was working with were going to send some backup to take out Dalton and his team.
Was that what Cynthia wanted?
For them all to be hurt? Or worse, killed?
“I do. And when they come, it’s going to be epic,” she said gleefully.
Steff stumbled onto the couch, wishing she could warn Dalton.
Chapter Thirty
Jag raceddown the alley where Cass had pinpointed the last place Steff had been, Hound hot on his heels. Fox was on his way to Cynthia’s place to see if she was okay. He’d texted not long ago to say there was an accident on the highway, so traffic was horrendous.
The smell was rank, but he’d been in places which smelt far worse than this did.
He came to an abrupt halt when he found the shattered pieces of Steff’s phone on the ground, right next to what were once the earrings he’d given her. He squatted to get a closer look. To see if there was a hint of something, anything, that would tell him what the hell had gone on.
Who’d taken her?
Cass was accessing the camera feed from the front of Steff’s therapist’s building to see if she’d met someone. Jag had called Donelle’s office, finding out that she’d never had a session, because it had been cancelled. Jag knew for a fact Steff wouldn’t cancel her appointment. In the past she had, now though, she kept every one. Looked forward to them, even.
“Here.” Hound handed him a plastic bag and gloves.
“Thanks.” He took them and popped the gloves on before carefully picking up the pieces. He didn’t know if they would get any prints from them, but anything was possible. He didn’t bother with the pieces of the earrings, there was nothing salvageable about them. Whoever had broken them had done a good job.
“This is a dead end.” He peeled the gloves off and shoved them in his pocket. “There are no cameras here that Cass can try and pull the footage from. Nothing to help us find out what direction they headed in. Nor who took her.”
“There might be some businesses around that have cameras that Cass can check out. You know she’s not going to leave any stone unturned when it comes to Steff. We’ve seen her do this before. Trust her.” Hound squeezed his shoulder.
“I know.” He closed his eyes, willing the emotions threatening to bubble out, to stay down. Nothing good would come of him losing it right now. Steff wasn’t going to magically appear if he screamed his lungs out. Or pounded the brick wall behind him.
