Maren winced. That was why Emmett was the boss. Perceptive and highly intelligent. Nothing got by him. “Yes, sir. But I promise I won’t lose sight of our mission.”
“Maren, you don’t have to sell me on this,” Emmett said. “I believe in you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked for you to join the task force. I’ll reach out to the DEA. In the meantime, you have my permission to read Agent Dawson in on our investigation. If you two can work together, then I don’t have to reallocate resources.”
Pleasure at hearing that her boss had confidence in her made her expel a pent-up breath. “Thank you. I will keep you abreast of any information that will pertain to our investigation.”
“I’m sure you will,” Emmett replied. “Find this woman. Find out if sheisyour sister. Maybe she’ll know something helpful. If nothing else, it will give you closure one way or another.”
Closure.
Something she hadn’t had when their parents were killed, nor when her sister supposedly drowned.
“I appreciate it, sir.”
Emmett signed off and Maren sat for a moment, taking deep, calming breaths to ease the knotting of anxiety in her stomach.
When she was ready, she dialed Agent Dawson’s number. He picked up on the first ring.
“Officer Anderson.”
She sighed. “Call me Maren. I talked to my boss. He said to read you in. He’s calling your boss now.”
“Wonderful,” Colt said.
She could hear the smile in his voice. It did funny things to her insides.
Putting steel into her own voice, she said, “We both have a common goal. To find Opal. Or at least the woman we think is Opal. By joining forces, maybe we can discover something that will help us solve both of our cases.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“What do you think my sister was doing at the clinic?” Maren asked, her brain filing through different scenarios. “I hate to think she is working for the illegal adoption ring.”
Colt’s voice softened. “I get the feeling you don’t want to think she might be pregnant.”
Maren’s heart thumped. Sweat broke out along the nape of her neck. Opal pregnant? Wouldn’t Maren have felt that sort of change in her sister? Maybe the twin connection that she’d always put so much stock in was just an illusion. Something she and Opal had made up. Yet, the many instances of their uncanny link belied that thought. Maybe it was Opal’s drug use. “Before my sister’s supposed drowning, she went off the grid. I’d been unable to find her.”
“So really, you have no idea who she’s been associating with,” Colt’s voice filled the cab. “My informant vows she’s the girlfriend of one of Shadow’s top lieutenants.”
Sadness mixed with regret made her wince. So much lost time with Opal. If only they’d remained in touch, things would be so different. She’d have known who Opal was involved with.
Staring at the truck where Colt sat, she asked, “You trust this informant?”
“No way,” Colt scoffed. “He’s a drug addict. But most of his intel thus far has been spot-on. I can’t say for sure that he’s not playing both sides, feeding the DEA information and then feeding Shadow information. He could be the leak that keeps Shadow from our grasp.”
“That’s a hard call,” Maren said. “I want to see where my sister was staying.”
“Okay, follow me,” he said.
Maren followed the brown truck to the edge of town and pulled into the parking lot of an old, run-down, two-story motel that probably should have been condemned years ago.
She parked beneath the shade of a tree and kept the engine running. Colt and his dog hurried to her car. He climbed in the passenger’s side with his K-9 sitting on his lap.
He pointed. “She came out of room 210.”
“Let’s see if she’s returned.” Maren turned off the engine and reached for the door handle.
Colt stopped her with a hand on her arm. “We don’t know who else is in that room.”
Eyeing the peeling green paint curling around the brown doors, she said, “Have you seen anyone else going in and out?”
