“She’s lying,”Gina mouthed to Lach, who nodded.
“You’re right. It isn’t. What else?”
Lynn took a breath. “I want you to understand something. By the time I understood how far Voss would go, I was in too deep to walk away clean.” The fraying underneath got worse. “I told myself it was just information. Just monitoring. I told myself a lot of things.”
“But?” Gina said.
“But then he sent Dekker.”
“Dekker?”
“Karl Dekker,” Lynn said. “Former DEA, now a cleaner. Early fifties. He’s been Voss’s cleaner for at least four years—I know of three situations where Voss used him and Dekker made problems disappear. He is not squeamish and he is not cheap, which tells you how seriously Voss is taking this.” Her voice dropped. “The moment Voss found out about Mira Walsh, he sent Dekker after her. He was the driver in the hit-and-run. I…I didn’t know what Dekker did to her until afterward.”
Gina kept her voice even. “Does he have eyes on Maren and Juniper Walsh right now?”
“I don’t know. Voss promised me he wouldn’t hurt Maren. He said he’d approach Maren with a monetary offer. She’s a single guardian, the father is not in the girl’s life. She’s doing all right, but everybody can use more money. Kids are expensive. I didn’t know he’d send Dekker after her. I don’t want to see an innocent child hurt.”
Lynn stopped. When she started again her voice had changed. Her composure was cracking. “I swear, I didn’t know about Ray’s death until his body turned up. He’d just gone off the radar about a month before. I’d thrown some more resistance his way and I’d hoped he’d just given up. Then Voss contacted me, asking if I knew where Ray was. He said he needed to know what Ray was working on, but his files were encrypted. I had the key. Ray had accessed Maren Walsh’s address, Juniper Walsh’s guardianship records. Juniper Walsh has no father listed on her birth certificate. Maren Walsh is now the sole guardian. She has two brothers in the military but they are out on missions now and are not guardians. We knew all that, but when I dug deeper, I found that Ray had researched a security company in Lyons called Watchdog.
“I gave the information to Voss. That’s when I discovered Dekker was involved. He’d followed Maren all the way toIowa, but he didn’t find them. That’s why Voss came to me asking about Ray. By then, Ray was already dead. I knew him personally. He never would’ve talked. I was Voss’s only chance at finding Maren Walsh. But if Dekker’s involved, and if Maren Walsh proves uncooperative, that little girl becomes leverage.”
Both Gina and Lachlan went very still.
“Dekker will do it. He will actually take an innocent little girl to get what he wants. Dekker doesn’t care so long as he gets paid.” Lynn’s voice finally broke, and she sobbed, then she pulled it back. “I have a niece. She’s three and a half. I keep thinking about her, about—” She stopped. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be the person who let that happen to a child and kept going.”
Gina looked Lachlan in the eye, hoping he would understand what she was about to say next.
Lach took Gina’s hand and mouthed,“I love you, Sunshine.”
Gina felt her pulse slow. But of course he understood. He loved her, trusted her, knew what she did to keep the ones she loved safe.
“Then you just killed a little girl, Lynn.”
The woman on the other end gasped. “I didn’t?—”
“Maren doesn’t have any information, Lynn. She had no idea that Mira was involved in anything. McGuire could turn her over to Voss and Voss could do anything to her, and she won’t talk because there’s nothing to say. He won’t believe it though, will he? So, he’ll take the girl. And then you’ll have both Maren and Juniper Walsh’s blood on your hands.”
“No, no! There’s an attorney,” Lynn said.
“Attorney?” Gina raised an eyebrow at Lachlan.
“I dug deeper into Ray’s encrypted notes. There’s a lawyer in San Diego, completely separate from Mira’s LRH and NCIS identities. Mira left a package there, and it can be released only to her in person, with a code word spoken aloud. Ray’sbeen paying the yearly storage fee.” She paused. “And now Voss knows it exists and wants to destroy everything she gathered, but he can’t access it. Neither can I.”
Gina closed her eyes.But her identical twin could.
“And you want us to protect you. Besides what you just told us, what are you offering in return?” Gina asked.
“Everything I have. Documentation of every communication between Voss and me. Dates, content, what I passed and when.” Lynn’s voice steadied slightly—this part she’d clearly rehearsed. “Whatever Mira left behind, I can make sure it reaches the right people and stays there.”
“Whatever Mira left behind. So instead of Voss, you would have us use Maren to get the information, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. Please, I need protection. Immunity, and if anyone can get it for me, you can, Gina Smith.” She sighed. “And if you can’t—at least let me do this one right thing to make up for all the wrong.”
The line was quiet for a moment.
“We’ll be in touch,” Gina said, and ended the call.
She and Lach sat quietly for a moment, thinking. Fleur shifted under the table and put her head on Gina’s foot. Sam heaved a sigh as only dogs can.
