“On a fucking highway?” My laugh sounded dry to my ears.
His sounded entertained. “No, but it’s close by. Give me a sec.”
The background noise continued while I waited.
“I’m back.”
“Are you working on US soil?”
“Helping out a friend, off the record.” He laughed. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected chat?”
“I need a second set of eyes.”
“On the record or off?” Given that I’d called his personal phone to ask, it was a valid question.
“Off the record.” Gibson didn’t cringe at the idea like I did.
“How deep is the creek you’re in?”
Gibson had always had a way with words.
“Not sure yet. Are you still in the Dallas office?”
It seemed impossible, but I’d swear I heard him nod.
“I am. Fill me in.”
So I did. I told him how my case connected to a cold case, and how it led me to Nina in Weatherford.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He laughed through the shock. “Dude, we never get that lucky. You need to play the fucking lottery.”
It wasn’t my thing, but he was right about our luck. Running into Nina was a once-in-a-career kind of luck.
“I kid you not, it’s her.”
“You just happened to run into the woman you’ve been looking for at your cousin’s engagement party?”
Looking for wasn’t an accurate statement, since I hadn’t seen the computer-generated image of what the baby in the photo might look like as an adult.
Officers Singer and Singer might not be missing anymore. I discovered two decayed bodies during my investigation. The items found with the bodies led me to believe they were Travis and Melissa Singer. I’d know for certain when the DNA results came back.
“Technically, she ran into me.” I had the angry red spots to prove it. “And I wasn’t actively looking for her when ithappened.” It might seem like a trivial correction, but details were important when working a case.
“Whatever, dude, what do you need from me?” Gibson was a field officer with military special operations experience. He didn’t worry as much about dotting I’s or crossing T’s. That was for guys like me, the ones who were more comfortable behind a desk.
Not that I couldn’t handle fieldwork; I’d trained with the SEALs, because following the money turned out to be dangerous as fuck, and relying on the SEALs to save my ass wasn’t a smart self preservation plan. Plus, I wanted to be an asset rather than a liability when the Navy attached me to DEVGRU, formerly SEAL Team 6. It was a highly sought after position, and the experience I gained with the team earned me a visit from the CIA.
“Can you run a background on Nina Novak and review the Singer cold case file without setting off any alarms?”
Thinking there might be more to my cases than met the eye, I had reservations about ID’ing Nina this early in the investigation.
“Yeah, but I won’t be able to do a deep dive. If we need more help, I know a guy.”
I didn’t doubt it for a minute.
Chapter 9
Nina
