“Talk about breaking protocol,” Maya muttered. “Why is he turning himself in now?”
“He said he’s been looking into a murder. He was afraid that once he was behind bars, he wouldn’t be able to finish this case.”
“He did say when he helped you this spring that he needed to go out of state for an investigation and when he was done, he’d turn himself in,” Maya said.
“Eric said he has things to share with us about a homicide, but he believes that Abigail is going to try to escape. He’s heard things from a friend at the police department that he keeps in touch with.”
Maya took a deep breath. This couldn’t be happening. What if Abigail was out?
“Then he said his friend told him his granddaughter has been kidnapped. Eric claims he knew he had to come here because we would be the only ones who would listen to him. But we don’t know what to believe and didn’t want to radio you. You were out of cell range too.”
“You could have texted me,” Maya snapped. Then softening a bit since her emotions weren’t Josh’s fault, “Sorry. It’s just that there’s really a girl who’s been kidnapped. A couple at the last campground saw her and thought something was off. I ran a track with Juniper and found a smashed phone with a message typed into it asking for help.”
“Shit,” Josh said. “I didn’t know how much to trust what Eric said and we had the phone number you gave dispatch to trace, but we didn’t know the whole story.”
“I think the victim really is Eric’s granddaughter, my niece.”
“Crap,” Josh said.
“I know. I called the number that was entered for the text message. The text hadn’t gone through and I was curious who this message was going to. I thought about your case with the teen who just wanted to get back at their parents. I wasn’t sure who I’d get, but it ended up being a marshal by the name of Nick Torres,” Maya said.
Josh stared at her.
“I know, I was speechless at first too.”
“You think it’s your brother?” he asked.
“I do. He said the missing girl’s mother’s name is Isabelle. Those are the exact names Eric gave me when he told me I had a brother and sister. Eric just conveniently left out the part about Nick being a marshal,” Maya said.
“What’s the girl’s name? I’ll call and see if I can get a status report on Abigail. I really hope Eric is wrong about that and there’s some other explanation for why this girl might be here in Colorado.”
“Her name is Hope Dawson. I called Agent Kessler and he’s checking to make sure Abigail is still in prison.He’s also bringing some other agents to help us find Hope.”
“Good,” Josh said. “Even if Abigail hasn’t escaped, she could still be up to something. It’s not like it’s that hard to get a cell phone in prison or get messages out. Sometimes friends just throw phones over the fence.”
“I know. In fact, prisons are starting to utilize K-9s trained to find electronics for that reason. I’m wondering what she’s up to as well. It has to be her, doesn’t it? I mean, who else would kidnap a girl related to me and bring her here?” Maya asked.
“I don’t like this,” Josh said.
“Neither do I.”
“Let’s go talk with Eric. Maybe he knows something we don’t and can help us fill in the missing pieces.”
“I hope he does have answers,” Maya said, following Josh out of the office.
They went down the hall to the conference room. Maya had made this walk many times, but this time, it seemed to take forever. Her heart pounded faster the closer they came to the room. She hadn’t seen her father since March when Josh had been framed for murder. To say she had conflicted feelings was an understatement.
She loved her father and was grateful to have him in her life after not knowing him growing up. But he’d been a cop and done some dirty things. Things Maya didn’t approve of. One of the things she’d learned though as she continued the twelve steps through Alcoholics Anonymous was that she couldn’t controlsomeone else. He had to make his own decisions and take responsibility for what he’d done. She’d wondered if he would do that.
They came to the doorway of the room. Eric sat with his back to the door. His dark hair was peppered with more white than Maya had remembered from the last time she saw him. Eric sat hunched over staring at his hands. Pops sat across the table, hands folded, gazing into space. Maya cleared her throat.
Both men looked straight at her.
“Eric... or uh, Dad. Pops,” Maya said. She still struggled with calling Eric her dad. Maybe it was because there was a part of her that was the little girl who wanted a normal home life. Pops and her nana had tried to give her that and loved her as both a daughter and a granddaughter. To call Eric Dad almost seemed like she was cheating on Pops.
“Maya,” Eric said, standing up and wrapping her in a hug.
Maya stood stiff and then awkwardly returned the hug. She was still getting used to Eric’s greeting.
