Page 75 of Bring Them Home

“Unfortunately, her testimony on its own wasn’t enough to pursue charges.”

Amanda stiffened. “It sounds damning to me. His phone records could confirm who he was speaking with, the timing… Who decided her testimony wasn’t enough?”

“A judge.”

“I figured as much. What’s their name?” Hernandez had to have them in his pocket.

“Why even concern yourself with that? What’s done is done.”

“What’s done is—” She snapped her mouth shut on seeing Malone shaking his head. He wanted her to let this go, but how was she supposed to do that? “Abigail remained in the Witness Security Program. Clearly Hernandez is still seen as a threat to her.”

“Hernandez isn’t exactly a man who forgets or lets things go.”

Hernandez’s arrogant face popped into her mind from that day when she and Trent left his house. She recalled the way her name had come off his lips. He’d rather kill Abigail than risk the judge’s decision being overturned at some future point. And maybe just the fact she was willing to speak out against him at all was enough to mark her for death. The question was, had he killed her? And if he had caught up to Abigail, what did that mean for Valerie and Brooke Archer?

THIRTY-SEVEN

A cold sweat covered Amanda’s body. Hernandez was keeping tabs on Abigail’s family… He must have been. Abigail must have suspected that. Had she communicated as much to Valerie Archer? They were in contact for the last year. As her mind assembled some pieces from this puzzle, another one clicked into place. “The nine-one-one text to the burner phone…” She let that dangle until Trent met her eye. “It was intentional. Valerie sent the message to Abigail.”

Trent nodded. “Which means Valerie must have assumed the people taking her were associated with Hernandez.”

“And Valerie’s call for help would have prompted Abigail out of hiding again.” None of this helped quell Amanda’s fear there could be three more bodies before this was over. Recollections of Paul Archer’s body, all the stab wounds, how they were inflicted by someone who takes pleasure from killing… “Hernandez’s one soldier, if you remember, Trent, loves a blade.” They’d met Nina when they’d visited Hernandez’s house. She’d pulled a knife from its sheath and fondled it in front of them.

“Huh. Now we have more context, she is petite enough to be the woman in the hoodie from the mall.”

“What’s this?” Russell asked.

Trent filled him in on the security footage from the mall, then added, “And all those stab wounds when it wasn’t necessary, no hesitation marks… She didn’t hide the fact she loves to kill. I don’t think it’s a stretch to think she might like to…” Trent left the sentence to dangle, but her mind filled it in.

To carve her victims… “We need to get over there⁠—”

“Hold up. Before we go running to Hernandez, we need to give our approach some thought,” Malone said.

“I second that,” the marshal said. “Hernandez is a very dangerous man.”

Amanda stood. “But we can’t let him scare us. Three lives are on the line.”

Malone grimaced. “And we don’t want to add to that number.”

His words cooled her down. Zoe didn’t need to lose another person from her life.

“We certainly can’t justify risking more lives when we might already be too late to save Abigail and the Archers,” Russell said, voicing the bitter possibility.

Since when was it ever justified? She shot him a glare. “Maybe if we knew about Hernandez sooner, that there was a real possibility Abigail was tied into the Archers’ abductions, Paul’s murder…” She shook her head. “There’s no way I’m standing down for long. Enough time has already passed. There has to be something we can do now, someplace to start. If Hernandez hasn’t killed them, he has to be holding them somewhere. Surely with his connection we can get a search warrant for his home.”

“Except that guys like Hernandez hold multiple properties. Often under numbered companies. Where would we start?” Russell asked.

Amanda had to admit the marshal had a point. They couldn’t target all of them, could they? And even if they did, that was a lot of investment in time and manpower that might never pay off. They needed to approach this with logic and an organized mindset. “I’d look for a property he owns within the vicinity of where Paul Archer’s body was dumped.”

“I can confirm if there is one rather quickly,” Russell said.

“You have a list of Hernandez’s properties handy?” Amanda asked.

Russell bobbed his head. “Relatively. It would only take a phone call. You said a video of the abduction at the mall captured a woman of slender build, who could be identified as one of Hernandez’s soldiers?”

“That’s right.” She was speaking with more confidence than she had. While logic led to it being her—the size and stature were right—her face was obscured from the cameras.

“I’ll get the search warrant.”