Page 146 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“Yeah.”

She watched his face a second. “And?”

JP walked to the window, looked out, then turned back. “He tried to force something out of Hayes in prison, but it didn’t work.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

JP pulled out the chair and sat. “He did have something.”

“What?”

“He thought he saw Hannah a couple weeks after she disappeared.”

“Where?”

“In Oceanside, at a stoplight, in a yellow Mustang. She was in the passenger seat and she didn’t look scared.”

“Was he sure it was her?”

“No. He questions what he saw.”

“Did he report it?” she asked.

JP shook his head.

Sabre’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t comment. “What else?”

“Not much that helps us move forward,” JP said. “He doesn’t think Yvonne would’ve taken her. He says she would’ve stayed within the system, even if it cost her.”

Sabre nodded. “That sounds right.”

“He also doesn’t think his sister, Rochelle, or any other family member would’ve taken her.”

“I agree with that,” Sabre said.

JP opened his notebook, flipped it around, and slid it toward her.

“We have the sighting that Rourke mentioned in Oceanside, and now Marcus. They were both a few weeks after the abduction.”

Sabre looked at the note, then back at him. “And then nothing,” she said.

“For years,” JP replied.

“That’s not movement,” Sabre said quietly. “That’s a hole.”

“So, if someone took her and kept her alive, they were likely in Oceanside at first,” JP said. “That would be far enough away to maybe not be noticed. We don’t know where she was until she showed up in El Cajon. How do we fill that hole?”

“Bay,” Sabre said.

“Where are you going with this?”

“Let’s say she’s connected,” Sabre continued. “She could be Hannah or not Hannah, but we know she’s connected. And she’s about the same age. She also knew my name and what I did for Hannah.”

“She also asked for you specifically,” JP said.

“Yes,” Sabre said. “Now add this. We have a birth certificate for Lila Bay Mercer in San Bernardino from three years ago. And one from Riverside for a Joy Bay Ridden about two years before that.”

“Two identities,” he said.