“Yes,” Hampton says.
“What facility?”
“Last I knew? Beaumont.”
Tate looks at Mara.
She's already reaching for her phone.
“I'll check.”
Hampton laughs.
Mara stops.
“What?”
“You think Vance put an execution date on a wall for a man sitting safely inside a federal prison?”
“No.”
Hampton's smile disappears.
“Then Kane isn't in prison anymore.”
He isn't.
Mara confirms it eleven minutes later.
Daniel Kane was released eighteen months ago after serving part of his sentence for conspiracy, fraud, and weapons violations unrelated to Operation Twenty-Three.
His current address is listed as Houston.
He hasn't lived there in eight months.
No forwarding address.
No current employer.
No vehicle registered in his name.
The man has disappeared.
Again.
I stand beside Mara’s desk while she searches the information Sheriff Tate obtained.
“Last known phone?”
“Disconnected.”
“Family?”
“Ex-wife in Florida. Adult son in Colorado.”
“Friends?”
She looks at me.