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“I agree,” Burke said. “But I let her talk. I hoped she’d drop some hint about who’d sent her, but she didn’t. Her story was that Rocky came to see her seven weeks ago and that he’d asked her about JoAnn, her sister. She told him that she hadn’t spoken to her sister since before Katrina. Rocky thanked her and said that if anything happened or anyone threatened her, she should call him. And if he wasn’t available, to call me. She called Rocky first, but he didn’t answer his phone. She googled and found he’d passed away. So she called me.”
“But not until this morning. I would have thought she’d have called before driving ten hours.” Molly considered the woman’s story. “Did you ask for ID?”
“She claimed she’d left it at home. That she was so flustered after nearly being killed.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “Convenient. You get prints?”
“Of course. Antoine’s working on putting them through AFIS.”
Gabe looked surprised. “You have access to the federal fingerprint database?”
Both Molly and Burke went silent. Accessing government databases was something Antoine did, and they didn’t ask questions. Like with most of the stuff Antoine did. He might hack, but then again, he might have an internal resource running the scans for him. Molly didn’t know and didn’t want to know.
Gabe sighed. “Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies?”
“Rocky didn’t raise no fool,” Burke drawled lazily, but there was an undercurrent of terseness that Gabe apparently didn’t miss.
He nodded. “Shutting up now.”
Molly patted his hand. “It’s better that way. So, Burke, what’s your plan? How will you evade the tail that they’ve most definitely placed on you?”
“I worked it out with Antoine, Joy, and Phin before I left for the office this morning. As for the woman, I want to check out her story. JoAnn Rollins did exist, and she did die in Katrina. She would have been in her early twenties. There were no incident reports at the South Carolina address the woman gave me, but she said she didn’t call 911. She was... sketchy on the details.”
“Smart,” Molly said. “Less to disprove that way. What did you think of her, Burke? Of the woman herself? Clearly, she’s involved, but in what capacity?”
Burke hesitated. “I believed her,” he finally said. “Not her story, because that was a crock of shit with holes big enough for a locomotive to drive through. But I believed that she believed in whatever it was she was doing. Most of the time she played shy and even a little mealymouthed, but every so often, I’d catch her glaring at me. Like if looks could kill...” He trailed off. “She hated me, and I don’t know why.”
“Did you follow her out?”
“I watched the feed on the surveillance camera. I wasn’t sure that they didn’t have a gunman waiting on the street. Which is not a feeling that I like to have.”
Molly glanced around again, feeling too exposed even though she was certain that she hadn’t been followed and she’d checked her rental car for any tracking devices before they’d left the hotel. “I get that.”
“She got into a car that I traced to an Uber driver. I dropped a tracker into her handbag when she wasn’t looking, but it stopped moving shortly after she left. Phin found it in a garbage can a block away.”
“The tracker?” Molly asked.
“The whole handbag,” Burke said dryly. “No ID inside.”
“So, what’s her goal?” Gabe asked. “Distraction?”
“Yes,” Burke said. “I think we’re supposed to chase our tails, checking this new ID just in case it proves truthful. And I think I’m supposed to lead them to our guests. Which isn’t going to happen.”
Molly watched the woman in the wide-brimmed hat gather her garden tools and go back into her house. “Okay. We’re going to chat with the lady with the sharp garden implements. I’ll call you back afterward.”
“Thank you. Be careful.”
“We will.” Molly disconnected and met Gabe’s eyes. “Ready to speak with Mrs. Nancy Royce?”
He nodded once. “Yep.”
“She’s a retired schoolteacher, recently widowed.”
Gabe’s brows crunched. “How did her husband die?”
“Liver disease.” She squeezed his hand. “His death was not related to this case.”
His relief was visible. “Good. I don’t think I can handle any more people dying because of what my dad uncovered.”
