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“Yeah, I know,” he groused. “So, what’s our next baby step?”
“We talk to Mr. Navarro,” Faith replied.
“Tonight?”
Faith nearly said yes, then stopped. She called Derek at the number he left on his card. “Chapman,” he answered on the first ring.
“Derek, it’s Faith,” she said. “Do you have eyes on Mr. Navarro?”
“Not at the moment,” he said. “Is he a suspect?”
“If he’s at home, then maybe,” she said. “If he’s not home, then definitely. Unless you’ve already ruled him out.”
“Nope,” he said. “Gave him the don’t leave town speech until we can follow up on his alibi.”
“What alibi is that?” she asked.
“Survivalist trip,” he said, “North Vancouver Island. I guess he saw it on a TV show and wanted to try his luck.”
“Hmm,” Faith said. “I’m guessing he doesn’t have proof he was there.”
“His GPS,” Derek answered, “but that can be tampered with. Cybercrimes is looking at it.”
“Got it. Can you have uniforms make sure he’s home?”
“I’ll do you one better,” he said. “I’ll go myself and stake out the place. If he’s not there, or if he leaves, I’ll call you.”
“And they said you were just a pretty face,” Faith said with a smile.
Derek laughed and said, “You two get some rest. I’ll get the grizzly bear to drop off your vehicle in the morning.”
“Thank you,” Faith said.
She hung up and said, “It’s throwing spaghetti at the wall, but maybe we’ll get lucky. Besides, I’m tired as hell.”
“Me too,” Michael said. “In fact, I’m going to go to bed. Wake me up if you need me.”
Faith headed to bed herself, but she lay awake a long time before heading to bed. She thought of Benjamin’s face when he talked about the smell. It brought up an unpleasant memory of the smell of her own blood as Jethro Trammell severed the tendons in her knee.
Let’s see you bleed, little girl.
Eventually, of course, her eyes had to close. Perhaps because the memory of the smell was still fresh in her mind, her sleep was troubled and fraught once more with nightmares. These nightmares were the same as all of her other nightmares with one difference.
In these nightmares, Jethro wore a wedding ring.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I see the kid’s still here. I guess that means the husband didn’t run.”
Travis spoke of Derek with an almost fatherly affection. Faith had to smile. Derek was older than she was and less than ten years younger than Travis, but he spoke of him as though he were his son. She glanced over at Michael and smiled. It was good to be close with your partner. Some believed it was dangerous to develop affection for someone you worked with, but Faith didn’t believe that. You worked better with someone you liked than someone you didn’t.
They were at Katherine Navarro’s house. Travis was driving the vehicle the Department was loaning the two agents, and since he didn’t have his own car, Faith and Michael had given him a ride to the house to meet Derek.
Travis left with Derek, promising to be available if they needed him. Faith, Michael, and Turk proceeded up the front steps and knocked on the door.
Gary Navarro answered right away. He was clean and dressed and appeared to be expecting the agents, which he confirmed when he said, “Good morning. You must be the FBI.”
“That’s us,” Faith said, “I’m Special Agent Faith Bold, and this is Special Agent Michael Prince. May we come in?”
