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“Precisely. Had they not been, we would’ve picked up on their presence.”
“Which also means they had to be among the last to leave. Or left with them.”
I nodded in agreement. “Perhaps informing Manual Varilla of the deaths of men with a connection to him would lead to information regarding their killers.”
“Excellent idea. Unless he’s been relocated, he is in Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City. Once we file the flight plan and are in the air, we can be there in a little under two hours. I’ll talk with Merrigan about how best to arrange a visit with him.”
“How may I be of help?” I asked.
“I’ll need to talk with Merrigan before I file with the FAA.”
“As much as I hate to cut our walk short, we should return to the house,” I suggested.
Kade wasable to contact the warden at Pelican Bay and arranged for Jaicon and me to meet with Varilla later that afternoon. As Jaicon said, the flight to the Crescent City airfield took less than two hours. Either he or Merrigan had scheduled a car and driver to meet us on the tarmac and deliver us to the prison. The same driver took us back to the plane at the conclusion of the meeting that hadn’t garnered the results I hoped it would. Jaicon, though, wasn’t as disheartened.
“What happens next will tell us more than Manual would have anyway,” she said.
“Do you believe he’ll orchestrate retaliation from his prison cell?”
“I do. However, it may take some time for us to find those retaliated against.”
We spentone more night at Kade and Merrigan’s in Montecito, then returned to the ranch the following day. By the time we arrived, Tank, Blackjack, and Atticus were already there.
Gehring “Mantis” Cassman and his wife, Manon “Alegria” Cassman, were on their way. They were two of the pilots who’d transported victims from Felixstowe to Alamos. Tabon “Razor” Sharp, Gunner Godet, Thomas “Dutch” Miller, and his wife, Malin Miller, were arriving with them. The four had assisted with the reunification process.
The ten of us spent the next two weeks reviewing photos of the victims as well as pouring over the information gathered about them. Those we identified as potential suspects were divvied up among teams for further investigation.
None of our leads panned out, which wasn’t a surprise. Investigations could take days, weeks, months, even years before a single puzzle piece could bring it all together.
While we wereboth busy following up on every bit of intel we received, Jaicon and I fell back into the routine of visiting the barns and the meditation center every chance we could. The recurring fantasies I had about her, that began in Montecito, continued to plague me. I longed for her in a way I didn’t recall ever feeling before, even for my Rosa.
Today, Jaicon and I were leaning against the fence of the corral, watching Tex work with Cariño. As it did so often, the occasional brush of her arm against mine sent jolts of desire through me. However, I couldn’t allow myself to pull her close or breathe in her scent. If I did any of those things, I doubted I’d be able to stop myself from kissing her. Every time she spoke, I found myself studying her lips rather than paying attention to her words. She’d called me out on it a few times. While we both laughed, I worried how uncomfortable my obvious desire made her.
Jaicon’s nonverbal cues were inconsistent, something that could be attributed to the serious nature of the work we did each day, or she could be struggling to handle the powerful attraction between us in the same way I was. While my Rosa had been gone for many years, at times the thoughts I had about Jaicon felt adulterous. Perhaps she felt the same way.
My phone vibrated with a text message from Brix. It was a photo taken from high above the ranch. When I looked up, I saw him waving from the hilltop.
Need to run something by you,the following message said.Would now be a good time?
Of course,I responded.I’ll come to you.
I excused myself and told Jaicon I’d catch up with her later. Rather than take the golf cart, I walked beyond the meditation center and took the trail that led to the ranchland I’d deeded Brix and his wife as an early wedding gift.
We embraced like we always did, even when it had only been a few hours since we were last together.
“How are you, nephew?” I asked.
“To be honest, I never realized life could be this good.”
“It warms my heart to hear you say so.”
“Another of thecaballeroshas found the woman of his dreams.”
“Wonderful!” I exclaimed, having no doubt he spoke of his closest friend.
“Ridge and Seraphina are getting married.”
“Again, fantastic news.” Seraphina was sister to Luisa Reeve, one of the women rescued in Felixstowe. She and Noah—who everyone, including Brix, called Ridge—met when she asked Los Caballeros to help find the missing woman. Knowing the task was beyond our ability, I went to Doc and Merrigan, who mobilized K19 to stage the mission. Throughout the rescue process and afterward, it had been clear to me Ridge and his betrothed were falling in love. It took them slightly longer to realize it themselves.
