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Sam nodded, popping one of the peanut butter cups into her mouth.
“Good. I’m glad you called.” Murphy’s face dropped. “I haven’t been able to sleep since she told us about that whole thing.”
“I know, right?” Sam lowered her voice and glanced around before she continued. “I mean, I realize this stuff happens in big cities like New York and Miami, but it never even crossed my mind that we’d have to deal with possible sex trafficking in McCall.”
“That’s the thing though, right?” Murphy swiped the sugar from the rim of his glass with one finger. “If you think about it, it’s genius. No one would think it could happen here, and those lake houses are all gated and so far apart that they’re the perfect hiding place.” He seemed lost in thought as he stoked his tiny cauldron fire with a few more cedar sticks, blowing on it gently to fan the flames. “I got your text this morning that you and Moxie went to see if you could find that house at the crack of dawn. How did that go? Did she verify that it’s the one at the old Johnston place?”
“Yeah. I didn’t want to take the chance of someone seeing her on the boat, so we had to go before it was really daylight.” Sam reached for her Guinness and took a deep swig. “We found it right away, and she’s right, that heart-shaped pool is unmissable, just as tacky as it sounded when he applied for the building permit. That’s it, though. I don’t want her anywhere near this in the future. In fact, I worry about her even being in town and that dude running into her.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that.” He loaded another marshmallow onto his stick. “People like that don’t do their own shopping. I’m sure he has people to do everything for him, and they wouldn’t recognize her.”
Sam nodded, begrudgingly taking a perfectly roasted marshmallow off the stick Murphy offered and popping it into her mouth.
“So,” he continued. “What’s your plan here? I mean—”
Murphy stopped short when Alex approached and looked at Sam as Alex sat down at the table. Sam didn’t say anything, mostly because she knew Murphy would, and that was part of her plan.
“So,” Murphy said, right on cue. “Are you going to introduce me to this dude, or should I give him my burger order? Help me out here.”
Sam leaned back and laughed, high-fiving Alex. “Murphy, this is Alex Suarez, and she works at the retreat as our Latin dance instructor.” Sam nodded in Murphy’s direction. “And this is my brother-in-law, Murphy, who also works with me down at the station. He’s married to Sara’s sister, Jennifer.”
Alex stuck out her hand, and Murphy shook it. “Alex, that’s my bad. I should have clocked that you weren’t a guy. You look just like the chief here.”
“Actually, we set you up,” Sam continued, subtly gesturing for the server. “I wanted to see if an average Joe would mistake Alex for a guy, which is what we’re going for, actually.”
Murphy looked at Sam with an irritated expression, falling silent and sulkily poking at his fire with the roasting stick.
“What?” Sam said, confused. “What did I say?”
???“I mean…” Murphy shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you just called me an ‘average Joe,’ but whatever.”
All three laughed and the server took Alex’s drink order before disappearing back into the bar. The patio was nearly empty as night fell, and the sounds of tree frogs ramped up as fireflies hovered above their table, listening in. The breeze was cool and still carried the fresh marine scent of the lake, and they were close enough to the community docks that the sounds of distant speedboats and wakes breaking on the shore whirred in the background.
“So,” Sam said, looking around to be sure the last table had left the patio. “I’ve briefed Alex on the situation in general terms, and I’m considering including her as part of an undercover operation.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Nope.” Sam leaned back in her chair so the server could drop off Alex’s pint. “I’m dead serious. I talked to Boise headquarters about it, and they’re on board as long as we are just gathering evidence. Idaho is a one-party consent state, so a civilian can legally video conversion with someone if they are a contributor to it.”
“Which means that she would have to get into that mansion somehow with no invitation and get them to reveal something to her through direct conversation.” Murphy popped the cherry at the bottom of his martini glass into his mouth with a deadpan expression. “Well, that’s easy. Can’t see any potential pitfalls there.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know it’s going to be tricky, but we’ll have backup on land, and we’re going to be on the lake doing surveillance, so if she does get into a problem, we can signal backup to move in and get in there quickly.” Sam finished the last of her pint and unbuttoned the top two buttons on her shirt. “Alex doesn’t come to town often, so the chances of her having met this guy are minimal. I don’t think it will occur to him that she’s actually a woman, and that Cuban accent will be easy to spin into a cover story.”
Murphy looked up at Alex. “And how do you feel about all this?”
“I mean, undercover stings aren’t a hidden passion or anything, but once I heard what may be going on up there, I was immediately down to nail his ass.”
“Damn straight.” Murphy laughed and clinked his glass to Alex’s. “I like this guy already.”
Sam nodded. “It’s important to realize that with this kind of operation, they’re guaranteed to have guns and be inclined to use them. Keeping this secret before and after is a given, and your acting skills have to be on point because they’ll be looking for a reason to doubt you.”
“Look, if I didn’t think I could do this, I wouldn’t get involved.” Alex shook her head slowly. “I grew up with primas, and this kind of thing happens in Cuba all the time. They promise the girls ‘work’ in America, and by the time the girls figure out what they’re expected to do, the bastards have taken everything: their phones, their passports, and even the confidence they’d need to actually find help.” Alex picked up her phone and pulled up a picture of three teen girls on a beach, dark hair flying across their laughing faces, the sun radiant in the background. “This was years ago. My sisters are older now, of course, but it’s getting to be an epidemic in my home country. I want to do something to stop it, even in a small way.”
“And I’m about to have a kid myself,” Murphy said, his voice uncharacteristically subdued. “What if something like this happened to them? I’d have to kill somebody.”
Sam nodded, kneading the back of her neck with one hand. “You know how I feel about it. Moxie hasn’t been with us long, but she’s been through a lot already for fifteen. I can’t believe they’re targeting vulnerable foster kids for this kind of thing. For me, that’s the most disgusting thing about this particular operation.”
“Yeah, as if those kids don’t have enough to worry about.” Murphy dropped his jar of strawberry jam carefully into the jacket of his pocket. “The foster care system is already challenged, to put it lightly.”
