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“Thank you for your kindness, Miranda,” Alex said softly as she opened the door. Miranda stopped, the door in her hand. Their eyes met for what seemed like an instant and forever until Miranda looked down, stepping back to let Alex exit. She heard it shut behind her and looked over her shoulder to where Miranda stood looking through the window. And then she was gone.
As Alex pulled out of the driveway, she forced herself to drive slowly, fighting back the frustration that flooded in with the memory of Miranda switching off her phone. They’d been so close. Alex’s hands tightened around the steering wheel until her knuckles were strained and white. Somehow, it was even worse to know what was going on in that mansion and not be able to do a goddamn thing about it.
Alex knew she should have driven directly to the station to debrief and return the equipment, but she kept driving. There was no way she was ready to talk about what had happened in there. She followed the winding road that circled the entire lake, then spent a few minutes just looking out over the water before she fe
lt steady enough to return to the station.
When she finally turned onto the road that led into downtown McCall, Alex locked the Mercedes, pocketing the keys as she walked through the front door. The same receptionist looked up from her coffee cup, thumb poised over the button that would open the door to the hall.
“I’m looking for Captain Draper?”
“They’re expecting you,” she said, peering over her pink-framed reading glasses. “Go on through, and I’ll let them know you’re here.”
She buzzed Alex through with a nod to the same conference room at the end of the hall. Alex’s steps slowed, and she glanced to the right just in time to see the sign for the women’s restroom as another wave of nausea overwhelmed her. She ran through the door and just made it to the trash can, where her empty stomach refused to cooperate as her body went through the silent motions of vomiting.
When it was over, she stayed where she was, her hands balanced on the edge of the trash can. She heard the door open, and if she could have moved, she would have, but that just wasn’t an option.
“Hey, buddy.”
Alex lifted her head when she heard Sam’s voice, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the heel of her hand and accepting the damp paper towel Sam held out.
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” Sam said, pulling Alex into a strong hug. “That shit is emotional, and I’ve felt like this myself more than once. You did an outstanding job in there.”
Alex stood straighter and wiped her face with the damp cloth. It took a minute to steady herself, but when she was ready, she followed Sam down the hall to the conference room where everyone was sitting around the table. Sam sat down and pushed Alex’s real phone across the table to her.
“Look,” Alex said, pulling out a chair and accepting a bottle of water that Murphy handed to her. “I’m sorry, guys. If I could have stopped her turning off the phone, I would have, but he even called it with his mobile when I was standing there to make sure it was off.” She took a deep swig of water and leaned back in her chair. “But you were right. Moxie was right. We can’t fucking prove it, but it’s sex trafficking, exactly what we thought it was.”
No one answered. In fact, no one said anything until Murphy raised his hand. “Call me Captain Obvious, but is anyone else confused?” Murphey stopped, looking around the room. “What the hell are you talking about, Suarez?”
Agent Levy turned his computer around and pressed a button. The video on the screen jerked to a start around the time Travis called Miranda up to the office to do a wire check. Alex watched the process carefully, leaning forward slightly when she thought Miranda had caught sight of the tape she was wearing on her chest. Miranda’s eyes only flicked down for a fraction of a second, and her expression was stoic, but watching it back, something in her eyes told Alex she’d seen it.
The tape jerked to a stop and went to black the second Miranda hit the power button. Alex leaned back in her chair. “He didn’t say anything we can use, did he?”
Agent Levy shook his head. “We didn’t get jack squat from that. We were all pretty bummed until Murphy here decided to check the cloud a few minutes afterward, and we realized you had turned it back on.” He clicked another key on the computer and another recording started playing, picking up right as Travis was turning around with the two vodkas on ice.
Everyone looked at Alex, who let her head sink into her hands for a second before she looked up and pounded her fist on the table three times, one for each word. “Hell. Fucking. Yes.”
Murphy laughed and fist-bumped Alex across the table. “You must have been pretty nervous if you forgot you turned it back on.”
“I didn’t turn it on.” Alex took a deep breath. “That’s why I was so bummed. I thought everything that came after was lost.”
???“I don’t get it.” Sam paused, staring at the screen. “How did it power back up?”
Alex took the phone out of her pocket and pushed it to the center of the table with the car keys. “I couldn’t have turned it back on if I wanted to. Travis was staring right at me.”
Sudden understanding flashed across Sam’s face. “Miranda.”
“Exactly. She dropped it on the floor as she was handing it back. She must have done that on purpose because she wanted to hit the power button.” Alex paused, remembering the way Miranda had looked at her when she left, like she’d wanted to say something but couldn’t. “And I know she saw the tape on my chest when she was checking me for wires, so she definitely knew I was a woman. She probably put it together from there.”
Agent Levy hit pause on the recording. “What tape?”
“I put tape over my nipples so I’d pass for a man easier.”
“Sweet baby Jesus.” Levy winked in Alex’s direction and leaned back in his chair. “Well, I don’t care if you wrapped yourself in chicken wire, you got the job done like a pro. I have FBI agents that aren’t that cool under pressure.”
“Do you think we got enough to hold up in court?”
