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“I agree,” Montgomery said.
Spencer tilted his head apologetically toward Hartley, but nodded. Eli gave a humorless laugh and said, “Hell, no, he isn’t gone.”
Hartley sank back into her chair, her face turning a sickly gray. “Dammit. I was really hoping for another answer.”
Montgomery wanted to place a reassuring hand on her arm, but he knew she would pull away. She had her pride.
“He’s gone too far by killing Lawrence, the only one who could implicate him,” Montgomery explained. “And he wants to ruin Cavendish. Maybe hurt you, too.” Then he did reach out and touch her arm, just briefly. She didn’t flinch, but her shocked gaze flew to him.
“Because of the ring. In the kill kit,” she said, her voice dull.
“Goddammit, that’s my fault,” Karol burst out, his face red as he leaned forward on the table. “You were right when you fired me. I should have been more vigilant. If I’d found out who put that there, we wouldn’t be here—”
“Stop,” Hartley said, her quiet voice able to cut Karol off mid-sentence. “We were short staffed when that happened, and with the equipment malfunctions we’d been having, it was no surprise that he got on the property so easily. It was a fluke that Becca even stumbled on it.”
“Literally stumbled,” Becca agreed.
There was quiet in the room for a moment before Eli cleared his throat. “I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but it’s possible he’s hiding out here on the estate,” he said. “Montgomery and I were talking about that last night.”
He agreed with Eli, but a chill went through Montgomery’s body all the same. From the other looks in the room, they weren’t alone.
“God, why did I know you were going to say that?” Claire asked, hugging herself and shivering. Eli put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.
“I’ve got a four-man team that I brought back from our last job in Colombia,” Eli said. “They’ve secured Topkapi, and that’s where Claire’s going to stay for the time being. I’m keeping three men at posts there, but can spare one to partner up if we want to search for Lucas.” He gave Montgomery a look of acknowledgement.
“I think searching for Lucas is the only way forward,” Montgomery agreed. “And one trained man is better than none. We talked about how this could work last night and want to run it by you.”
Hartley still looked shaken and defeated as she met his gaze. He waited. They all needed to agree, but it started with her.
After several tense seconds, she spoke. “Let’s hear it,” she said, her voice soft.
He fought the urge to touch her again. “We need to do a thorough, strategic sweep of the Cavendish property from northeast to southwest and flush him out,” he began, glancing to Eli. “But since there’s just us, we need to make sure the exterior cameras are working.”
“If we force him out of one of the properties…” Eli took over, tapping the table with his fingers. “…we need to have eyes on him. That’s where Claire comes in. She’ll be the communications and visual point man. Uh, woman.”
“Why does Claire get to be the lead on communications?” Becca complained.
“Because she’s onsite,” Montgomery said.
“We can’t all be working on Hollywood movie sets,” Claire teased.
“True, but still…” Becca sighed. “Why do you guys get to have all the fun?”
“Because they’rethere.” Georgia groaned, rolling her eyes. “I swear, you’re the only one who thinks this is fun. Hartley looks like she’s about to barf.”
“I’m fine,” Hartley said, but Montgomery agreed. She’d grown steadily paler.
Spencer cleared his throat. Montgomery prepared for the detective to ridicule the idea of a search.
“I think that’s smart, and probably the most viable way to find him,” Spencer said instead. “If I ask, my supervisor will probably let me bring in one other guy who can keep his mouth shut, but nothing more than that.”
“I’ll have enough new phones for all of us by tonight,” Montgomery continued. “They use a new stealth tracking system and are impossible to hack.”
“What about more guns?” Eli asked. “Montgomery has a few, but maybe Mr. Police Officer over there could get us some?”
“No luck,” Spencer said, shaking his head. “I’m not even allowed to have my service revolver on the property. This is off the books, remember?”
“That’s lame.” Becca moaned. “And not at all like it is in movies.”
