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“Agent Henning, that’s who,” said Theo. “She’s working on those cases. Just get on the phone and tell her everything you know about Judge. Andie can decide if it matters.”
“Why do I have to do this? You can tell her about Judge.”
“I don’t knowanything about him. You won’t even tell me what he looks like.”
“Fuck off, Theo.”
Precious few people could say that to Theo, but he understood where she was coming from. “Are you afraid to tell me what he looks like?” he asked.
“No!”
“You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid of anyone or anything. Except you and your big mouth!”
“Me?”
“I showed you where Judge lived, and the cops showed up the next day. You told the cops, didn’t you?”
Theo couldn’t deny it.
“I knew it! If I tell you what he looks like, you’ll tell someone else, then they’ll tell someone. Next thing you know, my name is in the newspaper next to Judge’s picture, Judge sees it, and I end up like thatgirl in Boston whose face has been all over the news and whose dead body is all over the internet.”
It was the closest she’d come to connecting Judge directly to the “goodbye girl” killings. “Do you think he killed that girl in Boston?” asked Theo.
“I don’t know! Okay? I don’t know!”
Theo tried a softer approach. “I understand what you’re dealing with. I really do. That’s why I think it’s best just to take me out of it. I want you to talk to Agent Henning. Maybe she can protect you. You help her with her investigation, and she can help you. Will you do that?”
She looked away, then back. “If I do, will you stop bugging me?”
He smiled a little. “I promise.”
“Okay.”
“You’ll do it?”
“Maybe,” she said.
It wasn’t a yes, but it was better than the flat no he’d been getting all night. He dialed Andie’s number on the burner. He knew it by heart. Andie wasn’t listed by name in his cellphone contacts, so anytime Righley called her “Uncle Theo,” it was Andie’s number that popped up.
“Theo?” she answered. “Is everything all right?”
Theo had no idea if she knew about his new passport and the urgent need to get out of the UK, but he didn’t waste time with his own predicament. He quickly told her about Gigi and what little he knew about her life with a man who called himself “Judge.”
“At best, he’s a sex trafficker,” said Theo. “He may be a serial killer. His nickname for Gigi is ‘Goodbye Girl.’”
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line, as Andie absorbed the significance of Theo’s words. “Is that why you’re calling from a burner phone?” she asked.
“One of the reasons,” said Theo, still leaving himself out of it.
“Can I talk to her?” asked Andie.
“Hold on,” he said, and then he lowered the cellphone. “Gigi? Will you talk to Agent Henning?”
She was still seated on the bed. She didn’t respond. Theo held the phone out to her.
“Gigi? Please?”
