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The clock said it was going on ten. Yep, she was sleeping it off.
I dozed off at some point. I was sleeping deeply when my cell phone roused me. I felt my hand groping for it on the night stand.
Shit, it was after midnight.
Fine time to be feeling better, Lindsey.
I saw that it was Slate. “Yeah,” I answered, running my fingers through my hair.
“Hey, Taz, sorry to be calling you so late,” he apologized. “I don’t get a lot done until the rug rat is down, and tonight he was raring to go until after ten. Anyway, don’t know if you saw the data Kim pulled and sent to us from those manifests?”
“Actually, no. I haven’t been on my computer for the last couple of hours.”
“Well, it just came in. She has narrowed the importers of record for the particular shipments from Ethiopia which are the likely candidates for the illegal cargo down to two.”
“Yeah?”
“One is located in Newark, New Jersey. It’s called “Happy Time Beverages.” The portfolio indicates it is a processing plant of various international teas and coffees. Maybe that’s not all this place processes.”
“Yeah,” I replied, “being in Newark alone makes that place suspect. What’s the other one?”
“Just one of those alphabet companies with not much available detail. It’s called “SKS Enterprises.” It’s a Limited Liability Corporation in Georgia. Kim said she would dig further tomorrow during business hours with the Secretary of State’s office. I just wanted to make sure you were updated.”
“Georgia,” I said, “I think Stanfield Group has a subsidiary in Georgia.”
“Well, I'll see if Kim can tie it in when she gets with the office in Atlanta tomorrow.”
“Yeah, right. So, is that it then?”
“Uh, yeah, I just need to know what time Lindsey plans on being home in the morning. I can’t leave until she gets here.”
“What? Lindsey isn’t here.”
“Where is she?”
“She should be there. She texted me earlier saying she didn’t feel well and was going to lie down.”
“Hold on,” he said.
I waited while Slate went to check, my pulse was quickening; a feeling of uneasiness crept in.
He was back in a couple of moments.
“She is not here, neither is her car.”
Holy fuck.
“Slate, I need to get online and check the GPS in her car. Call her cell and track it. If you get nothing, call Darcy.”
I went in to agent mode just like that. I fired my laptop up and pulled the GPS screen up. Her car was sitting in the parking lot of Applebee’s on the loop. I did a “Bird’s Eye View” and zoomed in. There it was.
Instinctively, I pulled up the GPS on Kyzer Stanfield’s car. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was several hundred miles away in Marietta, Georgia. My relief was short-lived. Slate called back.
“Yeah?”
“Her phone’s disabled. Darcy said when she left Applebee’s; Kyzer Stanfield had just come in to meet with Lindsey. She was expecting him.”
Double mother-fucking shit!
