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Yes! This is a good sign.
“That’s my father,” I replied. “I’m sorry, Judge, I’m not familiar--”
“Oh,” he said, smiling, “you wouldn’t actually know me but that name is not common. I used to visit Napa occasionally in high school with my parents. My two older brothers did and one still does a lot of business with your family. I’m Trey Sinclair. My brothers are Nigel and-”
“Tristan,” I finished for him, getting a grin on my face. “I sure as hell do know them. It is a small world I guess.”
“Tristan sold his winery to Nigel. He lives back here now,” he said, “I’ll let him know I saw you.”
Judge Sinclair went back to reading through the warrants. Luck seemed to be on my side.
I saw pictures of his family, I presumed on his desk. He had a hot wife, and by the looks of it, two kids, both nice-looking, too. I suddenly realized that was my dream. I had never thought about that before but I wanted what Trey Sinclair had more than anything.
“Agent Matthews,” he said, “you have to know that this is not customary. There is no federal jurisdiction here for what appears to be a ‘non-FBI’ matter.”
“I realize that is how this looks, your Honor, but I am certain, and I’m going on gut instinct here, that this is not an exercise in futility. I’ve put my whole career on the line, I am that certain.”
He looked at me for a moment.
“What about ‘probable cause’ Trace?”
“It’s there, your Honor. I just don’t have it with me. There’s a video from the security cameras at the Applebee’s restaurant where she was last seen by her best friend with the individual I’m trying to locate. It shows her leaving with him and she appears to be somewhat incapacitated.”
“Perhaps she was intoxicated?”
“No, sir. I know that was not the case.”
I laid out the facts known to me so far about Kyzer Stanfield and Jack Dennison. I included a run-down of all of the activities that had led to the bust last year, plus what had transpired since Lindsey had changed schools and met up with Kyzer Stanfield.
“I’m not one to second guess a special agent,” he replied. “I will sign this, please don’t make me regret it,” he said, signing all of the warrants.
“What resources did you bring with you?”
“For now, it’s just me.”
I realized the folly of that decision when I saw Judge Sinclair studying me again.
“This girl, she’s someone special to you, isn’t she?”
“She’s someone special to a lot of people, your Honor.”
He nodded and picked up his phone, buzzing the “Bailiff from Hell.”
“Evelyn, please contact Ed Harsher with the Investigation Division of GBI in Atlanta. Let him know we need a half-dozen agents STAT, reporting here. That’s right. Then call the Atlanta field office of the FBI and request special assistance for the county. We need a couple of SWAT agents to work under Special Agent Matthews when he serves these warrants to the various properties in Cobb County.”
I had never wanted to kiss or hug a guy until now. It was God’s providence that had brought me to Judge Trey Sinclair. He was going to help me save an angel.
CHAPTER 43
I didn’t know how long I had been in this dim, quiet bedroom, tied to this bed. I had lost all sense of time passing. I knew that I hurt all over.
Somehow I had been rolled back over on my back. They must have untied me to flip me over, and tied me back up. I felt wetness underneath me. I was certain there was blood involved, I had also urinated myself. What choice did I have?
I hadn’t been given any more water since before I was raped by Kyzer. Unfortunately, my black-out had not erased the memory of each ugly, nasty, painful detail of what that bastard had done to me, all the while Susanne had watched and helped when necessary.
Why had they done this to me? If they had what they wanted with that stupid formula that Kyzer had taken from me, then why had it been necessary for him to kidnap me and now hold me hostage?
This wasn’t their home. It didn’t seem like a regular house at all. There were no sounds of activity either inside or outside; no horns or sirens, no television or radios playing, not even the sound of a furnace kicking on or off, yet it was warm enough.
