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“Son of a bitch.” Bear dropped his head back. “Who is this bastard? His name has been mentioned every time something illegal happened over the past two years. And how is it possible that no one knows who the fuck he is?”
“We don’t know, and just between us, I’ve had Kyle doing a lot of digging that could cost me my job if the department ever found out, but it’s shit we can’t find.”
“He find anything?”
“Nothing,” he admitted. “Our contacts with the DEA can’t find much on him either, but the one thing they seem sure of is that he was somehow involved in Jane’s abduction. They believe he’s the mastermind behind all the shit happening over the past few years. He develops the plan and finds a way to get others to take the fall if the plan fails.”
“He’s good,” I pointed out the obvious.
“That’s why we can’t get close to him,” Luke admitted.
“Hawk said the rumor among the Widows is the cartel is involved,” Bear shared.
“He have any guesses as to why?”
Bear and I shared a look, but we owed Luke as much information as he was sharing with us. We all had the same goal and that was getting this fucker out of our town, so why not share what we knew. “From all he’s heard, he thinks whoever took Jane owes them money.”
Luke jerked up his chin. “The DEA is assuming the same.”
“So why are we here if this isn’t your investigation?” I asked.
“This is our town,” Luke explained. “I have no problem with the DEA doing what they need to do, but this bastard is targeting our communities, and I can’t stand by and watch it happen. I hope you two might see something here that you recognize or gives a fucking clue as to who the hell Manny actually is.”
“Does Jane know you’re no longer on this case?”
“No.” Luke shook his head. “As far as everyone knows, we are still investigating. The DEA doesn’t want to draw any attention to the fact that they’re involved, so for now, it’ll still appear to be our case. I’m even bringing in my team later today to search the house and property in case he’s watching. That way, he’ll believe he’s only being hunted by the New Hope police department.”
“Makes sense.” I agreed. “If Manny or any of his associates find out the DEA is runnin’ the show, they may all disappear.”
Luke jerked up his chin. “Exactly.”
Bear rubbed his hands together. “Okay, so let’s break this down. Why do you think Manny has no ties to this place?”
“Because he’s not that stupid,” Luke admitted. “He’s managed to stay about ten steps ahead of us for a long time, which tells me he wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like bringing her to a place that could somehow be tied to him.”
“How did he know about it?”
“Probably just found it.” Luke turned and walked down a hallway, holding two bedrooms and a bathroom. “This place is rough, though. He has to have had experience living off the land because there’s no electricity, no heat, no water. If he stayed here for any amount of time, it was only to have a roof over his head.”
“No neighbors for miles.” Bear grimaced when he looked inside the bathroom. “Nobody would have noticed him back here.”
I followed them back to the kitchen. “How the hell did she know where to go once she climbed out the window?”
“She doesn’t remember how she got here, so I’m guessing it was luck. Looks like she ran toward the closest tree line, probably because it was raining so hard, and got lucky that she stumbled upon a road eventually.”
“She ran for a while,” I added.
“Couldn’t have been easy with the injuries she has,” Bear pointed out. “Had to have been the adrenaline.”
“Makes sense, considering as soon as she got to the house and the owner called for help, she started going into shock.” Luke shook his head. “She’s lucky she found a way out because I’m not sure we would’ve found this place. He hasn’t left a clue anywhere. Nobody saw anything. We still haven’t even located her SUV, and I’ve had officers scouring this town and neighboring towns.”
Bear put his hands on his hips. “Where the hell could he be hiding it?”
“He’s not,” I replied. “He was doing all this for money. She had a nice SUV. It was new and fully loaded.”
“He sold it,” Bear surmised.
“It could be halfway across the country by now or was stripped for parts,” Luke added.
