Vanished

Ericka Stone

Case #010

By

Felicia Rogers

Vanished

Ericka Stone

Case #010

Copyright ©2024 by Felicia Rogers

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Contact Information:

Website: http://feliciarogersauthor.weebly.com
Email: feliciarogersauthor@yahoo.com

Published by:

Felicia Rogers

Cover Design by For the Muse Designs

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The author, Felicia Rogers, does not consent to any artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, and machine learning.

Dedication…

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

And to my family who continues to support me through this writing journey.

And to my father, who left this world too soon.

Table of Contents

Other works by Felicia Rogers

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Excerpt from Curveball, Ericka Stone Case #011

Other works by Felicia Rogers

Stand-alone works:

All I Have

The Holiday Truce

A Month in Cologne

Andrews Brothers (Regency Romance)

The Ruse

The Rescue

Southern Hearts Series (Civil War Romance)

Millicent

Amelia

Cora

“Justice” and Miss Quinn Mysteries (Regency Romance)

The Case of the Missing Cross (FREE ebook)

The Case of the Puppet Constable

The Case of the Secret Love

The Case of the Chinese Boxes

The Case of the Hidden Treasure

The Case of the Lost Island

The Kenelm Chronicles (Regency Romance)

The Golden Goose

The Silver Moon

The Bronze Heart

Hudson Hunts: The First and Last

Secret Defenders (Paranormal Romance)

Cian and Arin: Beginning (prequel)

The Key

Mara’s Secret

Iceas’ Victory

Meaningful Numbers Series (Christian Romance)

One of Forty

One of Twelve

One of Three

The Haywood Brothers Series (Christian Romance)

Love of a Businessman

Love of a Detective

Love of a Rancher

Redeemed Soldiers (Christian Romance)

Diamond Mine

Pearl Valley

Emerald Street

Ruby’s Way

Amethyst Cove

Sapphire Shoals

Opal Obsession

Ericka Stone Cases (Clean Detective Stories)

Freelance

Pendant

Treasure

Escape

Reunion

Reckless

Discovery

Detour

Journey

Vanished

Curveball (coming by October 2024)

The Board Series by F. A. Rogers

(novellas are listed in order)

Maralie (FREE on Amazon)

Reuben

Vanessa

Simon

Darla

Daniel

Irving

Levi

Francesca

Benjamin

James

The Return to Eden’s Hollow

Prologue

“Welcome to the Southside!”

Hollers, yelps, and whoops of excitement came from the crowd. Lex kept to the back of the room, his hood pulled over his head, and watched. The room was warm. His belly was full for the first time in months. He didn’t care what they jumped and shouted about. Let them have at it.

The man on the makeshift stage paced from side to side. All the heads in the room turned to match his pace, except for Lex. He kept his eyes on his slice of bread. If he could shove the entire thing in his mouth, he would just to protect it. But it was big. Really big.

“You have been chosen to join our organization. Some might call us a gang. Some might even be afraid of us, but we’re a family. We take care of each other. We take care of our own.”

“That’s right, man!”

“Thank you, Jess. Now, let’s get down to business. We’ve welcomed you into our fold. You will be given a room and food while you’re here. For now, nothing is required of you.”

Lex heard the unveiled meaning behind the dude’s words. He pinched off a piece of the bread and popped it in his mouth. It melted on his tongue. Others around him were eating as well. Some made pleasurable noises so loud he could barely hear. But he understood. The bread was good. He could figure out what the dude on stage was saying later.

The meeting ended and the crowd began to disperse.

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“If we don’t have a place to go, they are letting us stay here.”

“Yeah, I heard that.” Lex slowly pinched off more bread. Just in case this was his last meal he was going to enjoy it.

“Of course, I kinda wonder what they goin’ want us to do later. You know?”

“Sure.”

“I mean, my momma told me stories about the gangs. My dad was shot, bam, dead on the street by a stray bullet. But she never said they were like this. She left the house like two weeks ago and never came back. I figured she’d met a man and she’s using him for some extra cash. She does that. But I’m hungry! I couldn’t waits no more.” He paused before holding out his hand. “I’m Jess.”

Lex returned the gesture. “Lex.”

“Nice to meetcha.”

“You too.”

“So, where do you come from? You got a mom and a dad? I don’t figure you do since you’re here, but I heard that some people be born and raised in it. You seem kind of comfortable.”

“I don’t have anybody.” Lex placed one hand around his bread. Jess hadn’t eyed it, but Lex couldn’t be too sure.

“I see. So, you hungry too? You be snacking on that bread like someone gonna snatch it from ya.”

“I don’t trust people.”

Jess nodded his head vigorously. “I get that. I get that. I tell ya what. You watch my back, and I’ll watch yours.”

Lex nodded.

Jess couldn’t be more than fifteen. The boy’s skin was as dark as coal and his hair needed a comb. The kid was practically skin and bones. Other than that, he seemed nice enough. How he could protect Lex was a mystery. But a second set of eyes wasn’t a bad thing. He'd learned that in the foster care system.

“You said that the leader was going to ask something of us. Did he say what it would be?” Lex took another piece of the bread and chewed it slowly. It was almost gone. He wanted to savor every bite.

“Nah, man. He didn’t say. Just said we could have a room and food, and we’d know when the time came.”

“So be it.”

Lex didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t going back to where he’d come. He would never go back there. It was better to be beholden to the gang than to those strangers who put strips on his back when he didn’t clean up a dog turd in the yard.

He didn’t even like dogs that much. At least he didn’t now. That dog had eaten steak while he’d been forced to have treat meat. At least he thought that’s what it was. The meat had been a mystery.

Still, he was glad to be out of there. Whatever he had to do to stay with this group, he would do.

Chapter One

Sergeant Greg Kane stood against the wall with a foot propped behind him. He yawned behind his hand then reached for his cup of coffee that sat on the corner of the mahogany conference table.

The office décor had really improved over the last couple of months. Director James Manis had style.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone here on a job well done. Marsha Evers has given us a glowing recommendation. The Police Assistance Unit will be around for a little longer.”

The crowd cheered.

Someone blurted, “Now maybe we can actually work.”

“Here, here.”

Manis continued, “Let’s move on. This latest case brought to our attention is a growing problem. Kidnapping, human trafficking. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. Regardless of the foreign nature, we’ve been tasked with finding the ship called the White Lily. The White Lily is a luxury vessel that hauls humans. Some are for sale; some are sold back to foreign countries. No matter where they are going, the people are being forced to go somewhere against their will. It is our job to find this ship and stop it.”

Greg rose up and let his foot drop.

On the screen in front of him a picture appeared. “Meet Maria Petrov, wife of Josef Petrov. Mrs. Petrov was recruited by our government to stop Josef, however, after much research it appears that Mrs. Petrov actually took over the operation and expanded the reach.”

Greg knew too much about the Petrov family. He also knew that Robert Stone and therefore Ericka were connected to said family.

Manis began to dole out assignments. Quinn and Maggie entered the room. They didn’t look at him. Quinn had his eyes lowered. Maggie frowned.

He’d sent them to check on Ericka. She’d left to go to her house the night before when Heidi arrived, and he hadn’t heard from her since. He’d gone over to ask if she needed a ride to work but there had been no answer.

He thought maybe she’d gotten a ride from someone else. Tito had suffered a concussion trying to free people from the guards while tied up, so he knew he hadn’t driven her.

Greg tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Alpha Team’s assignment. When they didn’t get one regarding the case, he didn’t even care. Instead, he marched over to Quinn and Maggie.

“Well, where is she? Is she out celebrating with friends we don’t know about? Is she in the hospital again? She likes to do that. Did she try to go see Eliott or what? Why do you guys look like that?”

Quinn shuffled his feet back and forth.

Maggie didn’t look like she wanted to respond either.

“All right you guys are freaking me out. Just tell me.”

“It looks like Ericka didn’t stay inside her house last night.” Maggie blurted.

“Then where did she go?” He leaned in and used his hands to express his impatience.

“Well, we think she went to the park.”

“The park? At night? In the dark? Alone?”

“Yes. Video footage shows her walking there. I was even able to find a camera that showed her sitting on a bench one minute and then after the camera refreshed, she was just gone.”

“What do you mean gone? Did you ping her phone? Heck, did you call her?”

“We did both.”

“And?”

“Either her phone was turned off or the battery went dead, but either way, we can’t reach her. She’s vanished.”

Greg fell back against the table and slipped down into a leather coated chair. The soft buttery leather touched his exposed arm and almost offered comfort, but not enough to make him forget that Ericka was missing.

They had to find her and fast. With Maria Petrov out there taking people and Ericka’s father out there as well, it was only a matter of time before Ericka was next on the list. They had no time to lose.

****

Detective Ericka Stone scratched the developing red spots on her arms. The bush she’d gone through to meet Sasha must have been riddled with poison ivy. Only one other time had she gotten into the stuff. That was when she and Harrison Barton had gone out one night looking for a skunk.

All she wanted was to get Cecilia Drust back for sticking her in the closet… again. Ericka’s plan was to take a skunk and give it a nice bed for the evening—in Cecila’s bedroom.

Before their journey the one thing she hadn’t considered was how they were going to find a skunk. That had led to climbing in and out of weeds and bushes and both of them being eaten up with poison ivy.

“Don’t scratch, you’ll spread it.” Sasha was behind the wheel once again.

She was an expert driver. The night before she’d navigated the entire town without headlights and avoided traffic cameras in the process. It was as if she had had way too much practice.

“I don’t know that it matters now.” Ericka had clawed her skin until she could feel blood under her nails.

“It matters. We don’t have time to get you a shot if you get it in your eyes.”

Ericka placed her hands under her thighs and tried not to focus on the concern in that statement. It wasn’t for her; it was for something else they were about to do. She was sure of it. No one expressed that much concern for her well-being.

Ericka looked at Sasha and thought about the night before. She’d requested to see the safehouse under cover of darkness, but Sasha had refused. She’d asked who had raided the place and taken her father. Sasha said she wasn’t sure.

Whoever it was had hit Sasha in the face with their fist or an object. Sasha hadn’t exactly said.

The more non-answers Ericka received, the more suspicious she became. Now they were up at dawn traveling out of the city.

Greg and the others would no doubt be at the office learning their fate. If PAU, the Police Assistance Unit, remained as an entity then they might have a case to work on and here she was gallivanting around town with an ex-operative looking for her father again. It was the thing that had gotten her in trouble before.

She was so fired.

“What is the plan?” Ericka needed a distraction.

“You’ll know soon enough.”

“Sasha, I can’t keep doing this. My father avoided me for twenty-seven years. Why should I chase him down now? Maybe he’s fine with someone taking him away then he won’t have to talk to me.”

“Humph.”

“What does that humph mean?”

“It means other than one time, your father has been looking out for you.”

Ericka didn’t reply.

Without warning they turned off the road. The tires crunched along a gravel drive. She’d missed the time when they left the town and entered the backwoods. Overhanging tree limbs blocked the road but Sasha again, knew right where to go.

The car stopped outside a large rundown building. Words on a worn-out sign read, State Sanitorium. Ericka couldn’t be happier about entering an abandoned insane asylum. It was one of her top ten things to do.

She sighed.

At least night had passed by the time they arrived.

Sasha got out of the car and Ericka followed. She kept the door open and leaned on the hood with her arms folded.

She looked over the hood of the car. “Sasha, not to question your choice of stopping locations, but what are we doing here?” If they were there to use the bathroom then Sasha could forget it.

“I told her to bring you here.”

The voice didn’t sound like the one from her dreams. It wasn’t as deep, or as squeaky as she had imagined.

“Turn around, darling.”

Ericka feared doing so. He might disappear again. She stared at Sasha as she said, “Sasha said they took you.”

“They did, but she got me back. Now turn around, please. I want to see you.”

Ericka slowly turned her head.

****

Maria Petrov looked out over the bow of the Black Dahlia. An alert had been sounded on the radio about the lost cargo. The White Lily had handed them over, but those in charge of the final operation had lost them.

Roxanne and Sloan.

She was not surprised.

Although those two incompetents remained at large, Amy Guild would no longer be on the payroll. She’d taken the fall for the entire kidnapping and reselling scheme.

Convenient.

Although not a terrible loss. The woman had an overinflated ego and cost too much money for what she’d provided.

Maria looked out over the ship. The cargo ship was loaded with containers that would be left at the dock. Most of the containers were empty. A few held products they’d been contracted to haul from one country to another. Most had been retrofitted to carry human cargo back to those countries.

Maria left the bridge and went onto the main deck. Cool air struck her cheeks and lifted tendrils of hair off her neck. She lifted her face to the sun and drew in a deep breath.

As her shoulders relaxed, she looked out at the shoreline. They were supposed to make landfall and pick up a new load of prisoners from the White Lily. The countries in question wanted their people back.

Now.

Maria couldn’t agree more.

Those people deserved to be punished. They didn’t deserve immunity or to live in a free country, not after the things they’d done in their own.

Her phone pinged and she pulled it from her pocket. While Sloan and Roxanne were unaware that they worked with her, they were still free to work for her.

They all had different reasons for doing what they were doing. Sloan and Roxanne did it for the money. Amy Guild kidnapped and rescued for the fame. She helped them so they helped her. It was a small price to pay overall.

Maria had her own reasons.

Revenge.

Marrying Josef Petrov had never been her real choice, but he’d opened a world of opportunities. At least until he got her caught and left her with the option of agreeing to help the United States government or going to prison. She left her daughter, Ilsa, in order to assist. Now Ilsa was in prison.

Maria wasn’t surprised. Josef did that to people.

Governments did that to the wrong people.

But that was okay. Maria had agreed to the United States terms then decided to work how she pleased. Faking her death had helped, but now she feared they might know she was alive. At least she was having dreams to that effect.

No worries.

She’d played cat and mouse before. She could do it again. Pausing her work while she played the game was the worst part. But she might know someone who could pick up her slack.

Chapter Two

Director Manis crossed the room toward Greg. Greg shuffled his feet and moved around in a circle before coming to rest in front of Quinn and Maggie. Desperately, he hoped that it wasn’t obvious they were minus one.

“Kane, where has she gone now? I’ve allowed Ericka ample time to investigate her private matters. She’s found a dead soldier’s family. She’s found the family of a child. Now it is time for her to do the job she’s been paid to do.”

Greg would have argued that all of those cases could have been jobs they were assigned but hadn’t been, but instead he said, “Yes, sir.”

Manis sighed. “So, you don’t have a clue where she is. That’s fine, fine. But you get her here by tomorrow, do you understand? Today your team needs to go to the docks and ask some questions. According to former Agent Guild the White Lily dropped its cargo but was set to arrive yesterday afternoon to deliver a new set. She claims they didn’t make it. There is a manifest that would confirm these details, if we can find it. You need to go to the docks to see if they have it. We need to know if that ship stopped somewhere other than here or if it is just running behind.”

The White Lily was the ship that was supposedly raided. Those people were brought to Sloan and Roxanne. Apparently, since they’d been caught, the ship planned to dock and cut out the middleman.

Greg took the paper and held it loosely. They needed to find the information at the docks quickly so they could get to their second task.

Twenty-four hours to find Ericka. He’d been detecting for years. People, places, things, but this was different.

Ericka knew how to hide.

“Well get going. I’m not paying you to stand around.”

Greg nodded. Him, Quinn, and Maggie walked out of the main room and toward the elevator. The doors eased closed blocking Manis’ disappointed face.

Maggie yawned behind her hand a couple of times. “Sorry, not enough sleep.”

“New puppy still yapping all night?”

“Yes.” Maggie yawned again.

Maggie had a new puppy? How had he missed that?

“Don’t feel bad, boss. I hadn’t mentioned the puppy since so much was happening.”

With Ericka…

Mentally, he added the words that she hadn’t. Their cohesion as a team or as friends had changed since Ericka’s addition to the group. He had room for all of them in his life. At least he thought he did. He would need to try harder.

“Where did you get this new puppy?”

“Tristan. He got a traveling music gig, and he didn’t want me to be alone. So, now I have a yappy puppy and a dog walker who comes over twice a day. Never lonely again.”

Greg couldn’t tell if she was happy or irritated by that fact. He didn’t know how he would feel either.

“What kind of dog is it?”

While he asked the questions they were grabbing their bags from the office, locking the door, then walking back to the elevator.

“Golden retriever mix named Dolly.”

“Cute.” He cocked his brow. “Dolly?”

“I know a human name, but Tristan was on his way back from playing at Dollywood in Tennessee and his car broke down close to a pet store that was going out of business. Dolly was the last pup.”

“That’s a heartwarming story.”

“And completely fabricated.” Blake Hager, team leader of Beta Team, appeared alongside them. He had a bag on his arm.

“Where are you going, Hagar?” Quinn spoke up first.

“Sadly, with your team.”

Quinn’s eyes widened.

Maggie stopped walking.

Greg asked, “Why exactly?”

“New rules since the Evers’ Investigation.” His voice got higher. “’All groups must go as two- or four-man teams.’ End quote. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.”

Greg kept his jaw from dropping, barely. Blake thought that meant three couldn’t go out. Surely not.

“Besides, Director Manis ordered me to go with you guys until Stone returns. I think I’m being punished.”

Now Greg understood. This was Manis’ way of threatening them. No Ericka then they would be stuck with Blake. It was effective. No one wanted that outcome.

****

Ericka swallowed.

Before her stood a middle-aged man with dark graying hair. It lay in a feathery look across the top of his forehead. No receding hair line, and thick.

He wasn’t overly tall, maybe a few inches below six feet. And there didn’t appear to be an inch of fat on his body. The lithe athletic look to his frame was the most surprising thing.

“Your hair comes from me.”

“Pardon?”

“Morgan’s hair was blond.”

Ericka didn’t remember that from her memory. Her mother was blond? That seemed odd but she wouldn’t argue with the father that’s she just met.

“Come. We have many more things to discuss.”

She would have balked at the location of their discussion, but she’d waited so long. Too long.

Sasha didn’t move away from the car.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“No, I’m good.”

Ericka tried to tap down her own fears as she followed this stranger that was her father into the building. The door was left open as they entered the foyer. Random pieces of furniture were scattered about the room. Papers littered the floor in awkward piles. File cabinet doors were open and left hanging out.

“How long has this place been abandoned?” It seemed like a comfortable topic of discussion.

“Twenty-four years.”

Why did that number and the way he said the words make her nervous.

He led her down a long, cluttered hallway. Beds with chairs and straps attached to the railings hugged the wall. Large, gilded frames with broken glass dangled sideways. Wires fell from the ceiling forcing them to weave and bob through the corridor.

At the end of the long hall they entered a room, an office really. In the middle sat a perfectly clean, dust-free desk. A leather high backed office chair was behind it. Atop the desk was a rolodex and a corded telephone. A book lay open. Names, addresses, and phone numbers were written in the provided lines in perfect penmanship.

“The last doctor to leave the hospital left his office in this condition. I’ve not seen anyone come in and clean but somehow the room remains perfect.”

A chill raced up Ericka’s spine.

“Take a seat.”

Robert Stone, her father, settled behind the desk and she took the offered chair on the opposite side. He clasped his hands on the desktop.

“Please hold all questions until the end. We have a lot of material to cover and not a lot of time.”

Ericka went to open her mouth but closed it just as quickly.

“Good, you’re listening.”

She nodded.

He leaned back in the chair. There were no creaks or groans as if the chair was brand new. Maybe there was a filter in the room or something. That might explain the lack of dust and the chair not going old. Maybe…

He started to speak, and she turned all her attention to him.

“First you might wonder why I chose this place. Why a rundown, closed sanatorium as a place to have a discussion. Well, the answer is simple, this place was so much more than a place for the mentally insane. The CIA brought people here to deprogram them or to program them.”

Ericka could feel her heart beating more rapidly in her ears. There were people that she didn’t want to know had come to a place like this. She steeled herself against the next words.

“One of those people was Maria Petrov.”

****

Maria lay on her bunk. It was afternoon but she was tired. She needed the rest. As she closed her eyes, she felt the fast electric pulses shooting through her nerves. She could see the images on screens, flickering, flickering, flickering.

“Look at the images. See what they’ve done to your home, to your country. See this politician. He took everything from you. Everything.”

Maria sat upright in the bed. Sweat covered her forehead. It was always the same image, the same dream. Her home, her parent’s home in Russia. All the crops burned, the animals dead, her parents displaced and put into a home for the elderly and medicated into oblivion.

Always the same.

She massaged her eye sockets, but the image was still there. If the politician in question had been chastised properly none of that would have ever happened. This is what the condition left her with. Whether it was accurate didn’t matter.

She was compelled.

She had to return these people.

They were in on the destruction together.

She’d almost stopped. Then Ilsa had been taken. Just more proof that politicians couldn’t be trusted.

Her husband got off with a lighter sentence.

He was believable.

Ilsa was not.

The horn blew and Maria rolled from her bunk. The alarm meant they’d been spotted or were close to shore. There was only one alarm for all activities. A shame really.

Maria entered the engine room. “What is it now?”

The entire exercise had been a disaster this time. She couldn’t wait until the trip was over. She would never gather the people that were supposed to come off the last White Lily expedition. Instead, she waited for the next load. The idea that her friend might be able to help had been a bust. She’d tried to call several times, but the number said unavailable.

In order to gather the next group, she needed the manifest for the White Lily.

One of her men spoke up. “We’re taking on water on the starboard side.”

Maria rushed to the computer. The officer had read the screen correctly despite his newness to the position.

“Send someone down to check things out. Do so fast. We’re in open water.” They were nowhere near the shore. If the boat went down now, they might go down with it.

With the capture of Amy Guild, they had left the shoreline and went back into open water to wait for word from the White Lily. She’d been supposed to take the cargo directly from the ship, but the ship was raided before they were able. Sloan and Roxanne had organized that little feat, no doubt to get her attention. They must have figured out that it was her running the shipping operation. Since she was taken by the government Sloan had been trying to find her. He almost had a few times, but she’d evaded him and continued to hustle him. Until now.

Maria stayed at the helm while a small part of her crew went below deck. She paced the tiny room. The ship was at a dead stop until they deciphered the problem. If the ship truly was taking on water, they would need to abandon the vessel. It was a good thing they didn’t have their intended cargo.

This was to be her last haul before retirement. The captain of the White Lily had assured her that the haul would fetch a promising price, but then they were saved.

Now she would be forced to do another job. The White Lily was the problem. No one had heard from them or seen them in days. If she didn’t find them then she couldn’t pick up the next cargo or make the last money she needed. Once this job ended and she had her funds everything would change. Josef could no longer control her from the grave nor could anyone else. She was going to find a nice island to sip matai’s and watch the tide roll in. She didn’t need anything more than the necessities and peace and quiet.

“Captain? Come in Captain?”

The tone was frantic. Maria tried to keep her own panic down. “Captain speaking.”

“We hit something all right. Water is coming in and fast. We don’t have a way to seal the hole but if we seal off the deck with the water, we might have time to escape.”

“Do it.” Maria stroked the metal wheel. “All these years, now this happens. And we were so close to retirement.”

Etched into the wood were the words, Black Dahlia. The ship had so many meaningful memories. And it was going to be her ticket out.

But it was all right.

She would think of something else. She had for as long as she could remember.

****

Greg, Quinn, Maggie, and Blake made the silent trip to the docks. Maggie sat in front with him and bounced her knee so hard it shook the car. Quinn and Blake were in the back both looking out opposite windows. It reminded him of a car full of kids that were all in trouble.

Traffic lights stopped them over and over. It was like they had to hit every last one as some kind of punishment. He drummed the steering wheel with his fingers and wished he was anywhere else. Or that the traffic lights would speed up.

When they finally reached the docks, they filed out of the car and stood with their hands in front of them. Greg rolled his eyes and shook his head as he led his pack toward the manager’s office.

The bell rang above the door as he opened it. Inside people were running back and forth. Papers were shooting out of the copier and flying through the air. An automatic stapler was shoot out staples. A mail sorter violently thrusted out envelopes.

One man stopped to look at them then went right back to trying to stop the machines.

Blake went over to the wall and unplugged the copier. Quinn unplugged the stapler. Maggie unplugged the mail sorter.

The chaos in the room stopped and the people paused.

“Thank you!” A man ran up and hugged Blake. He didn’t seem to like that very much, but he didn’t say it.

Instead, he said, “You’re welcome.”

“The machines have been going crazy all morning.”

Greg would have asked about unplugging the equipment, but he didn’t want to embarrass the man he needed to question.

“Why didn’t you unplug them?” Blake wasn’t quite as nice.

“Good question.” He paused. “Who are you and what do you want?”

There was the anger that Greg had been trying to avoid.

Greg flipped open his badge. “We’re with the Police Assistance Unit. We’ve been sent to ask you some questions about the White Lily.”

“You and everyone else. Come into my office.” He turned on his heel and started walking toward a door marked office at the back of the room. He skirted paper and other debris.

Office workers busily picked items up and tried to sort them, but Greg knew it was going to take a while.

The door opened and they entered a tiny office. It was barely big enough for the man they followed and Greg. The others would have to squeeze up to the door and listen. That would be fun.

The man settled behind his desk. He scooted the chair in and put his elbows on the surface, clasping his hands in the air. “Here’s the thing. The manifest for the White Lily was here. We knew where she was supposed to be and where she was going, but after this electrical glitch today I don’t know how to find it.”

“On the computer?” Quinn asked.

“Nope. We print everything out. Too many computer issues here. Once we get the manifest it is printed and put in a file drawer. We’ve never had a problem until recently. We’ve had some break-ins and lost our paperwork. We were attempting to run a backup file and reprint everything when that happened.” He pointed outside.

“So, you don’t know where the White Lily is or where it is going?”

He leaned back in the chair and laughed. “Nope. And sadly, we don’t know where she’s been. And you know what, after the raid where her passengers were lost, we can’t ask her. The ship disappeared, vanished. We’ve reached out to the Coast Guard, but we haven’t heard anything back yet.”

“What do you mean, vanished?” Maggie’s voice sounded skeptical.

Greg didn’t blame her. Ships that could carry a hundred passengers didn’t just disappear off the face of the earth, did they?

“We’ve sent out vessels to her last known location, but there is no sign of her. We’ve been through satellite footage as well. We can see the raid. The ship that pulled up alongside her. The people being escorted to another vessel just as they stated. But then poof, the ship just isn’t there anymore.”

Greg could hear rather than see Quinn shuffling his feet behind him. The boy was itching to get ahold of a computer with the satellite feed and look at the footage. Obviously, it had been tampered with. Just like the electrical in the building.

Whatever had happened, it was just to keep people from finding the White Lily. What could be on that ship that needed to remain so hidden?

Chapter Three

“Maria Petrov was here?”

“Yes. The plan was to reprogram her to be on our side. The process proved more difficult than anticipated. Since we couldn’t wait, or Josef would get wise, the CIA hired someone else to go in.”

Ericka swallowed. Robert could see recognition or fear enter her eyes. He shouldn’t have dragged her here, but she needed the truth. Or at least what he’d been told when Ericka was about six.

“Your mother left you at the hospital when you were three.”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t a question, but he didn’t correct her.

“I saw her and you from an upper floor.”

A tear slipped onto her cheek and spilled over. The desire to wrap her in his arms almost overwhelmed him, but if he stopped now, he would never finish.

“I would like to say I wasn’t sure it was you, but I was sure. I knew. I just feared it was a trick and she wanted me to blow my cover. She’d been upset by the agency pulling us apart after she refused to marry me.”

Ericka looked at her hands. He wanted her to look at him. He needed her to understand. Even though he wasn’t sure he did.

He leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling, then he drew in a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves before he started again.

This was harder than he’d expected.

“Please finish.”

He nodded as he straightened the chair to face her. “Your mother had to get away from Harry and she only knew of one way, to reenter the agency. The fact was from afar she looked a lot like—”

“Maria Petrov…”

He sighed. “Yes. Maria Petrov. She came here to the asylum and studied Maria for months. She took over Maria’s personality. When they deemed her ready, they sent her out on the White Lily as Maria.”

Ericka didn’t move.

Her stillness worried him, but he had to go on.

“Josef and Maria were considered divorced. Technically, Maria was said to have disappeared. Ilsa didn’t know where she was, Josef didn’t know where she was. Truthfully, she never left here. Then there was a fire and…”

“She died?”

“Yes, as well as many others. That’s why the place closed. But your mother had already taken a spot on the ship. She’d told Josef’s men that she was supposed to run the vessel. Intel stopped not long after she reached the ship. We don’t know exactly what happened. The White Lily was apprehended and had stopped runs until recently.”

“The ship that Andre and Eliott Rubert were on.”

“Yes. It has come out of retirement. Our understanding based on what one of the people on board told us was that the captain was a woman. However, they never saw anyone meeting the description of Maria Petrov or your mother.”

“Why hasn’t someone attempted to find the White Lily and bring them in?”

He scratched a spot between his brows. “Sasha reached out to some contacts, and it seems that Alpha Team of the Police Assistance Unit has just been assigned the case of finding the White Lily. There is only one problem, our intel says that it has disappeared. Vanished.”

“Well, of course it has. You tell me my mother was brainwashed into thinking she was a criminal to get out of an abusive relationship and now she’s vanished. Story of my life.”

He rose and walked around the desk. He opened his arms, but she stood and held her palms facing him.

“No, please, don’t. I just, I need to get back to my team.”

She turned to walk away, when she reached the door, he said, “You can’t tell her.”

“What?” She rounded to face him.

“You can’t tell your mother who she is. She won’t believe you. She really believes that she is Maria Petrov. You need to bring her in. She has to be deprogramed. And have lots of therapy. Since the White Lily came out of retirement she’s done some terrible things as Petrov. She will need a way to live with those things.”

Ericka swallowed and nodded, but she didn’t speak. This she turned and fast walked out of the building. He followed her to the open door, but she never looked back as she climbed into Sasha’s car. Sasha looked at him and he nodded that it was okay.

Ericka needed time to process all that he’d said. In fact, he needed time to process it. If Sasha hadn’t had a reliable source, he wouldn’t have believed any of it.

Now he needed to find the White Lily and Morgan before the PAU did. He needed to know why they came out of retirement now. Where had Morgan been all this time? He needed to know all these things before Morgan reconnected with her daughter. The answers might be more than either of them could take.

****

Maria watched as the Black Dahlia rose on its end and went into the water. Down, down, down it sank the hull vanishing from view.

That ship had been her home while the White Lily was reconstructed. A freak fire had gutted the vessel. Once it was repaired, Maria had found herself with no desire to leave the Black Dahlia. Now that choice had been taken from her.

The dinghy bobbed on the water. Moonlight created a path before them, but they weren’t sure it was the way they were supposed to take.

Paulo pulled a compass from his pocket. After a few moments, he took the oars and began to row. The other filled dinghies followed suit. Maria allowed him to row for a while before she spoke.

“Where are we going?”

“Land. I glanced at the map and determined our location before we left the ship. In my best estimation heading this direction will take us the closest to land the quickest.”

They had been close to Black Island Sound before the ship had started taking on water. Word had come in only moments before they abandoned the ship that they were supposed to meet up with the Maroon Peacock at Block Island. There they would exchange passengers for money. Once out in open waters they would meet up with the White Lily, transfer the cargo again, and the prisoners would ride back the way they’d come.

Now that wouldn’t happen. She couldn’t take cargo without a ship.

Maria flashed another look at the sinking vessel.

The prisoner exchange system had been worked out by Josef years ago. The more times the people were moved, the less likely they personally were to get caught. She had taken over the White Lily and eventually the Black Dahlia years ago without Josef noticing. Sloan had announced his intent to rid the world of Josef for so long she knew that it would happen, but she hadn’t realized how long it would take.

She’d waited patiently, although she couldn’t remember where or for how long.

All these years waiting in the background, now, now she was in charge. And look what happened. On her last major run as leader the entire operation was blown up.

Paulo struggled with the oars as his arms tired. Another man on the dinghy with them took up the task.

Paulo moved to her side.

Now she could ask more questions.

“I need to know where we are going, exactly.”

“Fort Pond Bay.”

She cocked her brow.

“I don’t know anything about the area other than we can reach the mainland from there. We need to go ashore and scatter at least for a little while, don’t you think?”

She didn’t like the idea of agreeing, but he was correct. Attention had been brought to their organization. Lots of attention. Before they could move ahead, they needed to regroup. They needed another ship. They needed clients that would trust them again. Even though the Maroon Peacock seemed on board, things could change in an instant.

She needed to find the White Lily.

“Then you agree? We will rendezvous at the mainland, disperse, and reconnect if and when it is advantageous?”

“I agree.”

The waves calmed as they rowed. The three of them in the dinghy took time about rowing until their muscles wouldn’t do anymore. Paulo or the other gentleman on the tiny ship had brought along water and snacks. They would throw these items to the other dinghies as they drew alongside them. The plan was also passed along as well.

A failure.

Her last time.

The one that would get her out where she could have a normal life finally.

She’d failed.

Now she would go to the mainland and try to start a new life or maybe rediscover her old one. Of late she’d been having some weird dreams. Dreams where she took a young child to a hospital. It was a child she was sure she’d never seen before, but she kept popping into her mind.

Maria would have explored that further, but lights appeared in the distance.

Someone yelled, “Land ho!”

After rowing through the night and several hours in the blistering sun, she could understand the enthusiasm. They were glad to get off the tiny lifeboats. She would be happy for that as well. There was only one problem. When she got off the boat, she had no idea where to go.

Chapter Four

Hot air blew on Ericka’s cheeks as she attempted to open her heavy eyelids. She felt almost drugged as she came around. When she woke up, she was sitting on the fountain bench outside the PAU building. People skirted around her as they walked past.

Did she smell?

Did she look funny?

Maybe she looked scary.

She studied her hands, they looked normal. Her shoes were the black loafers she wore when working. She felt her head and her hair was all there and there was nothing planted on her head. Her shoes were tied.

“What are you guys staring at?”

A little boy sitting next to her said, “What are you doing?”

Ericka wasn’t sure what she was doing.

“Were you looking at the other people and imagining what their life is like? I like to do that sometimes.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Let me help you, in case you don’t know how. That man over there in the suit. He’s a lawyer. He lives in a big fancy house. He has one girl and one boy and a dog, has to have a dog. And of course, he’s married to the most beautiful woman.”

Ericka started to tell him that he was all wrong. She knew that man from the building. He came by often to apply for a job. He had no wife, no kids, and no dog because he was allergic.

“What about you? Who do you see?”

She wasn’t really in the mood to play along, but if it helped her to find out why everyone was staring it might be worth it.

She picked a random person; someone she’d never seen before. “Her.”

“You mean that one that is wearing the paisley dress?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, what do you see?”

“I see a woman who hides behind a smile. She wears long sleeves in the warm weather to hide bruises. She’s selling flowers in the courtyard to make enough money to get out of an abusive relationship.”

“Oh.”

Ericka would have slapped her mouth if it would have helped. The kid didn’t need to hear all this negativity.

She saw more than what she’d said. The lady looked like she’d had enough. Like she was down on her luck, and she couldn’t take another moment in her current situation.

A man stopped and grabbed the little boy. “I told you not to run off again.”

“I was talking to my new friend.”

The man looked at her. “Sorry if he bothered you.”

“Oh, no bother. I was hoping he’d tell me why everyone keeps staring at me.”

He pointed behind and above her.

She turned to look. A cardboard sign was over her head. It read, “Return to the PAU.”

She rolled her eyes, sighed, and reached up to grab the sign. She shoved it under her arm as she stood and began to walk toward the building. Sasha must have thought it was funny. They’d drugged her so she couldn’t find her way back to the sanitorium, but that was all right. She remembered exactly how to get there from the way there.

Well, maybe.

When she entered the lobby was mostly empty. A glance at the clock revealed it was ten a.m. She groaned. Two days she was late for work, well one she didn’t show at all. Either way this wasn’t going to exactly look good on her record, that was a guarantee.

“So, you have returned.”

“Didn’t you see me on the monitor?”

“Huh?”

She didn’t even try. Why should she? If the security guard of the building had seen her then he would have come and gotten her. Ericka was certain of it. Instead, she sat there for who knew how long.

The elevator groaned and creaked beneath her slight weight. She shifted to a different part of the elevator, and the sounds of protest stopped. When the elevator opened on the fourteenth floor, she stepped out. There was no one there to greet her. The entire front entrance area was devoid of humans.

Walking along the hallway, she paid special attention as to whether she heard people in their offices. The rooms were mostly soundproof, but surely, she could or would hear something if people were busily at work.

The day before when she’d left and went home with Greg to enjoy a pizza, they hadn’t been sure if there would be an office to return to. Now she still wasn’t sure.

She turned and looked back toward the entrance. Perhaps making a jaunt up to the fifteenth floor was in order. Director Manis or at least Monica would surely have some answers.

A door behind her opened. She turned quickly. Tito was there. A smile teased his lips.

“Well, look who decided to return.”

“Yeah.” Heat flushed her cheeks, and she moved a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Why the sudden embarrassment she wasn’t sure.

“If you’re looking for your team, they were sent to the docks yesterday to gather the manifest for the White Lily and they never returned.”

The White Lily? That had been the ship that her father had mentioned. Why would it be docking here if it was the ship that brought the people in? And the ship that had just disappeared.

“Are you all right? You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine, I-I just need to sit down a for a minute.”

Tito opened the door to the Beta Team office and led her inside. Micah looked up, as did Burle, but no one else. Blake was nowhere in sight.

“He’s with Alpha Team.”

Ericka cocked her brow.

“New rules. Everyone has to be with a partner.”

“And since, I was gone…”

“Blake became a partner.”

Ericka knew her team hated that. She would have to make that up to them somehow.

****

Greg massaged his eyes sockets as his eyes blurred. Done, he tried to read the tiny print again.

All night long the four of them had poured over every piece of paper that had once littered the floor of the dock office. They organized and sorted by ship, date, and cargo. After eight long hours, they were only about half done.

Blake stood and stretched his arms over his head. “I think I’m going to run and get breakfast. Can I pick up anything for anyone?”

Quinn and Maggie both hesitated to answer, but they had to be hungry. Or if nothing else at least want coffee. Perhaps they were worried that he wouldn’t want them to agree to anything kind from Blake, but people had to eat, and he was famished.

“Sure, I’ll take something. Where are you going?”

Greg’s acceptance started it off. By the time it was finished Blake had an order that would feed an army. He repeated it back and then left with Greg’s keys.

When the door closed, Quinn asked, “You sure about letting him drive the car?”

Greg sighed. “Yes, I’m sure. It’ll be fine. He’s lived here and driven in the city as long as I have maybe longer. Let’s just concentrate on what we’re doing.”

Quinn didn’t answer but kept sorting.

An alarm went off on Greg’s phone and he groaned.

“What was that?”

“The Ericka alarm.”

“Ah.” Maggie had asked and replied.

“Maybe she returned to the office?” Quinn sounded pessimistically hopeful.

“Maybe.” Greg didn’t know what to do. They weren’t going to be at the office to check. They needed to find the last known location and the places that the White Lily was headed. When the manager said that the Coast Guard had gone to check the last known location Greg had his doubts.

Why do that when a satellite could be pointed at the last spot and the area checked? Did the manager not trust the satellites?

Greg wondered about them himself. What if someone that had tried to purchase someone from the ship, even a country, had attempted to move the satellite to a different location so that the White Lily wouldn’t be seen? It seemed illogical and logical at the same time.

“I found it!” Quinn held up a sheet of paper. On his feet he raced to the nearest desk and turned on a lamp above it. He looked over the sheet and frowned.

“It says White Lily on the letterhead, but this doesn’t have one thing about where the White Lily was going. In fact, it doesn’t even have the port on it of where the people were supposed to go before the ship was raided.”

If that was the case, then how had the manager sent someone to check on it?

“Greg?”

“I know.”

Maggie was already dialing port authorities. When the door opened and Blake entered, they had already been joined by multiple groups of law enforcement. The picture of the manager was shown around.

“This office has been closed for months.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was closed for renovations. Computer issues or something like that.”

“I see.” Greg looked around at the outdated computers. What had really happened here? Was everyone they walked in on the day before fakes or just the manager?

“You got scammed.”

“We got scammed.”

“They rigged everything to go off as soon as you arrived. They knew you were coming. By letting you look they escaped, and you spent a day and a half looking for a sheet of paper that wouldn’t tell you anything.”

“Looks that way.”

“And what have you found about the White Lily?” Maggie jutted out her hip and pursed her lips. She was livid, Greg could tell.

He didn’t blame her, she thought they were doing something to help and instead they had just wasted all that time.

The local law enforcement officer cocked a brow at Maggie’s sarcasm. “Look, lady, I’m sorry you went through that, but there is a rogue group of kids running around causing havoc right now. Just last week we busted a group swiping ice cream from a sidewalk vendor. This week it seems to be kids pretending to run a dock office. We don’t know how they are being alerted; all we know is that Southside has something to do with it.”

Greg had heard very little about the Southside gang. He’d been busy with just his cases. If they were going to interfere with his cases, maybe now he needed to look into them.

Quinn shot a glance at Maggie. “Let’s go back to the office. Maybe we can look over the interviews of those who were rescued from Sloan and Roxanne and see if we can figure out through them where they boarded the White Lily and if anything was said about their next destination.”

“Good idea.”

Greg thanked the workers and left them to clean up the papers and the rest of the mess. Maybe the cleaning would give them the insight to take down the Southside gang. Currently, he had other things to worry about.

One was Ericka. Where was she? Had she returned? Or had she caused them all to lose their jobs?

Chapter Five

Dr. Ellen sat on her couch. She wore high heels and crossed her sheer pantyhose covered legs. When the light hit them just right, they would shine. Interesting.

Ericka looked at herself in her sweatpants and white T-shirt. She’d been lucky that someone let her borrow their clothes from their workout bag. Her clothes had been smeared with something. She’d had them sent to the lab to analyze in hopes it would tell her if she’d been somewhere other than the sanitorium. Truthfully, how would she know? The stupor she’d woken from at the fountain had been a different experience.

Dr. Ellen cleared her throat and Ericka realized she was still studying how the light bounced from the leg off her pantyhose and created a rainbow type effect on the wall. Ericka lifted her head and offered an apologetic smile.

“Let’s get started. You said that you finally met your father.”

Ericka nodded. Her throat clogged with emotion. When she made the impromptu appointment with Dr. Ellen, she thought she could handle the questions. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Tell me how that happened.”

Ericka couldn’t tell if Dr. Ellen was fishing for information on her father or truly trying to help her. The good doctor worked for the department. Ericka would do well to remember that.

“He’s in hiding. A friend brought me to him.”

“Where did you meet?” Dr. Ellen’s pen was poised above the yellow pad of paper.

Ericka licked her lips.

“You seem to be hesitant to answer my questions?”

“And you seem to be asking all the wrong questions for a psychologist.”

“Pardon. Should I be asking how you feel?”

“Well, yeah!” Ericka scooted farther back on the couch and folded one leg in front of her. “I mean, like,” she ran her hand through her hair, “my father abandoned me when I was three.” She used her hands to punctuate her words. “He was right there! Right there! He saw me being left outside a hospital and he did nothing. My life was hell. Do you understand? A living hell. Death would have been preferable. He could have stopped all of that, but he didn’t want to blow his cover.”

“So, you’re angry?”

“Of course, I’m angry.” Her voice rose. She was sure the tiny fan that whirled outside the door to keep others from hearing wasn’t currently enough.

“Did you tell him?”

She guffawed. “Tell him? Nope. There was no time to talk about feelings. No, we had to talk about what the government started years and years ago and how it is affecting everything now.”

Ericka leaned forward. “I just want it to be over! I don’t want to worry about the Petrovs or my father, or my mother being brainwashed or anything else. I just want to do my job.”

It was true. Her family being the job was tiring. She just wanted to solve regular cases. Her family could go off and do whatever they wanted to do. That’s what they had done for years anyway.

“Your mother was brainwashed?”

She sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“That’s why we’re here.”

Ericka readjusted until her feet were flat on the floor. She’d slipped off the one loafer, now she slipped her foot back inside. Sure, she stalled. Trusting Dr. Ellen or anyone else didn’t come easy. And this information, this information could harm more than just her.

“Detective Stone?”

“Yes?”

“I know you’re attempting to decide if I’m trustworthy enough to hear your story, but I assure you, I’m here for you. Unless you are about to hurt yourself, whatever you tell me doesn’t leave these walls.”

What if the walls listened?

How often did they debug the place?

If she admitted out loud that her mother had been brainwashed into thinking that she was and is Maria Petrov, then what happened? The department could use her to get to her mother. If her mother remembered who she was. Did brainwashing erase that parental instinct?

A knock on the door and an alarm broke Ericka from her stupor.

“I guess that’s our time.”

“I guess so.”

“Maybe you should look into me. See if anyone else has had an issue with my confidentiality and come see me again tomorrow.”

Ericka pushed up from the couch and started toward the door. She opened it. In the doorway, she was surprised to see Nick Malone, Blake’s second. He wouldn’t look at her directly, but she held her head high as she walked around him.

He turned. “They are looking for you. In fact, everyone is looking for you. Director Manis threatened to fire your entire team if you didn’t show up today. I guess it’s a good thing you did.”

Ericka kept her face blank as she nodded and turned toward the door facing the hallway. The door behind her clicked closed. Outside the door, she leaned back against the wall and slipped to the floor. She dropped her head into her hands.

Greg.

Maggie.

Quinn.

They could have lost everything if she hadn’t come back. Maybe it was time to consider leaving. She couldn’t have these many peoples’ livelihoods dependent on her. She was too unstable.

Tears came and she swiped them away before rising to her feet. She was Ericka Stone. She didn’t cry, she acted.

She’d go to the Director and tell him that Sasha kidnapped her or took her to see her father. That was better. He would understand that. He would understand the importance of family.

****

The lifeboat landed on American soil. One thing they hadn’t anticipated was the Coast Guard searching for papers. Perhaps they would understand a ship sinking?

Maria doubted it.

She’d married a Russian and taken his citizenship. They would never allow her to just walk in. She would be detained. She would be sent back.

Maybe the government had changed her status when they asked her for help. And maybe monkeys would fly…

She bit her bottom lip.

The money from this last sale would have prevented that forever. Her island dream was disappearing faster than a popsicle in July.

“We must hurry and disembark.” Paulo was out of the lifeboat and dragging it ashore.

Maria and the others jumped into the water and followed his lead.

“What should we do? Where should we go? Only a few of us have American passports. The rest of us don’t have a right to be here.”

They were looking at her. Fortunately, Paulo answered, “Go ashore. Wait for us to call you. As soon as we find the White Lily we will call and bring you back in. Now, go.”

The sun hid behind dark clouds. Boats bobbed erratically on the water and Coast Guard boats could be seen going to their aid. Agents were still close by. Maria hesitated. Paulo grabbed her hand and pulled her farther up the shoreline. They reached a whitewashed building that reeked of fish.

Paulo had them lean up against the building. Guards passed. They were in a heated discussion about a baseball game. Paulo put his finger to his lips for her to be silent. Like she would have done anything besides that.

Once the guards passed, he grabbed her hand and began to drag her to the open road. Paulo had been a recent addition to their crew, but he seemed well versed in the art of hiding. Perhaps he’d been put with her for such a time as this.

He found a warehouse that was open and slipped inside. People milled around placing fish into bins filled with ice.

She hated the smell of fish.

Paulo scooted them into a dark closet. The smell wasn’t quite as bad inside.

“We need to look over the manifest.” He drew a long piece of parchment from his shirt.

Maria had forgotten to grab it when the ship was sinking, but Paulo, he had not. Who was this man? Where had they met again?

He unrolled the parchment out on the floor of the building. Using the flashlight on his phone he highlighted the words. “It looks like the White Lily was scheduled to unload another shipment near Fishers Island tomorrow. We need to be there and get on that ship.”

“What about the Maroon Peacock coming to Block Island?”

Paulo looked over the words again. “One communique must have been mistaken. I say we follow the manifest.”

Maria bit her bottom lip. “What about the others?”

“What about them?”

“You told them to wait until we called.”

“I don’t have their numbers. Do you?”

This was not going how she’d imagined. Not that she had any loyalty to anyone who had been on the Black Dahlia. They worked on the ship. She knew little more than their name. She didn’t even know if they had family. What country they hailed from. What their goals in life were. She didn’t know them at all.

So, why was this so jarring?

“I do not.”

“As I assumed. Now, what we need to do is find one of these fishermen in the marina that are going to Fishers Island. We’ll catch a ride on the White Lily and talk to the captain about a replacement ship. Shouldn’t be too hard. They need the services we provide.” He rerolled the paper and stuck it in his back pocket.

That parchment had been in a locked box on the bridge. She’d been the only one with a key. She’d kept it around her neck…

She reached up.

It wasn’t there.

Had she laid it down somewhere and he’d taken it?

“You gave it to me.”

“I gave you…”

“The key. You told me to keep it, remember? You said things were vanishing from your room and you wanted me to keep it safe. Then you told me about the manifest. You said since I was new to the ship, I wasn’t yet corrupted.”

Maria didn’t remember any of that conversation. She massaged her temples. Her stuff wasn’t the only thing that seemed to be vanishing. Apparently, her memory was going as well.

****

Greg and the others arrived back at the office. Blake grumbled under his breath as he left and went to his own team. Greg wasn’t sad to see him go.

He opened the door to the Alpha Team office and stopped. There was Ericka sitting in her chair in front of their brand-new computers. Whomever had taken the old batch had destroyed them by mistake or on purpose, the jury was out on that one.

“Ericka!” Quinn raced to her side and gave her a hug.

“Welcome back, Ericka.” Maggie was more subtle but still she smiled.

Greg nodded in her direction. Anger permeated his every cell. But at least they hadn’t had to go searching for her. They wouldn’t have had time to find her anyway.

“I guess no luck at the dock.”

Greg cocked his brow.

“Monica told me where you were.”

Greg didn’t reply. He couldn’t. Not yet.

“No, luck. The entire thing was a trick.” Quinn plopped into his chair and rotated it toward his own computer. He typed in a few keys and a colorful beach scene with an ocean liner in the background popped up.

“What is that?” Ericka pointed at the still screen.

“Ah, that is my dream vacation.”

Greg couldn’t imagine Quinn on a cruise, but he wasn’t sure why.

“I think Fanny wants to go on a cruise.” Maggie took a seat.

Quinn stuck out his tongue.

Greg was happy to have the team back together even if things weren’t exactly normal.

“It’s true, Fanny wants to go on a cruise, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to go as well.”

“Do you want to go?” Ericka asked.

“Well,” he scratched the side of his forehead.

“I knew it!”

“Well, you don’t want to leave and move away with Tristan.”

Greg could feel his eyes widening. Maggie looked ticked.

“You’re leaving?” Ericka’s shocked voice expressed what they were all thinking.

“No, I’m not leaving. And that was a private thought, Quinn.”

“Sorry.”

A knock on the office door had them all clamping their mouths shut. The door cracked open then was pushed all the way.

Director Manis leaned against the doorjamb. He looked ready to blast someone then he paused and eyed Ericka. “She’s really here, right? That isn’t some stunt double.”

“No, sir, I’m really here. Sorry I’m a day late. Family issue.”

He cocked his brow but didn’t question.

Greg jumped in. “Sorry, sir, we just returned from the docks.”

“I know. Monica filled me in. You got nothing but the runaround.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The young men that masqueraded in that office have yet to be detained, but local law enforcement is looking for them.”

“Good.” What else could Greg say? They’d walked in on another group creating chaos. Either they were looking for the manifest as well or it was, as the officer said, just the Southside raising havoc. They might never know for sure.

“I’m here because I have another task for your team.”

“Sir?”

“The manifest case will be handled by Beta Team.”

Greg kept his cool. Blake would only solve this with the help of Tito and Burle. And Burle would be retiring in a few weeks. He didn’t think his group should be moved off the case, but he no longer had a say.

Director Manis flopped a file on Greg’s desk.

“Rochelle Rawlings, the owner of Rochelle’s, was found dead in her store just a few days ago. While local law enforcement has investigated, they’ve come up with zero leads. I want your team to find out who did this and why. That neighborhood has gotten a bad rap for years. Rochelle was one of the good ones trying to make it better.”

“We’ll get right on it.”

“Sadly, that thin folder is all that we know. There was a 911 call that I understand Maggie took. Maybe that will give you a leg up. Good luck.”

The director turned on his heel and walked across the hallway. It was rare for him to come to the lower floor and dole out their cases. However, after the incident with Marsha Evers he’d been closer to the teams. Hopefully that was a good thing.

Chapter Six

Robert paced the sanitorium. Sasha had taken Ericka back to the city then returned. Her sister and nephew thankfully were out of town for a few days so they wouldn’t realize that she wasn’t at home. He felt bad, but he needed her.

“Did she say she would help?”

Robert had wanted to ask if Ericka would help locate Maria aka Morgan, but she’d run out before he’d gotten the chance. Last, he’d seen she was in Sasha’s car headed away from him.

It hadn’t been how he hoped things would go.

He’d wanted to ask for her help and explain that Morgan had been in hiding for most of her missing years. They weren’t sure where she’d been or how she’d gotten free. So, while she’d been busy making a name for herself recently, the list of offenses wasn’t overly long.

“I think I gave her too much serum. She went to sleep as soon as she got in the car.”

“Oh.”

So, neither of them had asked her for help.

“What do you want to do?”

“I guess that we’ll just have to look for Morgan ourselves before she gets in anymore trouble.”

Robert took a seat behind the desk and turned on the old television set in the room. It had cable although he wasn’t sure how.

He’d thought upon his return that someone was living in the place. He’d heard noises. Smelled food. Seen signs of footprints. He tried to convince himself that perhaps all these things had been there for ages, but with the office so clean and the cable that was a hard sell.

“Are you sure we should be here?”

Sasha had voiced the opinion often. He agreed in part, but where else could they go? Most of his places had been burned and were out there. His handler was gone. WITSEC had attempted to connect with him but as soon as he did that then he would never see Ericka again. He needed to do this one last thing for her before he disappeared forever.

Her mother leaving was because of him. If he could bring her back, then that was what he was going to do.

“We’re fine.”

He leaned in. On the screen was an office on the docks. The reporter told a story that Robert couldn’t believe.

“Gang members took up residence in this very office that you see behind me. The office had been closed for several years. When a team from the Police Assistance Unit arrived, they were fooled into believing those inside were actual dock workers. The officers spent hours combing through old papers only to realize they’d been duped. The PAU has been under investigation recently in regard to their validity and usefulness. This is just another example of how useless the group really is.”

Video showing people running from the building and laughing showed up on the screen. When the scene cut back to the reporter, Robert moved his chair closer and stared at the clear screen.

In the far-left corner was a man and a woman trying to sneak along the building.

Robert sucked in a quick breath.

“What, what do you see?” Sasha was there looking at the screen as well. “Morgan! That’s Morgan.”

“I can’t believe it! You’re right. We need to get over there now.”

****

Ericka gnawed on her bottom lip and continued to look out the window. Greg had insisted on driving them to the crime scene. Quinn and Maggie rode in a separate car in case someone got called away.

Greg had seemed angry since she entered the office. With good reason since she almost cost him and the team their jobs. Why hadn’t he asked her where she was or what she’d been doing? He knew her well enough, at least she thought he did, to know she wouldn’t run off without a good reason.

“We’re here.” He stopped the car and climbed out before she could even say okay.

She sighed as she exited the vehicle. The door slammed too hard behind her, and Greg turned and narrowed his eyes. She mouthed, Sorry, but she could tell he didn’t care since he’d already turned away.

Quinn stopped his work car in the space nearby. Maggie jumped out, her arms flailing around her body.

“What were you trying to do?”

“I was trying to get here.”

Maggie put her finger to Quinn’s chest and poked over and over. “You are never driving again.”

Quinn snickered under his breath. “If you insist.”

“Did he do that on purpose?” Ericka asked from the side of her mouth, but she didn’t illicit the response from Greg that she’d hoped.

“I don’t know and don’t care. We have a crime to solve.” He removed his sunglasses and put them on his collar.

Ericka felt a pit forming in her stomach. The friendship that she’d had with Greg appeared to have disappeared. If this was to be their new work relationship, then she would be finding another job for sure.

Quinn cocked his brow but didn’t respond.

Together they walked to the door. A sticker sealed the door and yellow tape crisscrossed over the door. A window had been broken and covered with cardboard and duct tape.

“I heard about this store on the radio. I thought about coming several times, but the neighborhood, you know?” Maggie looked up and down the street.

Young men with sagging pants, white T-shirts, and long overshirts hung in groups against various graffitied walls. Hats were on backwards and gold looking jewelry hung in front of them in a swag.

A couple of them looked at them and flipped their nose. Ericka wasn’t sure if that was a gang sign or what, but she didn’t really want to find out. There were way more of them than there were of her and her Team.

“Let’s get inside and look around.”

Greg slit the sticker and opened the door. Heat rolled from the room as well as several interesting odors.

Ericka pinched her nose.

“The report said she was over here.”

They walked around the counter. Very little remained of the incident. Rochelle was gone but blood stained the floor. A few items that had fallen from shelves were busted and laying in pieces around where the body had been.

The crime unit should have gathered hair or fiber evidence. As well as fingerprints and other detail-oriented items.

“Was there video footage?” Quinn eyed the wall in a curious manner.

Maggie opened a manilla folder and flipped through a few pages. “There is no mention of a camera or any kind of footage.”

“Then they missed it. You see this wire? It clearly leads to some kind of camera.” Even as he spoke, he followed the wire along the wall. It disappeared into a hole, but Quinn didn’t give up. Nestled between a row of books on a shelf was a hidden camera.

Quinn plucked it free. “We need her phone. I’ve seen this kind of camera before. It can be hardwired in, but it also displays on the phone for when you’re not in a stationary place.”

Ericka remembered reading the personal effects list and a phone wasn’t included. She wasn’t given the chance to explain her knowledge as Greg said, “Maggie, look at the list.”

Maggie looked while Ericka tried a different tactic. She got down on her hands and knees. The counters were not flat on the ground. The lower part was recessed. Ericka knocked against it every foot or so until she heard an echo. Greg and Maggie were talking. Quinn continued to study the camera. Ericka pulled her phone free and used the flashlight feature to highlight the area. A seam in the baseboard lost light. Ericka grabbed the folding knife she carried from her pocket and wedged it in the seam. She tugged and the piece popped free.

The screen was dark, but it was clearly a phone.

She pulled it out.

“Quinn, I believe you’re looking for this.”

Quinn took the device with an almost silent thanks. He broke the entering code quickly and found the app. All of them were hovering over his shoulder, but he didn’t complain.

“Humph.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well,” he scratched the spot at his hairline. “There is a camera on here, but it shows only the outside of the store.”

“What about all these wires?”

“And the camera you found on the shelves.” Greg spoke, but his voice was matter of fact. Something was definitely up with him.

“Yeah, there has to be another set up for that. Let me look a little more.” Quinn trailed his finger along the wire until it disappeared behind a wall.

Ericka was ready to find a sledgehammer. It would solve a few problems, plus it would help get out her frustration. Greg’s entire attitude was rubbing her the wrong way.

Maggie began pulling books from the shelves. She made a noise when she discovered exactly where the wire was going in. It didn’t take long to discover a round hollow hole in one of the boards. Maggie put her finger in and pulled the board out. Behind the fake panel was a red button.

“Should we push it?” Quinn asked first.

“Sure, why not?”

“What if it is a panic button?”

Back and forth Maggie and Quinn argued over the button and whether to push it then Greg reached around them.

“Enough.” He pushed the button.

The sound of something scraping echoed around them but Ericka didn’t see anything. There was a beaded curtain that hid the back room from view. Ericka stepped to the curtain and parted the beads. In the next room she saw what had made the noise. Part of the wall had slid away and behind it was a wall full of closed-circuit televisions.

“Now this is what I’m talking about.” Quinn popped his knuckles as he settled in the chair before a computer and began to strike the keys.

Chapter Seven

Blake and Beta Team rode in two separate cars to the docks. The office that was supposed to hold the manifest had been a ruse. They now knew the correct location and they were headed there. Blake, Nick, Tito, Burle, and Micah, his techie, were all present. He wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

Blake parked the car and Tito pulled up beside him. They all stepped out. Every one of them was in black suits with black sunglasses. People could tell they looked like G-men from a mile away. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

He took the lead. At the office door, he opened it and controlled the flinch that threatened as the bell above it rang.

Since some of the shootings had gone down while trying to rescue those people taken from the ship, he hadn’t been the same. He was having trouble sleeping at home. In fact, he’d taken to sleeping somewhere every night. A few nights on a friend’s couch, a couple of nights with some random woman.

Lots of women at the clubs found him attractive. Although marriage didn’t work for him, he’d not given up on finding that perfect lady.

A man at the counter, whose glasses settled on the tip of his nose, looked up as Blake approached. “May I help you?”

“Yes. We’re here about the White Lily.”

“Go on back.”

Blake went around the counter and into the room with an open door. His people followed him, but there wasn’t enough room for them. It was as bad as the fake office had been the day before.

“Sir, would you like us to wait outside?” Micah hesitated to enter the tiny room.

“Sure. Wait outside. Agent Malone, you’re with me.”

The rest left and walked back outside. Blake looked at the tall-backed chair that faced opposite him. He cleared his throat several times, but whomever was in the chair that he was supposed to talk to, never turned around.

He tried again.

“Blake…” Nick pointed at the side of the chair, where a limp hand hung over the edge. Blake walked around the side of the chair and stopped. A man with a ligature mark around his neck, and two spots on his head that mimicked bullet holes, lay in the chair limp.

Blake sighed.

This manifest was the hardest case he’d ever had to crack. The entire thing was bordering on ridiculous.

“Call it in.”

He left Nick in the room and stepped out into the main office. He walked to the nose glasses guy. “How long has he been in there without visitors?”

The guy removed his glasses and held them in his hand. “He came in early this morning, and he didn’t leave for breakfast. In fact, I don’t think he has been out all day.”

“That’s because he’s dead.”

The man narrowed his beady eyes. “What?”

“You heard me. I need to know all the people who have come in and out of this office.”

“Well, I don’t keep a list!”

“Security cameras?”

“There are a few outside, but nothing inside. We have to maintain the privacy of where people are going, you see.”

“I see. Then where do you have cameras? On the doors?”

“Yes…” The guy seemed unwilling to reveal the precise location.

“Either you get me the camera footage, or I arrest you for the murder of your boss. What sounds good to you?”

The man rotated the chair and pushed a tiny black button on a black box. A tray exited the machine, and he pulled a disk out and handed it over. “Here. It records but we don’t ever look at it.”

“Hmm. I’ll take that under advisement.” He paused. “Nick?”

“Agent Hagar?” Nick exited the room.

“Is the crime unit on the way?”

“They are.”

“Then you stay with the body until they get here. I need to speak to the others outside.”

Nick nodded.

Nick was a good soldier. He listened when told what to do, unlike the others in his motley crew. Blake chuckled to himself at the joke. He’d watched a documentary on the 80s band before he’d gone out for the evening. And what an evening!

“What are you smiling about?” Burle cocked his brow. He was leaning casually against a half brick wall that appeared out of the ground with zero purpose. Just like Burle, he seemed to have zero purpose.

Blake wasn’t happy that they seemed like they had nothing to do. This was a serious activity. He needed to show the boss, the director, that he could lead. Eventually the news would travel, and he would be promoted. He wanted out of PAU. The Unit wouldn’t last forever, he’d seen the writing on the wall when mysterious people were set to take them down. The others might feel confident that the Marsha Evers investigation was behind them, but he was not.

“I’m smiling because we have more work to do.”

“What do you mean?” Tito rose to full attention.

Blake pointed to the door behind him. “Turns out the manager that we were supposed to meet was helped along in his recent expiration and there are some cameras out here, somewhere. We need to find them and look them over. This is the disk that shows the door camera.” He handed it to Micah.

“I’ll go the car and put it in my computer now.”

“You do that. Burle, you and Tito, look around the docks. The crime scene unit is on their way, but I’d like this solved without them.”

Burle and Tito looked around the building and looked up at poles. He could have done that to find the cameras. Didn’t they have a genius way of doing it? All the hype made over these two for their recent crime solving skills was just that—hype.

His phone pinged and he pulled it from his pocket.

Are we on for tonight?

Blake wanted to say yes, but he wasn’t sure whose number he was looking at. He needed to think of a way to figure it out without giving it away that he didn’t remember.

He could do it.

He was a detective.

****

Paulo and Maria hid in one of the rotted-out buildings. The fish smell was overwhelming, but Maria tried to breathe slow and shallow to avoid too big a swallow.

Paulo had dragged them into the building when he saw the cars that looked like government vehicles pulling up. They were no doubt looking for the manifest. Everyone wanted to find the White Lily, including them.

The manifest that Paulo carried showed that the ship would arrive off the coast by tomorrow. She wasn’t sure that was accurate yet. There were some things she hadn’t shared with Paulo.

As of yet, they hadn’t found a way to Fishers Island. All the fishermen wanted money. She understood; she would want money as well.

“What now?”

“Let’s wait until they leave.”

“You didn’t have to kill the dock manager.” Maria regretted saying the words aloud as soon as they came out.

Paulo cocked his brow. “He would have told that the manifest wasn’t there. As long as no one knows that it isn’t here then they will keep looking for it elsewhere, yes?”

“I guess.” Maria was starting to doubt Paulo’s methods. For some reason she felt as if she could turn herself in and get sympathy from those around her, but she wasn’t sure why.

“The plan is to wait until the officers leave. Once they are gone then we will make our way to the docks and take one of the ships that are there for storage. It is the only way.”

Maria nodded, but she wasn’t sure that was true. Although of late her brain had been foggy and she wasn’t sure if she knew what she was doing anymore.

“Of course, the only way.” She would agree. It seemed safer.

Paulo had walked into the office and took a seat. She’d followed, because what else would she do. For some reason all her confidence of being the ship’s captain had left. Being in the city, near New York was making her feel like a whack-a-doo. That was an odd way to think of herself, but there it was.

Inside the office, Paulo had started talking. Maria had watched as he rose from the chair and wrapped a cord around the guy’s neck. The entire time, he never stopped talking. After the guy grew pale and still, Paulo pulled something out of his pocket and put it on the guy’s forehead. It looked like make-up shaped like a bullet wound. Maria went to ask what he was doing, but then he pulled out a gun and made the sound like it was being fired. Paulo hadn’t even blinked. Then he rotated the chair around. He’d grabbed Maria’s hand, and they’d walked right back out into the lobby and out the door.

The officers were making a thorough sweep of the area. Truthfully, they would more than likely hit their building. They needed a plan other than taking them all out.

“Come.”

After one last look through a hole in the wall, Maria turned and followed Paulo. She had no idea what he had in mind, but now she feared asking.

****

Robert allowed Sasha to drive. He had no desire to be forced into a gridlock situation in New York with no idea how to get out.

Sasha was an expert behind the wheel. She navigated the roads as if she’d been there all her life. Which he knew wasn’t the case.

“Once we get to the docks, do you have a plan? And should we tell Ericka?”

He’d thought about that. She wouldn’t believe him. At least she really didn’t have a reason to believe him. So far, he hadn’t been that trustworthy.

“I think we should wait until we see if Morgan is still there.”

Sasha nodded.

Why was she so on board with all his ideas? He knew they’d had chemistry in the past. Despite the age difference, that spark had been there. Maybe it was still there. Although he couldn’t pursue a relationship with anyone. Once he freed Morgan from her bonds of manipulation, then he would seek a relationship with his daughter. That relationship might be why he was hiding from the terrible people bent on killing him, but maybe not.

Days after agent Guild was taken into custody, Sloan and Roxanne had been taken into custody. Ex-agent Amy Guild, Roxanne’s half-sister, had willingly handed her over. Roxanne’s hair appointment to get rid of her gray streaks had been interrupted by dozens of officers with large guns. The video replay had him laughing for hours. He may or may not have recorded it to watch later.

Sloan had been caught attempting to pick up his vehicle outside of Ericka’s apartment. To get out of town he needed his car, or so he’d told the arresting officer. The reporter who reported on the issue had a heyday with that remark. The entire situation warmed Robert’s heart.

Too bad the report was pulled, and the world would never see it. Lawyers, judges, or whoever was in charge thought that Sloan and Roxanne being on the run would help bring in the White Lily and the mastermind behind the entire operation. Robert hoped they were right.

Roxanne entered the area and came to a halt. Large containers were being lifted off ships and placed on the docks in huge stacks. A gate had been closed and they couldn’t get through. She pulled off to the side in a grassy lot that contained other cars.

“I guess we’re walking from here.”

Robert sighed as he pulled himself from her low vehicle. He wanted a huge truck. Something he could jump down from and not climb out of like a clown car.

They skirted the edge of the fence line. There wasn’t an opening or a place for them to enter. They had no real reason to be there, so they just kept walking along the edge. If someone asked, they could say they were out for a stroll along the river, but they couldn’t get to it. Then complain about New York and their lack of caring about the common tourist. It sounded like something he might be able to do in his head.

Sasha stopped in front of him, and he ran into her back.

“Whoa.”

“Sorry.”

“Look.” She pointed through the diamond shaped hole in the fence.

Through the fencing not a hundred feet away was Morgan. She was squatted down behind a gentleman carrying a gun. The gun was aimed at men in dark suits that stood around without a care in the world.

“Do we warn them?”

Robert bit the inside of his bottom lip. Warning them could put everyone in danger, especially Morgan. But he couldn’t let her be party to killing people either.

He had to make a decision.

“No, for now we wait.”

Chapter Eight

Sweat beaded on Paulo’s brow. He reached up and swiped it away. He would say that the presence of the officers was making him nervous, but it was more than that. Over the last five days, New York had experienced record temperatures. Average temperatures for June ran around the low 80s. During his visit this week the temperatures were well in the upper 90s. It would be just his luck.

Maria kept a light hand on his back.

He should have ditched her when the boat landed. He could have ditched her. She’d been a horrific person as captain of the Black Dahlia. Crew members had threatened to throw her overboard on more than one occasion while in his presence.

But he’d saved her the once because there was something about her. Something that reminded him of his mama. God rest her soul. And that something was still there. He couldn’t abandon her now.

She would have wanted him to stand up for an old lady who was about to be put in prison. For sure that was where Maria Petrov was headed. She’d had people kidnapped for money. She’d sold people for money. Money seemed to be her main motivator.

He’d seen her cabin. Pictures of islands with large palm trees and people sipping froo-froo drinks had covered her walls. The woman wanted to retire to an island. That meant she needed a lot of money.

He had other plans.

Freedom.

He’d done terrible things. More terrible things than he could count. He liked to do terrible things. It was as if something invisible outside of him controlled him. Sometimes he would try to stop doing those terrible things, but he always went back to it.

Like smoking. He’d quit and gone back to that several times as well.

She shifted her weight and the pressure on his back. The gun. It was in his hand. He was pointing it at the men in black suits. He lowered it. His hand trembled.

She’d seen him take the life of the dock manager. He’d not meant to. In fact, he wasn’t sure that he had done it. That’s what had happened. It wasn’t him.

Right?

Maria squeezed his shoulder.

Snippets of memories came to him. He’d taken them to the employee closet to try and put on employee outfits, but there weren’t any. He’d thought of taking clothes from someone on the floor but finding a dead body or a half dead body might alert the officers even more.

They’d left the fish factory and went to the dock office to look for a fishing boat to rent. The man upfront had taken them to the back room. Maria had started talking about the manifest—a paper he already had. The officer behind the desk had acted suspicious. That might have been when he tapped him or strangled him.

He couldn’t remember.

There had to be security cameras around the place. But truthfully, he didn’t think the security cameras had found them yet. Anyone looking would need computer equipment for a disk that might have been made, if something existed. And no one had run out of the place acting crazy so they couldn’t know their boss was dead.

No, they didn’t need to be worried. As long as no one saw them lurking they would be fine.

The sound of a radio from someone close by drifted toward Paulo. If he had to kill this person, it would not help them.

“Today in crime news, Rochelle Rawlings’ murder is still unsolved. We’ve heard from the local law enforcement agencies that the Police Assistance Unit has been assigned the case. Hopefully, justice will be done for this wonderful lady.”

Paulo allowed the feeling of relief as well as others to wash over him.

Rochelle…

Ah…

How could he express how he’d felt about Rochelle and her demise? He shouldn’t express it in public.

She’d been how he’d gotten into the country. Such a sweet lady. She’d felt for him and his plight. If he stayed in China, he would have been executed for his crimes. Not that it wasn’t deserved, but he didn’t tell her that.

Rochelle helped him change his name. She gave him tips for his hair and how to look less Chinese. He could have told her he wasn’t Chinese, well not completely. He was only half Chinese. His father was Chinese, his mother was from Portugal. If he’d committed his crimes there, he would have been fine.

But Rochelle…

She’d helped him to get out of China permanently. Through others, he’d secured his new passport. She’d gotten him a future job at the hospital. That was after he repaid his debt to Maria for the passage.

He’d only come to thank Rochelle for her help.

They’d been talking quietly. He’d sensed romantic tension. He felt that often around beautiful women. He knew he was a prize to look at, but it angered him. Because of his looks no one listened to him.

Her smile.

The way she placed a strand of hair behind her ear that had dropped from her perfect bun.

He’d drawn his weapon and pulled the trigger.

It had been automatic. He’d done it so many times before. He’d left a string of beautiful women wherever he went. That was why he’d left China.

The radio continued to talk about other crimes in the area. Unsolved crimes. Apparently, this was a place where one could get away with murder.

Literally.

“Paulo, we should move.”

Maria’s voice seemed to come to him from far away. When he could hear once more, he realized she was correct. All the officers were inside a building. It was their opportunity to stroll past and make it to the docks.

He rose to his full height, placed his arm in Maria’s and casually walked toward the bobbing boats. She smiled pretty. She knew exactly what to do.

It was good for Maria that she reminded him of his mother.

He had loved his mother.

****

Sasha pointed at Maria and the strange man as they left their squatted position and headed toward the boats. “We can’t let them get away.”

“I don’t see how we’re going to stop them.”

Robert’s lazy, quitter attitude wasn’t something that Sasha was used to.

Sasha turned and walked back toward the car. Robert followed. By the time she got behind the wheel she had formulated a plan.

She waited until Robert was buckled then she pulled out of the parking spot and toward the gated entrance. The door rolled up. The guard in the booth didn’t even look as they drove through. She should have thought of that before. The area should be secured, but for some reason it wasn’t. If it had been how would Maria and the gentleman with her have gotten in?

“I didn’t expect that.”

“Neither did I.”

Sasha kept driving. She stopped her car behind a row of shipping containers. Other cars were parked there so she assumed she would blend. Once out of the car, she began to walk closer to the boat slips. The dock was usual. It had both cargo containers and then a little farther away were slips for sailboats. Even a cruise liner was docked close by.

Robert was breathing heavy by the time they reached the row of vessels that carried people. She only fared a little better.

Yachts of various sizes and amenities bobbed in the water. There were also speed boats and cabin cruisers. Sasha hadn’t seen Maria, and her male friend come that way, but if she was trying to escape this would be where she would go.

“Do you see them?”

Sasha rotated around in a circle. Light brown hair lifted in the wind and blew behind someone who appeared to be running.

“Is that her?”

Robert twisted to see. But it was too late. The lady in question had vanished.

****

Quinn studied the televisions in the secret room. Under his breath he made noises which no one else seemed to notice. They were his this is interesting noise, or what is this noise. No one seemed to care.

Greg was too busy being angry that Ericka had been late.

Ericka was too busy wondering why Greg was angry that she’d been late.

And Maggie, well she couldn’t stop looking at her phone long enough to have an opinion either way.

If they didn’t keep their jobs, it wouldn’t be because Ericka was late to work one day. It would be because they were too distracted by life to do their jobs.

It was kind of sad. Rochelle Rawlings from everything that he’d heard was a fantastic person. Not only had she helped many people out of bad situations in their home country, but she’d also done it in her neighborhood as well. She’d really started to bring people around. Her store, as well as others on the street, had stopped being robbed. There was an understanding of mutual respect that she’d fostered.

No matter how hard Quinn tried he just couldn’t understand why someone would want to hurt her.

A black and white image flashed on the screen. Excitement built inside him.

“I’ve got a picture!”

That got their attention. Ericka, Greg, and Maggie gathered around him as he rewound the video until he saw Rochelle behind the counter.

Heat pooled around him as they leaned in closer. Quinn would have told them to back off, but he thought he could put up with it for a moment or two more.

There was no audio, but it was easy to see when the atmosphere changed. A man entered. Rochelle smiled. He handed over an envelope. She handed over a book which appeared to have passport written on it. She batted her long fake lashes. She smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. The man pulled a gun. And it was over. Rochelle slid to the floor with her hand to her abdomen.

“Why did he do that?” Maggie was asking a good question that had no answer.

“We’ll find out the why when we discover the who.” Greg pointed at the screen. “Is there another angle? We can’t see the guy’s face.”

Quinn already knew that they couldn’t see his face. “I’m not sure. I’ll need to keep searching to see if there are more cameras and then—”

“Do it. Keep Ericka. Maggie and I will go back to the office and see if we can find out who was making the fake passports. That might tell us who she got one for recently.”

“Yes, sir.”

Quinn didn’t argue. He could tell Ericka wanted to, but she stopped herself. When the bell closed on their departure, Quinn expected Ericka to begin ranting and raving about Greg’s attitude. Whatever was happening with him was affecting their work. But instead, Ericka surprised him.

“Tell me what I can do to help you.”

“Oh, well, I guess you could watch this monitor. I think I have it set up on a play through for a few days before or after. I’m not sure.”

“Yup, roll that beautiful bean footage.”

“A Bush’s bean reference, really?”

“What? The moment called for it.”

Quinn chuckled under his breath. Secretly, he was glad they weren’t going to discuss Greg. It wasn’t a healthy subject.

His phone pinged and he dug it out of his pocket. Fanny had sent him a cat video. Since she’d moved to New York they sent videos to each other multiple times a day. They knew that if the other was busy, they would watch it eventually. Sometimes he still worried she would get upset if he waited, but she never had.

He might slip and watch the video in the restroom. He kind of felt the need to go.

Chapter Nine

“All right, Kane, I’m over the attitude. The others might not say anything to you, but I’ve known you way too long.”

Greg ran his free hand through his hair. He’d known he was being a jerk. At first, he convinced himself that he was upset with Ericka. She was late. She almost caused them to lose their jobs. But then she was there, and it seemed fine.

Then he remembered the other thing on his mind.

Heidi…

Officer Heidi Goodall.

She kept coming to his home unannounced. Most of the time she wanted to eat. Eat pizza. Every time she walked through the door, she wanted pizza. He liked pizza as much as the next guy, but every time!

He’d offered to take her to a nice restaurant. She’d said no.

He’d offered to order literally anything else. She’d said no.

The night before he’d broken down and just told her he didn’t want pizza. She’d looked heartbroken. She’d said it was their thing. Then she’d said that maybe they shouldn’t date anymore.

Honestly, he didn’t even know they were dating. Since when did randomly showing up on someone’s doorstep and demanding pizza count as dating?

Maggie cleared her throat. She’d turned slightly to her left to look at him. He’d not moved. He needed to look at the road. Driving was the priority. She should understand that.

“Look, Kane, I know you can drive and talk, so spill it. If you’re upset with Ericka, I get it. She almost, almost, left us in a lurch. But she did show up. Something is going on with her as well, and I’ll ask about that later. Before the case is over for certain. But for right now, I have your undivided attention.”

Not really undivided, but he wasn’t telling her that.

“Kane?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heidi is threatening to break up with me.”

Her brows drew down. “Were you two dating?”

“Heck, if I know. I thought we were going to go on a date, but then we never did.”

“You are kind of busy.”

“Of course I’m busy! I’m a Sargeant in a special police unit! I run a team. I have responsibilities. And her randomly showing up and demanding pizza every five minutes isn’t helpful.” He talked so loud and fast that his heart raced.

“Hold on, boss. Every five minutes?”

“So, a bit of an exaggeration. But not by much.”

“You don’t like pizza now?”

He groaned.

She laughed. “I’m kidding. I get it. Did you talk to her?”

“Oh, I tried. I invited her out to dinner at a nice restaurant. She said no. I asked her if I could cook. She said no. I think she just likes pizza because she is extremely picky, but she doesn’t want me to know.”

“Wow. Pizza all the time. I feel the heartburn now.”

“Right! I’ve had to restock my antacids!”

Maggie laughed but tried to cover it behind her hand. It wasn’t very effective. She straightened. “What are you going to do?”

“I have no idea.” He sighed. “Honestly, I wanted to date Ericka, but then I realized that if I did then I would be ruined for anyone else. So, I decided to give Heidi a chance. I mean, I like talking to her. It’s just the food thing. And I just admitted that all out loud, didn’t I?”

“You did.” Maggie’s voice didn’t hold the least bit of surprise.

“You won’t share that, will you?”

She lifted her hands. “Your personal feelings are not for me to share. But I think you should tell Ericka how you feel sooner rather than later.”

“Why because in every two-bit town we go to she has an ex-boyfriend?”

“That is one reason. But because I think she likes you too. Waiting doesn’t do anyone any good.”

He wasn’t sure about that. Waiting kept him from getting his heart broken.

He pulled into the underground garage of the building and found a row with a lot of empty spots. They both climbed from the car and walked toward the elevator together.

“You could talk to Dr. Ellen if you feel you need more of a professional opinion.”

“I’ve talked to her often about this and she said the same as you.”

“Oh, I am smart.” She smiled as she pushed the elevator button.

“Ha, ha. I’m glad you enjoy being right.” He paused. “How is the relationship with Tristan?”

She sighed. “He isn’t happy with his job. He doesn’t make enough money, and his songs aren’t selling as well as he’d hoped.”

“Did you ever ask Ericka if she would go with him to the jazz club?”

“I have not. But I should. I think she could really help him. Do you think she would?”

Greg knew she would. Ericka loved to help people. She didn’t care that much about helping herself, but others, that she really cared about.

“I do. I really do.”

His life was in a rut also. Maybe she’d be able to help him as well. If he told her the truth then maybe they could help each other.

****

Quinn had looked for more cameras, but there weren’t any. He returned to the room and Ericka moved aside. Now he sifted through each video file. One by one he watched as people entered the shop. Since there was only one screen, Ericka was forced to sit and wait. She was in a chair that spun, and she took advantage of it, rotating from one side to the other. It was driving him a bit nuts.

“Have you ever felt like you were in a rut?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, like stuck. Just stuck in a situation that you couldn’t get out of.”

“Of course.” He leaned in and narrowed his eyes, but dismissed the video as he recognized that it was just a man handing over a credit card.

“All this time I thought I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be an officer of the law and put families back together. My path was kind of decided for me by my parents. Dad leaving. Mom giving me up on dad’s doorstep and him leaving again. All that kind of sealed my fate. The military was my only option. At eighteen I was pretty much homeless. My grades were good, and I should have been able to get a scholarship to college, but I wasn’t ready.”

Quinn continued to scroll through the footage. He swallowed a couple of times to keep his emotions from showing through.

“I just feel like I’m losing me. That I’m vanishing. Every time I get close to what I wanted for my future it slips through my fingers.”

“What did you want to be when you grew up?”

She chuckled under her breath. “Honestly, a singer.”

“That I believe.”

She put a strand of hair behind her ear. She was a very beautiful woman. He’d not heard anyone say that to her, but it was true. Inappropriate for him to say it, but true.

“Can you believe I had stage fright?”

“Really?”

“Yup. In the high school play my knees started knocking so loudly the director at the back of the room made me leave the stage!”

Quinn smiled but didn’t laugh.

“That dream as well as the one of singing died pretty quickly under the onslaught of negative comments from Cecilia Drust. She was good at shooting a person down.”

“So, you went to the military. Was there a reason other than nowhere else to go?”

“Not really.” She pulled at fibers on her pant legs.

“Well, I’ve heard some pretty interesting stories from Greg about your time there.”

“Oh, really? I haven’t heard him say anything. But I guess he wouldn’t in front of me.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” Quinn wished he hadn’t brought it up. “Anything else you wanted to be?” He prayed there was.

“I don’t really know. I think I had plans, ideas, hopes. But they all kind of went out the window. I went to the military and acquired food, money, shelter. Then when I got out, I was a nurse for a while. Then I went to the academy. It all kind of seemed like a natural progression of things. And now, well now. I don’t know. I’ve seen my father and lost him more times than I can count. My mother may be out there, but I don’t know. I just feel… lost.”

Quinn paused the footage and faced her. “What you need is a night out with friends.”

“Friends? What are those? All I do is work and then more work. When I get home, I’m so bored but I have nothing to do. I have no plants, no animals, no one to talk to.” She palmed her face. “I have nothing.”

Her voice was low, but he’d heard her perfectly.

“Let me tell you what. Tomorrow night we’re going out. We’re going back to that jazz club. This time Tristan is going to play with you.”

“So, I can help him get a job?”

“Yes, and so you can be the singer you want to be and I’m going to bring Fanny. And you and your friends are going to have a night out on the town. What do you say?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Good. I’ll text Maggie and Fanny in a bit. Right now, we have a video to get back to watching.”

As soon as the tape ran, the door opened. The camera had been adjusted or the angle had changed, or something had happened. Because on the screen as plain as day was someone they both knew.

“Andre Rubert.” Ericka said it first and it wasn’t a happy sound.

Chapter Ten

Maria followed Paulo onto the small yacht-like vessel. It had a below cabin for sleeping and the bridge on the top for navigating. And there was a small deck to walk around on. The motor also seemed capable of taking them where they needed to go.

“This will do.” Paulo leaned down below the wheel and opened up a panel. He appeared to be hotwiring the boat. While he was busy, Maria went out of the bridge and looked around. On the floating dock that led to the boat two people were looking back and forth as if searching for someone.

The man lifted his head. Maria got a good look at his face. She swallowed. Something about this man was extremely familiar.

He lifted his head. He noticed her. He stopped. The woman behind him slammed into his back and the dock began to rock. Maria hurried back to Paulo.

“We need to go.”

“I’m working on it.”

“We need to go now. I’ve been spotted.” She didn’t add that she was sure they knew who she was.

Most people thought her dead. She’d kept it that way for years. She’d taken over Josef’s operation since his death, but even before he wasn’t aware of her whereabouts. Now she was about to be caught. Right when she was near the end!

She wouldn’t let it happen.

The motor fired up. He stood and put the engine in reverse to back it out.

“Is the boat still hooked to the dock?”

Paulo shrugged.

Maria groaned as she ran off the bridge and to the side of the boat. It was, indeed, still tethered. Quickly she unwrapped the rope. The couple were headed straight for her.

She unhooked the rope and jumped back onto the boat as Paulo continued to drift backward. Soon they would be in open water where he could put the motor on full blast, and they could jet out of there. They had the manifest. They were the only people who knew where the White Lily would be and when. Once they had found the ship and the captain, then Maria would get her another boat. After she got the boat she would make one more run and then she would have the money to retire to her island.

“Morgan!”

The unfamiliar name had her turning her head. The man on the shifting dock waved his arms frantically. He wanted her to stop, that was clear, but why was he yelling the wrong name?

“I found Ericka!”

The stabbing pain to her heart, the piercing ringing in her ears, brought her to her knees. That was a good thing. The boat lurched forward with increasing speed and threw her backward on the deck. She grabbed a railing and held on before she was flung off into the water.

Time passed before Paulo slowed the vessel and the forces against her eased. She pulled herself to her feet and made her way to the bridge. Paulo smiled and whistled as if he was extremely happy with himself.

“We made it.”

“We did.”

“Now to Fishers Island.”

“And West Harbor.”

Maria said the words, but her earlier enthusiasm had greatly diminished.

Maria settled on the deck of the ship. She crossed her legs and allowed the spray of water to strike her face. She closed her eyes and rocked with the boat.

Ericka.

Morgan.

Why did those names sound familiar?

“Mommy, mommy, mommy!”

“Ericka, quieter honey.” She looked back and forth and held her breath. When she didn’t see Harry, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Ericka danced around the room lifting her skirt by two fingers on each side and spinning in circles. Penny had bought her the dress and Ericka loved it. She’d danced like a princess for hours.

The door slammed against the wall. Morgan grabbed Ericka and pushed her behind her.

The rough tug on her hair caused her to scream. The whack against the wall to her head made stars swirl before her eyes.

Maria opened her eyelids. She wasn’t sure what she’d just seen. She’d not seen the lady in the vision, but she’d felt like it was her. Or maybe she was the child, Ericka. She didn’t remember that much of her childhood when she thought about it.

After she secured her new vessel and a little more money then she might take time to explore her history, her past.

Maybe.

Not now though.

Later.

****

Paulo watched Captain Petrov as she sat trace like on the deck. She’d acted weird since they lost the Black Dahlia. He understood. It had been his ticket to freedom as well. Losing it made life harder.

Rochelle’s securement had helped him. When he escaped to his own island or to a jungle, he would be safe. He’d never have to worry about going to jail or back to the hospital. He’d never been caught. It was extremely satisfying. He could continue his hobby without fear.

The boat bumped like a speed boat along the water as he sped up. Time. Time was of the essence. The manifest listed the time as tomorrow morning. They needed to be on Fishers Island and in position. He was almost certain the captain wouldn’t go for it. He’d rode over with the captain to meet with Maria. She hadn’t taken kindly to his extracurricular activities then and she wouldn’t like them anymore now. He’d cost her a bit of money.

Maria opened her eyes. She peered out over the water. Moments passed before she rose and joined him at the wheel.

“How much longer?”

He gave a time estimate.

She nodded.

He followed the coastline. It was the easiest way to navigate. They would technically be off the coast of Connecticut, but the area was still considered New York. He found it confusing, but he wouldn’t argue.

Hours passed. The sun was dipping on the horizon when they landed at West Harbor. Only around fifty people lived on the island at most times but during the summer the population boomed to several thousand. People rented out the houses for vacation. As he had. Using his new identity to secure the rental still left him worried.

What if an alert went out on the stolen vessel? They might be waiting for them when they arrived.

Paulo drew in a deep breath as he parked next to a floating dock. The rental house sign was evident. He’d called ahead and secured the place. They needed a place to wait on the White Lily. One look around told him that the large luxury liner would be unable to park at the island. That would mean they would be forced to join up on the open water.

Unexpectedly…

The captain of the White Lily wouldn’t like that. And there was no way, that he knew of, to communicate with the vessel.

The motor cut, Paulo assisted Maria out of the boat.

“Nice place.” She stood sure-footed on the wobbly dock and looked around.

“I do what I can.” The praise felt good.

They walked to the house, her in front and him following. He grabbed the key from under a potted plant as the agent had instructed him. He opened the door. Maria went straight for the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

“Stocked.”

“I asked for that.” He was proud of himself. And happy she was pleased. “Shall we find some dinner and maybe eat it on the patio?” He’d insisted the place have a view. They would need it. He just hoped they were on the correct side of the island. Otherwise, they might miss their chance to catch the White Lily.

“Sounds good. What would you like?”

The realtor had left some complete meals already cooked and ready for the oven or the microwave. He pulled meatloaf and mashed potatoes from the fridge and heated them in the microwave.

“Maybe we don’t need the White Lily and we could retire here. This is a nice place.” Maria popped a cracker into her mouth that she’d snagged from a box in the pantry.

“True. But I have other reasons for escaping.”

“Is it all those women you killed?”

Paulo had pulled out his meal and taken one bite. This bite he let hover in the air. “You knew about that?”

“Of course. Regina told me.”

“She did?”

“Do you think that she would let a murderer on my ship without telling me?”

“I wondered.” He didn’t like the idea that Maria knew about his past. He preferred thinking that she was untainted by his indiscretions.

She patted his hand that rested on the counter. “We’ve all done things in our pasts. All I care about now is that we get a new ship and finish our route. Nothing else matters.”

She turned away to the fridge and prepared herself a plate then popped it into the microwave. He wasn’t sure if what she said was true. Now that she knew, he wanted her gone more than ever.

But he would wait.

He was good at two things.

Waiting and making people vanish…

Chapter Eleven

Ericka and Quinn worked late at Rochelle’s. Quinn finally told her to go home and that he would finish or come back the next day. Ericka had been fine with that. Her eyelids had become heavy several times and she’d fallen asleep.

Quinn had noticed.

The alarm beside her head rang again. The snooze of nine minutes hadn’t been enough.

Slowly, she rolled onto her side and sat on the edge of the bed. Arms over her head, she stretched from one side to the other. She put her hands on the side of the bed and let her shoulders slump.

She slid down to the floor and lay down. First, she lengthened her legs and stretched them as far as she could then she added her arms in the opposite direction. Bud or Eliott’s bed had been alongside hers but not now, now she was alone again.

Hands behind her head she began her morning routine. Crunches.

“One… two… three… four.”

At thirty she lifted her legs straight up in the air and crunched to thirty once more. Next froggy position with the legs and thirty more crunches. At the end she drew in a deep breath and flipped over for thirty push-ups followed by thirty mountain climbers. She ended with fifteen burpees. By the time she finished, her stomach burned and her legs hurt. Sweat pooled over her upper chest. She really needed a shower. She had no time for a run today so this would have to do.

She shouldn’t have left Quinn with the videos yesterday, but she was pooped. After running after her father more than likely being drugged and brought back home, then rushing to the office and being thrown directly into another investigation, she’d been too tired to keep going.

Clothes laid out on the bed; she took her time walking to the bathroom. Under the spray, she ran her hands through her hair over and over with the shampoo. Thick foam fell at her feet. Her mind wandered and she lost count of the times she lathered.

Tears coursed down her cheeks. She cried.

Cried hard.

She wasn’t even sure why.

Maybe because of all she’d lost. All the years without her parents. The trust in adults.

Or maybe it was all the loss that she’d witnessed over the years.

She laid her head against the warm stall and waited there until the water ran cold.

Cool water graced her chest, and she quickly finished her shower and turned off the faucet. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her chilled body. Wet strands of hair clung to her face and back.

In front of the mirror, she moved a strand behind her ear. Her eyes were red and puffy.

Greg would drive her to work. He would notice her face. The crying.

She attempted to rub away the evidence, but she was sure it hadn’t worked.

Once dressed she tried again.

Settled on the bed, she pulled on her slacks right leg first. She stood to button them. She pulled the silk cami over her head before putting on her blazer. Today she pulled her hair back tightly into a bun.

She felt ready for war.

Or ready for battle at least.

An alarm on her phone warned her it was almost time to leave. She hurried to the kitchen and popped in a coffee pod. While the one cup ran through, she heated a premade sausage biscuit. The clock on the wall ticked loudly with each second that passed. She finished her coffee and there still wasn’t a knock on her door.

She walked to the front door and lifted the curtain. Gerg’s car wasn’t there.

She lifted her phone to her ear, never taking her eye off the empty driveway. Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe all the tears had affected her vision.

“Hello?”

“Tito, are you at the office?”

“On my way now. What’s up?”

“I seemed to have lost my ride for the day. Do you think—”

“Sure. I’ll swing by and pick you up.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. We can talk about the jazz club. I’ve never been and have no idea what to wear.”

Tito was going to the jazz club?

Wait, he was worried about his wardrobe.

Why did these two things cause butterflies in her stomach?

“Ericka? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t realize Quinn was inviting people.”

He’d said it would be a night out with friends. She’d be helping Tristan and be able to forget about her problems for a while. Now she was going to have to entertain the entire office.

“Are you okay with me going?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. No worries.” Lots of worries. Lots of worries.

“Not to panic you but he may have invited most of the people in the office.”

“Oh.” She swallowed.

“Honestly, I think it was Maggie’s idea when he told her.”

“She wants everyone to hear Tristan play.”

“So I heard.”

Tito pulled in front of her house. “I’m here.”

“I see you. I’m coming.” She hung up the call before grabbing her purse and keys. She locked her door as she stepped out. After bounding down the few steps, she reached his car. She entered the passenger side door and slid onto the seat.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

He backed out on the street. They had a decent drive ahead. Conversation was needed, but she was still thinking about their phone conversation.

“Now about what I should wear…”

****

Greg rubbed his dry, red eyes.

“Boss, you can go take a nap. This is going to take a while.”

“I’m good.”

“Your eyes are hurting me.”

The door opened. Maggie entered with several tall cups of coffee. The aroma made his mouth water. He grabbed a cup from the caddy before she even set it on the desk.

“Whoa, haus, slow down.”

“Can’t or I might fall asleep standing up.” He took a drink of the dark, bitter brew.

“You didn’t go home at all?”

“Not all night.” Quinn grabbed one of the cups without turning his gaze from the monitor.

“Find anything?”

“Found lots of things.” Quinn sipped at the hot liquid.

Greg didn’t have that much patience. He was going to have blisters after this morning.

Maggie sipped her coffee. Only one was left in the caddy. She twisted her head. “Where is Ericka?”

Greg would have said that was the twenty-dollar question, then he remembered. He was her ride! His hand trembled and he almost spilled his coffee, but he managed to grab it in time. A tiny drop of hot liquid seared his hand. The reddening mark would fade, while other things wouldn’t.

Quinn pointed over his shoulder. “Greg forgot her.”

“You what?”

“Well, I didn’t go home, remember? I was here looking through lists of people who sell passports off the books.”

“So, you forgot because you were tired, or you weren’t there to get her?”

“Both.”

Quinn said it with Greg. He appreciated the support.

The door opened and Greg turned.

“Thanks again.” Ericka spoke to someone outside in the hallway. When she closed the door, she faced them with a smile on her lips. It quickly morphed into something else. Not quite a frown, but the happiness from before was diminished.

She grabbed the last coffee. Maybe to hide her anger over being left. He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t really blame her.

A second passed before she asked, “What’s new?”

“Uh…” Quinn looked between them but finally gathered his wits. “Um, thankfully, I was able to move the digital footage here so we could look at more at a time. And so far, we’ve gone through most of the footage leading up to Rochelle’s murder. As far as we can tell there are no other pictures of the murderer. The day he did the deed was the first time he’d entered the building.”

Maggie moved around the room and leaned against her desk. “While Greg searched passports salesmen, I worked on neighboring stores and acquiring their camera footage, but most won’t budge without a court order.”

All the desks were plain. No one had decorated their workspace. There were no pictures of themselves on fancy vacations. No pictures of family or pets. Previously when they’d been in the same room as the rest of the unit the desks had been covered. The private office should have offered more reasons to decorate but the opposite effect had happened. At first, Greg thought it was because no one could see their displays. Now he believed everything was because of the lack of permanency of the situation. If they were forced to leave or move again, they would be forced to change again. Why have so much to move? That was why it had taken him years to put up a poster on his wall at home. Or put pictures on his table. Or even to buy a side table for his couch.

“Good job.” Greg forced the words out. He meant them but he was exhausted and distracted. The Heidi thing was driving him crazy. It shouldn’t be, but it was.

The screen had continued to run. Quinn and the others glanced at it as he spoke.

“Stop!” Ericka’s voice had Quinn slapping his keyboard in an awkward fumbling motion.

“What? What?”

Ericka pointed with her free hand. “It’s Andre Rubert, again.”

“The first time was very early in the footage. This is getting closer to Rochelle’s death.”

“What? You found Rubert there before and you didn’t mention it?”

Quinn massaged his eye sockets. “Yeah, we saw him before. He came in and talked then left. Look now…”

Andre peered over the counter. Then he leaned back, he might have crossed himself, Greg couldn’t be sure. But then he looked around the room. Perhaps looking for cameras.

Greg would have done that.

“If Rubert was there he had a reason.”

“He needed help.” Ericka’s voice dropped low.

Maggie continued, “With?”

“Finding Eliott? Getting free of France.”

“He was here though.” Quinn continued to squint at the screen.

“True. They made it across, but they got caught.”

“Wait.” Ericka leaned in and squinted. She swallowed hard. “That is Eliott’s fake mommy.”

“What?”

“Eliott showed Tito and me a picture of his fake mommy. Rochelle. That was his fake mommy. He said something about her taking him places.”

“Probably to get his picture made for his new I.D.” Greg began to pace across the tiny office.

“You realize this means—” Maggie started.

Greg finished, “The White Lily and Rochelle’s death are connected.”

****

Maria watched Paulo. He’d moved to the front porch of the bungalow and held a pair of binoculars to his face. The White Lily would run silent. No radios would be used, or it might give away her position.

Maria realized that the White Lily would never approach the island. It was too small for the ship to dock. Maria sucked in a breath. Paulo had said she gave him the manifest. She would never have given him the real one. He was a murderer. At first, she hadn’t believed it, but then she’d seen him.

So, if she hadn’t given him the real one, that meant she gave him the fake manifest. She’d had two on the off chance they were raided. One she kept on the bridge under lock and key to look authentic. The other she had two copies of. One in her room, the other she kept elsewhere.

Even though one was incorrect, she had created a code in the second one. If she got a good look at the manifest she could figure out where the actual docking place would be, maybe. Captain Regina Shaw would be looking for them wherever she was supposed to be. They had agreed to take another load of prisoners and cut out the middleman. Which was a good thing since according to a recent news update, she’d seen while at the vacation house the middlemen and women were in jail now.

Shaw didn’t like to lose money.

Neither did she.

A bee buzzed by her head. She swiped at it, but it kept coming. Eventually she moved away from the flowers it sought. It kept coming back. Just like her mind kept going back to the past. She couldn’t stop thinking about the past she couldn’t remember.

That last raid had become like an addictive drug to her. She was comfortable, but she was tired of living with it. That’s why she wanted it over. But Sloan and Roxanne getting busted had ruined that.

“I think we should ride out there and wait.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. If Regina sees us there, she won’t approach. We have no way to warn her.”

“Then what’s your idea?” Paulo laid down the binoculars and crossed his massive arms over his chest.

She smiled. “Let’s get taken.”

She had the perfect plan.

Oh, it was going to be so much fun. If her brain could remember the details to execute it.

Chapter Twelve

Maggie drove and Ericka peered out the window. Maggie had lucked up and got a business to agree to share their footage without a court order. Before they changed their minds, Greg had suggested they go retrieve the footage.

Ericka would have loved to have gone with Greg. They needed to talk. But he’d said he was too tired to drive. It seemed to be a true statement. He’d closed his eyes several times while they were talking to him.

“Thank you for doing the club tonight.”

“Sure.”

“I know you really don’t like all the attention.”

Truthfully, beforehand she did hate it. But during the actual event she was in a different world. She could enjoy it under certain conditions.

“Who all did Quinn invite? That’s what’s really bothering me.” She wasn’t sure if Quinn or Maggie had done the inviting, but blaming Quinn seemed easier since he wasn’t there.

“Well, I wasn’t aware he invited anyone. I thought he said it was going to be just friends going out.”

Ericka wouldn’t add and helping Tristan with his career. But she did say, “He invited Tito.”

“Oh.”

“That oh is loaded.”

She didn’t turn, but she bit her lip. “Well, I think Greg is coming too.”

“Fantastic.”

Just what she needed. Two men she liked in the same spot watching her perform when she really didn’t want to. The last time she’d been so uncomfortable knowing that Greg was there, but that didn’t last. However, since he wasn’t really talking to her at the moment, she didn’t know what to think.

Maggie found a spot, parked, jumped out, and fed the meter. Ericka climbed out a step behind. She put her hands in her pockets and entered the jewelry store.

Before Maggie or she could speak the woman behind the counter stretched out her arm and handed them a video tape.

“Here. I pulled everything around those days. Now I have work to do, please leave. I have a buyer coming in and I really want to sell the story and get out of here. This street gets more and more unsafe by the day.”

Ericka understood, but the rudeness surprised her.

“Uh, thanks, I guess.” Maggie led the way out. “That was weird.”

“It means she watched the video.”

“You think she saw something?”

Ericka glanced over her shoulder at the window. “Maybe.”

The woman had followed them to the door and locked a deadbolt as well as another lock. Then she raced back to the counter and began packing items. Jewelry boxes were stacked in bigger boxes all while the lady kept looking out the window.

“She’s scared.”

“Really scared.” Maggie had noticed as well. “Let’s get this back to Quinn so he can find out what this has to do with the lady being so terrified.”

Ericka held the video tape in her hands. Quinn intercepted the text that they needed a VCR without question or comment. She assumed one would be there when they arrived.

“Do you think you could manage a little Ray Charles tonight?”

“Uh?’

“Tonight. Tristian plays the piano, remember?”

“I do.”

“So, maybe a little Hit the Road Jack?”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Thanks, Ericka. Again.”

“Glad I can help.”

She was glad to help. She did wish that it was anywhere but the club. The club was the last place she’d felt normal. The place she’d secretly seen her father before he became some secret something, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know what.

She’d run out of the sanatorium and jumped in Sasha’s car before she’d received all the answers. Learning that her mother had taken the place of a notorious criminal wasn’t something she’d wanted to dwell on. And what had he thought she could do about it? Sure, find her. Everyone wanted her mother or “Maria Petrov” found, but what happened afterward?

Ericka had taken a sip of the water bottle Sasha had given her and immediately blacked out. Why they wanted to drug her on the way home had been a complete mystery. Again, what wasn’t a mystery about her life?

Maggie pulled into a parking space. Ericka realized they’d made it back to the office. She’d been daydreaming the entire time. The tape had some moisture built up where she’d squeezed it between her hands.

Maggie forced her fingers free and took the tape. “We may not get another copy.”

“Yes, sorry.”

Maggie took the tape and they both stepped from the car. Ericka attempted to breathe deeply without being noticed but it didn’t work. Maggie probably thought she was nervous about her performance. Part of her wished that was the case.

They entered the elevator. Maggie started to speak but stopped when other people entered behind them. They rode in silence up to the fourteenth floor. When they stepped off the elevator one could have heard a pin drop.

The open area was empty. The office doors closed.

Beta Team’s door was closed. Ericka eyed it as they passed. Tito could be in there learning things about Maria Petrov right now. Like where she was headed.

At the club she would ask for an update. She didn’t think her father would seek her out for help after drugging her and her running away, but if she had information then she might be able to keep his attention longer. She wanted to talk to him about something other than family drama. Maybe family history. Or why he’d left her outside the hospital alone. But apparently, she wasn’t meant to have those answers.

She’d have to settle for finding her mother before the others did. It might be the only way to keep her out of prison.

****

Director Manis paced in the Beta Team office. “While you guys were looking around with your thumbs up your rears, Petrov and a strange man managed to steal a boat and escape right under your noses. Fortunately for you, the owner had a GPS tracker and it picked up the signal on Fishers Island.”

Tito didn’t like the reaming from his father, but it was obvious from Blake’s red face and fisted hands that he liked it even less. Having one’s butt handed to them was never pleasant.

“I’ve sent the Coast Guard a message to check the area. They will be there faster than we can secure permission to take a boat to the island off the Connecticut coastline. Once Petrov has been located you will be in place to apprehend her. So, grab your gear and go.”

Blake and the others scrambled to grab their go bags that were stowed against the wall in an unceremonious pile. Tito waited until the area cleared before reaching out and grabbing his own bag.

His dad looked at him with one brow lifted. Tito didn’t really have much to say. They’d followed every lead they’d been given; they just hadn’t been given many leads. Blake wasn’t big on going and getting things either. He set back and let them do it while he ‘managed’. He wasn’t the best manager either.

Tito didn’t stop to talk to his dad. The last thing he needed was to look like he was receiving special treatment.

Blake muttered under his breath for the entire drive. A black van and a driver had been provided so everyone on the team got to be in attendance for the spectacle.

“I can’t believe he did that. Made me look like a fool in front of everyone. I know how to do my job. I was running my team way before he showed up.”

Nick elbowed him in the ribs and nodded his head in Tito’s direction, but Blake wasn’t about to shut up. Tito didn’t really need to tell his father anything. The driver was the one that Blake should worry about. Tito had seen the man on several occasions very close to his father.

Blake kept going and Tito tried to ignore him and do some research on his phone.

If he’d estimated correctly, it would take them a little over two and a half hours to reach New London, Connecticut. This was where they were supposed to meet up with the Coast Guard and attempt to go out to Fishers Island. If they spooked Maria Petrov or the strange man she was with then they might have a problem, but for now they had the upper hand.

Finally, Blake grumbled too just himself. They rode over bumps in the road that jolted them off their seats. Tito would have complained, but Blake was doing enough of that for everyone.

“Hey, tell me about your new girl?” Nick seemed to be trying to distract Blake. Tito hoped it worked.

“What new girl?”

“The one you’re with every night. I keep calling your house and your never home.”

Blake lowered his face and scratched his forehead. From the side of his mouth, but still loud enough for everyone to hear, he said, “It’s not just one girl.”

Nick’s eyes widened. He lifted his hand for a high five. “Dude!”

“I know.” Blake swiped one shoulder than the other. “What can I say.”

Tito remembered that line, although a different action, from an old show called, “Good Times.” He wouldn’t call Blake out on it. At least he wasn’t complaining. Besides, Tito was a bit disgusted by the entire thing. Burle was as well. He wrung his hands over and over and kept his head pointed toward the floor.

After that the others in the van decided to tout their conquests. Tito rolled his eyes on numerous occasions. It was like a high school locker room, only worse. These men had had too long to perfect their stories.

“This girl’s skirt was so short when she bent over, I could see her hot pink thong. I was interested. Put myself out there, asked for a dance. Then this other girl showed up and started wailing on her for being at the club in the first place. She pulled her right out of there.” Nick sighed. “It was a sad day.”

“I can’t wait to see what Detective Stone wears to the club tonight.”

That made Tito and Burle’s heads snap upward.

“I heard the last time she wore this slinky little number up top that didn’t have a back. What’s she like Tito? Should I pursue?”

Tito reared back his arm and sent his fist into Nick’s face. Nick didn’t fight back, he just massaged his jaw and smiled. He’d known exactly how to get Tito’s goat.

He moved his hand from his face, shifted his jaw back and forth, and then leaned forward. “Thank you for that. I’ve been tired of looking at your smug face this entire time. Now, you may not be here for me to look at any longer.”

Burle restrained Tito’s arms behind him and scooted them as far from the other two as the van would allow.

“He did that to you on purpose. The entire thing was a set-up. Now they can get you on assault and your father may not be able to save you.”

Tito divested himself from Burle and massaged his fist. Burle was probably right. Blake winked at him. Nick leaned his head back and smirked. Even with the large purple area forming he still managed to look like he’d won an important game.

Tito was going to be sick.

Chapter Thirteen

Lex was going to be sick. The smells. The sights. The building in general. It was all too much. At first, he thought he could handle it. Sure, why not? He was tough. He’d been through things.

But now he’d done things.

Things he wasn’t proud of.

Things he could never repent of.

“Hey, Lex. Whatcha doing tonight?”

Jess had assimilated to the gang practically overnight. Lex was taking more time to accept his fate. He’d fulfilled his enrollment fee, but he didn’t feel good about it.

They had been required to. They took an envelope. Whatever was written inside was the act they were responsible for. Some had to rob a store. Others had to grab a purse. Some were required to take a life.

His envelope had required…

“Dude, are you ready for tonight? I heard we’re having a feast. Like suit and tie kind of thing.”

Lex would have joked about checking his wardrobe for the proper attire, but Jess appeared genuinely excited.

“I’ve never even sat at a table for dinner. Ma didn’t have one. Said she didn’t need to waste money on that kind of stuff.”

Lex had had a family. He’d had large family dinners at his grandmother’s. Then everything came crashing down. He’d been taken in the night without explanation and put into a hellhole someone deemed a home. Now he was here. At first, he’d believed this was better. He had food, clothes, and shelter. Now he wasn’t sure if it was better or just a different kind of torture.

“So, you dressing up? I grabbed some clothes from a line. I think there might be something to fit you as well.”

Jess was an expert thief.

He pickpocketed at events.

Stole purses from shopping carts.

Apparently, he also stole clothes from clotheslines.

“Let me see.”

Lex had no desire to go through used clothes much less wear them. But the glorious leader was throwing a soiree and if he had to attend then he knew he needed to dress appropriately. Enough had happened at Southside for him to garner some of what was expected of him.

He’d lived in a fine home with a seemingly nice foster family, at least until the doors closed and the neighbors went home. He had the scars to prove it. Scars they’d hidden under fine, fancy clothes.

He hated nice clothes.

He hated what they’d done to him.

He hated who he’d become.

He looked at his hands. The one started to tremble. The feel of the weapon in his hand would never leave him.

He’d had to do it, right?

There had been no choice.

****

Paulo and Maria were on the yacht headed to meet the White Lily. This was as precise as they could get with location and timing. At least from the manifest he’d read over.

Concern had made his heart skip a beat. Maria had been cagey most of the day. It was as if she had a secret she didn’t desire to share.

“We should be at the coordinates shortly.”

Maria’s only response was a nod.

Maybe she feared him and what he was capable of. He’d seen fear in the eyes of others, and she didn’t seem to be exhibiting it. Honestly, it was odd that she wasn’t afraid.

He came to the location and cut the motor.

“What now?”

Why would Maria ask that? She knew the only way they would survive was by securing another vessel to carry prisoners. She should realize they would need to wait for the White Lily to show.

Maybe she was losing her marbles. She had been acting weirder than usual. After those people almost caught them on the docks, she’d been going into trances and mumbling to herself. If he didn’t think that she could talk to the captain and get somewhere then he would have left her or done to her like he’d done to the others. But he needed her.

It was that simple.

“We wait.”

“Oh, yes. Wait.” She settled in the chair and folded her hands in her lap. Then she started to whistle!

The tune was a childhood song, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Even odder than the tune, was her mannerisms. She looked happy! Like super happy. He might have thought it was because she thought they were about to be rescued, but he was almost certain it wasn’t that. Something wasn’t right.

She’d mentioned they should get caught, that it would be fun. Then she’d gone into the house and packed her back and waited on the bench. He’d asked why and she’d looked at him like he was crazy and said to get on the boat and meet the White Lily.

He’d let the incident go, because it was too late to do anything else. The captain on the White Lily would want to see Maria before she would give them a vessel, of that, he was sure.

Again, he needed her.

Heat caused him to start to sweat. He fanned himself with his hand but that did very little.

“Where is the ship? It should have been here by now.”

“Um, can I ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you get the manifest that you’re carrying around?”

“Where did I get… you gave it to me. Remember?”

“From my safe?” She paused and tilted her head to the side.

“I guess so. Does that matter?”

“Maybe.”

“I watched you.” He shrugged. “When the ship went down, I went to my room where I’d placed it for you and got it so that we could find the White Lily.”

She tsked under her breath. “You know, I should have asked you when you first pulled it out, but I just wasn’t thinking. But now, I have something that you need to know.”

“What is that?” Extra sweat beaded his brow and ran into his eyes.

She paced in the small area. She cupped her hand around her mouth and spoke from the side. “You see, that manifest, the one you’ve been carrying, reading, quoting. It is meaningless.”

“What?”

“It’s fake.”

“Fake?”

“You keep repeating me, I guess this is because of your shock. But the manifest in my office was put there to protect the White Lily in case we were ever raided. If they followed that list, they would never find her. Nope, I’m afraid the real list went down with the Black Dahlia.”

“Down with the ship?” He knew he sounded breathless. He could hear it.

“Yes, down with the ship. Poof. Vanished. There was one other copy, but it isn’t here. Captain Shaw and I would plan the route for the entire year and stash one extra copy in a secure location.”

“Where is that?” He held his breath.”

“I’m not giving it up so easily. You’ll need to take us back to land and find us a car. I’ll drive.”

He held his tongue. The only way he was ever going to get to stop running was to find a ship and get away. People would always be looking for him otherwise. He’d done terrible things.

Terrible.

He was considering doing another terrible thing right now.

****

Tito fought his urge to lose his lunch on the choppy ocean. If he ever reached land again, he might not leave. They would have to teleport him off Fishers Island.

“We’re here. This was the last known location of the GPS transponder.”

They docked in front of the cottage-like house. The light blue wood paneling was accentuated by window boxes full of colorful flowers. It really looked like a postcard setting. It might be a nice place for a honeymoon.

If Tito ever had a honeymoon. That would imply that he had a date. And then a girlfriend.

He massaged his face and rubbed his blurry eyes. His stomach rolled. He needed to get off the boat.

He jumped onto the dock and ran toward the house. He made it to the well-manicured bushes before he lost his lunch. Part of him worried about ridicule until he looked left and saw Nick and Blake in the same position not that far away.

When he stood, one of the Coast guards gave him a bottle of water.

“Thanks.”

He took a good look at her as he drew a long swig of the water. She was petite with brown hair and gold wire rimmed glasses. She kept pushing them up, but he hadn’t noticed them falling. Her brown hair was pinned up under her hat. He wondered how long her hair was.

He took another swig of the water, swished it around, and spit it out. It’d been a while since he’d noticed anyone other than Ericka. Maybe that was a good thing.

“This is the house.” She pulled her weapon and approached.

Tito lowered the bottle and hurried to follow. The guard couldn’t be more than five feet tall and not more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. She didn’t need to be rushing into a house by herself with a potential murderer. Not when there were three buff guys that were with her.

That was sexist. He could feel it.

But he liked to protect women. It was in his nature.

Blake, Nick, and Tito quickly loosened their guns from their holsters and approached the house.

“Coast Guard, open up.” The officer knocked while bellowing the words.

There was no reply.

She tried again.

Blake tried.

Nick tried.

Tito refrained. No one was at the house because no boat was at the house. He gave a cursory glance around the area. In the hedgerow next to the door was a black box. He reached down and lifted it up.

“The GPS.” The lady sighed and pushed her cap back off her head. Her brown hair was wrapped in an unceremonious bun atop her head. If her hair was released, he could see it reaching her waist.

He wondered what the strands would feel like between his fingers. Would they be coarse, or would they flow through like silk?

He heard a noise. She was snapping at him.

“Earth to agent.”

“Oh, yes, sorry.”

“Were you admiring me?”

He cocked his brow. “I might have been.”

“Hmm… Honesty. I don’t get that very often, so I’ll allow it.”

“Well, thank you.”

She took the box from him. Their fingers grazed. Electrical pulses shot up his arm. He thought it might reach his heart and fry something. She paused in her movement as well. She’d felt it too.

How could that be?

He’d just met this lady.

He might never see her again.

How could he connect with a stranger on this level?

“Come on lovebirds. It’s obvious they left before we arrived. The stranger with Maria Petrov no doubt discovered the GPS box and left it here so we wouldn’t follow.”

“Well, they couldn’t have gotten far.”

“How do you know?” Tito was intrigued by every word that came from this woman’s mouth. He needed to know her name. Although he felt even that wasn’t important at the moment.

“I’ll show you.” She took it back to the vessel and plugged in the box. A list of where the vehicle had been popped onto the screen. “See, this was when they arrived here, and this is our time now. There is a two-hour difference.”

Blake ran his hand through his hair. “They’ve went out to find the White Lily.”

“The White Lily?” The lady started to flip through a black binder next to the steering wheel. “Does it look like this?”

“We have no idea.” Tito studied the picture. White Lily was clearly painted on the side. And there were people waving from atop the railing.

“This has to be it. The White Lily left France three weeks ago and hasn’t reported in despite her return being listed in New York for last week.”

“You knew about the White Lily?”

“Of course. It’s a cruise liner that comes from Europe on a regular basis. Honestly, I would never ride on it. I think these people must get discounted rates. Over half the voyages the ship gets raided. Sometimes they lose cargo. Sometimes they lose people. The Coast Guard investigated them on a few occasions, but they could never prove any collusion.” She looked between them. “What?”

“The man we’ve come to find. He and Maria Petrov took people from that ship. Originally, it was assumed they were operating the White Lily, but an agent in custody filled in some blanks and now we have a different theory. Their ship was lost at sea, and we believe they are attempting to meet up with the White Lily and secure another vessel.”

The lady laughed. “Good luck with that. The Coast Guard already followed their planned route, and the White Lily has disappeared. Either they went down at sea, or they are hiding somewhere. They are nowhere near where these two are going.”

Tito sucked in his breath.

“All the family has been informed.”

Blake moved closer and made a circle with him, Nick, and Tito. “Do you think they dropped off more people or do we really think they just disappeared?”

“It’s been a week. They are apparently telling the Coast Guard most of their routes or they couldn’t check up on them.” Nick made a good point.

“What does this all mean?”

“I can hear you guys, you know.”

The agent needed to let them discuss, but then again, she knew vastly more about the White Lily than they did.

“Maybe we should ask her some questions.” Tito was all for drawing her in. He wanted to know more about her and more about the ship, of course.

“Fine.” Blake faced her. He squinted his eyes to get a better look at her. “Captain Regina Shaw.”

She smiled a crooked smile and held out her hand. “It’s so nice to meet fellow officers. I’ll be glad to do anything I can to help.”

Chapter Fourteen

Ericka settled in the chair as Quinn ran the video tape in an ancient player. People had gone in and out of Rochelle’s the entire day. Some left with tiny, dainty bags others had larger bags. There wasn’t a consistency to suggest why Rochelle was taken out.

The afternoon wore on as they continued to watch. The video tape held many more hours of video than she’d thought possible.

A man entered. They could see him through the glass. Rochelle handed him an envelope then she had turned away from him. When she did, he held up his finger in the shape of an upside-down L as if pretending to shoot her. When she turned back to face him, he had a smile on his face. He didn’t buy anything. He just exited the store.

“Zero in on his face.”

“But he didn’t shoot her.”

“No, but he pretended to. In case we find him later we need to have the clearest image possible.”

Greg had a good point.

Quinn followed the instructions and did his best to blow up the footage and move it to a different screen on his computer.

The video resumed. A punk looking kid with a black hoodie came into view. He kept touching his nose and sniffing. From the angle it was impossible to tell if he was white or black, or any other color. He flipped his nose. It almost looked like he drew in a deep breath before stepping inside. The flash of a gun going off was seen through the window. When the gunman came back out to the street he looked directly at the camera.

Quinn zoomed in.

“So, it wasn’t Rupert.”

“It seems not.”

“It was a kid.” Ericka couldn’t stop looking at the screen. The hesitation in the action. The flick of the nose. The style of clothing.

“It was a gang initiation.” Her voice lowered.

Maggie looked at the screen then back at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I mean, I never worked on gangs, but I helped out a few times. That nose thing. The stopping and looking before entering. We saw kids doing that outside Rochelle’s when we found the cameras. And look. It almost looks like the kid doesn’t really want to do it but doesn’t feel like he has a choice.”

“Ericka not to sound like a jerk, but you can’t connect to every child you see. Just because you had a rough childhood doesn’t mean that everyone does, and they don’t have a home and they don’t have a place to go without committing murder.”

The words from Greg stung. He knew her history better than anyone there. Of course, she looked at kids through the lens of her experience. That’s what made her so good at her job.

She swallowed and nodded.

What more could she do?

Maggie slapped him across the chest. He rubbed the area but didn’t apologize.

Ericka would have walked out. Maybe she should have. But she had a job to do. She needed to solve Rochelle’s murder and that was what she intended to do. If Greg wanted to hurt her feelings then let him. She could take it. She was a big girl.

She was Detective Ericka Stone.

“Quinn I’m going to run a list of gangs in the area. See if you can find any kind of insignia on him.”

“All right.”

Quinn moved the photo to his computer with a bit of Quinn magic and began to zoom in on various body parts.

“What should I do?” Maggie was asking. She seemed eager to help or maybe eager to step away from Greg.

Ericka had many ideas for how she could help. “Maybe call gangs at the local precinct and see if you can get information on escalated crime. I know the area is already bad, but if they got new recruits, it would be even worse.”

“On it.”

Greg got a call and lifted his phone to his ear. A frown formed on his face as he left the room.

“Don’t worry about him. I think that Heidi wants to break up with him.”

Ericka hadn’t realized they were an item. She wasn’t really concerned about his love life either. If it affected their work, then she was concerned but just because she wouldn’t be talked to like he had just talked to her.

“As sad as it is that Greg has love life issues, we have a case to solve. That kid there killed Rochelle and we’ve been looking for the wrong person this entire time.”

Maggie applauded but didn’t make noise before picking up the phone and calling more people.

Quinn continued watching the footage.

Ericka peeked at her watch. If she left soon maybe she could visit the sanatorium before the concert at the jazz club. That was if she could remember where it was.

An alarm on Maggie’s phone went off. She rose. “Time to leave and get ready.”

“What?” Ericka snapped her head upright.

“I don’t think I asked, I meant to ask, but I must have forgotten, but I wanted your help dressing for tonight. You looked fantastic last time, and I really want to impress Tristan.”

“I think he’s impressed enough already. Dude moved across several states for you.”

“Yeah, but I’m not as glamorous as the music chicks he hangs out with.”

Quinn and Maggie went back and forth discussing how Tristan felt while Ericka looked on. She bit her bottom lip. If she had to help Maggie, then she wouldn’t have time to go back.

If she had some time to research the place, she knew she could find it. And what was hidden there. She knew it. Something that she hadn’t seen the first time. The fascination with meeting her father in person after all these years had kept her distracted from what she was good at… detecting.

Now it would be tomorrow before she could find out anything.

“So, are we ready?” Maggie looked hopeful.

“You two go on and I’ll meet you there with Fanny. She’s looking forward to this almost as much as Maggie is. She hasn’t gotten to do very much since she moved here. I’ve been so busy; she’s largely been on her own.”

Ericka understood, but the pressure to entertain the entire unit and their significant others was a little much.

She forced a grin. “I guess we’re going shopping in our closets then.”

Maggie giggled and danced on her toes. “This is so much fun!”

Ericka would take her word for it.

****

An alarm buzzed on Tito’s phone. The concert at the jazz club would start in a few hours. He’d set the alarm as a time to head home, change, and mentally prepare himself. A video had gone around of Ericka the last time she’d performed at the club. The red shirt and skintight pants had almost undone him. But now, now his emotions were being rivaled by this lady before him. Captain Regina Shaw was confident, brave, and other things he didn’t know but desired to find out.

That was if Nick didn’t report him for the incident and he lost his job. He needed to control his temper better when it came to Ericka. Captain Regina Shaw might just be the lady to help with that.

“What now? We can’t sit around and wait for them to return. And if the White Lily has truly vanished then they will plan another escape route.”

“Got it.” Micah called out from the other room.

They gathered around his computer.

“They were headed close by, the coast of Connecticut, in fact.”

“Let’s go.” Blake made the announcement and they followed, even Regina.

Aboard her vessel she and her crew took the coordinates assumed and charted the way.

Tito grabbed binoculars and started looking into the distance. A few times he strayed over until Regina was in his sights.

She smoothed a strand of lose hair behind her ear and smiled in his direction. Then she winked.

He’d been caught in his admiration.

There were worse things.

The motor’s throttle eased until they only bobbed in the water.

“This is it, boys.”

Blake looked around in a full circle. “Where are they?”

“If I had a guess, they realized the White Lily wasn’t coming and they made their way to New London. It’s the perfect place to go from here. Good docks. Closer than some places, but also hidden.”

Blake scratched his head. “Can we go there?”

“Sure.” Regina gave the order, and they took off again.

Tito knew this little adventure would probably keep him from his desired evening activities. But spending time with Regina was a plus. Maybe he would have time to invite her to the next jazz club singing.

****

Regina smiled at the officer. He wasn’t bad looking. He even had a bad boy look that she enjoyed. Didn’t really matter, though. Relationships weren’t for her. She needed to find Maria before she escaped forever. She’d had no idea the middle-aged woman would take off with Paulo when the ship sank. Why hadn’t she gone with the others she knew instead of the devil she didn’t?

The man was certifiable but not how he thought. Still, Maria was in trouble. They’d been pushing the envelope for the last few years. Moving people was one thing. Selling them back to their government was another. She’d never wanted to do that. Choosing her life order hadn’t been in the cards for her for a long time.

One goes where they are put or grow where they’re planted or some such nonsense.

It was nice to pretend she was a normal woman who could have and accept pursuit, but it wasn’t true.

Blake watched her like a hawk. She’d guessed about Paulo’s and Maria’s intent, but after studying a map it wasn’t a big leap. With time they would have guessed, well maybe. The officers in this group didn’t seem to sharp on the uptake at times.

What she couldn’t figure out was why Paulo and Maria were looking for the White Lily here? It was a terrible location. Land was on both sides and too many vessels of varying sizes so they could easily be spotted. Regina remembered Maria’s kept a fake manifest in case the vessel was seized. Why would she use it knowing it was not real?

Paulo.

Maybe she was trying to shake him.

Regina needed to think where they might go. Maria would need help. Since she’d shown up after all those years, Regina had assisted her to grow in the business. It was the only way to keep Josef and his cronies happy. Now that Josef was gone the cronies were even worse. Both Regina and Maria planned to escape, but they needed more than they had.

Finding Maria was a must.

Part of her thought of mentioning something to the officer with the wandering eye. But she would have to admit to her part. She could say she was coerced or forced. It wasn’t entirely untrue. To an extent, she was forced. At least it had started that way.

But telling about her part in the plot, she couldn’t do it. Fear held her back. What if he didn’t understand?

She smiled and looked back over the water. Ironically it was her day job that was going to help her evade capture.

The water grew choppy.

Wind gusts lifted her hair off her neck. She picked up the radio to report her position, but it just as quickly calmed.

“Land! Praise God for Land!”

Blake Hager was the supposed leader of this group. He acted more like a child in men’s clothing. His talk of conquests disgusted her, but she knew he was a better mark than Tito Santos.

Santos had been giving her googling eyes all day, so he liked what he saw. However, he was honorable. Not one advance had come her way.

She smiled and winked at Hager. Red dotted his cheeks above the scraggly amount of facial hair that attempted to grow on his face.

“We’ll be there shortly. While I have no jurisdiction on land would you mind if I tagalong? I’d like to see this one through. The White Lily has been a thorn in my side for some time.” She hoped she sounded convincing.

“Sure, sugar. You can come with us.”

She smiled but secretly wished she could write him up for harassment. His day was coming. She could feel it.

And so was hers.

The White Lily waited for her. Another ship was due today. But the weather patterns were cause for concern. Several times over the week she’d almost cancelled the event. But she held out.

Sometimes the White Lily had actual paying passengers. It was the only way to maintain their cover. So far, it had worked perfectly. But their name was becoming synonymous with the “bad people”.

After this trip she had plans to change the name of the ship.

But this trip was booked. It was a simple job. All they had to do was pick the people up and drop them off. It was supposed to be to the Black Dahlia, but that changed to the Maroon Peacock after the other ship sank. Now, she wasn’t sure what was happening.

Just one more time and the White Lily could officially retire and vanish from the face of the earth forever. Now that was something to look forward to.

Chapter Fifteen

“So, this would look good.” Ericka held the outfit in front of Maggie.

Maggie took the clothing and placed it before her studying herself in the mirror. “Um, I’m not sure. I want sexy, but not too sexy. You know?”

Oh, Ericka knew. Maggie had said the same line about fifteen times over the last hour. Ericka had one last idea. She’d brought the outfit she wore last time. Although she was taller than Maggie, she still thought it would work. She was also sure that the image Maggie had in her mind needed to be debunked or accepted. The theory had worked in the past so why not this time.

She pulled it out of her bag. Maggie grabbed it and raced to the bathroom. When she returned a smile spread across her face. “I love it!”

The pants were a little long, but they fit tight. Ericka was just glad the torment was over.

“But what will you wear?” Maggie bit her bottom lip before she looked in the mirror and smiled at herself again.

Ericka patted her shoulder. “I’m fine. But I do need to head home and get ready.”

“Of course! I’ll drive you and—”

“I’ll take a cab. You’re already dressed, and Tristan will be here to pick you up soon. He’s supposed to be at the club early to check the instruments.”

Maggie nodded. “Thank you, Ericka.”

“Any time.”

Ericka left the apartment, rode the elevator downstairs, and stepped onto the curb. She’d missed her run, and she was in loafers. She thought about walking or running to the subway station, then taking a bus, it would be cheaper than a cab. She’d tried Tito earlier only to learn he was on assignment and might miss the entire event.

A cab would seriously affect her car budget, but it would also keep her from getting sweaty. Time for a shower didn’t seem like it was in the cards.

A honk caused her to look up and place her hand on the butt of her weapon.

Quinn waved from the front seat of his car. He rolled down the passenger window. “Need a ride?”

“How did you know?”

“Fanny.”

“Fanny?”

“Yeah. She said you would dress Maggie and then have not time for yourself. And I want you to have time for yourself to get ready, since you’re sort of doing this because I asked you.”

“Well thank you for Fanny and you.”

Quinn pulled out into the slow-moving traffic. “I was about to callup to see if you’d already left. I’d been waiting awhile.”

“Maggie was going for a certain, um, look.”

“She wore your outfit from before, right?”

“Yes. How did you know that?”

He shrugged. “Just a hunch. It was all she’d talked about after that last time.”

“I wish I’d known that before I suggested the first fifteen outfits.”

He laughed. “Listen, Fanny will meet us at the club. You just take your time getting dolled up and I’ll wait in the car.”

“You can come in.”

“You sure?”

“Yup. One day maybe I’ll have time to throw a dinner party, and everyone can see my house, but today it can be just you. I might be able to offer you a glass of water. Maybe even with ice.”

“Good one. The life of an on-the-go agent. Always an empty fridge.”

Greg and Tito had both been inside her home. It was well furnished but vague on details about her. No pictures or other personal items decorated a wall or a shelf. Not that she had pictures. Cecilia wasn’t big on taking pictures of her foster kids.

There were some generic pictures. Ones that came with the frames that were hung after her home was ransacked. She’d left them up. They made the house feel more like a home, even though she had no idea who she was looking at.

Quinn pulled into the empty driveway and cut the engine. Hands on the steering wheel, he seemed to hesitate about moving. Maybe he didn’t truly believe she wanted him inside.

She opened the door, stepped out, then leaned back in. “Well come on. We’ve got a show to put on.”

His mouth shifted into a large smile as he opened the door and stepped out. He placed his hands in his pockets as he followed her. That could have made it more difficult to climb the steps, but he seemed to handle it with ease.

At the door she placed her key inside and pushed. Everything was as it had been that morning, she was happy to say.

“Go to the kitchen and grab yourself a drink. I’m going to head to my bedroom and see what I have to wear.”

“I hope you have an idea.” His voice sounded distant as they separated in the house.

“Oh, I do.”

She closed her bedroom door and opened the bi-fold doors to her closet. It was filled with work pants and shirts. Several different pairs of shoes were lined up neatly and perfectly along the bottom. Strappy sandals, high heels, flats, and her work loafers were all plain to see.

She’d thought about her own outfit as she was helping Maggie. She hadn’t wanted to wear what she’d worn before anyway. Those who had seen her on stage would remember. Besides, she had a few different outfits that she’d been looking forward to wearing.

The yellowish orangish shirt had a cowled neckline that was accentuated by the beaded spaghetti straps. The short black skirt rested a little above her knees. She pulled her hair into a bun and added golden hooped earrings to her ears.

Shoes were the only thing left.

Last time she hadn’t thought about how the shoes would feel on stage. She was already elevated. Making herself even taller made her feel like she was going to fall.

This time she went with a pair of strappy golden sandals. The heel was there, but it wasn’t the over-the-top heel like last time.

She studied herself in the mirror. She smoothed the skirt down over her legs. Fortunately, she had a bit of a natural tan to her skin. The New York weather up until now had been so cold that going outside had been unthinkable. She grabbed a white jacket just in case. Now she might be able to get a little sun.

If she could find the time.

She drew in a deep breath and stepped out into the living room. Deep down she hoped that Quinn was close by and would offer some feedback. She was going on the stage at his request.

Fanny, his new girlfriend, needed a night on the town.

Tristan, Maggie’s boyfriend, needed to meet the right crowd and try to get another job.

Greg might be there with Heidi to try and salvage their relationship.

Ericka, well, she was busy making everyone else happy. In the back of her mind, she prayed that her time would come. Surely, one day God in His infinite wisdom would see fit to let her have a taste of family life. Maybe at least a boyfriend.

Until then she would continue to help her friends.

The deep whistle caused Ericka to return her focus to the present.

“You are going to have to do this again.”

“What?”

“Maggie will want a place to wear that outfit too.”

Ericka snorted under her breath. “You’re funny.”

“I know.”

An alarm went off on both their phones. They looked at each other and laughed. “I guess that means it is time to go.” He held the door open for her and she walked through.

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” He rubbed his hands together as he skipped toward the car. “This is going to be so much fun!”

She hoped he was right.

****

Maria and Paulo had docked the boat in New London, Connecticut. Paulo parked the boat, walked to the shore, and offered to trade for a car. The man he asked looked at him like he was crazy, but after he saw the boat, he handed over the keys with no problems.

Maria would have preferred a different method of transportation. But they had no choice. Plus, Paulo was calling a lot of the shots.

Since they had left the Black Dahlia, he did things without asking her. Part of her was fine with that. It seemed like some kind of submissive side that she’d tapped down was attempting to rise again.

As captain of the Black Dahlia, she’d never let anyone tell her what to do. But since that man yelled names at her on the dock it was as if something warred inside her. There was something or someone fighting to get out. Maintaining control and being forceful was becoming harder and harder to do.

Paulo opened the door on the 1978 Chevrolet Camero. Once behind the wheel, he revved the engine before putting it into gear.

“Listen to that baby hum.”

“I just hope this baby will take us as far as we need to go. You realize we must travel several hours journey.”

“I do. And you realize that this car doesn’t have GPS or anything that can be hacked or traced.”

She hadn’t thought about that. It was something that she should have realized. What was happening to her?

“Yes, of course. You’ve made a good decision.”

“I know. Now, tell me where were going and I’ll plug it into my phone.”

Maria kept the smile to herself. The idiot! He still had his phone! That would lead anyone straight to them if they could find his phone number and triangulate the signal.

She wouldn’t tell him. It was more fun to wait and see how long it took him to figure it out.

She gave him the address and he plugged it into his phone and set the device where he could hear it. There was no place to put it to physically see it.

Hours.

It would take hours in this hunk of junk. And they would need gas multiple times before their arrival. And food.

Money.

How were they going to get the money for these things? All her assets, money, cards, everything had gone down with the ship. She wasn’t aware if he had any of these things. So far everything they needed he’d taken without question.

Except for the house. He’d rented a house. He must have money she didn’t know about.

Her stomach growled. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d eaten.

“We’ll stop and get food soon. Just let us get out of the town.”

She nodded.

Still, how would they pay for these things? They couldn’t go across the states stealing like Bonnie and Clyde. They needed a plan. A real plan.

The sun began to dip. Paulo attempted to turn on the vehicle’s lights, but nothing happened.

“Perhaps we should stop and see if they are working or just dim.”

Paulo didn’t reply verbally but followed her directions. He stepped outside the car and Maria leaned over and flicked the lights off and on. Sadly, there was no change.

He climbed back into the car.

His fist came down on the steering wheel. Over and over. The entire car vibrated with his fury. When he finished sweat glistened on his brow in the waning light. Blood oozed from the side of his hand. Maria should have been shocked, scared really.

But she’d expected the behavior.

She’d seen him at the place. What place she struggled to remember. And Regina had warned her when she took him on her ship. That she remembered.

Why was her memory becoming foggy? Why was her personality changing back and forth between submissive and take charge?

He straightened, took several deep breaths, and then pulled back onto the road. “We should reach something civil before we can’t see at all.”

“We should.”

He didn’t comment on her lack of comment. What was she to say to a crazy man about his actions? There was nothing that she could do but remain calm and pray they made it to the location with the actual manifest. Once she reached it, then she would contact Regina and tell her to pick her up. Before that happened, she needed to lose Paulo. He wouldn’t be going with her on her last ride. After that display he was too big a liability.

****

Blake hovering all over the captain was becoming a liability. He’d asked her out numerous times and she’d shaken her finger at him. Tito couldn’t help but wonder when the guy would give up.

Tito should ask that of himself. When was he going to give up on the notion that Ericka would ever date him? Of course, technically, he hadn’t really asked.

“Stop brooding, Santos. You’ll be home to your lady soon enough.”

Tito narrowed his eyes toward Nick. Malone was good about being in other people’s business. He wasn’t that sad that he’d hit him.

“Detective Stone is not my lady. She’s my friend. I wanted to support her at the club.”

“Someone’s singing at a club?” Regina acted overly interested.

Blake pointed over his shoulder. “Yeah, apparently, his friend and our co-worker. She fancies herself some kind of real singer.”

“Is she good?”

Burle spoke up. “The best! I didn’t get to see her last time; I just saw the video. But she was amazing. I should probably tell my wife to go without me. She was looking forward to tonight.”

Tito felt his pain.

“Maybe we could go there before she’s done.” Regina looked hopeful.

“It’s like two hours away. Besides, our job is to find Maria Petrov and the man she’s running with. Nothing else matters and these yahoos know that.” Blake pointed again at the team.

Tito knew he was right. They had a job to do. It was about the only thing they ever did. Work. One day he would have a life. By then it would probably be too late.

Captain Regina Shaw slowed the boat. They pulled into a dock. In the not to far distance he could make out older looking buildings made of brick. The place looked nice.

“There’s the stolen boat.” Micah pointed toward the bobbing boat in the water.

“That means they can’t be too far.” Burle sounded excited. Maybe he thought he’d be able to meet up with his wife. It was a nice, although misguided, thought.

Blake jumped onto the dock and started walking toward an office-type building. Tito and the others followed more slowly behind.

Once they arrived, they entered. He was waiting in line while a gentleman in front of him was going ballistic.

“Some guy asked me to trade his boat for my car. He gave me these keys, but he didn’t tell me which boat they go to!”

“I can’t help you. I don’t police the keys and the boats they go with.”

“But I gave the guy my car!”

“Then I guess you made a mistake. Now if you’ll step aside, I have other people who need my help.”

“B-but—”

“Step aside.” The man deepened his voice and the gentleman went to step away.

Blake moved forward to talk to the man behind the desk, but Burle and Tito cornered the man with the keys.

“Was the man with a woman?”

“Yeah. She looked a little older than him. And he looked Hispanic or Chinese or something.” He ran his hands through his hair. “My wife is going to kill me. I gave away her 1978 Chevy Camero. Of course, it doesn’t have working lights. But she hates the water.”

“Do you know where they were headed?”

“No, man. If I knew that I wouldn’t be in here begging for help. You can help me, right? I saw that dude with you flash a badge. I’ll tell you everything about the car or the people. I don’t care. I just need it back.”

Tito took down all that the gentleman knew, which wasn’t much. And the fact that the car was older and didn’t have a GPS system they could track wasn’t the best news. Not that he was surprised. Someone who had evaded capture for so long had to be smart.

“Anything else?”

“Nah. Just that I need that car.”

“Did they leave anything behind on the boat?” Regina had entered the conversation. He hadn’t even noticed her standing there.

“If they did, I can’t see it because I can’t find the boat! I just need—”

“Your wife’s car.”

“You got it, dude.”

“The boat is definitely the one that was stolen.” Micah entered the room with a tablet in front of him.

“Stolen!” The man put his hand on his forehead. “No, no, no! I took a stolen boat for my wife’s car. I’m dead. I’m so dead.”

Tito patted him on the shoulder. “Hold tight. We’re going to get it back for you.”

He hoped.

Chapter Sixteen

Tristan was there when Ericka walked into the club. He was already talking to the other band members. He shook hands and seemed to be fitting in rather well. Maggie stood off to the corner. Her mouth was pulled into a wide grin and pride was written all over her face.

Ericka could understand.

Maggie deserved to be with someone she loved. They all did. But she was happy for Maggie.

Ericka moved closer to the stage, and yells and whistles rent the air. Heat flushed her face, and she released her bun and let her hair fall forward to hide her face.

She’d put it up, taken it down, put it up and taken it down about five times. In the end she let it hang long. The cover made her feel more confident in a time when she didn’t really feel that way.

Tito hadn’t messaged that he planned to attend and based on the last location she heard, he couldn’t make it even if he wanted to. She wasn’t sure about Greg either. He’d taken his phone call and then they had all left the office. She’d had no idea if he’d left at that time as well or if he’d returned.

Fanny entered and made a beeline for Quinn. He hugged her to his side, and she tiptoed and planted a kiss on his cheek. The lovefest happening around her was enough to make any single person sick.

But she was happy for them.

Happy, yeah, right.

Ericka climbed to the stage among catcalls. She waved at the crowd. Her halfhearted wave stopped when the door opened, and Greg entered with someone on his arm.

Heidi.

It had to be Officer Heidi Goodall. Apparently, the information about their break-up was incorrect.

The happy couple walked arm and arm to the bar and found the others. Quinn looked at Ericka and shrugged. She nodded her head to one side, like it was no big deal. What did she care if Greg brought a date? She was good.

Well, maybe.

One of the musicians tapped her on the shoulder. “You ready?”

“I think so.”

“I think your buddy over there wants to play a little Ray Charles first.”

“Let’s do it.”

She grabbed the microphone as the instruments began. Tristan’s strong soulful voice filled the room. Ericka followed up doing the part of the Raelettes. Another girl jumped in and sang with her. They blended perfectly and the crowd was on their feet immediately.

The room was alive with dancing and swaying. Some sang along.

The song ended and the strands of “At Last” by Etta James filled the room. Tristan played the piano and others filled in on the violins and the cello. Ericka sang. The words wrapped around her in a mesmerizing effect. She could almost imagine that the words were true. She’d thought they might be. That her true love had come along, but it wasn’t meant to be.

As she hugged the microphone and leaned back and forth in a trance, she noticed Greg and Heidi wrapped in each other’s arms and swaying on the dance floor.

Her throat threatened to close with emotion, but she held it back. This night wasn’t for her. This night was for Tristan and for her friends.

She could do this.

“For you are mine, at last…”

Greg looked at her over Heidi’s head, but she quickly looked away.

Several more songs were sung as the night wore on. Her feet hurt in the strappy sandals, and she almost wished that she’d picked something else to swath her feet.

One thing she found was that the jazz club allowed lots of different songs. “These Boots were Made for Walking” came on and Ericka jumped in and started singing. Her body jerked from side to side. She twisted her shoulders with the music. Her head got into the action.

After the song, the owner jumped on the stage. “Thank you for coming out to the Backstreet Jazz Club.” The applause felt like it shook the room. The owner lowered his hands over and over until it died down. “Thank you, thank you. Now let’s give it up for our two newcomers. Ericka Stone and Tristan Clark.”

“Whoo-hoo!” Quinn yelled the loudest of all of them. Really surprising Ericka.

“Now they have one more song for the night then these two lovely cats are going to join us on the floor while the house band takes to the stage.”

Tristan had been working at a church. They’d agreed to end the night with “Amazing Grace” while he played the music in a jazzy way on the piano.

Ericka stepped to the microphone.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

The sounds of the piano wafted over her as she let the words roll from her. She allowed them to fill not only her mouth but her soul.

Tristan played a solo halfway through. When he finished the crowd erupted in applause and cheers that could be heard in another state. Ericka joined in the applause.

He stood from his bench and held her hand up in the air for them both to take a bow. When they rose and lowered their hands, Maggie walked up to Tristan and practically pulled him off the stage into a fierce hug.

“That was amazing.”

“That’s good, but I can’t breathe.”

Maggie released him and they laughed together. The two of them walked off into the crowd. Several people were coming up to them and talking to them. If all went well Tristan would receive a ton of offers.

That was her hope for him.

No one had congratulated her, but that was all right. She went to a table and had a waitress bring her a cola. She sipped at the straw and watched the crowd on the floor that continued to dance.

Tonight the owner had his regular band play after them. So, if there was someone there to enjoy herself with then she might have gotten to do so.

She tapped her foot to the music and swayed her head, but still no one came to talk to her. She put her jacket on as a chill wind blew through the opening door.

If she had a way home, she would leave. Her watch read nine o’clock, so it wasn’t late. But what was the point of waiting around at a table alone.

Quinn and Fanny were dancing.

Tristan smiled and flung Maggie around the floor.

Greg and Heidi were the same. She didn’t seem to follow Greg well. He grimaced several times when his foot would get stepped on, but other than that one wouldn’t know that he wasn’t completely satisfied.

Ericka looked down at the glossy table. Scratches covered the surface. She ran her finger along a few of them.

A cab.

She would call a cab.

She lifted her phone from her pocket right as it vibrated in her hands.

She didn’t recognize the syntax, but she believed she recognized the number.

Need your help. Where are you?

Who is this?

Sasha. Where are you? I’ll come get you.

Ericka had been afraid of that. She’d not heard one word from the old agent that was friends with her father since she drugged her and pulled her from the sanatorium, now she wanted to take her somewhere again.

We need help now. Father promises to tell you everything. Just help.

Ericka rolled her eyes but realized no one even noticed. She looked at her phone and texted her location. Hopefully this wasn’t a mistake. Last time she almost lost her job as well as the jobs of her team. That was something she couldn’t really live with.

****

Robert heard the alarm before he saw the tiny flashlight moving across the ground.

When he’d lost Morgan and the man with her, he and Sasha returned to their new home base. He still believed someone was coming into there, but they hadn’t seen them, and he couldn’t prove it. For now, it was the best place for them. The agency had contacted him, and he would be relocated for real this time. But he’d explained he wouldn’t leave without Morgan. He would find her. If he couldn’t reconnect her with Ericka then he would help her.

He owed her that.

The flashlight continued to point toward the ground and headed toward the sanatorium’s front door. Robert had texted Sasha immediately for assistance. He didn’t know when she would arrive. Until that time, he would find a place and hide where he could still see his intruders.

He eased the window up, but no voices traveled to his location. He closed the window and went to another spot in the building. He could see the couple closing in. One was holding onto the arm of the other. They stumbled, and the other helped them straighten.

Robert squinted against the dark. The moon wasn’t offering much help tonight. The thick summertime foliage hid it too well.

“Are you sure?”

He heard a male voice.

“Yes. This is where the manifest is hidden.”

Robert sucked in a swift breath. He couldn’t believe it. They’d come to him. Now he just needed to get her away from the strange man and then maybe he could help her.

The doorknob turned.

He was too close to the door. If he had a plan, it would be different, but he didn’t have any idea what to do now that he knew who the intruder was. Instead of doing anything he squeezed into a corner of the room and waited.

The couple entered.

“Where do we go? This place is huge.”

Morgan stood in the foyer bathed in moonlight. It reminded him of the times they’d spent undercover together. Their clandestine meetings had always been outside under the cover of darkness. She’d always looked the most beautiful in the moonlight.

“Don’t worry. I know where to go. Follow me. And use that little pen light of yours to light the way, please.”

Robert would have followed behind them, but he needed them to move away so he could message Sasha. If she came in with guns blazing so to speak then they would lose Morgan for good.

He let them disappear before he pulled out his phone. He texted Sasha a code that she would understand telling where he would be then replaced his phone. Now he needed to follow them and find them in the huge place before they vanished from under his nose.

****

Ericka had vanished right from under their noses. One minute she was sitting at the table and Greg was glancing at her every time he turned around, then she was just gone. He had no idea where she’d gone, but she was gone.

He stopped dancing. “I think I need something to drink.”

“Oh, yeah, me too. Can you get me a club soda?”

“Sure.” He left and went to the bar. The owner was there. He made his order then leaned in closer. “Do you know where Ericka Stone went?”

“Nope. She didn’t say anything to me. She was sitting there alone and then she got up and walked off.”

“Do you have security cameras?”

The guy paused in his action. “Yeah.”

“Can I see them?”

He crossed his arms over her barrel shaped chest. “Exactly why would I do that for you? I let that little lady sing her again because she drew in the crowd last time. And look at tonight, she’s a hit. But as far as I can tell she didn’t come in with you, so I won’t be sharing where she took off to with you.”

Greg felt himself bristle at the comment, but he took his two drinks and went back to the table. He put Heidi’s glass on the table so hard that some of the contents spilt on the shiny top. She grabbed a napkin and wiped it up.

“You all right?’

“Yup, never better.”

He drank his cola in one gulp. He slammed the glass on the table and went to find Quinn. Quinn was on the floor with Fanny. Greg pulled them apart. “Excuse me, I need Quinn a moment.”

“Sure. I’ll just, I guess I’ll just go over there.”

Quinn looked at Fanny longingly. Greg didn’t care. They had a bigger problem. If Ericka ran off again on their own, they could lose their jobs. Didn’t she get that? What was wrong with her?

What was wrong with him?

“Greg, this is my time off. I was enjoying myself.”

Greg ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry. But I can’t find Ericka.”

“Maybe she went to the restroom.”

“I don’t think so. I think she left.”

“How? She doesn’t have a car.”

Quinn still swayed to the music that played. Greg found it quite annoying. Why wasn’t he listening to him?

Since Greg had been demoted to team leader and placed on the same playing field, the respect had decreased. Or maybe not. He didn’t know anymore.

He massaged the spot beside his eyes.

Quinn finally stopped moving and leaned in. “Look, how could you bring her here?”

“Who?”

Quinn nudged his head over to the side toward Heidi. Heidi was talking to Maggie. Her head went back as she laughed about something. Maggie frowned. Either Heidi overreacted to the comment, or they just didn’t like his date.

“Why can’t I bring her?”

“She was breaking up with you!” The whispered exclamation seemed to move Quinn’s entire body.

Greg shrugged. “We worked it out.”

“And you brought her to Ericka’s event?”

“Look,” Greg ran his hand through his hair, “Ericka and I, well, we aren’t a thing. We’ve never really been a thing. And I-I need to find someone to share my life with. I want to give Heidi a chance.”

“By blowing any other chance.” Quinn muttered under his breath and walked off.

Greg reached out, but he’d already gone too far. Heidi was still busy doing whatever it was she was doing wrong. Ericka was still gone. Now he’d alienated Quinn as well.

He found an empty seat in the club and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. He’d seen Ericka sitting all alone. He’d seen her face. He knew she was hurting. He ignored her because of his own pain. She’d left them to almost get fired. They’d run all over the place doing their job and hers and she hadn’t seemed to care. It was as if something else drew her attention away from them…

Oh no.

Her family.

But her father had vanished.

All leads to her mother led back to nothing.

But something was definitely there. The only time she’d ever acted like this was when her family was involved.

They had to find her quickly. She could be in real trouble. He’d found out some things on an earlier call that he hadn’t shared. In fact, he wasn’t permitted to share. Now that might come back to bite them all in the butt.

Chapter Seventeen

“Sasha, um, where are we going?”

“Wait, please.”

“No, I think I want to know now.”

Ericka had been prepared for the creepy sanitorium building. What she’d not been prepared for was the building adjacent to it.

The building looked pre-nineteenth century. Smelled like it too. Musty odors from the thick hanging draperies or the fluffy, damp feeling carpet assaulted her senses. Allergy medicine would be a top priority when she arrived back at her house.

“Why are we here?”

“The other building has visitors.”

They entered a dark room. From the light of the moon, Ericka could make out a silhouette of a man looking out the window.

“They went in just a few moments ago. I followed them before I came here. Sensors are pinging like crazy.”

Her father.

He was still here.

“What are they doing?”

“It appears they are looking for something. Although, there is interference from the cameras so I can’t make out what they are looking for exactly.”

“The manifest…” The word came from Ericka as the thought struck her.

“Manifest?” Her father turned to face her.

It was only their second meeting. Would they ever have a real moment, or would it always be like a covert movie scene?

“The White Lily. We thought they were looking for the ship itself but instead they were just looking for where the ship is going.”

“The manifest is in there?” Sasha pointed to the other building.

“That has to be why they are there. Maria Petrov and her unknown male friend.”

“Paulo.”

“Paulo?”

“That isn’t his real name.” Sasha dragged a file from an ancient metal desk in the room.

The desk didn’t fit the rest of the décor. Two perfectly kept offices. She didn’t know what to expect anymore. Nothing here seemed to fit.

Ericka lifted the file from the desk and scanned the contents. “Where did you get this? How did you know who to look for?”

Sasha flashed a questioning look at Robert. He moved away from the window and Sasha took his place. It was if they were constantly speaking in some kind of code only the two of them understood.

Not only did it creep her out, but it was also driving her mad! She needed answers.

“Please sit.”

Ericka looked at the couch. Spider webs hung in the corners of the wooden framework. The dark maroon fabric looked a lighter color, probably from the accumulated dust.

“Or stand.” He seemed to really look at what she was seeing. He shuffled his feet. He looked at Sasha. He looked back and her. He took a look through the window to the other building.

“Will you please get on with it? I only have so many days on this planet.”

“Very well. Your mother as I told you before was brainwashed to believe that she was Maria Petrov, but then Maria died in the fire. The government decided it was too risky to use her at the moment and they placed her in an insane asylum.”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“That woman, over there, rummaging through the sanitorium with a man who believes he’s a mass murderer, but has never killed a single soul, that is your mother.”

Ericka scratched a spot next to her eye as she tried to collect her wits. She even gave an awkward laugh. “What?”

“Sasha, maybe you should try. She isn’t listening to me.”

“Well, you aren’t telling it right.”

“How could I not tell it right? That woman is her mother. She’s within her grasp.”

They argued back and forth for several minutes as if she wasn’t even in the room. Part of her wished that she wasn’t in the room. Her mother was in the next building over. She’d pretended to be the captain of a ship that kidnapped people and took them back to hostile governments.

That meant that she’d tried to have Andre and his son Eliott returned for their own execution.

That couldn’t be right.

Sasha’s warm hand grasped hers. Ericka lifted her head.

“The best we can reason is that Paulo, another inmate at the asylum helped her break out a couple of years ago. That was right before Josef was taken out by Sloan and when the White Lily began to run again in more than a luxury cruise liner capacity.”

Her mother had done all this to get away from Harry. She looked at her father and swallowed. She could blame him, but later. Right now, they had more pressing matters.

“What are we going to do to help her?”

“We tried at the docks to get her attention. For a brief moment it seemed like something clicked because she stopped, but then Paulo pulled her on and she went.”

“And Paulo, this is his file?”

“Yes.”

Ericka flipped through the pages, but she didn’t really care what they said. Her mother was across the way in another building. She was right there. All she had to do was reach out and call her.

One of her dreams was coming to a reality.

“You can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“You can’t go to her. She has to be deprogramed first. Something could happen to her brain if it isn’t done properly.”

“Is that why you’re here? You’re going to deprogram my mother?”

“I’m here in this area to find my contact and get out of this place. My life is in danger and that puts your life in danger. But now that I’ve seen Morgan I won’t leave without helping her, but we must do it right.”

“And how do we do that?”

****

Greg grabbed the others and pulled them into the parking lot. “Heidi, you should go home.”

“But I can help. I’m an officer.”

He would have let her, but this was a top-secret mission, and he wasn’t sure it would be sanctioned.

“I’m sensing that the answer to that is no.”

“I think it would be better if you weren’t involved.”

“So, you’re pushing me away to help Ericka again.”

“No, I’m working a case.”

“That Ericka is involved in.” She paused, made a twist one way then turned back. “You know, people told me that you had a thing for her, but I thought we had a connection. At least in the hospital, I sensed that you wanted to get to know me. Ever since then you’ve pushed me away. I get this feeling that you don’t really want to have anything to do with me.”

“Heidi, it isn’t like that.”

She smiled. “Please go do your job. Don’t bother calling me again to try and reconcile. There is no point.”

Greg ran his hands through his hair as she sashayed away through the parking lot.

Quinn’s large hand fell on his shoulder. “Let her go, boss.”

“I guess I’m never going to have a regular life.”

“You are, just not with Heidi Goodall. She isn’t the one for you.”

He snickered. “And you know who is for me?”

Quinn tilted his head and cocked his brow.

“We are not going there.”

“All right, fine. Can you at least tell me why we are out here in the humidity? My tie is starting to curl.”

“I’ll take a guess, Ericka.” Maggie crossed her arms over her chest.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Some news has come my way that I thought I should share.”

“But you weren’t supposed to?”

Quinn was sharp.

“Exactly. But I feel like since Ericka has disappeared that I shouldn’t hold back anymore.”

“Then get it over with before Fanny and Tristan are out here breaking up with us like Heidi did you.”

Maggie didn’t pull any punches. He didn’t have the luxury of crying over a lost relationship at the moment apparently. In the long run his stomach would thank him. No more pizza for a while.

He made himself refocus on the matter at hand. “The video footage that Blake and his team sent shows Maria Petrov and an unknown man getting on a stolen boat.”

“We knew this.”

“True, what you didn’t know is that Maria Petrov died years ago in a fire.”

“What?” That made Maggie stand straighter.

“The woman in the video is actually Morgan Taylor Craft.” He let that sink in. When they didn’t reply, he continued. “The man she is with escaped from a psychiatric facility and believes he is a notorious criminal trying to escape his country.”

“Ericka’s mother is helping him?” Quinn had pulled out his phone and was already searching.

“Not exactly. She went through a program that helped her believe that she is Maria Petrov. The programming put her in the same psychiatric facility. Her friend helped her escape and now she is doing the job we programed her to do. Only she has been doing it too well.”

“So, she is unwittingly helping a criminal.”

“Yes.”

“And she’s been committing criminal acts?”

“Yes.”

Quinn stepped right into the answer. He sighed and rolled his eyes. When he settled, he said, “What are we supposed to do?”

“We’ve been ordered to assist in finding them.”

“What about Rochelle Rawlings murder? We’re supposed to be working that case.”

Greg nodded. “We are doing both. The guy with Maria or Morgan or whomever she is, was one of the suspects. I found that out when the passport guy got back to me.”

“But what about the kid in the video?”

Greg shook his head. “We need to bring them both in for questioning.”

“Yeah, yeah. Wow. Ericka’s mother. What is she going to think when she finds out?”

Greg wondered the same thing. Would she be happy? Would she be upset? He wanted to be there for her, but he wasn’t sure how. It wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t find her.

As soon as they did find her, he was going to put a tracker on her, so they never lost her again.

****

With the car being so old and no traffic cameras in the area, the trail ran cold. Blake called in a helicopter to take them back to New York. Regina Shaw inserted herself into their group. Room was made for her to ride with them.

Tito felt the warmth of her leg against his for the entire trip. He fought developing feelings all the way back to the city. Once they landed and an SUV escorted them back to the office, he was determined to ask Regina on a date.

The helicopter was too loud for discussion and the SUV wasn’t private. The trip was long and boring, but he made it.

They entered the office. The rooms were quiet. His father waited in the middle room that led to all the offices. He held out his hand and accepted introductions to Regina.

“Nice to have someone aboard who knows what we’re dealing with.”

“Of course. I’ll help anyway I can.”

Dad directed his attention toward Blake. “I understand you got photos of the people we’re chasing.”

Regina tensed. It wasn’t something Tito expected to see, but it was there. The jawline line was taunt. The hands were fisted. Why would she be concerned that they had pictures of the couple?

“We do.”

“Let’s see them.”

Blake led the way to their office and pulled it up on one of the computers. Dad leaned forward and squinted. Then he straightened.

“Those aren’t necessary.”

“What?”

“We got better pictures than that off the camera from the boat they stole. They left the boat at the New London Harbor. I’m surprised while you were gallivanting around the globe on the taxpayer’s dime that you didn’t see it.”

“B-but—”

“That is Morgan Taylor and that right there is a notorious criminal that we’re trying to identify by name.”

“Did you say Morgan Taylor?” Where had Tito heard that name?

“Yes. You heard that correctly. She’s been housed in a facility until she escaped a couple of years ago and went undercover, only she doesn’t realize she was undercover.”

“How can that be?” Regina seemed breathless. The news took her by surprise.

That didn’t seem unusual seeing as the Coast Guard believed they had the entire thing worked out and now it seems they didn’t.

“Who do you work for again?”

“I work for the Coast Guard.”

“And they didn’t have this information?”

Regina managed to shake her head. Tito knew his father was intimidating, but he was honestly stunned at how afraid Regina acted.

“Well, then I guess we’ll let them in on our find. Now with that being said, Alpha Team has gone missing… again. Greg was informed of this information a couple of hours ago. My working theory is that he told Ericka, and she has gone rogue to find her mother.”

Tito’s heart raced. That’s where he’d heard the name before. Morgan was her mother’s first name. She’d not remembered anything else except that.

He couldn’t imagine how Ericka felt. Now she’d found both her mother and her father, and nothing was as she expected it to be.

“We have a punk kid with a local gang in the box. He’s claiming to have killed Rochelle Rawlings to up his street cred or to get in the gang or some such nonsense. I want Burle and Blake to interrogate him. Tito, I want you to look for Ericka. You will have the most luck finding her with your unique connection.”

“Could I tag along with Detective Santos?”

Regina’s attitude seemed to suddenly change with the request.

“Tito?”

“Sure. That’s fine. I could use a second.”

Nick was standing around like a third wheel.

“Nick will go with you two. Everyone needs something to do. We aren’t getting paid to stand around.” Dad clapped his hands. “Chop, chop. Get out there and learn things. And you two with me.”

Blake and Burle disappeared. Tito would have preferred Burle with him, but that was probably why dad separated them. However, truthfully, he believed sending Nick was an afterthought.

“Let’s get going. My girl is thinking about cooking dinner tonight and I don’t want to miss it.”

“What is she cooking?” Regina asked as she followed behind.

“Tacos.”

Chapter Eighteen

“What kind of person hides anything in here?” Paulo shivered.

“A crazy person.” Morgan muttered under her breath.

Something was oddly familiar about this place. There was a reason that she’d hid the manifest here, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Something about it felt like home. Familiar…

Her heart raced. Sweat coated her palms. They entered the old office. Images flashed before her eyes. Then more and more. They went so fast her head began to spin.

Her wrists. They hurt.

She rubbed them.

Her legs gave way, and she went to her knees.

Visions of a screen hanging from the wall. Images flickering across the screen at a rapid rate.

A young woman.

A smile lit her face as a little girl ran forward and jumped into her open arms. A man sat in a lawn chair in the background. His legs were crossed, and a lit cigar dangled from his lips.

Faster and faster the scenes progressed in front of Maria. The pain in her head increased. Her eyes burned.

In the distance it seemed as if someone yelled her name…

“Maria! Maria!”

She blinked. Paulo leaned over her trying to pull her to her feet.

“I think people are coming. We must hurry.”

“Hurry?”

“We need to find the manifest.”

“Manifest…”

She rose from her feet, her legs wobbled beneath her. She swallowed hard as she raced to a spot on the office wall. She felt the paneling and pushed. A small section popped open. She didn’t hesitate to put her hand inside. The shock was in finding nothing there.

She grabbed Paulo’s phone that he’d used as a flashlight and shone it around the opening. “No, no, no! Where did it go? I know I put it here. Or-or, I mean, Maria put it here.”

“You’re Maria.” Paulo said the words as he backed away from her.

“Of course, I am. I mean, I think. I don’t know anymore.” She held her head. It pounded as if someone was hitting it with a drumstick.

“There is no manifest, is there? You brought me here to trick me. What, are the cops going to jump out at any moment?”

“No, no. I don’t think so.” The pain. It was getting worse.

He laughed and ran his hands through his hair over and over. He acted extremely nervous and concerned about getting caught. Even if the cops found them, they couldn’t pin anything on them. They just drove a boat. They were agents attempting to thwart the plan of a dangerous criminal.

A mastermind, really.

Maria Petrov wasn’t bad. She was good.

She was taking down her husband. He was evil. But he was dead. Sloan had killed him. Then Sloan took over and Maria helped him, but why?

Maria was good.

She was.

“I’m sorry, Maria for whatever you’re going through, but I’m not sticking around to help.”

“You’re going?”

“I’m going. I’m free now. I don’t have the identity I wanted. The one that Shaw was supposed to provide me through Rochelle then I thought I took but didn’t, none of that matters. I’m in the United States and I’m not in jail. I’ll find something. It shouldn’t be too hard. With all the hackers taking people’s information and selling it, I’ll be fine.” He stood at the open door. “I wish you luck.”

Then he was gone, and she was alone.

She stumbled to the desk. The door pulled open easily enough. Even after all these years. Inside was a folded piece of paper. She took it out and laid it on the table. Her head hadn’t stopped hurting, but now she knew that she wasn’t crazy.

The manifest was there in all its glory. Every trip the ship had been on. All the trips that were planned in the future. It was odd that the routes never changed. It was as if the route was preplanned so it could be watched.

The manifest folded and under her arm, she straightened. The intense pain hadn’t dissipated. Her head still throbbed. Her wrists still hurt. Her legs were still wobbly. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Now if she could just find the tunnel.

“Mom…”

The word made her stop. She didn’t turn, but she stopped because her feet wouldn’t move.

“Mom, don’t go.”

Maria felt her feet root to the floor. Why couldn’t she move? She knew her daughter, Ilsa, wouldn’t be in the creepy place. Besides, she was in prison. Despite Maria’s efforts to protect her, she’d followed in her father’s footsteps.

“Ilsa?”

“No, mom. It’s me. Ericka.”

The manifest dislodged from Maria’s arm and floated to the floor. A hand appeared from the darkness and grabbed it.

Maria didn’t care.

Ericka… that name meant something to her. Why did she long to figure out what it meant?

****

Greg backed against the wall and placed his foot on the white plaster. His arms were crossed. This was the last place he wanted to be.

Burle and Blake were in charge of interrogating the kid who killed Rochelle Rawlings. He was supposed to be out looking for Ericka. Instead, Director Manis had called and insisted that he return to the office. He didn’t say why, he just ordered him to do it. With the threat of losing his job hanging over his head he feared saying no.

Quinn had strict orders as well. He was to report in as soon as he learned anything about Ericka. He’d pinged her phone and she was located at some whacked out old sanitorium in the middle of nowhere. Greg couldn’t imagine why she was there, but he didn’t care. They needed to get her back and tell her about her mother.

“I asked you what you were doing in that store?” Blake leaned in and gritted his teeth. The young kid had been trembling for the last hour, but he wasn’t talking.

Greg thought they should have come up with a new plan of attack.

Burle finally interceded. “Lex, I know that this wasn’t what you wanted to do. I know all about this gang you’ve joined. They make you desire the family aspect, the food, the shelter, then they force you to do something you would never normally have done.”

Lex nodded.

“So, why don’t you tell us exactly what happened?”

Lex snorted and ran his finger under his nose. Greg recoiled inwardly.

“It’s like this.” He laid his hands folded on the table. “This dude that runs the family, gave me a sheet of paper telling me what I had to do. And I had to kill someone, ah right. So, well, so I went to town, and I wasn’t going to do it. But this guy, well he walks into the store and while Rochelle’s back is turned, he pulls out his finger like a gun and pretends to fire. So, well, I thought, maybe that if I killed her then a tape would look like he did it. I guess not, huh?”

“Nope. In fact, the guy didn’t have a gun. It was his finger.”

“Oh, no, he had a gun. It was the gun I used.”

Greg came up off the wall.

“He was mumbling something crazy, like number twelve or something. I wasn’t real sure. But I hid and grabbed the gun he threw in the bushes when he came out.”

“I see.” Burle paused. “Will you write all this down?”

“Yeah. I don’t reckon it’ll help me, huh? I’m going away for a long time.”

Blake stood at the open door. “Well, look at it this way. You just got a new family, food, and shelter.”

Greg kept his mouth shut at Blake’s words. The boy before them was just that: a boy. If he was eighteen it was barely. And he was homeless. Prison for life didn’t seem like it would happen. He’d get out on good behavior or prison overcrowding. Why not get something for that time he’d lose?

Once the door closed, he drew closer to the boy. He slammed his hand down on the pad of paper. “Can you describe the guy who ordered you to do this?”

“Yeah.”

“And the man who pretended to fire?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Then maybe you can get a reduced sentence.” Which was sure to happen anyway. The boy was sympathetic.

“I don’t even care, man. That was a good woman I killed. She helped everyone. After I did it, it was too late. I panicked.”

“You turned yourself in. That’s something.” Burle added.

“It’s not enough. I promised I’d never be like my dad or my mom, and I did it anyway. I’ll help and I don’t care what you do to me.”

Greg removed his hand and Lex continued to write out his statement. Burle took it when he finished.

“Hang tight, kid.”

Lex leaned back in his chair. He actually looked relieved.

Greg followed Burle out of the room.

“Sad story. Couldn’t break the cycle.”

“Sadly, that’s a reoccurring theme.”

“I became an officer to stop crime, but all I do is come in after the pieces are broken.”

Greg could sympathize. He’d joined the force not for some great calling, but because it seemed the closest to what he’d done in the past. Although, being in the military and doing this was vastly different.

“Did you really want to help the kid or just get the description?”

“Both.”

Greg wouldn’t say it out loud, but Ericka could have been that kid. Some stories he’d heard about, others he could only imagine. The ones he’d heard sent chills down his spine. For her to be where she was today was only through the grace of God.

“Well let’s see what we’ve got then.”

Burle and Greg read the description with their head butted up next to each other. They both gasped at the same time. It wasn’t very manly, but there it was.

Greg reread the descriptions of the two men. The gang leader was a mystery, but not the man that Lex had said held the gun.

“He’s describing the mystery man with Maria Petrov.”

Greg swallowed. His chest hurt. Burle was half right.

The man described wasn’t only with the assumed Maria Petrov, he was with Ericka’s mother. They needed to find Ericka and Morgan now, before it was too late.

****

“Mom?” The word ripped from Ericka.

It was the first time she remembered saying the word other than in her dreams. It wasn’t how or when she thought she would say it, but there it was.

Morgan Taylor, her mother, faced her. Minus the hair color, she looked like an older version of who Ericka saw in the mirror every day. Her hair had a few more strands of gray. A few more laughter lines embedded around her mouth and her forehead, but the image was so similar.

Ericka took a step back and swallowed.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Ericka.”

“I-I don’t know—”

“But you do. I’m your daughter. You left me outside Mercy Hospital in Florida when I was three. You hoped my father, Robert, would take me—”

“Robert…”

“Yes.” Ericka licked her lips. This was more difficult than she’d anticipated. She’d offered to go in first and talk to her mother in hopes that she wouldn’t run. So far, that was working.

Robert and Sasha were supposed to be taking care of Paulo. Ericka didn’t know if they had, nor did she care.

“He didn’t take you?”

“No, he didn’t.” The pain of saying those words made her squeeze her fists. How long would the pain of abandonment last? She’d asked Dr. Ellen, but she hadn’t had a clear answer. Apparently, a long time.

Morgan looked frantically back and forth. “I came here, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“I agreed to be Maria Petrov.”

“Yes.”

Morgan’s memory was returning. Hopefully that was a good thing. Ericka wasn’t sure yet. Robert had mentioned over and over that proper deprograming needed to be done. This might or might not be it.

“Why?”

“I’m not sure.” Good ole dad could probably answer that question. But she wouldn’t bring up his being in attendance yet. Morgan was on the way to realization, and she needed time to process.

She placed her hands on both sides of her head. Ericka wished she could take away the pain. All she could do was wait.

“I need to get out of here.”

Morgan attempted to run from the room. Ericka grabbed her hand. She stopped and looked at their clasped hands.

“I left you?”

“I like to think you had a good reason.”

She sighed. “I can’t remember.”

“I’m sure it’ll come back.”

Morgan guffawed. “I’m not sure what memories I’d rather have. Maria Petrov’s aren’t too good either.”

Ericka knew the things Maria had been doing since Morgan took over after the asylum escape. Those things were probably way worse than what the original Maria had done. But Ericka wouldn’t bring that up.

Morgan forced her hand from Ericka’s grip. She walked from the room. Ericka followed but there wasn’t a need.

Morgan opened the front door and came to a dead stop. A silhouette stood in front of her highlighted by the moonlight.

“Robert?” The small questioning voice stopped Ericka as well.

“Yes, darling. It’s me. It’s time for you to come home.”

Chapter Nineteen

Tito, Nick, and Regina began their search at Ericka’s home. When they didn’t find anything there, he called Quinn. Quinn reminded him that they had been at the club, and she’d disappeared from there.

After their brief conversation, he drove the car over to the Backstreet Jazz Club. Nick and Regina were having a heated debate over whether tacos were a real meal that someone made. Nick said of course because the meat was cooked. Regina had a perfectly different take.

He didn’t bother to stop either of them as he made his way into the club and straight to the bartender.

“Don’t you think it’s too early to drink, pal?”

“What? Oh, I’m not here for a drink. I need to ask a few questions.”

“Probably too early for that as well. The lady here last night rocked the house. I’ve been getting calls all night and all morning to bring her back. Of course, that chick just randomly shows up. Guess I’m lucky to have her when I do.”

That was true for all of them. Ericka wasn’t the stick by your man kind of gal. At least that he’d seen so far. But maybe she just didn’t have the right man.

He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and tried to focus. He’d been hitting on Regina. He had no right to even think about Ericka and her inability to stick to a person, place, or thing.

“Well, go ahead. I’ll tell you right now I don’t know if she performs at weddings or parties. I don’t know her fee and I don’t know if she comes with the piano player.”

Tristan got noticed. That was good news for Maggie.

He shook his head to clear the forming cobwebs. “No, I have a different question. Did you see where she went last night after her set?”

“I have no idea where she went, but I know she looked at her phone, frowned and left all by her lonesome. I only knew that because I was watching her. She was more gorgeous last night than the time she came before. I kind of couldn’t take my eyes off her, you know? Hey, now that you mention it do you know if she has a boyfriend?”

“No.”

“No, you don’t know, or no she doesn’t?”

“Can we stick to the topic?”

“Touchy. Anyway, I have no idea where she went. I hate to say that I checked the cameras after that one guy got all bristly about her leaving, and besides when someone rushes out like that and they’ve been sitting alone, I feel I should do my due diligence before the tape resets. And well, I saw her climb into someone’s car, and they sped off.”

“Could you describe the car?”

“Not really, but I got a screen shot.”

Tito took the phone from the bartender and sent the shot to his phone. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. And if you find out if she’s taken…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Tito waved his words away as he rushed out the door.

The heated taco debate was still underway when he opened the car door. Instead of interrupting he messaged the picture to Micah back at the office and waited for a reply. The image was grainy, and the license plate was hard to make out. He hoped that Micah had better luck.

“I’m telling you anything that goes on the stove is considered a cooked meal.”

“And I’m telling you that most of your items come from a box or a bag and that doesn’t make it cooked food.” Regina forcefully turned her head toward Tito. “Tell him.”

Tito threw up his hands. “I’m not getting in on this debate.”

“Humph. Men!” Regina crossed her arms and looked out the passenger side window.

Maybe not dating her was dodging a bullet. She seemed easy to anger.

“So, what did you find out?”

Tito rapidly blinked. Regina’s tone and mannerisms had completely changed. It was as if she was a different person.

“Well, um, I-I found out that Ericka left the club in someone else’s car.”

“Well, duh. She doesn’t have a car.” Nick’s smart Alec comment wasn’t welcome or warranted.

“So, where did she go?” Regina batted her long lashes. The entire action was odd. One minute she was upset with Nick and him, the next she was flirting and trying to learn things.

“I’m not sure.”

“Oh. I guess that was what the text was about.”

He was surprised she noticed with all her actions that he’d sent a text.

“It was.”

“Are we waiting here until we know something?”

“I thought so. I don’t know where else to go. We know that she left from here, but that’s it.”

“We could try traffic cameras. We could try the other places nearby to see if they have cameras. We could walk the area and see if anyone saw anything.”

Regina was correct, these things could be done, but he didn’t see the point. There hadn’t been a crime committed. It was wasting valuable resources just to warn someone that their mother was back in town and might be with a dangerous man. They didn’t even know that they were together.

The phone pinged.

He looked at his screen.

The make and model of the car were given. The owner’s name was listed. As well as the fact that the vehicle was rented under an assumed name.

He turned the key and revved the engine.

“Do we have a lead?”

“We do. We’re going to a rental car company.” With any luck the person who rented the car would be there and they would finally have a way to track who took Ericka.

****

“Robert?”

“Morgan.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I came to get the manifest. Remember I signed up for this job to get away from Harry. And I wanted you to know that I have wait it takes.”

“You left our daughter for the last twenty-four years. You escaped the asylum and started committing crimes. Your handler tried to reach out to you when he came out of hiding, but you just kept doing it.”

“They did?”

“They did.”

Morgan scratched a spot beside her brow. Robert felt for her. He felt for Ericka. She was standing beside her mother, her tiny hands folded in front of her. At least that’s how he imagined she might have looked at three when her mother left her on the stoop of the hospital.

Leaving their daughter hadn’t been part of the plan. He’d only agreed because he thought Morgan could keep her safer. But she hadn’t been able to do that. Still, the life he’d led before kept him from taking her. He’d done too many things. Angered too many people.

Morgan had thrown all that trust away when she left her.

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“Which part?”

“The part where you’re here. The part where you’re trying to stop me. Why would you do that? You know this is the last mission. After this one, we’ll be done. I just have to do one more and then I’ll be free.”

“Who said?”

“The captain of the White Lily.”

Robert narrowed his eyes. “But you’re supposed to be the captain of the White Lily.”

She shook her head. “No, no, I was the captain of the Black Dahlia. I brought people away from the White Lily and back to their countries. It was a round trip.” She laughed.

The maniacal laughter made Ericka cringe. He wanted to get her away from the discussion.

“Ericka, could you go with Sasha and find our exit?”

“I thought you two were after Paulo?”

“Paulo? You leave him out of this.” Morgan gritted and bared her teeth.

Morgan was ill.

Deprograming was all that would help her. Ericka had thought she could do it by revealing herself, but that wouldn’t be enough.

They needed to get her back to the agency so that could happen. However, in her current state he didn’t see her going with them.

He opened his mouth several times to explain the situation but stopped himself.

Sasha stepped onto the porch. One of her feet rested on the step above. She drummed her fingers on the railing. He knew that look.

She’d lost Paulo.

“You lost him.” There was that laugh again. “I expected as much. He’s sneaky. You know he’s killed people.”

Ericka’s eyebrow cocked.

“Morgan…” He went to grab her, but she pulled away.

“Don’t touch me. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine.”

“I am. I’m perfectly fine. I can have two people in my brain. I told them so and just look at me. I’m the picture of health.” She smiled, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she dropped.

When Robert looked up, he saw that Sasha held an empty needle in her hand. She’d moved around behind Morgan and taken action. How had he missed that?

“We need to get her out of here. I heard on the scanner that the car I rented has been located. They are coming here.”

Ericka moved forward. “You guys go. I’ll wait for them.”

Robert looked at her. “Are you sure? I mean, what if they don’t come and you’re stuck out here.”

“I’ll be fine. Just go. Mo-Morgan needs your help.”

He’d heard the first sounds for mom on her lips, but she’d stopped and said her first name instead. Robert understood. Ericka didn’t really have parents. She’d raised herself.

Maybe one day the hatred and resentment would vanish, and she would be able to forgive them.

****

Ericka refused to reenter the sanatorium. It was creepy enough with people inside. Going in alone was not something she planned to do.

She leaned against the porch railing. The wood had been eaten by something over time. Large hollow pieces covered the once white wood. Bugs could be seen going in and out in a long line.

She moved a little farther away.

Robert, Sasha, and Morgan had left. The dust kicked up from the car showed that Sasha was in a hurry to escape.

Ericka understood. It was important that Morgan was taken to the appropriate facility as soon as possible. The length of time that she’d been programed to be someone else had gone beyond the human limit.

Sympathy welled inside her, but she quickly tapped it down. Her mother hadn’t had to leave. She’d left to get out of an abusive relationship.

So many other ways could have garnered the same result. All she’d done in the end was make Ericka live a miserable existence. Ericka knew her experiences in life had shaped her as a person. She was more sympathetic. She was kinder. She always put others above herself.

Except for here lately, apparently. Here lately, she’d been taking all the time for herself. But now she had the answers she’d sought for years. Now she knew her father and her mother. She’d never thought the day would come, but now it was here.

It was here and it wasn’t what she’d wanted at all.

Sirens wailed; lights flashed. The trees were lit up with it all. Ericka didn’t move until they stopped before the house.

All of them jumped out of the car with guns ready. Ericka held up her hands.

“Hold your fire!”

Greg.

Greg’s voice would be the first one she heard.

“You don’t have to fire at all. You can even lower your weapons. I’m the only one here.”

“Not quite.” The low deep voice was in her ear and a warm arm was around her neck before she could take another step off the porch.

Sasha had been so wrong.

Paulo hadn’t vanished.

He’d been there all along.

Chapter Twenty

Greg’s heart jumped to his throat. He’d seen the shadow behind Ericka. They probably all had. Somehow, Ericka had missed that she had a visitor.

Paulo, better known as Edward the Diablo, as well as other monikers they hadn’t been able to read, held Ericka in a tight grip. She had her hand on his arm as if trying to relax his grip.

Paulo waved his weapon. “You should all back up. Just back up. I’m going to be taking one of your cars and getting out of here. Do you understand?”

Greg lowered his weapon and raised his hands. It didn’t matter though since there were about six other agents with guns trained on the Diablo, but he hoped it was enough of a distraction.

“I see the other weapons on me, amigo.”

“I want to take her place.”

“What?”

“I said that I want to take her place. Besides, she’s just a lowly detective. I’m a Sargeant. I have a higher paygrade, which means more cred when you try to escape.”

Ericka’s eyes had widened, and she mouthed no.

“I-I don’t want to change. Maria cares more about Ericka.”

Greg laughed. He hoped he wasn’t overdoing it. “Do you see Maria here? If she cared about the detective, would she have left her?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. I want the manifest. And a car. Yeah, a car. And a ship. Do you understand? I’m going to finish taking these people back to their countries so that I can get the money.”

Lights flashed behind Greg. Paulo moved his arm to cover his eyes. That slight movement left him exposed. That was enough.

His eyes rounded as the bullet went through his temple.

Greg looked around.

Captain Regina Shaw held the smoking gun. Tito went up to her and she handed it over. Tito made sure not to touch it.

Ericka had moved away from Paulo. Her eyes were focused on his lifeless form at her feet. Her hands covered her ears. Greg rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her head against his shoulder.

“She didn’t have to do that.”

“Maybe.”

“His gun wasn’t loaded.”

“What?”

“Look.”

Greg squatted. It was clear that the clip wasn’t in the weapon. Shaw couldn’t have known that. He was closer and he didn’t know it. But Ericka knew it. She’d not fought because she knew there was little he could do other than snap her neck.

Greg looked back at Shaw. She was receiving congratulations from the other officers. She was a member of the Coast Guard. He couldn’t imagine there would be many opportunities to shoot a criminal. She’d taken the shot, had perfect aim, and now she wasn’t even shaky or seemingly concerned.

“We need to go back to the office.”

“You think something is wrong?”

“Don’t you?”

****

Ericka rode in the car with Greg. She’d agreed to sit in the back with Regina Shaw. Nick was up front with Greg, and he couldn’t stop talking about how she’d taken Paulo out.

“That was a magnificent shot. Maybe you should consider joining the PAU.”

“Nah, I like where I am.”

Ericka just bet she did.

She had no idea who this lady was or what was going on, but she knew something was rotten in Denmark.

Greg had insisted they wait only until the ambulance arrived to pick up Paulo before they left. An investigative team would come behind them, but he’d said they could question them at the office.

Ericka agreed. They needed to take Miss Shaw somewhere where she couldn’t disappear.

She received a text. Sasha was letting her know that they’d made it to a place her mother could receive help. She would reach out when everything was back to normal.

Ericka would have laughed if she’d been alone. When had her life ever been normal?

Ericka looked out the window.

“You seem distracted. Did you know the man?”

“I did not.” It was almost true. She didn’t know him personally only what she’d read in his file and what Sasha, Robert, and Morgan had told her.

“I was surprised to find you alone at the house. I thought you were there with someone.”

Ericka didn’t reply. She didn’t want to lie, but Regina didn’t deserve an answer.

“I see. Well, we were under the impression that someone brought you out here.”

“They did.”

“And left you?”

“They did.”

“You don’t talk much.”

“Oh, she talks all the time! Can’t hardly get her to shut up.” Nick would add some words of wisdom.

Ericka shot him a look of disgust. Nick needed to stop trying to flirt with every skirt.

Greg was oddly quiet. He must be thinking. She wished that she was able to do that.

“When we get to the office, I think we should make a visit to Director Manis’ office. He’s been looking for you.”

Ericka got his meaning. They needed to find a quiet place and look up information on Regina Shaw.

They entered the parking garage and parked. Greg stepped out first and waited to lock the doors until everyone was out. As one group they walked to the elevators. The others were behind them. Ericka didn’t know if that was by design or for some other reason.

As soon as they exited onto the fourteen floor everything broke loose.

“That’s her! She’s the captain of the White Lily.”

Ericka drew in a swift breath. The last person she expected to see on the floor where she worked was her mother.

“She’s the one who made me do all those horrible things!”

“Why would they listen to you? You’re Maria Petrov! You’re a notorious criminal.”

“Oh, yeah, sure make it like I’m the criminal. I’m a secret agent. I’ve been told so.” Morgan crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back at the waist.

“A secret agent…” Regina’s words caught.

Tito shook his head as if in shock. Nick’s mouth was agape.

Blake said, “What? What is happening here? Who is that? We know who this lady is, but that one, I have no clue.”

Robert stepped forward. “This is Morgan Taylor. She is Ericka’s mother.”

Jaws dropped around the room as their gazes sought her. Heat stuck her cheeks as she tried to look away.

“While I see the similarities, I don’t understand why this makes her more trustworthy. Several hours before we assumed that she was Maria Petrov.” Micah had a good point.

“And you would have been correct.” Director Manis entered the room. A row of agents appeared behind him. They fanned out around Regina, pushing the rest of them out of their way.

“Morgan Taylor went undercover as Maria Petrov, only her cover programing was too deep and unfortunately she was placed in an asylum. We’ve been trying to reach her for years with Captain Regina Shaw.”

Regina smiled.

Ericka blinked.

“Only Regina stopped working her cover and became the mastermind behind shuffling people back and forth between hostile governments.”

Officers grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back.

“No, no, there must be some kind of mistake.”

“There is no mistake. You killed Paulo because you knew he could identify you as the woman who broke out Morgan and ran the entire operation.”

“I did not! He had you at gun point.”

“Without any bullets.” Ericka added.

Regina narrowed her eyes. Then she changed her expression and focused her attention on Tito. “Help me. You know me. You know I couldn’t do something like this. They’ve lost their minds. They’re delusional. I can prove it. Besides you have to let me go. I’m the only one who knows where the White Lily is.”

“Unfortunately, you’re not.”

“I’m not?”

“No. The White Lily sank off the coast of Connecticut only a few hours ago.”

“B-but, how? I was just onboard before I met these yahoos to take them to the house.”

“It seems your second in command decided you were taking too long, and he hadn’t heard from you, so he went out in the storm. A gale force wind came through bringing with it a massive wave of water and flipped the ship over.”

“And my crew?”

“Most were recovered.”

Regina nodded and lowered her head. Then she lifted her chin. “What gave me away? Other than Morgan over there. I knew keeping her on was a mistake. I should have let her go years ago. And Paulo! I knew allowing Edward the Diablo on my ship could only bring grief. A man who believed he was a notorious killer but who had killed no one! Not a soul. Until recently. He always carried an unloaded gun even though he thought in his mind it was loaded. A complete nut. He was the only way to help Morgan escape the asylum. But I should have made him move on.”

Quinn and Greg said the words at the same time, “Unloaded.”

Greg raced from the room and Ericka followed. Regina was escorted away. The officers that had hung out with her were aghast and stood around the entryway to the other rooms discussing how they could have missed such a thing.

Greg entered their office with Ericka on his heels.

“You want to explain what is happening?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

Quinn flopped in front of the computer and began to rewind video footage. “I can’t believe we stopped when we did.”

“I know. We should have went on and not assumed that we knew what had happened.”

Ericka bounced on her feet. “What happened? Tell me.”

Greg leaned over Quinn’s shoulder. When the footage reached a certain location, he stopped it.

“There. That’s what we didn’t see.”

A young kid pulled a gun. There was no flash, no pop, but after he pulled the trigger while looking away, he ran from the building.

Ericka gasped. Rochelle Rawlings stood up. She’d sank down, but she stood up. She must have thought she was avoiding a shot. Now here, she motioned for someone to come out of the back room. When he did, they talked before he pulled a weapon and pulled the trigger.

“Lex didn’t kill Rochelle.”

“Nope. He didn’t realize he didn’t have bullets in the gun because he picked up Paulo’s gun when he ran out before.”

“Wait, wait, wait. What are you two talking about?”

“A street kid moved in with a gang and was ordered to take someone out. He saw a guy drop a weapon outside Rochelle’s so he grabbed it, went inside, and fired. Only he didn’t really fire. Someone must have been following him to make sure he’d do it. Maybe they made the sounds from the room, we aren’t sure. But there, there is your real killer.”

“Who is that?”

“We don’t know. We need to find Lex.”

****

“Thank you for busting me out, Jess.”

“No worries, dude. I had some money from that guy I robbed. I figured I might as well do something good with it. But hey, you got to promise you’ll do that court thing.”

“I promise.”

Lex breathed in the fresh air and let the sunshine hit his face. Jail hadn’t been too bad. The food wasn’t great. The sleeping arrangements could be better. And the bathroom situation definitely could use improvement. But it could have been worse.

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, back to the crib, man. I thought you’d want to see the big boss. He’s all proud of what you did.”

Lex gulped back his fear. He’d told everything about the big boss. He’d given his location. He’d describe his features. He’d told about his recruiting practices.

Everything…

“Nah, man. I think I’m going to go crash with a friend.”

“How could that be? You didn’t have no friends before.”

“True. But my friend, Trey came to see me in jail and said if I got out, I could see him. So, I thank ya. I do. I’ll see you around.”

“No, man, that ain’t going to fly.”

“It’s not?”

“Afraid not. You see, word on the street is that you sold out the boss. You see, he can’t have that. So, I’s afraid you’re going to have to pay the piper.”

Pain ripped through his chest. Searing, burning pain. He should never have trusted anyone. His parents had abandoned him. The police didn’t protect him. His new family killed him.

Maybe this was better.

Now he wouldn’t need to worry about a family anymore.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ericka and Greg stood inside the airport. The thick glass shielded them from the wind, the rain, and the other elements outside. All she could see was the plane.

The passenger plane was pulling out onto the runway preparing to taxi and make its ascent.

“This wasn’t the reunion I expected.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ericka shrugged. Honestly, what had she thought would happen. Her father and mother were ex-spies. Her mother had been brainwashed and sent to a mental facility. Her father had been living undercover for the last twenty-five years. There was no good outcome.

“I don’t know what I expected to happen. Going home for a huge Christmas dinner? I guess, well, I guess I should have realized that my family would never really be a family. I should have realized that any hope of that had vanished long ago.”

After arresting Regina, her mother had been taken away and put into a program to make her remember herself. The process took a few weeks. The doctor’s said it was a miracle that she remembered anything at all after so long a time.

She remembered where she’d hidden baby pictures of Ericka before she went under. So many little things that most people wouldn’t even think of now she thought of. But what did it matter?

Again, they couldn’t go back.

While her mother recovered, Ericka and the team had searched for Lex. He’d been released on bail. There was footage of him leaving the jail with a friend and then it was as if they’d disappeared. They traced every camera within a five-mile radius, but he was nowhere to be found.

Ericka feared he would be found floating in the east river. The kid had tried to do the right thing and look where it got him.

Look where the right thing had gotten her.

Here.

Losing everyone and everything again.

Greg reached out and grabbed her hand. He squeezed.

She sighed and let the warmth of his touch spread over her. “Truthfully, maybe I shouldn’t have been looking into the past or so far away to find my family.”

“What do you mean?”

Quinn and Maggie stood at the ticket counter. Both of them were planning trips with their significant others and they were looking for a discount, or a good deal, or anything to save some money.

Maggie’s hands weaved around her face like a mad person. Quinn watched with eyes rounded before he did a similar thing.

Ericka smiled.

“I’m glad to see that expression.”

“I can’t help it. Those two, they are just so funny together.”

“They are.” He looked off into the distance to stare at their fellow agents. He snickered under his breath as an officer walked around the counter and moved closer to an irate Maggie.

“Looks like they are going to get arrested before they plan their excursions.”

“I sure hope not. Then we’ll have to listen to them complain about it at work.”

“I know, right.” Ericka smiled again.

What she’d been looking for had been under her nose the entire time. Through all the ups and downs. All the pressures of the job and of life. Even all the times she tried to connect with her family. These three people, Quinn, Maggie, and Greg. They had all been there. They hadn’t left her side.

That meant she’d had what she’d been looking for the entire time.

A family.

****

Greg held Ericka’s hand tightly as the plane with her parents taxied down the runway and lifted into the blue sky. Before long the plane vanished just like so many other things had vanished recently.

He swallowed.

The fake relationship that he’d tried to cultivate with Heidi had dissolved before it started. He’d tried, or so he thought, to give it a real go, but he was fooling himself.

There was only one person that really meant anything to him, and she was standing by his side. She’d been by his side for a long time. When everything fell apart, when he lost his position, when he became her equal, she hadn’t left, she’d stood with him.

Maggie and Tristan were happy.

Quinn and Fanny were happy.

In the next couple of years, he fully expected to be invited to or to participate in two weddings.

What was wrong with him? The woman of his dreams had been in front of him for almost a year and he’d still not taken the leap and asked her out.

Tears cascaded down her cheeks.

The only thing that she’d wanted in life, a family, had just gotten on a plane and left for good.

Robert had agreed to go into witness protection with Morgan. Together they would be secreted away in some tiny corner of the United States. They would never get to see or talk to Ericka again. Director Manis had explained that it was the only way Ericka would be safe.

Those people who had been returned to their countries might come after the woman they perceived as Maria Petrov. As Maria, Morgan had committed horrible atrocities. Her testimony against Regina Shaw as well as others who had benefited from the Black Dahlia’s actions was all that was keeping her out of jail.

Robert could have accepted a different fate, but he seemed to feel that he owed Morgan a debt. He was partially the reason that things had turned out as they had.

In the end, who was the one to get screwed over again… Ericka. No family as a child. No family as an adult. She’d said she was fine. She was used to it. But he knew better.

The tears, if nothing else, proved it.

He pulled her to his side, and she laid her head on his chest. He turned to face her. He placed both his hands on either side of her face and drew in a deep shaky breath.

“I love you, Ericka Stone. I should have told you much earlier, but I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same. Can you forgive me?”

There was no verbal answer. She rose on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him until he felt the earth had dropped away. He squeezed even tighter. Nothing and no one would ever take her away from him.

Their love would never vanish, it would be around forever.

Excerpt from Curveball, Ericka Stone Case #011

Director James Manis stood before the five teams that had made up his office. Pain shot through his chest. He’d thought recently that he was having a heart attack, but the doctor had diagnosed him with panic attacks. He’d told him this new job of running the Police Assistance Unit was too much for him. They’d told him to step down.

James had refused.

He’d also not shared the recommendation with anyone. Not his bosses, and not his son.

He massaged his chest as he stood before the group. Some were still trickling into the conference room. The design of the offices when he moved in had not been his idea. Chief Ron Wexell, the liar and murderer, had designed the offices before he was found out. Then he and his teams had needed to deal with the arrangement.

The rooms were designed to separate the people. The more distant they were the less likely they were to work together. That meant that less was accomplished. The plan had been brilliant. It had worked.

Today the teams would be even more separated. One of his worst regrets was that Tito wasn’t on the same team as Ericka. After everything that had transpired between him and that lying captain of the White Lily, maybe it was the for the best. Maybe he needed a break from women.

Then again maybe not.

Blake looked at him with a cocked brow. He had his leg cross, and his foot bounced with an intense level of impatience. Too bad. James didn’t relish sharing bad news.

Then there was Greg’s team. They sat together and laughed. They looked so comfortable in a shared space. Ericka was leaning heavily against Greg. Something had transpired between them recently. He’d noticed it. Love was in the air. Sometimes he wished he was on their team.

And with everything they had been through of late, it had only made their bond stronger. Detective Ericka Stone was one tough cookie. She had come through the loss of her parents stronger than before.

They weren’t really gone; they just couldn’t be a part of her life.

After Morgan’s brainwashing and Robert’s attempt to bring her in without government help, they were both lucky to not be in jail. He’d helped with that, but he wouldn’t be telling anyone else. That was his secret to keep.

“Director, what is this about? We have cases to get to.”

“No, you don’t.”

“What?” Nick blurted it out before anyone else.

That boy was going to get himself in trouble. He fancied that he was another Blake Hager, but he wasn’t. Blake somehow lived a charmed life. He’d survived many times when he shouldn’t have. But Nick wasn’t him.

“Orders have just come down from above. For the time being the PAU is being dismantled.”

Now everyone leaned forward in their chairs and talked all at once.

James increased his voice to be heard over them. “Your cases have been given back to the appropriate authorities. You are being assigned new cases, in, um, new locations.”

Burle leaned forward and rubbed his hands together. His retirement package had fallen through in the last few months. No one was sure what the hold-up was, but James had an idea. It was this. The curveball had come. The plan to send these teams all over the country had come from the highest level. And they wanted Burle McKay with Beta Team, at least for now.

James held up his hand and the room quietened. “I know you all have questions. I promise I will answer them, but one at a time. Now let’s get down to business.”

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading my newest series, Ericka Stone Cases. Each time I end one story, Ericka speaks and here we go again.

Now that Ericka has found her biological family, a chapter in her life has ended and a new one has begun. I hope you will continue with me as Ericka pursues another adventure.

Curveball, Ericka Stone Case #011, will be available by or before October 1st. Keep looking for it!

As always, thank you for reading and I hope you’ll take time to leave an honest review. I value your feedback.