They were going to have to investigate this case without the help of Detective Douglas. Not just because he was ineffective three years ago, but because they didn’t trust him.
“I think that’s it for now,” she said. “We may have more questions once we finish reviewing our files at the FBI. Our White Collar Crimes unit has been working on a major trial this week and we’re getting information piecemeal.”
“We’re all busy these days,” he said with a fake smile.
Nate and Lucy walked out. Lucy turned and said, “Detective?”
“What?” he snapped.
“When you find that witness statement—the person who said Albright exchanged the Escalade for another vehicle—please send it directly to us. You have our emails.”
Then she followed Nate out.
“Prick,” Nate said. “And a liar.”
“Liar? Incompetent and uncaring, yes, but what lie?”
“He has copies of all the files the FBI has. They cc’d him into everything—so to say he didn’t have them is just bullshit.”
“We need to get Laura to sit down with us ASAP. After hours if we have to. I’m going to call Daphne and request it.” Daphne was the Supervisory Special Agent of the White Collar Crimes unit. Lucy had worked with her on a recent bank robbery case, and if there was a way to make this happen Daphne would get it done.
She talked to Daphne, who said she’d move Heaven and Earth to have Laura in the office at six that night. The agent was unavailable while in court, so they wouldn’t have confirmation until late that afternoon.
“Back to the office?” Nate said.
“We’re going to have to go through the files without the benefit of Laura’s insight. Maybe Detective Douglas is right and one of her other clients killed her. I just don’t believe they went to Mexico at all, and that means that either Douglas is a complete idiot who saw exactly what he wanted to see—or what someone else wanted him to see—or he knows more than he said.”
* * *
They had turned onto the road that would take them to the interstate when Nate said, “We’re being followed.”
Lucy glanced discreetly in the side mirror and spotted a dark SUV with tinted windows. “Not the same car as yesterday.”
“Hold on.”
Instead of turning right to head back to San Antonio, Nate continued straight, which would take them to the north side of the county.
“Still there. So, you want to know what we’re doing?” he mumbled.
Lucy wasn’t sure what Nate’s plan was, but he drove to the Albright house. She was surprised to see that Ash was still there, talking to a dog handler. The SUV didn’t follow them into the neighborhood but turned into a strip mall two miles before that boasted a grocery store, gas station, and coffee shop.
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting you,” Ash said as he approached the car. “Were we supposed to meet?”
Nate said, “No. We were at the sheriffs office, wanted to see how you were doing.”
“We’re done. We covered the ground between here and the Youngs’ house, no bodies. Ricky Albright wasn’t buried in the area, I’m pretty certain.”
The dog handler concurred, then excused himself to take a call.
Ash looked like he’d failed. Lucy said, “Ash, we’re making progress. Knowing he’s not here is good.”
“How? We need to find his body.”
Lucy didn’t want to tell him everything—they were really going out on a limb thinking that Ricky was still alive—but she wanted to give him hope. She looked at Nate and he knew what she wanted. He nodded. “Ash,” she said quietly, “we’re still at the beginning of our investigation, but Nate and I think Ricky might be alive. That he might have gone into hiding because he witnessed something he couldn’t process or— We don’t know, it’s just speculation at this point, but we have some evidence that he was alive late the night his parents disappeared. We’ll let you know as soon as we know anything definitive.”
“Thank you. I don’t know why I’m taking this so personally.”
“Because you care and you want justice. This whole case is … well, it’s depressing, but we’re going to find out what happened. We’re piecing together the family’s last day and I think Ricky is the key—dead or alive—in finding out what happened.”
Nate said, “Ash, don’t come out here, or to the gravesite, without backup, understood?”
“Uh, okay. I wouldn’t.”
“Everyone needs to be cautious.”
They left the same way they came in. A block after they passed the strip mall, the SUV was behind them again.
“Be alert,” Nate said. “No front plates, I want to find out who they are.”
He backtracked and headed toward the high school. The SUV followed. He pulled into the parking lot and the SUV continued down the street. Then Nate immediately reversed and pursued the vehicle.
The driver knew immediately and pushed on the gas.
“Shit,” Nate mumbled. The SUV was too far ahead for them to see the plates. It ran a stop sign, then turned right. Nate pursued.
“Oh shit!” Nate said again. “Tag team. Hold on.”
Lucy looked in the mirror. A second SUV, identical to the first, was right on their tail. It sped up and started to pass them on the left, crossing into oncoming traffic.
The windows were tinted and Lucy couldn’t see the driver.
Suddenly the SUV intentionally swerved and clipped Nate’s bumper. Nate anticipated it and compensated, controlling the spinout and avoiding a serious accident. By the time he turned and was facing in the right direction, both SUVs were gone.
Nate pounded his fist on the steering wheel and sped in the direction they’d disappeared, but as they looked up and down streets they didn’t see them.
Nate drove back to the sheriff’s station and skidded to a stop out front. He was heated, and Lucy didn’t think she’d be able to calm him down. Fortunately, they got back to the security office without too much trouble and the guard in charge of the cameras knew what he was doing. He quickly located Nate and Lucy leaving the building thirty minutes earlier. “Here you go,” he said, and let Nate take over.
It was a wide-angle lens that distorted the front parking lot, but they could see the entire area. They watched themselves leave the front of the building and turn left, to where Nate parked their car. They turned north out of the parking lot. From the south an SUV came into view and followed.
Nate rewound. They couldn’t see the SUV when it was parked—it was just out of the camera’s vision. But as soon as Nate turned onto the street, the SUV pursued, clearly waiting for them.
“Are there any cameras showing that side of the street?” Nate asked.
“No, sir, not ours.”
Across the street was an apartment complex set far back from the road, and to the south was a county maintenance facility on the other side of open space. It was most likely that the driver parked in front of the grass, which would minimize the chances they could get a clear visual of either the license plate or driver.
They thanked the guard for his time, then went across to the apartment office. It didn’t have any security cameras except on its own parking lot and, according to the manager, half the time those didn’t work. He hadn’t seen the SUV on the street, but he wasn’t looking.