Scarlett shot the text to Deacon and put her phone down. ‘Mila, let’s talk bluntly. Pictures will not be enough. You want to see your husband and son in person, don’t you? You want your granddaughter back, yes?’
Mila nodded, but said nothing.
Erica started to rise from her chair. ‘You promised not to turn us in.’
‘And I won’t. But this situation may not be as bleak as you believe. You have options. Please, hear me out.’
Erica sat back down. ‘What options?’ she asked with cold suspicion.
‘Do you remember the lady that Tabby called to take Malaya? Her name is Annabelle Church.’ They both nodded. ‘She took very good care of Malaya, bought her formula and diapers, and when the time came for her to turn Malaya over to Children’s Services, she brought her lawyer along so that Malaya’s rights were protected.’
‘But Malaya is just a baby,’ Mila whispered, stunned.
‘She’s a US citizen,’ Scarlett said. ‘That fact alone doesn’t help you get a green card or citizenship yourselves,’ she added when hope filled their eyes, ‘but Annabelle’s lawyer told us that if we found you, he would make sure an immigration lawyer took your case. For free.’
‘Why?’ Erica asked, still suspicious.
‘First, Annabelle’s lawyer is also her grandson. They’re nice people. Annabelle went straight to the hospital after meeting with us and she’s been at Tabby’s bedside ever since. Her grandson stayed with her through the night. Annabelle’s grandson doesn’t need or want anything from you. His grandfather on his father’s side was also an immigrant, so he just wants to help. That means you have legal help from an expert who knows immigration law. I’m not an expert myself, but I do know that because you’ve been victims of human trafficking, you are eligible to apply for new visas. This one is called a “U visa”. It allows you to stay in the country if you’re helping law enforcement with an investigation. Mr Bautista will be given the same offer.’
‘That’s not a green card,’ Erica said with a frown. ‘Is it?’
‘No, but it can lead to one. You’d need an employer to sponsor you. Marcus can help with that. But to get the U visa, you’ll need to cooperate with the FBI.’
‘Will we go to jail?’
‘No. You’ve done nothing wrong.’ Scarlett leaned forward a fraction. ‘You are victims of a terrible crime. No one will blame you. Do you understand this?’
Erica lifted her chin, but her lips quivered. ‘Americans hate illegal aliens.’
‘Not true,’ Scarlett said. ‘Some do, I’ll allow you, but you’ll find most Americans will feel compassion for you and anger at the people who tricked you into coming here under false pretenses. The community will want to help. That’s not to say everyone will be kind or nice. Illegal immigration is a complicated problem. But you didn’t sneak in. You had legal visas when you arrived. I’ve seen the records.’
‘They took them from us,’ Mila said in a trembling voice. ‘Which doesn’t matter now. The visas expired two years ago.’
‘You’ll get new ones,’ Scarlett said with a smile. ‘But you’ll have to trust me.’
Mila drew a deep breath. ‘Where will we have to go?’
‘You can come back with us. My partner and some of his fellow FBI agents want to talk to you about the people who brought you here. They’ll need your help to catch them.’
Mila twisted her hands together. ‘Will you . . . stay with us?’
Scarlett’s heart broke and she had to clear her throat. ‘As long as I can. Marcus will too. And Father Trace.’ She took Mila’s hands in hers. ‘You have friends here. You’re safe.’
‘Where will we live?’ Erica asked, trying hard to make her question sound forceful, but underneath Scarlett heard a scared little girl.
‘We’ll find you a place. It might be a safe house at first, just until we figure out who’s behind all this. That might mean you’ll have a police guard. That doesn’t mean you’re in jail. It just means we don’t want anyone to hurt you.’
‘For how long?’ Erica persisted.
Scarlett sighed. ‘I wish I had an answer for you, Erica. But let me tell you this – Marcus is very, very important to me, and right now his life is in danger every time he walks around in public. Even if I didn’t care about you and your family – and I do care – I’d be trying to solve this as fast as possible to keep Marcus safe. That’s all I can promise, except that I am very good at my job, and so is my partner, Agent Novak.’
Mila was quiet for a long moment while Scarlett held her breath. Then Mila nodded and Scarlett exhaled in relief. ‘We’ll come with you,’ Mila said. ‘But no handcuffs.’
Once more Scarlett’s heart broke. ‘Of course no handcuffs,’ she promised gruffly. ‘You have my word. I’m going to ask Marcus to come back into the room now and we’ll take you to Cincinnati.’
‘That’s what the other guys said,’ Erica muttered as Scarlett turned to go.
Her hand on the doorknob, Scarlett turned back to face the girl. ‘Which other guys? Anders and his wife?’
Mila shook her head. ‘No. The man and woman who met us at the airport and took us to the Anderses. They said they were married and that they ran the business where we’d be working. We believed them.’
A male/female ‘married’ pair to meet a family. It made good sense if you were the traffickers. A married couple would inspire confidence, encourage the victims to let their guard down. ‘Can you describe them?’
‘The man was very big,’ Mila said. ‘And dark-skinned. Maybe forty years old or a little older. The woman was smaller than the man, but bigger than any of us, including my husband. She had blond hair and was much younger than the man. They pretended to be nice and loving for the first day, but then they stopped for the night and . . .’
‘Out came the handcuffs,’ Erica said flatly. ‘The man was big and strong and fast. Trained in karate, I think. He put Tala in a stranglehold when she tried to get away with me and John Paul. My father tried to fight, but the man switched arms and knocked him unconscious with one punch. And then, um . . .’ She looked away. ‘He raped Tala. That was our first clue that we were in trouble,’ she finished bitterly.
Scarlett released the doorknob without opening the door, slowly walked back to Mila and Erica and knelt in front of the girl. ‘Did he rape you too, Erica?’
A hard swallow and a nod.
Scarlett closed her eyes and sighed. ‘I’m so sorry.’ Then her eyes popped open on a frown as Erica’s words sank in. Big, dark-skinned, fast, with an arm-switching maneuver? It was a long shot, but worth a try. She took out her phone, pulled up the video of Phillip’s attacker that she’d shown Marcus the night before and chose a segment that showcased the man’s walk and his eyes through the holes in the ski mask.
Without a word she showed it to the two women and watched them begin to shake.
‘That looks like him, like his walk,’ Mila whispered. ‘I can never forget it. He is in my nightmares all the time.’
‘And his eyes,’ Erica said flatly. ‘He had cold, dead eyes.’
Mila put her arm around Erica. ‘It could be him. He’s the right size.’ Mila’s jaw tightened, her shoulders squaring. ‘She called him Demetrius. He called her Alice. I don’t know if those were their real names or not. Who is the young man with him?’
‘Marcus’s friend Phillip. He was shot a few minutes later, as was another man.’
Mila’s eyes grew wide. ‘Did he kill my Tala too?’
‘I don’t know.’ Tala knew her attacker. She would have known a man who’d raped her, but apparently both this man, whose name was possibly Demetrius, and Drake Connor had assaulted her. Scarlett should have been relieved that she was finally getting some new pieces to the puzzle, but she wasn’t. Her gut told her that something was still missing, and she’d learned to listen to her gut. ‘Let’s get back to the city so that you can give an artist a description of this Demetrius’s face. While we drive, I’ll work on getting you reunited with your husband and son.’