‘He’ll be in more trouble when we get our hands on him,’ Scarlett said flatly. ‘He raped both Tala and her sister and murdered Tala. Now it sounds like he’s attacked his own sister. Where is he now?’
Deacon was shaking his head. ‘He didn’t attack his sister. She was on the phone with her credit card company at three o’clock yesterday afternoon. Drake was nearing Detroit by then.’
‘The little prick was headed for Canada,’ Marcus said grimly.
‘Where is he now?’ Scarlett repeated impatiently.
‘In a hospital in Detroit,’ Deacon said, ‘handcuffed to the bed. His name popped up as soon as I ran the BOLO. He held up a gas station, shot the clerk and another customer, then stole the customer’s SUV. The customer is dead and the clerk’s in critical condition. The clerk’s wife, who was doing inventory in the back room, chased after him with a shotgun. Unfortunately for Drake, the wife was a very good shot and she took out his back windshield and a tire as he was driving out of the parking lot. He got out of the SUV and tried to run, so she shot him in the leg and ran back to see to her husband. Fortunately for us, she didn’t hit anything vital and left Drake alive for us.’
‘Will Detroit PD give him up to us?’ Scarlett asked.
‘Yes,’ Agent Troy said. ‘They won’t like it, but they won’t have a choice. We’re charging Drake with conspiracy to human trafficking. Even though he didn’t personally buy Tala, he knew her status in the Anders home and took part in it for his own gain. Agents in Detroit are taking custody as we speak. We’ll transport him down here as soon as he’s able to be moved. In the meantime, we’ll get his statement on yesterday’s shooting in the alley.’
‘I called Detroit PD as soon as Drake’s name popped up on the BOLO,’ Deacon said. ‘They confirmed he’d been found in possession of a Ruger loaded with Black Talons, the same bullet we pulled out of Tala and Phillip. The detective on the case up there expedited the ballistics testing on the Ruger. I got the report as I was leaving the crime scene at Drake’s sister’s house. Drake’s Ruger – which was registered to Chip Anders, by the way – was the same gun that shot Tala and you, Marcus, but not the gun that shot Phillip.’
Scarlett’s brow was furrowed in a deep frown. ‘So Marcus wasn’t the target in the alley. Drake must have been gunning after Tala for meeting with Marcus. But that means we still don’t know who has been targeting Marcus. If Drake hadn’t run, we could say that he realized that Marcus wasn’t dead and wanted to finish the job to keep him quiet. But Drake was halfway to Detroit by the time the sniper shot at Marcus and killed Agent Spangler behind the Anders house. And we already know that Drake didn’t shoot Phillip and the security guard in Marcus’s building because we have the lobby video and Phillip’s description.’
‘But Drake is connected to the guy who invaded my apartment building last night,’ Marcus said quietly. ‘By Tala.’
Isenberg shook her head. ‘You’re assuming the man who shot Phillip Cauldwell and the security guard was the same man who transported the Bautistas to Ohio. You can’t assume that yet. Not until we have a more positive ID.’
Marcus felt his jaw go taut. ‘Mila and Erica identified last night’s shooter from the security video.’
Isenberg’s expression softened a hair. ‘He wore a ski mask, Marcus, and they haven’t seen him in three years. Yes, he has the same body type and the same gait. Yes, he does a similar hand-switch maneuver. It very well could be the same man that brought them here, but right now it’s supposition. We have to keep our minds open for now.’
Marcus knew she had a valid point, but couldn’t bring himself to admit it. Mila and Erica had sounded so certain and he so wanted to believe it was true. That he would track down the bastard who’d put Phillip in ICU was a given in his mind. He desperately wanted to give the Bautistas their justice as well.
‘She’s right, dammit,’ Scarlett muttered under her breath, making Isenberg’s lips twitch.
‘That happens occasionally,’ the lieutenant said dryly.
Scarlett’s lips curved. ‘Yes, ma’am. It does.’ She squared her shoulders. ‘The apartment shooter went to a lot of trouble to make it look like Tala’s killer was simply finishing the job. He used the same model gun and made sure the building’s security camera saw it. He used the same kind of bullets, which he tried not to leave behind, so we wouldn’t be able to do ballistics.’
‘But how does he connect to me?’ Marcus murmured.
‘That’s the million-dollar question.’ Scarlett glanced up at him, understanding in her eyes. ‘Hopefully the Bautistas will give us a sketch of his face. Maybe you’ll recognize him.’
Agent Coppola cleared her throat. ‘There is the possibility that the two aren’t connected at all, that someone else wants you dead and is using Tala’s murder as a cover.’
‘So we’re back to the list,’ Scarlett murmured. ‘Threats made against Marcus’s life because of the exposés he’s run in the Ledger,’ she explained to Agents Troy and Coppola, who looked confused. She turned to Isenberg. ‘Where are we on the names I sent you last night?’
‘My clerk’s got last-known addresses for all of them. A few are in jail for other offenses.’ Isenberg looked at Marcus shrewdly. ‘But you knew that already, didn’t you?’
‘I knew it was a possibility,’ he said honestly. ‘I know a few others were in jail and got out and probably should be back in jail.’ That he knew from Stone after his brother had checked all the names on the list for status and recent activity. ‘Many of those people are child molesters and domestic abusers. A newspaper article and a short stint behind bars aren’t going to stop them.’
‘No, it won’t,’ Isenberg said, then turned to Deacon. ‘Any update on that ankle tracker?’
‘Yes,’ Deacon said. ‘It got easier after we picked up the other two trackers that Mila and Erica left behind. The serial number on Tala’s tracker was recorded as having been destroyed by the quality assurance testers at the plant that makes them,’ he explained to Marcus and Agent Troy. ‘The federal corrections system buys from that factory and, as the customer, it’s authorized to do unannounced quality evaluation. The team from corrections seized copies of the factory’s production records for the days on which the three trackers were produced and tested.’
‘Sneaky,’ Coppola praised.
‘Creative,’ Deacon corrected.
Coppola grinned. ‘Potato, po-tah-to. Glad to see that you haven’t lost your touch, Novak.’
Deacon waggled his white brows. ‘Thank you. Anyway, they were able to narrow down the list of employees to just two men who worked all three shifts in which the three trackers were tested. They were picked up this morning when they showed up at work and are being transported to Cincinnati for questioning as we speak. One of the men is responsible for the “destructive testing”,’ he quirked the air with finger quotes, ‘of four times as many devices as the other man. I’ll pull backgrounds on both of them, but I think we should be looking hardest at the guy with the most devices. He may have been selling to Anders, or, if we’re very lucky, he might have been selling to the actual traffickers who brought the victims into the country.’
‘Were all the people rescued from Anders’s factories wearing trackers?’ Marcus asked.
‘Not all,’ Coppola said. ‘Mostly the people who had technical skills, like Efren Bautista. Of those we’ve gotten to talk to us, about a quarter earned university degrees in the countries where they came from, which is consistent with the data we’ve gathered on labor trafficking in the past. They wore trackers.’
‘How many have you gotten to talk to you?’ Marcus asked.
‘Not even a third,’ Coppola admitted. ‘They’re afraid of us. I can’t blame them.’
‘I’d like to talk to them,’ Marcus said. ‘I may have better luck, especially if the Bautistas vouch for me. These people have a right to have their story told, and I want to do it right. I also plan to ensure they get legal representation as the Bautistas have.’