Thank you, Dad, for making sure I know my rights. I smiled at her. “Is there any way you can get my wallet? There’s a business card inside. I just need the number.”
She crossed her arms as she stared me down. Then she let out a huff and turned on her heel. When she came back, she had my sparkly silver wallet in her hand.
Maybe wasn’t so bad after all. “Thank you.”
She handed me a portable phone, and I started dialing. Seconds later, the phone was ringing. Answer. Please answer. If this was really my one call, I didn’t want to waste it on a voicemail. I wasn’t sure I’d get another call if no one picked up.
“Special Agent Ramirez here.”
A sigh of relief escaped me before I could stop it. “Hi. It’s Teresa McCaide.”
“Teresa.” He drew out my name, his voice a degree—or ten—colder than our last meeting. “I’ve been expecting your call.”
“Well, I’m calling.” I cleared my throat. “I’m at the fine police offices of Santa Fe.”
“What a coincidence. I just got off a plane in in Santa Fe. I thought we discussed you calling me before the fact?”
I winced at his annoyed tone. “We didn’t know what we’d find here. Now that we did find something, I’m calling.”
“Next time, you call me first.”
“I’m sorry. Next time, I promise I’ll call first.” Maybe. If I could.
“Good thing I’ve already been appraised of the situation and why you’re being held or else I’d be real
ly annoyed.”
I never thought I’d ever be in a position where the FBI would be pissed at me. Yet here I was. Special Agent Ramirez was definitely ticked off. “The thing is… I need to get out of here. Luciana is going to do something very bad, and if we’re not there to stop her, well, it’s going to be worse than what she did last time. Much, much worse. A little help would be very appreciated. If there’s anything you can do to speed this along?”
Officer Yeats cleared her throat and tapped her watch.
I nodded. Time was almost up.
“You’re going to have to sit tight. I’ll see what I can do once I’m there, but they’re officially holding you for questioning. They could keep you there for up to twenty-four hours. Unless they get a judge to sign off for more time.”
No. That wasn’t going to happen. Even twenty-four hours was way too freaking long. We needed to get out of here like yesterday.
“But I’m sure I can do something about it once I get there, provided you fill me in on what’s going on.”
“Absolutely.” I looked at the clock on the wall. “How far away are you?”
“I’ll be there in less than an hour.”
That put him here after midnight. Much too late.
The line went dead before I could argue with him. I handed the phone back to Officer Yeats. “Thanks.”
He seemed pissed, Dastien said through the bond.
I know, right? It feels like no matter how hard I try, I’m messing it up. My knee bounced as I thought.
Hey. You’re doing a good job.
But even you disagreed with me about going with the cops, and—
And I was wrong.
I tried to take solace in that, but as I sat there, listening to seconds tick by on the clock, it was hard not to question my decisions.