“That doesn’t mean he’s not still terrified of the cartel for himself and for his mother,” Fay said. “They could also be holding something over him.”
Lee knocked his knuckles against the back of the chair. “That makes sense as to why he’d risk being in a casino with a couple of gangsters when he’s on parole.”
Fay wanted to jump up and down and point out that Lee actually agreed with her on something, but she opted to let that one go. It would come off as combative. It wasn’t worth it.
“If that’s the case, we need to find out what they have on him,” Walker said.
“More importantly, why it matters,” Lee added. “Because I don’t see how this is connected to the kidnappings or murder, other than Levi’s dad is involved. Do we know how they pulled him into laundering money?”
“Yes,” Fay said as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell. She tapped the screen and found the information she was looking for. “My contacts were able to do a deep dive into both Pete’s finances and his ex-wife’s. They are both in some serious debt. That’s partly why they got divorced. He mortgaged the house and borrowed money to pay off some debts to creditors for bad investments. His wife opened a bunch of small boutiques that went bankrupt and that did a number on their personal finances. That’s when he went to Craig.”
“He borrowed money from a loan shark to help his wife?” Lee asked.
“He was in trouble too,” Walker clarified. “We don’t know the extent of the loans with Craig, but now Pete is laundering money for the Javi Cartel.”
“Still doesn’t explain why Pete, Craig, Chris, and Randall were having a sit-down,” Lee said. “Did Randall work for any of them before he went to prison?”
“Not that we know of.” Walker set his glass on the counter. “Pete hadn’t borrowed a dime from Craig six years ago and he was living in Colorado Springs. Seemingly happily married. Chris wasn’t on the local sheriff’s radar yet. The only thing that we knew was Randall was dealing drugs and we had ten missing young men.”
“Did Randall have any contact with those missing boys?” Lee asked. “I know that there was no evidence or reason to believe he had anything to do with their disappearance but could he have seen them or talked to them right before?”
“I had my people look into that.” If Fay had the time to be bitter, she would be annoyed, but that connection was too obvious to miss. “I had my contacts at the CIA triangulate his old cell number usage around the time each boy’s phone was last used. He wasn’t anywhere near them.” She held her phone out so Walker could see the pinpoints on a map. “I can email this to both of you, but it shows where the boys’ phone was and where we believe Randall was.”
“Am I the only one who’s finding it really strange that there’s a six-year gap between kidnappings and the fact that Randall was incarcerated for six years?” Lee chugged his beer.
That statement felt like a broken record. They’d been over it a million times. However, it was a valid point. Or question. Fay struggled to believe that the timing of Randall’s incarceration and the lack of missing boys could be a chance happening. However, she’d gone through every single of piece of evidence and every statement given by Randall. Back then, he’d been hostile and uncooperative, even when it came to the missing boys. Randall had been annoyed that he was being questioned for something he had nothing to do with. That he hadn’t even seen the young men in question to sell drugs.
“There are no coincidences,” Lee continued. “At least not in the world I know. And I would think that the two of you would agree with me on that.”
“We do,” Fay concurred. “There is just no evidence anywhere to believe Randall kidnapped or killed anyone.”
“Has anyone interrogated him? Back then? Now? Why aren’t we putting the pressure on this guy?” Lee glanced between her and Walker as if they had dropped the ball.
Fay took a quick glance at Walker who nodded, giving her the go-ahead to keep talking. Not that she needed his permission. “He was questioned six years ago while in prison. The FBI said he didn’t fit the profile. Eighteen months later, when not another single man went missing, they questioned him again and came to the same conclusion. They started flagging other missing person cases, looking for links. We have some new files to look through, which Sparrow is dropping off in the morning.”
“And what do you think?” Lee kept his focus on Walker, as if Fay wasn’t even in the room. “Should we ignore the obvious when it comes to Randall?”
“I’m not sure you heard anything that Fay said.” Walker took a big gulp of his wine. “We’re covering all the persons of interest. That includes Randall.” He didn’t allow Lee to give his retort, which could only be seen as a good thing. “But we also have to remember he has an alibi for the murder of Marty Hall.”
“Can we poke any holes in that? Have you tried?” Lee chugged his drink before tossing it in the recycle bin. “I’ll take care of that in the morning. I’ll see you ladies tomorrow.” He stomped off toward his room without giving Fay, or Walker for that matter, a chance to say a thing.
“It’s taking every ounce of energy I have not to wring his neck,” Fay mumbled.
Walker took her wineglass from her hand and set it on the counter. He took her into his arms and brushed his lips tenderly across hers in a loving kiss. It was so sweet and powerful, and all the stress from the day’s events evaporated into thin air.
Being with Walker had a way of changing her perspective. In the past, she couldn’t let her work go, so she kept digging through whatever task was in front of her at the time. She’d often find herself dosing off for a half hour here and there on the sofa. Or at the kitchen table. Wherever it was she’d been working. She never gave it a second thought.
That was her life and she thought she’d been happy.
Then she resigned from the CIA and she realized she had nothing other than work, and she no longer had that.
Beck had given her something new, but her world was missing something. Only, she didn’t know what until she’d seen Walker at Wind River.
Talk about unexpected.
“That was nice.” She patted Walker’s chest. “But not necessary when someone isn’t around to witness it.”
“Maybe I wanted some privacy.”
“If that were the case, why didn’t you wait until we were upstairs?” Heat filled her cheeks. Flirting wasn’t something that normally came natural. Whenever she found herself wanting to be with a man, she simply asked. If they said no, she moved on. Sex was something she always thought she could take or leave.
Only now that she’d had it with Walker, she wanted it again.
And again.