“Good enough. What’s been going on with the case?”

“I’ve been working with Sean and Max, which is interesting.”

Nate snorted. “I’ll bet.”

She filled him in on the case. “I can use you as soon as you return.”

Nate said, “We’re leaving at dawn. Hope to be in San Antonio between one and two in the afternoon—and we need a safe place for Ricky. He can’t go into the system—not until we know he’s safe. He’s on edge, Lucy—I don’t know how else to describe it. He doesn’t want to leave but is doing it anyway—his choice. But he’s not comfortable. He’s been living with this fear for a long time, I don’t know if he even knows what he’s afraid of anymore, but being here in the middle of these mountains with a man he trusts and considers a father figure has been his only constant for three years.”

Now they were getting into a sensitive area. Ricky Albright was a minor child, and he was also a witness to a crime. But Nate was right—if he was in the system Chavez might be able to get to him, if not Chavez he could call in someone else. There were more than a few people involved in this conspiracy. Ricky said that four men came to his house that day three years ago … were they in Chavez’s employ? Or did they work for Harrison Monroe? Was there a connection between Chavez and Monroe?

“Bring him to Saint Catherine’s,” she said. “I’ll talk to Father Mateo, I’m sure he’ll take him for a few days. No one will think to look for him there. Plus Father has experience with boys like Ricky.” Scared, defiant, with the ability to disappear if they had a chance.

“And who deals with CPS? We can’t hide him indefinitely.”

“No one. As far as society is concerned, Ricky is dead or still missing—protecting him is our number one goal.”

“And do you tell Rachel?”

“I don’t know. I think I have to … and pray she agrees with our plan.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Sean and Max spent all morning and most of the afternoon driving by every property that Harrison Monroe had bought or sold, per the real estate transactions that Sean’s Realtor had pulled for him. Max was growing increasingly frustrated because there was nothing unusual about the properties. They were mostly vacant land.

“It’s not common to buy a piece of property and sell it a year later without improvements,” Sean said. “It’s a perfect money-laundering scheme.”

“Except that it leaves a paper trail.”