Nate held up his credentials. “Ma’am, I’m Agent Carrington,” he pointed toward Alex, “and this is Agent Ragheb. We’re with the FBI. Is Dr. Chalmers at home? We need to talk to him.”

The woman wrung her apron in her hands. “No. Doctor’s no home now, I’m sorry.” She had a strong Spanish accent.

“May I ask for your name?”

“F-Felicia,” the woman said nervously. “I’m the housekeeper for Dr. Chalmers. He’s no going to be back until the evening. I tell him you come to see him.”

Nate tried to keep the frown from his face.

“Felicia,” Alex said. Her voice was pleasant and soothing. She was good at this. “Could you give us Dr. Chalmers’s cell phone number? It’s pretty important we reach him right away.”

Felicia bit her lower lip and for a moment seemed uncertain.

“He’d definitely want us to get in touch with him,” Alex said, sounding immensely reassuring.

Felicia nodded curtly. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” She scurried back into the house, leaving the door ajar.

Nate poked his head inside. One of the paintings hanging in the entryway featured an off-center, cartoon-like image of a man’s face. “Can’t say much for this guy’s taste for art,” Nate whispered.

Alex snorted and shook her head. “So much for your career as an art appraiser. I’m pretty sure that’s a Picasso.”

He shrugged. “It still looks like crap to me.”

Somewhere in the home, Felicia yelled, “Ay, Dios mío!” Nate detected the scent of something burning.

Moments later, Felicia returned and handed Alex a business card. “Dr. Chalmers’s new phone is on there.” With a pained expression, she asked, “Can I go? Food is almost burnt and I need fix it.”

Alex held up the card and smiled warmly. “Thank you, Felicia. We’ll get in touch with Dr. Chalmers. You better go rescue that meal. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”

With an expression of relief, Felicia turned away and closed the door.

As they walked back toward their car, Alex handed Nate the business card. He dialed the agent in charge of establishing the perimeter. “Keep watch over the house. We’ll track down the lead we just received. He may end up coming back here.”

“Roger that. I’ll keep you posted.”

Nate then dialed the number to a special FBI call center set up for this case. “Special Agent Nathaniel Carrington, I need a location trace on the following number.” He read Chalmers’s number off the card.

Nate heard typing in the background and a woman’s voice said, “That number is linked to a Verizon account. We have active cell tower connectivity. I’m sending the current triangulated GPS coordinates to your car’s tracking system.”

Nate turned to Alex. “We’ve got an active trace. Let’s go get him.”

###