Dont be mad at me but I went with Rico. Its a long story but he took me to the house you talked about, the one by the ocean. Marie and the other officers raided the place. They arrested a bunch of guys. There were girls being kept there, like nine or ten. We stopped them, Jessie!

Listening to the excitement in Hannahs voice, Jessie decided to go with it. She could press her or Officer Gattis for the details later. Right now wasnt about that.

Thats fantastic, Jessie said. And youre sure that youre okay?

Yeah. It was a little scary there for a while. Rico tried to rape me. But the cops came before he could.

He tried to what?

Im okay, Jessie. Really, I wasnt hurt.

All right, Jessie replied, willing herself to remain calm. Im glad youre okay. I have to take a colleague to the hospital but Ill meet you at the station a little later. Just stay close to Captain Decker, understand?

When she hung up, Jessie saw that Karen was looking at her with a goofy grin.

What?

You were a good parent there, Karen said, her voice cloudy. You cared about how she was, not what she did.

Karen, Im not her parent. Im her sister.

I promise you. Thats not what she thinks.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

Beto Estrada sounded scared.

It was Wednesday, a day after the raid on the Otis Estate. Jessie was in the Central Police Station conference room, waiting for everyone else to arrive, when she got the call. It came through over the conference room phone via the station front desk.

Are you all right? she asked.

Im not sure, Estrada said. Is everything I saw on the news last night true? Did you really break up that trafficking ring?

Part of it, she said. We havent rolled everyone up yet. Im actually a little surprised to hear from you. Should you be calling me?

Im using the cell phone of a colleague at the firm, he said.

So youre still worried?

Shouldnt I be? he asked. I didnt see anything about our mogul friend being arrested.

It hasnt happened yet, she admitted. Weve got lots of people in the chain of command rolling over on their higher-ups. But no ones turned on him yet. In fact, right now hes got a lot of sympathy because of Gilliards attack on him.

Maybe I can help change that, Estrada said.

What do you mean?

Like I said, I watched the news, he said. For days, that man hid the guy who murdered Milly. He knew what Gilliard did. He needs to pay, and not just as some accessory after the fact.

Jessie, despite what he was saying, refused to allow herself to get too excited.

What did you have in mindwould you like me to drop off Millys personal effects? she asked, referencing the coded phrase shed suggested he use if he wanted help.