“Ask,” Noah said.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re biting the inside of the your cheek, which tells me you want to say something. But I won’t discuss personnel issues.”
“It wasn’t that.” Well, yes, in part it was, but she’d never have asked about Elizabeth Cook and why she didn’t work in the field-or why Juan went along with it. “You haven’t told me why we’re going to Laredo.”
“I’m sorry, I assumed you knew.” Noah passed a slower driver and maintained his speed. It was still early, the sun barely up, and Lucy wanted more coffee.
“I’m good at my job, but I’m not psychic.”
He glanced at her with a half smile on his face. “You sure about that?”
“Pretty sure.”
“I got a call from Rick Stockton late last night. A photojournalist, Siobhan Walsh, was arrested and is being held in Freer, about an hour from Laredo. He hasn’t been able to get any information out of the locals, and he wasn’t allowed to speak to Walsh. I assumed you knew because Rick said Walsh is tight with the Rogans.”
“I know of her, I’ve never met her.”
“There’s more going on than a simple arrest. Rick was alerted to Walsh’s disappearance by a local priest who said she’d given him Rick’s number in case she didn’t return from taking photos-at least that was Rick’s understanding. Though the priest didn’t seem to trust Rick and didn’t want to give too many details over the phone, Siobhan’s arrest may be related to a newborn baby who was left at the church last week.”
A baby? “Why wasn’t the FBI brought in earlier?”
“Rick did some research and learned that early Thursday morning, a baby was left at the door of Our Lady of Sorrows, a rural parish between San Antonio and Laredo. The two priests at the parish didn’t call police, but drove the infant to a hospital in Laredo-in another county. The infant is being kept there while the police and Child Protective Services conduct their investigation.”
“Is this a Baby Moses case?” Different states called their laws different things, but Baby Moses in Texas meant that mothers could leave their infants at designated safe places without reprisal.
“No-the church isn’t a safe haven. There’s been some jurisdictional issues-the local police want to investigate because the baby was left in their jurisdiction, but the Webb County sheriff’s department is also investigating because the hospital is in their jurisdiction. Our office wasn’t notified or called.”
“What does this have to do with Siobhan Walsh and her arrest?”
“I don’t know yet. Once we have Walsh in our custody, we’ll find out if her arrest connects to the infant. She’ll have more answers, at any rate.” Noah glanced at her, then sped up to pass another driver. “Rick wants the FBI to work this case, which is why he didn’t call RCK to get Walsh out. But I sensed he was torn.”
“Rick isn’t someone torn over difficult decisions.”
“You’re right, so I want to get him answers today. I need someone who speaks fluent Spanish, which means you, Emilio, or Ryan. But you’re the only female on the squad who’s fluent, and we don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
He didn’t need to explain that some victims much preferred talking with female agents, and Lucy was well trained in working with victims of sexual assault.
“If a woman left her baby at a church, she could have feared for her life and her baby,” Lucy said. “Perhaps trying to protect the baby from its father.”
“I was thinking something along those lines. Rick didn’t ask me to bring you along, but he implied you’d be the most helpful.”
“I appreciate his faith in me.”
“It’s not faith, Lucy. You earned it.”
She didn’t say anything.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Hardly.”
She didn’t want to talk about her place in the office, how awkward it had been over the last three months. She just wanted to do her job and do it well. When she’d first arrived in San Antonio, she felt like she fit in. She’d made friends on her squad, closed tough cases, and had immersed herself in the city.
She’d grown to love San Antonio and to think of it as her home. She and Sean had settled into their house, and while Sean hadn’t taken a regular job, he had enough freelance security assignments to keep him busy. And now they were planning their wedding… or, rather, Sean was planning it. He seemed to enjoy it, so she let him do most of the work-within reason. She didn’t want anything fancy or big, though considering they each had a large family, she couldn’t do much about the size of the wedding.
But now… nine months after moving here… she felt like she’d lost something. She knew why. People didn’t trust her. Not because they thought she was corrupt, but because they thought she was a magnet for trouble. Maybe she was. Trouble seemed to follow her. Maybe she went looking for it. Some people believed so.
She’d made mistakes-at least in the eyes of others. And on the nights she couldn’t sleep, she considered other ways she might have been able to do things. There were always options. But in the end, she had to accept that she’d broken rules-and perhaps, made mistakes-because someone was in trouble. She couldn’t sit back and watch a tragedy happen if she could stop it, even if that meant bending-or breaking-the rules.
It had taken her a long time to get to this point. She believed in the system, she believed in justice. But what happened when the system and justice didn’t align? Which was more important? The system that upheld justice but sometimes faltered or the idea that justice could always be obtained, though sometimes at a price?
“You’ve never walked an easy road,” Noah said after a minute. “I think you know that.”
“I do.”
They drove in silence awhile longer, but it was a comfortable silence. Noah said, “I received your wedding invitation over the weekend.”
“I hope you’re still in town at the end of October.”
“Not sure, but if not I’ll fly out. You deserve to be happy. You and Sean have made yourselves a nice life here.”
“We like it. I love my family, but this is the first time I’ve felt like I’m truly on my own.”
“I was an only child. I’ve always felt like I was on my own.”
He sounded a bit sad about it, but before Lucy could ask questions, his phone vibrated. He answered. “We’re almost in Freer,” Noah said. “Ten minutes or so.” He listened. “That’s serious. How-” He stopped talking, listened, then said, “I’ll talk to the priest first. But don’t you think-” He stopped again. “I understand. Can you send her file to Lucy? Thanks.” He hung up. “That was Rick.”
“You sound concerned.”
“Rick didn’t wait for us-truthfully, I wish he’d have let me handle this situation in person. Apparently he and Walsh have been friends for a long time.” He hesitated, as if he was going to say something else, then cleared his throat and said, “Anyway, he spoke to the sheriff after getting the runaround. Walsh was arrested for breaking and entering, assault on a peace officer, and resisting arrest. She’ll be arraigned at ten this morning.” It was just after eight now. “Rick tried to speak with her, but the sheriff said no, she had a public defender and would be allowed to make a call after her arraignment.”
“You sound-irritated.”
“Over and above that Rick just tipped our hand? He’s smarter than that.” Noah typed the address for Our Lady of Sorrows into his GPS. The computer shifted their route and gave them eighteen minutes to destination. “Rick wants to know what Walsh and the priest were doing last night-before she’s arraigned. I suspect he’s going to try to get the charges thrown out, though how he can do that I have no idea. Rick’s sending you information on Walsh.”