Dragon Fruit Page 21

  ‘Everything. Everything’s wrong.’ I stopped myself. Just speaking to Gabi made me let go, allowing the tears to form.

  ‘Miss Jaymie. Come over to my place.’ She sounded wide awake now. ‘I hear you, I know you gotta talk.’

  ‘I can’t. I’m on the freeway heading north, to San Luis Obispo. Mike’s in the hospital. He was … he was shot.’

  ‘Shot? You mean with a gun?’

  Under any other circumstances, I’d have smiled. ‘Yes. With a gun.’

  ‘Oh no! Tell me, please tell me – how bad?’

  ‘He was shot in the back. In his spine. He’s not in critical condition, they said he’s stable, but they’ve got to operate. They’re going to do it right away.’

  As I said these words aloud, I realized they didn’t make sense. The doctors were acting fast to remove the bullet – did they really see his condition as stable? They didn’t know, and that was a fact.

  ‘Miss Jaymie, you are driving right now?’

  ‘Yeah. I just passed Buellton.’

  ‘Slow down. I know you, Miss Jaymie, I’m saying slow down. One thing you can do for Mr Mike, is not get into a crash.’

  I eased off on the accelerator. She was right. ‘I’ve got a lot to tell you but it can wait. One thing that can’t: I want you to phone Claudia. The two of you need to get over to the office quick as you can.’

  ‘OK I will, but tell me why. Claudia’s gonna wanna know why I call her in the middle of the night.’

  ‘It’s a long story, Gabi. But we need her tech skills. You know how good she is at breaking through passwords.’

  ‘Yes I do.’

  ‘I’ve hidden a laptop under a cushion on the couch. I need her to open it up, quick as she can.’

  ‘OK. What is she s’posed to look for?’

  ‘Anything. Everything. This has to do with Rosie. They’ve got her, Gabi. Eric and Morehead. They’re moving her on from Agua Azul. And I’ve got to find out where they’re taking her.’

  ‘OK. A computer. Where did it come from?’

  ‘It belongs to Eric, the guy who works for Staffen Brill.’

  ‘Agua Azul – I gotta ask, did Angel help you?’

  ‘He did. Maybe we should think about forgiving him.’

  ‘Maybe. Forgiving, that’s a good thing to do. But forgiving is only one thing, Miss Jaymie. Remember what you said? You can’t make your head to forget.’

  Dawn was just breaking as Dex and I pulled into the hospital parking lot in San Luis. An angry red line ran along the murky horizon.

  As I switched off the engine my phone dinged, announcing a text. I peered at it: Claudia. Call me as soon as you can.

  I let Dex out of the Cam. The heeler plunged into the flower beds, chasing down scents. I phoned Claudia, and she picked up on the first ring.

  ‘Jaymie, what’s this all about? I’m in the computer. All I see are some lists of names, and a few pictures of little kids.’

  Pictures of kids. Shit! In all the confusion, I’d done something incredibly stupid. ‘Are the photos head shots?’ I held my breath.

  ‘Yeah, head shots. They look like school photos, you know?’

  Thank you, dear God. There could have been anything on that computer, including photos I’d never have asked Claudia to look at.

  ‘Jaymie?’ she prompted. ‘So, what’s this about?’

  ‘I think we may be looking at lists of pedophiles.’

  ‘What?’ There was a long moment of silence. ‘What they do, those guys, to little kids – I really don’t … don’t even want to think about it. But I want to help!’

  ‘You are helping. I can’t do this without you.’ I watched an ambulance creep up the road. Its lights were flashing, but there were no sirens. The scene was painted in the lurid colors of the dawn.

  ‘Claudia, here’s what I’m after. Clues, any clues you can find, as to where they’ve taken Rosie. Names, addresses, phone numbers of anyone within a three-hundred-mile radius of Santa Barbara.’

  ‘What about the three pictures? These little girls …’

  ‘We’ll pass everything on to the authorities once we’ve got hold of Rosie. Right now you need to concentrate on the lists. Got it?’

  ‘Got it. When are you coming home?’

  I watched as the ambulance pulled into a far entrance and stopped. ‘Mike’s in surgery. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

  ‘Gabi told me all about it. I hope he’s going to be OK! Jaymie?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Just … well, you can count on me.’

  ‘I know I can. And I’m sorry, Claudia. Sorry I have to put you through this.’

  ‘No, I can do it. Just come back as soon as you can.’

  ‘Is Gabi there?’

  ‘Yeah. She’s—’ Claudia managed a giggle, and at that moment I knew she’d be all right. ‘Gabi’s making hot chocolate. Like that’s going to solve everything.’

  ‘Good for her. Put her on.’

  ‘Miss Jaymie? Mr Mike, how is he?’

  ‘Trudy called fifteen minutes ago and said he’s still in surgery. I’m about to go inside the hospital. The operation seems to be taking a hell of a long time.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Miss Jaymie. That just means the doctors are doing a very good job.’

  ‘Let’s hope so. Listen, about Claudia. She might need your support.’

  ‘Yes, I heard what she said to you. I will help her, Miss Jaymie. Do not worry about that. You take care of yourself and Mr Mike, OK?’

  We signed off. I saw that the back doors of the ambulance were wide open now, and two EMTs were transferring someone to a gurney. The attendants were casual in their movements, almost careless, as if they had all the time in the world. I realized that the someone must be deceased.

  I called for Dexter. Then my phone rang.

  ‘Jaymie. I just talked to the nurse. All she would say was that Mike got through it. The surgeon’s coming out to talk to me in about twenty minutes. Where are you?’

  ‘I’m here, in the parking lot. I’ll be right in.’

  ‘Jaymie, the nurse … she wasn’t smiling.’

  My heart dropped. All I could do was echo myself. ‘I’ll be there, Trudy. I’ll be right in.’

  The surgeon’s limp mask dangled around his neck. I tried to read his expression but saw nothing other than exhaustion in his eyes. He shut the waiting room door behind him. ‘Mrs Freitas?’ He looked at me.

  Trudy stood. ‘I’m Trudy Freitas, Mike’s sister. This is Jaymie Zarlin, my brother’s partner.’

  He nodded. ‘Mike’s resting. His condition is stable. We were able to remove the bullet.’

  ‘Thank God,’ I said. ‘Can we see him?’

  ‘Right now we have him in the recovery unit. He’s going to be heavily sedated, but he should recover consciousness in an hour.’ The doc hesitated, and in that moment I knew there was more to come.

  ‘I’m not sure how much they told you before surgery.’

  ‘They told me about the bullet. They said there was the risk of infection …’ Trudy’s words trailed off.

  The surgeon raised a hand, as if he were asking us for something. ‘We don’t know anything for certain at this stage. But there is nerve damage. They didn’t tell you about that?’

  ‘No, they didn’t.’

  Trudy was the one doing the talking. I was struck dumb. My brain was focused on making connections, filling in what the doc was leaving unsaid.

  ‘Paralysis. Is that it?’ I blurted out.

  I wanted him to deny it, but he didn’t. In fact, the surgeon seemed grateful that I’d supplied the word.

  ‘There will be paralysis, yes. But it’s too early to say how much. The bullet had lodged in a vertebra. He shouldn’t be affected above the waist.’

  This was crazy! Who the hell was he talking about? Mike?

  I could see that the surgeon wanted to move on. Trudy was silent, but I refused to let the guy go.

  ‘Do you mean he won’t be able to w
alk?’ I heard my own voice. I sounded incredulous, as if I were going to burst into laughter.

  The surgeon rubbed his face. ‘It’s a possibility, yes.’

  It was more than a possibility. It was a probability, maybe even a certainty. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bringing it up. I covered my mouth with a hand.

  Mike looked too large for the bed. And even though it was winter, he looked too dark and suntanned against the white sheets. He belonged outdoors, where he spent most of his time. Not in a hospital.

  ‘Jaymie—’

  I bent down and kissed him on the lips, then placed a hand on his cheek. ‘I’m here. Trudy’s here, too. Take it easy, sweetheart.’

  ‘Jaymie … Sis—’ He was asking us a question. Trudy took half a step back.

  ‘Mike, everything’s OK,’ I said. ‘If you want, you can go back to sleep.’

  But I could see he didn’t want to sleep, not yet. ‘Mike, are you asking what happened?’

  His chin tipped up. He was nodding a ‘yes.’

  ‘You were up in Los Padres. Going in after a meth operation.’ I stroked his cheek with my thumb. ‘One of the perps shot you in the back.’

  He stared at me wide-eyed, like a kid. He wanted this explanation, but I couldn’t be sure how much he was taking in.

  ‘You’re safe now, Mike. They airlifted you out. They took out the bullet.’ I tried to fill my voice with confidence. ‘Everything’s going to be fine.’

  Mike closed his eyes and drifted back into sleep. It had bothered me to lie. No matter what had happened between us, we’d always told one another the truth.

  ‘I don’t know how to do this,’ I said to Trudy out in the hall. ‘I don’t know how to tell him.’

  Trudy nodded. ‘Mike’s going to be asking, sooner than they think.’

  ‘Maybe one of the hospital staff will tell him. But I’m not sure it should come from them.’

  ‘Or maybe he’ll figure it out for himself.’ Trudy shook herhead. ‘Oh God, Jaymie, this is just the beginning. How am I going to cope?’

  ‘I’m going to help you.’ The words popped out of my mouth. I discovered I didn’t regret them. ‘We’ll do it, you and me.’

  ‘This could be a long haul, Jaymie. Sure you two can stay together for more than a week?’

  ‘I’ll be there for Mike. Even if he tells me to get lost.’

  ‘You two.’ She gave me the trace of a smile.

  But ten minutes later, back in the room, I was telling Trudy I had to return to Santa Barbara that night.

  ‘We’re trying to locate a child who’s been abducted. I know Mike would want me to get back on the case.’

  She looked crestfallen. ‘When will you be back?’

  ‘As soon as I’ve found her. In a few days, I hope. Then Dex and I will be spending some time up here.’

  ‘Our house is a zoo, but you’re welcome to stay with us.’

  I bent down and kissed Mike on the cheek, then the mouth. His eyes opened. ‘Jaymie—’

  ‘Shh. It’s all right.’ I didn’t know if I could smile. As it turned out I could, but only through a film of tears. ‘I told you, Mike, you’re going to be fine.’

  I was amazed at how easily the lie slipped out this time. Maybe it was easy because I knew he needed to hear it.

  ‘Jaymie, stay—’

  It hurt to hear him ask me for that. ‘Sorry. I’m always leaving you, aren’t I?’

  He was drugged to the eyeballs. I had no idea how much he understood. ‘Mike? Trudy will be here with you till I get back. I have to go, just for a little while.’

  He stared at me. How the hell could I explain? ‘Dexter’s waiting for me out in the Camino. We have to go and find Rosie, OK?’

  Mike’s lips curled up in a smile. ‘Yeah, Dex …’ He closed his eyes and slipped back into sleep.

  I looked over at Trudy. ‘See? I always knew Mike liked Dexter better than me.’

  She shook her head. ‘I’d say you and your dog are a package deal.’

  I felt guilty as hell as I made my way through the halls to the parking lot. Guilty because I was leaving Trudy with all the responsibility, yes, but that wasn’t the main thing. I felt guilty because I was abandoning Mike.

  One hour later, I hit the coast. The early morning light over the ocean was slick and mean as cold metal. As I approached Santa Barbara, I could just see the tops of the islands piercing a long line of gray barrier-shaped clouds.

  Twenty more minutes and I was charging up Mission, then pulling up in front of the bungalow court. I jumped out, raced through the garden to the office, and banged my way in through the door. Dexter was hot on my tail.

  Gabi was sound asleep on the couch, and Claudia sat slumped at the desk with her head in her arms. Both of the women jumped when the front door banged against the wall.

  ‘I got something, Jaymie,’ Claudia mumbled.

  ‘Good job.’ I threw my messenger bag down on the hot seat. ‘I need to get some coffee down me, pronto.’

  Gabi sat up and combed her hair with her fingers. ‘Miss Jaymie, are you sure? Maybe you better take a nap.’

  ‘No time.’ I circled the desk. ‘Claudia, show me what you’ve got.’

  She tapped the mouse and the screen lit up. ‘OK. There are only two folders on the computer. And there’s only one file in one – that’s the school photos of the kids – and two files in the other.’

  ‘Got it.’

  ‘So, the first of the two files contains a contacts list. It’s huge. It’s an email list, I’m pretty sure, but the thing is, it’s all in code. Here, I’ll open it and show you.’

  I stared at the odd combinations of letters and numbers. ‘A list of the people this guy communicates with. That’s dynamite.’

  ‘Right. The thing is, I fiddled around with the code, but right now my brain’s too tired to crack it.’

  ‘But Claudia is smart enough to do it,’ Gabi reminded me.

  ‘Oh, I know that. The thing is, we don’t have time to figure it out, not if we’re going to find Rosie. The sheriff’s department can do that later on.’ I walked into the kitchen, picked up the ladder-back chair, and carried it to the desk.

  ‘So. How about the other list?’

  ‘Yeah. That one’s gold.’ Claudia closed the first file and opened the second. ‘Here, take a look.’

  ‘Hm. Fourteen or fifteen names. I wonder why? I mean, why isn’t it in code like the longer list?’

  ‘I don’t have a clue. But this file is a lot newer than the other one. It was created just a few months ago – last year, in November. Maybe the creep didn’t think he needed to be careful anymore.’

  ‘Could be. Maybe Eric got complacent. He figured no one was ever going to find this laptop. Staffen Brill found it, though.’

  Gabi paused on her way through to the kitchenette. ‘Miss Jaymie, that woman, is she one of the bad people too?’

  ‘You bet she is. Brill’s been smuggling children in from Mexico for illegal adoption. I’m certain of it. But I don’t think she’s part of the sex trafficking ring – that’s something different. Her husband, on the other hand, is guilty as sin.’

  ‘Turning little kids into sex slaves,’ Claudia muttered. ‘I’m going home to get my knife.’

  ‘No, no!’ Gabi said. ‘You leave that knife with your ma.’

  ‘What we need to use is our brains. Gabi, how about that coffee?’

  ‘Right away.’

  ‘Claudia, you said you’ve located addresses for these guys?’

  ‘Yeah, and it took me over two hours. I trolled through the internet. This desktop is freakin’ ancient.’ She reached for the yellow legal pad on her right. ‘Nobody can hide their address these days. I had to dig deep for two of them, but in the end I got all fifteen. Here.’

  I scanned the locations. Six of the fifteen were located in California. Of those, two lived in the LA basin, one was in Stockton, and another was in Palm Desert. The last two were close by, one in Santa Maria and the other in C
amarillo.

  ‘Right. Let’s focus on the California addresses first. The guys in Santa Maria and Camarillo, we can cross them off for now.’

  Claudia frowned. ‘How do you figure that?’

  ‘Eric had a duffle bag and Morehead had a small suitcase. Overnight bags. Santa Maria and Camarillo are too close – they wouldn’t need to stay overnight.’

  ‘Makes sense.’

  ‘And Los Angeles, it’s not all that far away either. I suppose it’s possible they planned to spend the night down in LA, but it’s unlikely.’

  Claudia turned to me. ‘That leaves Stockton and Palm Desert, right?’

  ‘Yeah. Two cities in opposite directions. I’m running out of time – I’ve got to choose one.’

  ‘Maybe I could go to one address and you could go to the other?’

  Gabi set down a coaster and a cup of coffee in front of me on the desktop. ‘You mean me and you could go to one together, mija,’ she said to Claudia. ‘I’m not letting you go alone. Look at you – drinking that Coca-Cola. Not even old enough to drink coffee.’

  ‘I don’t like it, that’s all. And anything Jaymie can do, I can—’

  ‘OK, OK.’ I took a sip of the coffee. I could almost sense the elixir bridging the synapses in my tired brain. ‘I’m not sending either of you anywhere. We don’t have time to mess around. We have to be sure.’

  I got to my feet, opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. The dawn had seemed threatening, but the clouds dissipated and now the sky was fresh, sparkling with birdsong. Somewhere a little girl was being transported to captivity, and Mother Nature seemed to be ridiculing her fate.

  I gripped the porch rail with one hand and shut my eyes. I had to think hard.

  Last night, at Agua Azul. Was there anything I’d missed? There must have been something to indicate Morehead’s destination, some sort of clue.

  Step by step I replayed the scene, but in reverse:

  Morehead, barreling down the drive, with Rosie and Eric in the back seat.

  Staffen, protesting.

  Rosie stuffed into the BMW, along with Eric and his duffle bag.

  Morehead placing his own case in the trunk. His case, and – fuck! My eyes flew open.

  Morehead hadn’t just dropped a small suitcase into the trunk. He’d added a golf bag. I could even recall the sound it had made – a dull clank-clunk – as the clubs thumped against one another.