No Good Deed (40 page)

“You just saved us hours of work.”

“Maybe—but there are no transaction dates, it’ll need to be cross-referenced to the original files.”

She sent the attachment to Noah Armstrong in DC and copied in Abigail Durant, along with her theory about why she felt the safe house property was on the list.

She couldn’t wait. She half walked, half ran through the office to Durant’s suite. She was in a closed-door meeting, so Lucy sat and waited. She read the list carefully—nothing jumped out at her as suspicious. That didn’t mean there wasn’t something here. She just didn’t have all the information she needed to make the assessment.

While she waited, she logged into a computer at an empty desk and forwarded Agent Blair Novak in Los Angeles the same information that she’d just sent Noah. She cc’d Hans, Brad and Nate. In a case like this it was better to make sure that everyone was in the loop, because it would be too easy for something to slip through the cracks.

She responded to some of her emails, waiting for Abigail to be done with her meeting because Lucy knew—in her gut, her heart, her head—that the property was on that list. Abigail could make things happen. If the Texas Rangers could prioritize their search with the list from the Texas Holding Company, they’d find Nicole faster.

Durant’s office door swung open. Brad and Moody stepped out. “Whoever you need,” Durant was saying.

“Kincaid,” Brad said when he saw her.

Durant frowned. “Agent Kincaid is a target, I don’t want her in the field today.”

“What happened?” Lucy asked.

“The agents the FBI has at Saint Catherine’s spotted the mother and boys we’ve been looking for, the boys who missed the bus on Monday when the hijackers boarded.”

“They’re at Saint Catherine’s?”

“I just got the call,” Abigail said.

“Ma’am, that’s my church.”

“And they could have been sent there lure you out.”

“Nicole knows where I live. If she really wanted to get at me, she knows where to find me. Ma’am, one of the boys at the home is in danger. Sean hired a private guard for the house, but we know these people will do anything to get the results they want.”

“There are no children at Saint Catherine’s—Father Flannigan informed us that he canceled the summer school program for the week.”

“Not students—I’m talking about the foster kids who live in the group home across the street. Their legal guardian is the diocese and Father Flannigan,” Lucy said, itching to leave. “I know the boys. I need to go. I’m not going to be rash.”

“Ma’am,” Brad said, “as I told Mr. Moody, we can’t let these people change the way we work. We can’t let them scare us into not doing our jobs.”

Abigail looked torn for a moment, then she nodded. “Bring Dunning with you,” she said. “And call in Quiroz and Proctor for backup.

Moody nodded. “I’ll be at the DEA office.” He looked at Lucy oddly. “Kincaid?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Jack Kincaid—he’s not your husband, is he?”

“My brother.”

“We hired RCK, as I mentioned in the meeting. I didn’t make the connection until now. The other one, Patrick, is also a brother?”

“Correct,” she said.

“They come highly recommended. Thank you.” He walked out.

Thank you for what?

“Brad,” Abigail said, “I’m trusting you not to go off half-cocked. You lost not only your boss, but a friend.”

“I’m good, ma’am. I assure you, I’m not going to risk the lives of any other agent. But this is our best lead right now.”

“Then go.”

Hans was still in Juan’s office with the door closed. Lucy asked Zach to tell him what they were doing, then Lucy, Brad, and Nate left.

St. Catherine’s wasn’t far, and Lucy called Father Mateo as soon as they drove off while Brad got on the phone with the agents in the field.

“He’s not answering,” Lucy said. She dialed the house line for the boys’ home.

Sister Ruth answered on the second ring.

“Ruth, it’s Lucy Kincaid. Is Father Mateo there?”

“No, he’s at the church.”

“Is the security team that Sean hired inside or outside?”

“They’re inside. They said two FBI agents are outside the church. Is everything okay? You’re scaring me, Lucy.”

“I’m sure everything is fine, but let me talk to one of them.”

A moment later a deep voice came on the line. “Pete Toscano here.”

“Pete, this is Lucy Kincaid.” She didn’t know Pete or his partner, but Sean would have brought in the best.

“Yes, ma’am, Agent Kincaid.”

“There may be a situation at the church. We have a team outside and more on the way. I’m hoping it’s nothing, but we’re not taking any chances. Please keep all the boys in the house, in direct line of sight, until you hear from me, and if you can, do a head count right now. Call me back if there are any problems or you’re missing anyone.”

“We’re on it.” He hung up.

“Father Mateo is at the church,” she told Brad and Nate. “He may have canceled school, but he would never cancel Mass.” She looked at her watch. “Mass would have ended about fifteen minutes ago. There are two full-time employees for the church. The school has a separate staff, but they’re in a different building on the campus end of the property.”

Nate got off the phone with the agents. “The agents said Garcia went with her boys into the church after Mass ended and the parishioners left. No one has come out. They want to know if they should go in.”

“No,” Brad said. “We need information and if we spook her she may not cooperate.”

“It could be a trap,” Nate said, glancing at Lucy.

Brad looked at his phone. “Quiroz and Proctor are at the church. They’re doing recon but won’t enter unless there’s an immediate threat.”

Two minutes later Brad pulled into the church lot and parked next to the other agents. Through their open car windows, Ryan said, “I circled around and looked in through the vestibule door. The boys are sitting in a pew near the front. I couldn’t see their mother.”

“Father Mateo?”

“He’s not in the rectory. The secretary said he was in the church, but I didn’t see him. I told her to lock the doors.”

“We get the boys out if we can,” Proctor said. “We don’t know if the woman is a threat or a victim.”

“I’ll get the boys,” Lucy said. “They’re six and seven years old. You’ll terrify them with your gear. They’re likely very distrustful of law enforcement. Their father is in prison, and their mother is still involved with him.”

Ryan concurred. “Bring them out and I’ll take them to the rectory.”

Proctor said, “Donnelly, Dunning, go through the side door and secure it. We’ll go through the main doors. Kincaid, you’ll approach the boys. If you see any threat, give the signal. Check coms.” They sounded off to make sure all communication units were working and then approached the church on foot.

The boys watched with wide eyes as the five law enforcement officers came into the church. The men stood back while Lucy approached the children and said, “Do you speak English?”

The boys both nodded in unison

She smiled. “You’re Matthew and you’re Lucas, right? I’m Lucy. This is my church, just like it’s your church. Father Mateo is a very good friend of mine. I also work for the FBI, and I know your grandmother. She’s been very worried about you.”

The boys didn’t move, but the older boy tilted his head in surprise.

“Do you know where Father Mateo is? It’s important I talk to him.”

The older boy looked over to the confessional in the far rear corner of the church. A light was on over the door, indicating that someone was inside.

“Do you see that man?” She gestured toward Ryan. “I know he looks kind of scary, but he has two little boys, just like you. He’s going to take you to the rectory to see Mrs. Seewig. Okay?” She reached out and hoped they took her hands. A sign of trust.

The older boy moved toward her, but the younger boy didn’t budge.

“What’s wrong, Lucas?” she asked.

“Mama said do not move or else.”

“You are such a good boy for listening to your mother. But my job is to protect people.” She showed him her badge. “That’s what this means. And I especially protect children like you. Ryan”—she pointed—”he has a badge, too, and he’s going to make sure nothing happens to you. I will explain it to your mother. I promise, you will not get into any trouble. It’s really, really important that you go with Ryan.”

The older boy, Matthew, said, “Is Mama in trouble? Because we didn’t go to school?”

“No, she is not in any trouble. I need to talk to her, though.”

“She’s been crying,” Matthew said. “All the time. I don’t like it when she’s sad.”

“Let me try to fix it, okay?”

He nodded. “Come on, Lucas.” He held out his hand to his brother. “Mama needs us to be brave.”

The younger boy was reluctant, but took Lucy’s hand. She walked them over to Ryan, put their small, sticky hands into his large palms. Then she watched him leave with the boys, Proctor backing him up.

Lucy walked up the aisle and stood in the back, right outside the confessional. She couldn’t hear anything through the soundproofing. Five minutes later the door opened on the confessor’s side. Elena Garcia stepped out, her face puffy from tears, her eyes rimmed red. She looked around the church for the boys, panic in her eyes.

“Elena, Matthew and Lucas are safe,” Lucy said.

She whirled around and said to Lucy, “What did you do with my boys? Where are they?” Her voice was as panicked as her eyes.

“I’m Special Agent Lucy Kincaid with the FBI. My partner took your boys to the rectory for their own safety.”

“No, no! I need my boys with me. You don’t understand!”

“Let’s talk somewhere—”

Mateo stepped out of the confessional and said, “Elena, you can trust Lucy. She’s a friend.”

Elena burst into tears and Mateo put his arm around her. He looked at Lucy with sad eyes. “Let’s go to my office,” he said.

They walked across the courtyard to the rectory and into Father Mateo’s office. Nate followed and, after clearing Father’s office, he stepped outside the door but kept it open.

“Elena,” Father Mateo said, “I trust Lucy. She is a parishioner, she is a good person. What you told me is sacred, but as I told you, God had forgiven you, you need to forgive yourself. Sometimes unburdening our hearts to those who can help is the only answer.”

Elena took the tissue that Mateo offered her and nodded. “I don’t want to go to jail,” she said in English tinged with an accent. “My boys—my mother is old, she can’t watch them all the time, and I worry—”

“Elena,” Lucy said, “if you tell me the truth, I will do everything in my power to help you. No one wants you to be separated from your boys.”

“My husband—he called me Monday morning from prison. It surprised me, because it was early, and he doesn’t call early. I thought something was wrong. He said, ‘Lena, don’t let the boys go to school. Don’t let them on the bus.’ I ask why, he tells me nothing. I beg him, he repeats himself and then—he says a threat, that I can’t let the boys on the bus but I can’t tell anyone or they will be hurt. My boys—” She shivered. “I took them to my mother, because I had to go to work. But I kept thinking why would Pedro do this? Why would he call me like this? So I asked a friend to pick them up. A … a man I have been seeing.” She looked at Father Mateo. “I haven’t done anything, I am married, but he has been kind to me.”

“Elena, I told you that Pedro broke the sacrament of marriage by killing a man.”

“I know you say that, but he says I go to Hell if I divorce him.”

Mateo’s face hardened just a fraction, but Lucy didn’t miss it.

Lucy said, “What happened then, Elena?”

“I heard about the explosion and left work, met up with Tim—and he was scared. I told him everything, and he’d read an article in the newspaper about how boys of prisoners were being used by the drug cartels.” She crossed herself. “So Tim and I went to his parents’ house with the boys. I thought—I thought maybe Pedro was going to have someone take Matthew and Lucas. I thought he found out I was thinking about the annulment, I don’t know how, but he scares me. If he knew…”

“He can’t hurt you from prison,” Lucy said.

“He has friends,” Elena said.

Mateo cleared his throat. “Elena, did you know about what would happen on the bus before the explosion?”

Lucy was surprised that Mateo asked the hard question, until Elena shook her head. “No, Father, like I told you, I didn’t know—I just did what Pedro said. And then I ran, and I know I should have come to you first, told you what happened, but I was scared.”

Lucy said, “Elena, you’ve done nothing wrong. You couldn’t have known that the children were going to be taken hostage. Your husband set you up. Maybe he was trying to protect your sons, but most likely he was paid for information about the bus route.”

“Dear Lord,” Elena said and crossed herself again. “This was all his idea! Pedro told me Saint Catherine’s had a summer school, that it wouldn’t cost much, and he sent me money for the enrollment. I thought it was so good of him to think about our boys and their education, and now that they’re older, my mother can’t keep up with them.”

“Did you question where he got the money in prison?”

She looked stunned. “No—should I have? I—I didn’t think. It wasn’t much, just enough to cover the first month’s tuition. My mother and I were going to save for the second month. Sometimes I get tips at the hotel. I put tips in the bank for college. I wanted to go to college, but I got pregnant.” She blushed and averted her eyes. “I want my boys to have an education, to be smarter than me, to have good, honest jobs.”

“Where’s Tim now?” Lucy asked.

“He didn’t want me to come, but I told him I had to go to confession. I haven’t been able to sleep or eat and I called my mama last night and she said the police were looking for me. I didn’t know what to do. He’s waiting for me down the street.”

Mateo said, “You did the right thing, Elena.” He turned to Lucy. “You can protect the family.”

Lucy didn’t have the authority to offer protection, but if she couldn’t get the FBI to do it, she would ask Sean. He’d hired the two men watching the boys in the group home; he must know of someone else who could protect Elena and her sons until they found Rollins.