Page 28 of Lost Truth
“Did you know there was a cave under the building?” Hayden asked.
Ziggy shook his head, his long hair flapping against his face. “News to me.”
“Is there anything you can think of that might help us understand all of this?” Abby asked him.
“Nah, I’ve been thinking about it the whole time they made me wait. Couldn’t come up with anything to explain it. Nothing at all.” The desolate bent to his tone said all that needed to be said. He’d made it clear that he’d hero-worshiped Kai, and if Kai was guilty of trafficking women, he’d fallen off the pedestal.
“I know this isn’t exactly a fire, but did you call Kai?” Hayden asked.
“Yeah, man, more times than I can count while I was waiting inside. He didn’t answer. Left him a few messages.”
“You’ll let us know right away if he calls you back.” Hayden made sure his words didn’t sound optional.
“Right after I let the sheriff know.” He glanced over his shoulder. Mina was stepping out from the building. Ziggy swallowed hard. “She told me not to talk to you or anybody about this. I gotta go before she decides to arrest me.”
“I don’t think that’s likely, but go ahead.” Hayden gave the terrified guy a comforting smile.
Ziggy nodded, and after one more glance over his shoulder, he jogged up the hill and out of sight.
Mina, a stern look on her face, slipped under the crime scene tape and joined them. “I see Ziggy didn’t listen to me.”
“You can’t blame him for wanting to talk to us,” Hayden said. “We built a rapport before we found the women, so he’s more comfortable with us.”
“I get it, and I honestly don’t care if he talks to you all about it. What I don’t want is for him to confirm the discovery of these women to people all over town, so I made sure he knew I wouldn’t be happy if he went around blabbing about it.” She shifted her focus to Nolan, and a soft smile crossed her face. “Before you say anything, I know why you’re here, so let me save you the trouble of questioning me and striking out.”
“Way to let a guy down gently.” He grinned.
“Actually, I have information I’m prepared to give to you.” She ran her gaze from person to person. “Thought that would surprise you.”
“What is it?” Cady asked as she grabbed her notepad and pen again.
Mina arched an eyebrow and stared at Cady’s pen.
Cady raised her shoulders. “I don’t want to forget anything that might be important.”
Mina shrugged as if it wasn’t worth battling over. “I interviewed the women and recorded the session. After I have a chance to review the video, I’ll send you a copy. I wouldn’t normally do this, and it’s not proper police procedure, but I believe it could help in finding Kai.”
“Definitely not proper police procedure,” Abby said, prompting a frown from Mina.
Hayden wanted to sock his teammate’s arm. The last thing they needed right now was to convince Mina not to share the information.
She eyed Abby. “Sometimes you have to make a judgment call, right?”
“Right,” Abby said. “And we all trust your calls.”
“No need to butter me up.” Mina’s lips tightened into a flat line. “As a quick overview, you’ll find out Kai is indeed involved in this. Odds are, it’s the reason for him taking off or being abducted. Even if I asked you to, I know you all won’t stop looking for him, so we need to work together. In fact, I’m glad to have you looking for him as long as we aren’t at odds. Means we’ll have to coordinate. Detective Lyons will take lead on the investigation, I’ll serve as liaison with you all.”
Nolan couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “Which means I’ll get to spend more time with you.”
“You never know what’ll happen.” She smiled at him in that quiet, intimate way Hayden had only seen her direct at Nolan.
Nolan’s face flushed red, and he took a step back. Hayden had been observing the relationship develop between the couple and had to admit to jealousy he knew was wrong. He wanted his friend to be happy. Of course he did, but he also wanted the same thing in his own life. Not a likely possibility. Not if he couldn’t relax his need to control pretty much every aspect of his life.
He glanced at Cady. Could she be the one to help him get over being a control freak? A potential future with her sure seemed to be worth the attempt to change.
“I’m headed back to my office to review the video, and then I’ll email it to you,” Mina said. “After you watch the interview, I’d like to get together to discuss it.”
Nolan glanced at his watch. “With everything going on, you probably won’t stop to eat. We could have an early dinner meeting and kill two birds with one stone.”
