Page 108 of The Newcomer
Vikki stared straight ahead at the camera, unsmiling, while Maya kept watching television. Joe hovered a few feet away from the sofa, clicking the shutter. “Okay, I think I’ve got something we can use,” he said, handing the phone back to its owner.
The FBI agent studied the frames. “Yeah. This one will work. It’s the only one where Maya is looking directly at the camera.” She tapped the photo, typed something on the screen, then handed the phone over to Letty.
She’s fine. I need to get back to my job. Let’s do this.
Vikki tapped the phone and the message transmitted with a soft whooshing sound.
41
“HE’S PLAYING GAMES AGAIN,” VIKKIHill said, after fifteen minutes had passed with no response from Evan Wingfield. She stood up and looked over at Joe. “Screw that. I’ve got calls to make. You’ll be around today?”
“Yeah. I want to go back to Publix and talk to that manager again.” He patted his back pocket. “I printed out Rooney’s most recent mug shot. It’s an old one, but I thought I’d show it to the cashiers to see if anyone recognizes him.”
“Let me know what you find out, and I’ll ping you if I hear back from Wingfield.”
“Guess I’d better get to work,” Letty said, taking the coffee mugs and setting them in the kitchen sink. She poked her head around the corner and called to her niece, who was busily coloring at Ava’s coffee table, along with Isabelle.
“C’mon, lovebug. Time to punch the clock.”
“If it’s okay with you, Letty, she can just hang out with me for a while this morning,” Isabelle said.
“Are you sure?” Letty asked. “I know she adores you, but it’s not fair to saddle you with a four-year-old all day.”
“I’m sure. I went to the Goodwill with one of my friends yesterday, and I found a cool dress-up princess dress for her, but I left it out in my car. We can hang out for a while, and then I’m supposed to have study group at the library with some kids from school.”
“Princess dress-up!” Maya said. “Bye, Letty.”
Letty sat back down at the table beside her boss. “Ava, I thought I’d get back to working on the new software this morning. Unless there’s something else? Do we have any check-ins today?”
“Just one,” Ava said, looking up from the morning newspaper. “Anita is over there now, but she should be done by noon.”
“Okay. I’ll take a look to make sure everything’s ready. Did the plumber fix that leaking shower head yesterday?”
“He said he did, but if you would, check that too.”
Joe followed Letty downstairs and into the front office. He took the sheet of paper from his pocket and smoothed it out on the reception desk.
“Just to be sure. Does this look like the guy you saw at Publix?”
She’d seen the mug shot before, but once again Letty was struck by Declan Rooney’s impossible-to-ignore appeal. The dark hair that flopped over his forehead, the sullen, glaring deep blue eyes with their impossibly thick, long, dark lashes, the high cheekbones and prominent hawklike nose. Tanya’s daughter shared her mother’s round face, pointed chin, Kewpie-doll lips, and fair coloring, but Maya’s eyes were unmistakably Rooney’s.
“One thing,” Letty said. “Now that I think about it, the guy I saw in the store had a beard. He was sort of scruffy-looking.”
Joe took a pen and began drawing facial hair on the photo, starting with the suggestion of a narrow mustache and neatly trimmed goatee.
“Like this?”
“Mmm, the beard was a little fuller than that. Not really hipster scruff, more like hobo.”
He sketched in more hair. “That’s it,” Letty said.
She tapped Declan Rooney’s photo. “I can see why Tanya fell for him. He looks—dangerous and unpredictable, and okay, sexy.”
“Like your sister?”
“Yeah,” Letty said softly. “I still wonder where and how they met.”
“I’ll be sure and ask when I arrest him,” Joe said. “I’m going backto Publix, to show this to some of the cashiers, and then I thought I’d hit some of the other nearby motels and restaurants, to see if anybody has seen him.”
