Thursday morning means intervals-full-speed sprints up the side of a hill followed by slow jogs back down for recovery. In theory, the recovery time gives your heart rate a little time to fall back. The thing is, you repeat the intervals over and over and each time, your heart rate recovers a little less. By the last one, you’re dragging. Intervals are supposed to be good for you-to strengthen and increase your aerobic capacity by pushing the envelope. All I can say is that if you do them right-you’re going to feel it. This morning, I definitely felt it. I made it into the office at 7:45 a.m. for our staff meeting, and my quads were still throbbing.
I put my stuff down in my office, checked voicemails and e-mails, and then walked into the conference room at eight o’clock on the dot. Everyone was already there, waiting. Promptness is a virtue that we like to emphasize.
“Good morning, folks,” I said.
Everyone looked wide-awake and eager to go. Probably none of them ran eight miles this morning. “Let’s get right into the main topic. I’ve decided to suspend the company’s active search for Isabel Delgado.”
Everyone looked at me with puzzled expressions. I hadn’t explained this decision to anyone-even Toni. Last night, as usual, she had stayed at her apartment, and we hadn’t had a chance to talk about it.
“It’s unfortunate, but the reality is, we have a paying job that can start on Monday at Ferguson and Sons. They’re expecting us. The job is too big to let go and, frankly, too important for our firm. As much as I hate to pull back from any job-especially in a case like Isabel’s, we don’t have any choice. So-starting Monday, the focus around here will be with Ferguson.”
“Kelli’s going to be upset,” Toni said. “I’ll have to call her and tell her.”
“I understand,” I said. “Tell her this: say, ‘Danny’s had to reassign everyone to a job that pays in order for us to continue to exist as a company. But he’s decided that he’s not going to take a paycheck for a while, and he himself is going to continue to hunt for Isabel.’”
Toni looked at me. “What-you mean in your free time?”
I shook my head. “No. I mean full-time. I talked to the people at Ferguson, and I told them that you would be managing their job, that I was still tied up with the last job-Isabel. They were cool with that.”
“Wait a minute-,” she started to say.
“What? You don’t think you’re ready?” I asked.
“It’s not that, it’s-,” she said.
“You don’t want to be in charge of Kenny and Doc?”
“Shut up,” she said. “You know it’s not-.”
“Oh-you need me to hold your hand?”
She gave me a look. “Okay. Fuck you. I’ll do it.”
I smiled. “I knew you’d see it my way.”
She flipped me the bird from across the table.
“Still leaves us today, though, right?” Doc said.
“And the weekend?” Kenny added.
I smiled and nodded. “That’s right. And if you guys are willing to put in the hours, there’s still a fair amount of work we can do.”
Toni’s phone chimed-indicating she’d just received a text message. She pulled it out of her purse and read the message. A serious look formed on her face. She stood up. “I need to step outside and make a call,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
I watched her walk out. I wondered what that was all about.
“Anyway,” I continued, “there are still things we can do today and over the weekend if need be. First off-Kenny, I took a shitload of pictures in the boys’ house. They’re all on my cell phone.” I slid it over to him. “I’d like you to pull them off and have a look. Enhance them if they need it. Take another look at the pics from the first house, too. Then, when you’re ready, let’s all sit back down here and go through them.”
“Got it,” he said.
“I didn’t see anything that looked like it might have belonged to Isabel, but who knows? I was moving fast, and it’s very possible I could have missed something.”
He nodded.
“Doc-where are you with the reports on the property titles and the DMV info for Nancy?” I asked.
“They’re done. I finished yesterday. I’ve got full ownership reports on everything. Names and addresses.”
“Good. Hopefully, they’ll be useful when it comes time to convince Nancy that they need to raid each of the three houses and do a full search for Isabel.”
Richard said, “So what we really need is a circle that links the houses, the vehicles, and the bad guys together on the one hand, and then, another connection that links Isabel to the same circle. That might give Nancy the ammunition she needs to be able to get her warrants.”
“She won’t move without warrants?” Doc said.
“Not unless she knows for certain that someone is in immediate danger,” Richard said. “That, she couldn’t ignore. Short of that, she’ll rely on a warrant. Her bosses would insist on it.”
Doc nodded. “We don’t have much,” he said. “What about more surveillance?”
I thought about this for a few seconds. “It might come to that, but for now, let’s hold off. Let’s have another hard look at what we already have first. Maybe there’s an angle we’ve missed.”
Toni walked back into the room. She looked at me, and I could tell at once that something was wrong.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s the matter?”
“Kelli’s gone,” she said.
“Gone? What do you mean?”
“That was my mom. Kelli was gone this morning when she got up. Mom said she left a note. It said ‘I’ll be gone for a couple of days-I’m going to look for Isabel.’”