"We'll find the truth."

Noah came back down the hall without the doctor. "Siobhan, I understand you're frustrated and worried. We're not letting anything happen to that baby. The doctor agreed to increase security for the next forty-eight hours, and I'm hoping by that time we'll have a custody arrangement that will keep the infant safe until her mother can be located. Lucy and I have an appointment with the assistant sheriff in Webb County. I'll be happy to drop you off at your hotel."

"Thank you," she said, "but I think I'll stay here for just a little longer."

"I thought so. I also cleared it that you can have access to Elizabeth in the neonatal unit, under supervision. Not that I don't trust you, but no one is allowed to be alone with the baby except the nurses assigned to this floor and her doctor."

"You did that for me?"

"Not just for you."

Noah and Lucy walked out. "That was nice of you," Lucy said.

"I need her occupied. Siobhan is driven and intense and while her insight has been valuable, she's focused on the wrong thing."

"Why were there multiple pregnant women in that house and where did they go?"

"Exactly. And I tracked down that reporter who gave her the info on the girls in the first place. I'd rather she wasn't around when we talk to him." Noah pulled out of the hospital parking lot. "Check your email, read the report from Zach. He has property records, license plates-I didn't have time to review it. I had a talk with Agent Lopez, the SSA running the Laredo office." The FBI's Laredo office was a Resident Agency under the San Antonio umbrella. "They're swamped right now, but set us up to talk with the assistant sheriff, who may have information on a related case."

"How so?"

"Woman, suspected illegal, gave birth at the hospital, then disappeared with the baby-even though she was granted temporary residency. It may have nothing to do with this ... but Lopez said there were other suspicious things about the case. He only knew about it through interdepartment communications, not because he worked it."

Lucy looked through Zach's reports. Thin, but at least they had a direction. "All the vehicles are registered to a business," she said. "Except the truck. Odd."

"Odd what?"

"The house is also registered to a business."

"Shit."

"What does it mean?"

"It's going to be a shell game."

Lucy had no idea what Noah meant, but it didn't sound good.

CHAPTER SIX.

"Thank you for staying after your shift to meet with us," Noah said to Assistant Sheriff Adam Villines.

"It's not late-my wife will tell you we eat promptly at six every night, but by the time the kids get back from practice and clean up and whoever is supposed to be cooking actually cooks-we rotate between the kids-it's closer to eight. Which is fine with me, because my seven-to-five shift rarely ends at five. And it's Monday. Which means Isabelle is cooking, so help me."

He motioned for them to sit across from his desk, then he closed the door and sat in his seat. "Tim Lopez from your Laredo office gave me a heads-up, says you're sharp. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of the feds. We get a lot of that here, between the DEA and ICE and FBI, pushing in, causing more problems than they solve. Tim and I are both local boys, I trust him. He says you're okay, you're okay. But what I want to know is why isn't Tim investigating this case, why bring in someone from DC?"

"I'm working out of the San Antonio office indefinitely while SSA Casilla is on leave," Noah said. "I spoke with Agent Lopez earlier, he'll be assisting, though Agent Kincaid and I are running this investigation. As you know, the Laredo Resident Agency is a small office, they don't have the time or resources with their current cases to take the lead. I'm keeping Lopez in the loop, however."

Villines nodded his approval.

Noah continued. "Ms. Walsh spoke to you this weekend?"

"I've already had two visits from Ms. Walsh. Tenacious. I know all about the missing girls-she said they were her friends-and what she thinks she knows about the case. To be honest with you, we're not seeing any foul play here. Not on the surface. We can assist in finding the infant's mother, but because the baby was left in the county next door, I don't have any jurisdiction to dig around. I made a call to the sheriff, she says she'll look into it."

"Not on the surface?" Noah repeated.

Villines nodded. "If Ms. Walsh wasn't so dead positive that the baby belongs to one of her friends because of that locket, I would have thought it was left by a poor, young girl overwhelmed by the idea of motherhood. Devout, leaving it at the church. Figured it would be cared for. Or an immigrant who was concerned about her status, maybe unwed, scared. And then the note."

"What note?"

Villines opened a file, showed Noah. Lucy glanced over. The photograph of a bloodied white T-shirt seemed odd. Lucy tilted her head and saw the message.

Trust no one.

"This is why the priest brought the infant to the Laredo hospital, he knew it was a different jurisdiction."

"Do you know a Deputy Jackson?" Noah asked.

Villines grunted. "I'm not going to talk shit about another cop. Let's just say he wouldn't be working under me."

Noah said, "Three months ago, a young pregnant woman was dropped off at a hospital here in Laredo. The staff suspected she was illegal, but the baby was in duress and they delivered it by emergency C-section."

When had Noah learned about that situation?

"Correct. It's a common situation-we're a border town. The woman would have died across the border, as well as the baby. Desperate times, Agent Armstrong."

"Dr. Davidson treated that woman as well."

That must have been why Noah wanted to talk to the doctor without Siobhan. Lucy wished he would have clued her in earlier.

"And you think these cases are connected?" Villines asked.

Noah shrugged. "The mother and baby disappeared."

"They were given temporary residency-thanks to the hospital staff who know the ropes-but walked away from a shelter two days after they were discharged," Villines said. "It happens."

"Dr. Davidson said you have the mother's prints and belongings."

"There wasn't much-she packed up and left-but yes, I ran her to make sure she had no criminal record, a requirement of the shelter. It's a church-run group for unmarried women with young children. She was clean, but I didn't add her to the criminal database when she disappeared. She wasn't accused of a crime."

"I want to run her prints against all databases," Noah said. "I'm getting a warrant for the house where we suspect Baby Elizabeth's mother was staying before she left the baby at the church. I'm going to print the place." Noah leaned forward, put out his left index finger as he counted. "One abandoned baby at a church." Put out another finger. "One pregnant woman Ms. Walsh saw inside the house." He put out a third finger. "One young girl carrying an infant leaving the house yesterday evening." And his pinkie finger. "And three months ago a mother and infant disappear even though they were given food, shelter, medical care." He leaned back. "Dr. Davidson said the woman didn't speak much, that she'd clearly received prenatal care, and she filled out the birth certificate with false information. She had no identification on her."

Villines considered. "I had two deputies called out to a house fire shortly after the woman disappeared. The fire department was able to contain it to one dwelling, but there were a few oddities. Four cribs in one room, several twin beds in another. No fatalities or injuries-the place was empty, and no one claimed any belongings-though there was little left. The fire investigator ruled it arson. The structure was unstable and demolished, but there are photos. You're welcome to a copy of the file."

"Who owned the house?" Lucy asked.

Villines glanced at her as if he'd forgotten she was there. "I don't remember. A property management company? It was some sort of business on the records."

"Was it Direct Property Holdings?"

He raised both eyebrows. "I think it was."

Lucy glanced at Noah and said, "They owned the house outside Freer." To Villines she added, "The house where Siobhan Walsh saw the pregnant women."

"I don't believe in coincidences," Villines said.

"Nor do I," Noah said. "We're running all property in the area owned by the same company, but I was hoping you might be able to spare a deputy who knows the area to help run them down."

"I'm sure we can handle that. Get me the list."

Noah made a note then stood. "Thank you for your help. I'll keep you in the loop."

Eric Barrow, Siobhan's reporter friend, lived outside Laredo in a dumpy apartment building. There were eight units-four up, four down-and he lived in the north upstairs corner.

Lucy researched Barrow during the drive and shared it with Noah. The reporter had sold a few stories to major papers-most of them with photos by Siobhan Walsh-but the overwhelming majority of his work was published for NAN, an Internet news feed that focused on the Southwest, Texas, and Mexico. She had no idea what the acronym stood for; it wasn't on their masthead or website. Eric clearly had an agenda: He didn't like law enforcement, he hated politicians, and he wasn't fond of the military. He seemed to relish catching people of authority in compromising positions. In fact, the expose he wrote on the brothel he'd alerted Siobhan about was a classic example: He outed a local elected official-who'd run on a pro-family, conservative platform-as a patron of hookers. He skewered the guy-Lucy felt he deserved it not only for his actions but also for his hypocrisy-and took down two other elected officials at the same time.

But once the story was over, he didn't follow through on what happened to the women in the club, whether they'd been arrested or let go or given assistance. It made Lucy wonder if his concern was more about challenging authority than it was about helping the girls who suffered as a result of such corruption.

Barrow wasn't a bad writer, but he had an edge that Lucy found unappealing. It was completely opposite from how she viewed Siobhan. She wondered if Barrow and Kane had had any run-ins. She thought about sending Kane a text message asking about Barrow, but then decided against it-not without running it by Noah. Though Noah's problems with the Rogans and the way RCK operated had been mostly resolved over the nearly two years Lucy had known him, she didn't want to create any new friction. She was about to ask him when they reached Barrow's apartment and Noah cut off the ignition.

"The guy rubs me the wrong way and I haven't even met him," he said. "Cover the back. I'll give you twenty seconds."

Lucy hurried to the back of the building and identified Barrow's apartment from the rear. He had a balcony and it would be very easy for him to run.

A group of kids, boys and girls all under ten, were playing in a makeshift playground on the edge of the parking lot. There was a plastic slide that had seen better days; a sandbox with gravel instead of sand; a box of broken sidewalk chalk that two young girls were using to draw some elaborate but unidentifiable landscape on the broken pavement. The kids all noticed Lucy and stared, but didn't seem scared or nervous.

The sliding glass door above her slid open less than a minute after Lucy positioned herself. Noah had been right-the jerk was running. Lucy stayed in the shadow of the building until Barrow dangled from his balcony and dropped to the ground.

"Shit," he muttered as he fell on his ass. By the time he got up, Lucy stood two feet in front of him.

"Mr. Barrow, I'm FBI Special Agent Lucy Kincaid. We need to talk."

He stared at her, glanced behind him, took a step back. "I-uh-"

"Don't," she said. "I would hate to arrest you in front of those kids over there. But I will take you down if I have to."

Barrow's pale-green eyes darted right and left. He ran a hand through his shaggy sun-bleached hair as if wondering if he could outrun her or if she would shoot him in the back. Then he smiled, showing perfect teeth. "Hey, sugar, anything you want."

"Sugar?" she said. "Really?"

Noah came around the back. He was irritated, and Lucy didn't blame him. Barrow looked at Noah and the smile disappeared. "I didn't know who you were," he said.

Noah glared at the guy. "Let's go."

"Why?"

"I don't want to have a discussion here."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Your apartment."

"I don't want you in my apartment."

"Then let's talk at the station," Noah said. "Villines said we could use his interrogation room, right, Kincaid?"

"He did," Lucy said.

"Okay, look, I don't know what this is about, but-Kincaid? Kincaid ... you're not really feds, are you? Well shit, I can explain. I was on a story, a hot story, I didn't mean to get your guys in trouble, I really didn't know there was a situation ... I mean, we're talking two years ago, and no one got hurt, right?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Why am I not surprised," Noah muttered. He pulled out his badge. "FBI Agent Noah Armstrong. FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid."

Barrow was wholly confused. Lucy almost laughed. Small world, but Jack had spent nearly twenty years based out of Hidalgo, Texas. She wasn't surprised that Barrow knew her brother.

"Your apartment or the sheriff's department," Noah said, "I don't really care, but I'm not playing games."

"Jack's not around, is he?" Barrow asked Lucy.

"I can call him if you want," Lucy said.

"That's okay. Don't tell him where I live. We had a disagreement a couple of years ago, he can be a prick, you know-oh, don't say I said that. He's a very nice prick."

Lucy was really enjoying this conversation. She couldn't wait to call Jack and find out what had really happened with Barrow.

"We'll go to my apartment," Barrow said. "But, I'm not in any trouble, am I?"

"I don't know, are you?" Lucy asked.

"What does Siobhan see in this guy?" Noah asked as he motioned for Barrow to walk in front of them.

"Siobhan? Why didn't you tell me? Where is she? Is she okay?"

He walked back to the front of the building. An older woman was struggling with her door on the first floor while she juggled three grocery bags in gnarled hands. Barrow immediately went over and took the bags from her. "Hey, Miz T, I said to call me."

"I didn't want to be a bother," the old woman said in broken English.

"No bother."

The woman unlocked her door and Barrow went in with the bags. Lucy thought for a second that he was going to bolt again out the back, and so did Noah, who walked over to get a better look. But a second later Barrow came out. "Thanks, Eric, dear," Ms. T said. "There was someone looking for you yesterday."