“No word yet, I assume, on the second missing girl?”
“Nothing. We’ve got the alert out, and we’re plastering up her photo.”
“You’re afraid they caught her—or worse.”
She couldn’t discount it, but … “If it was worse, if they killed her, we’d have found the body. No reason to hide it, or try to, since they left one out in the open.”
“I agree. If she managed to get away, it’s more likely she’d go home than to the police. And it’s very unlikely she’d go home.”
“Some of the blood was hers,” Eve began, then saw Roarke transferring steaks to a platter.
She did her duty, pulled platters and bowls from the compartments. Grilled vegetables, roasted potatoes, slices of tomato and mozzarella, crusty little rolls.
“Everything looks amazing.” Mira lifted her glass of the red wine Roarke poured. “Compliments to the chef.”
“You did the vegetables on the grill?” Dennis asked.
“Those compliments go to Summerset. But I may give that a try next time. We’re going to put together a party, a cookout, hopefully before we leave for Europe.”
“It’s all in the marinade,” Dennis told him.
“Is it now?”
“It’s key.” He sampled some of the grilled zucchini Eve hoped to avoid. “Summerset knows the key.”
More small talk, Eve thought, resigned, and focused on her steak.
“Do you eat out here often in the good weather?” Mira wondered.
“My office, usually.”
“Working dinners.” Mira reached over to pat Dennis’s hand. “We often do the same. If not my work, Dennis’s, or both.”
“We live the lives we live.” Dennis just smiled at her.
“We do and, so, I agree with your conclusions, Eve, that the second girl—Dorian Gregg—did not kill Mina Cabot. Morris’s report, the forensics all lead to those conclusions. Although the evidence isn’t conclusive, and we may find Dorian was and is a willing participant, my profile of her says differently.”
“Why? Here’s where I get hung up on that,” Eve continued before Mira answered. “Even though I lean, and lean hard, away from her willing participation. She came from a crappy apartment in a crappy building in a crappy neighborhood. She has a history of petty theft. Her mother was abusive, and Jesus, her caseworker ranks even worse for me.”
“Yes, and we’ll discuss that and her.”
“So they snatched her, yeah, off the streets most likely. But once she’s in it? French manicures, pretty underwear, good food—and I bet decent living conditions. All she has to do is go along, pay for it by doing some porn—if we’re right on that. Pose for some pictures, maybe end up in some fancy house somewhere.”
Eve shrugged a shoulder. “She’s a kid, what does she know about it? It might look and feel pretty damn good after what she got away from.”
“She had no choice with her mother—and the caseworker failed her, the system gave her no choice. Why would she accept, even with the questionable advantages, having no choice again?”
Mira paused. “And I believe she knows all too much about it, more than a child that age should in a perfect world. More, I’d imagine, than Mina did when she was taken.”
“It had to be a lot riskier to abduct someone like Mina than Dorian. And that tells me they’re not the first, the only.”
“I agree. It all strikes as very organized and sophisticated. The outlay to keep young girls—to feed them, and well, to house them in a way to prevent discovery or escape, the clothing, all the rest. It would be considerable.”
“So the profits have to make it worth the outlay. The porn trade, you can make some serious money—but not enough for this. It has to be trafficking.”
“I agree again. If you consider these girls a product for profit?” Mira shifted to Roarke. “As a businessman, you’d have to invest—time, effort, money—into creating that product.”
“Of course. You’d also create a budget for that investment based on profit projections, otherwise your outlay may—likely will—eat into those profits, even erase them.”
“What if you have a lot of the same product—kind of product?” Eve wondered. “Like a vehicle. A car. You can have different paint jobs, accessories, and all that. They’re all basically the same—built the same, but you can customize them, right? Same basic budget, but you factor in the cost—and profit—on the fancier add-ons. Right?”