At that moment, the guy turned fully toward the camera, almost as if he were looking to see if there was a security camera. Then he got up and ran out of view. I quickly rewound it and paused it when the guy was staring directly at the camera. Then I cursed, felt a ripple of terror push through me. It was the intruder who’d assaulted me the other night. The same Mexican guy who had stood in the village crowd the day Joe had been abducted. I felt my pulse immediately quicken.
“Everything all right, man?” Brian asked me. “You look a bit rattled.”
I wasn’t sure what to tell my old friend. It couldn’t be the truth. He might tell his wife, who was college friends with Taylor. I had to keep any of this from getting back to Taylor until I had more time to figure out what was going on. “Yeah, I just had to see it for myself. Hard to believe. Do y’all have any leads on this guy?”
“It’s not my case, but I don’t believe so. Not yet.”
Brian excused himself to go to the restroom inside the bar and left his phone with me to watch the video again. I took out my own phone and quickly snapped a closeup photo of the face of the Mexican guy staring up at the security camera.
After saying goodbye to Brian, I sat in my Tahoe for a moment, my heart racing, and sent a text that included the photo of Ethan’s killer to Raul.
Call me as soon as you get this.
My phone rang within seconds.
I went straight into it. “This is the guy, Raul. The one from the village that day who was inside Joe’s house with me the other night. Do you recognize him?”
“No, I don’t. Where did you get the photo?”
“A detective friend here in the States.”
“It looks like a still from security-camera footage.”
“It is. The guy killed a man in a parking garage in Dallas late last night. A man I had just spoken to about Joe’s death on the phone yesterday.” I quickly explained my phone call with Ethan Tucker and how I’d come to Dallas this morning to meet with him in person. “I need you to help me find the identity of this guy. It all has to be connected to Joe’s kidnapping and death.”
“I’ll work on it. Do you think you’re in danger, amigo?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Well, be safe. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have something.”
Hanging up my phone, I started my Tahoe and then paused to wait for another vehicle to pass by me from the opposite direction before entering the street. A gray Ford Taurus. I glanced at the driver, who was staring right back at me. Then I tried to do a quick double take, but the Taurus was already in my rearview mirror and turning a corner. I could’ve sworn the driver was the same fiftysomething mustached bald guy with the navy tattoo whom I’d bumped into by the elevator yesterday.
TWENTY-ONE
I barely made it home in time for dinner. At the last minute, Taylor called and asked me to stop off at the grocery store when leaving the office to pick up a few things. My wife had made one of my favorite meals—an enchilada casserole, tamales, and a salad—which made me feel even worse about all the lying. I took the deepest breath possible and let it out slowly before I stepped inside the house from the garage. I was about to have to do the best bluffing of my life, even though I felt like I was wearing the shock of the day all over my face. I walked into the kitchen, set two sacks of groceries on the counter, and made my way over to Taylor, who was mixing the salad. We shared a quick kiss. Thankfully, she didn’t seem too irritated about my absence all day.
“How’s it going around here?” I asked.
My voice kind of cracked; I was already blowing it.
“Well, Olivia just got angry and threw a Barbie at Nicole, who wasn’t sharing doll clothes, and it bopped her good on the head. I think she’ll have a bump. That, of course, brought on about a half hour of emotional hysterics. So that’s where things currently stand.”
“So the usual?”
This brought a small smile to my wife’s lips. “Right.”
“Where are they?”
“My mom is getting them bathed in our bathroom.”
I could hear laughter coming from the back of the house. “Sounds like all is good now.”
“My mom probably bribed them with candy. She’s been giving them whatever they want the past two days.”
“She just wants to see them happy. The girls will survive.”
“I know. I just . . . I want things to go back to normal.”
“We’ll have to figure out a new normal.”