“Your sister is the one who arrested her. Desiree had imprisoned another young girl named Gail. We freed her. Desiree is being charged with that crime, among others.” She paused. “And we got her to confess to killing Joe Atkins, Mercy. We have the recording. She confessed to stabbing him to death.”
Cain looked at her, blinking back tears and shaking her head slowly. “This . . . this is sort of . . .”
“ . . . too much to process?”
Cain nodded, her features pained.
Blum sat down beside her. “Of course it is, Mercy. Or do you prefer El?”
“Mercy really is my name?”
“Yes, it is. Mercy Pine.”
“Then . . . um, Mercy . . . is okay.”
Blum said, “I know you must have a million things running through your head right now, and I don’t mean to add to your burden. But there are some things you absolutely need to know.”
“Like what?”
“That other FBI agents are here at this hotel. They came to interview Agent Pine about Tim Pine. But they know nothing about your being here, too.”
Mercy wrinkled her brow. “Tim Pine?”
“You and your sister believed he was your biological father. That was not true. Another man was your father, but Tim raised you with your mother until you were taken when you were six years old. He was thought to have killed himself, but now we know that wasn’t true. The FBI now knows that the man killed wasn’t your father but Ito Vincenzo.”
“The guy who took me?”
“Yes.”
“Wanda said he was connected to the mob or something and had a grudge against my mother.”
“He kidnapped you and then years later he tried to kill Tim Pine. Only Tim was able to kill him instead. The body was identified as Tim’s by a friend and your mother. And Tim vanished.”
“Jesus Christ,” said Mercy, letting out a chest of air.
Blum patted Mercy’s shoulder. “I know I’ve just dumped a lot into your lap. But my goal now is to keep the FBI away from you because I’m not sure how all that will play out.”
“But you said Desiree confessed to Joe’s murder!” Mercy exclaimed. “Doesn’t that put me in the clear on that?”
“Desiree did confess, but the FBI doesn’t know that yet. The proof of that is on your sister’s phone. And it will put you in the clear, as you said. The problem right now is we have her phone but no way to get into it. So I want to keep you and the Bureau separate until we find Agent Pine.”
“You said she was kidnapped?”
“Yes, from this hotel last night by two men. Now either they were working with Desiree, who was also dealing drugs, and are perhaps trying to use Agent Pine as leverage to get Desiree out of prison. Or they are tied to you somehow and took Agent Pine in order to make her tell everything she knows about you.”
“But who would be after me?”
“I don’t know. Do you have any enemies? Anyone looking for you?”
“I don’t think I have enemies who would snatch an FBI agent. I mean, I’m not that important. I just have an ordinary life. I don’t have any friends—or enemies, really.”
“Then maybe it is Desiree. She might be working with some very dangerous people.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“Agent Pine saw you in this gym yesterday, only she didn’t know it was you at the time.” She looked at Mercy’s head. “She couldn’t have known you would shave your hair off. She spoke to Wanda Atkins. Wanda told Agent Pine that she gave you Desiree’s phone number when you saw her.”