For a moment, there wassilence.
Joaquin spoke first. “Thanks for trusting us, Mia. I know it must have been hard to do when everyone you ought to have been able to trust has disappointed you. But we’re not like those guys. We’renotgoing to let youdown.”
When she looked into his eyes again, he saw it—doubt and, beneath that, a fragile hope that this time would bedifferent.
Darcangelo thanked her, too. “It’s going to make a big difference to this investigation. Now we have some idea where to start looking for thekiller.”
Hunter nodded. “It doesn’t take years of work in law enforcement to see what might motivate one of these guys to hurt you—or implicateyou.”
Sí, claro.Absolutely.
But Joaquin had questions. “Why would one of them strike out at the others? Why kill the medic? What could anyone have againsthim?”
“I don’t know. It makes no sense. I just have a gut feeling that what happened at Tell al-Sharruken is behind thissomehow.”
“Can you give us a list of the soldiers who were part of the looting?” Darcangeloasked.
“Yes. There’s something else you should know. I’ve got a loaded pistol in my handbag, and I don’t have a concealed carrypermit.”
Joaquin jumped to her defense, not sure how Darcangelo and Hunter would react to this. “A fine is better than ending updead.”
Darcangelo looked over at Hunter. “We’ll deal with thatlater.”
Hunter nodded. “We can probably get the sheriff to issue an emergency concealed carry permit—once you’re no longer a person of interest in that firstcase.”
Mia looked relieved at this. “Thankyou.”
“I’m afraid we’ve got to ask one more thing of you, Mia.” Darcangelo was using that soothing voice again. “We need you to tell Detective Wu everything you told us. He’s the detective assigned to these cases. He needs to hear this fromyou.”
* * *
Mia insistedthat Wu come to Joaquin’s place. She didn’t trust the detective the way she did Julian and Marc. It took him a half hour to get there. In the meantime, Joaquin made her a cup of Mexican hotchocolate.
“What? None for me?” Julian lookedhurt.
The two of them started bickering—inSpanish.
Marc leaned down and spoke for Mia’s ears alone. “Darcangelo spent a lot of time as an undercover operative inMexico.”
“Ah.” That explainedit.
Joaquin returned with the mug of hot chocolate, set it on the table, then took a throw out of a nearby chest and wrapped it around Mia’sshoulders.
How had he known she wascold?
Wu arrived a few minutes later, and Mia went through the entire story again. It was easier this time, perhaps because she’d done it once. Or maybe having Joaquin sitting beside her made her feelsafer.
Whatever the case, it was clear that Wu respected Julian and Marc. He took notes, interrupting her from time to time to ask questions. But never once did he hint that he thought she was lying as he’d done when he’d questioned her at thestation.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” heasked.
Seriously?
“Until last night when I’d heard that Jason had been killed, it didn’t dawn on me that there could be a connection. I don’t take the divulging of classified information lightly, and, frankly, sir, you haven’t given me reason to trustyou.”
Thatfeltgood.
Wu nodded as if that made sense to him. “Just doing my job. You’ll be happy to know that a K9 search of the grounds at the Botanic Gardens found no human remains. The security footage proves that you didn’t go near the mulch yard at any time from the day of Mr. Meyer’s disappearance through the time when the evidence was found in the woodchipper.”