“Just as well,” Dallas murmured. He looked at Hannah and smiled. She smiled back, and then both their smiles faded. Maria had fallen easily into a trap tailor-made for a woman who had grown up poor but beautiful—and innocent.
“The thing is,” Hannah said, “I think she might be able to help us figure out where Alicia was—and hopefully still is. She said the two of them and another woman named Alma were kept in a cabin by the water with one old man to take care of them.”
Jose Rodriguez suddenly materialized in front of them. Yerby appeared a second later, clinging to him.
“My sister?” he asked. “You know something about Alicia?” he asked.
Hannah explained again. By the time she finished, Melody had joined them. A moment later Maria Lopez appeared behind her, now clad in a casual white dress and sandals.
“It’s all up to the power of the mind,” Melody explained briefly.
Dallas and Logan rose politely, and introductions were made all around.
Maria joined Jose and Yerby on the sofa, and the others took the various chairs. The sun was streaming in, the water in the pool glistened, and Hannah finally dared to relax, feeling oddly...good.
She had killed a man. A man she had known for years. And yet she hadn’t known him at all.
“The man who killed me—the dead man,” Maria said, “he was the one they called Machete, yes?”
“Yes,” Logan said.
“There were others like him,” Maria said. “That’s what the men in the van were talking about. There was one called the Bomb in Miami. He died in one of his own explosions.”
Hannah caught Dallas and Logan looking at each other and read the message they were sharing.
It was going to take a long time to end the reign of Los Lobos.
“You knew my sister?” Jose asked.
Maria smiled. “She is so good. I should have listened to her. I never even said goodbye.”
She began to sob softly. Yerby laid an arm around her shoulders. “We never know when it’s the last time,” she said softly. “But you’ll see her again one day.”
Maria smiled and nodded. Along with the dress, she was now wearing a little gold cross. She fingered it with a ghostly movement.
“We have to find that cabin,” Dallas said. “And it won’t be easy. There are about seventeen hundred islands in the Keys. It could be on any of them.”
“But we can narrow it down. Maria was found in Marathon,” Logan said. “Gulf side.”
“I think we need to press Pause on looking for the Wolf,” Dallas said. “If he’s killed first, I’m betting the other two women will be killed, a clean-up operation.”
“No!” Jose said. “You can’t let that happen.”
“We won’t,” Dallas said. “I promise.”
They retrieved their agency laptops, settled around the kitchen table and got to work, looking at maps, tide charts, weather reports from the past ten days...anything that could help them figure out where Maria’s body had been thrown in the water before it washed up in Marathon.
At one point Dallas put his computer down and stretched. “We need to know who owns the private islands out that way.”
“I’ll call HQ and get a few interns busy searching the records,” Logan said.
Hannah, who’d kept herself busy making coffee and lunch, decided it was time to check on the ghosts, who’d remained in the back room. Melody and Hagen were playing host, she saw. Yerby was still clinging to Jose, and Maria was just sitting quietly, as if drinking it all in.
Hannah decided to let them be and headed back to the kitchen.
“There’s something you can help us with,” Dallas told her as she walked back into the room, rising and slipping his arms around her. “Along with everything else, we need word to get out that you’re looking for the treasure of the Santa Elinora here on the property. You need to start digging right away, because even if it does turn out to be in the house—” he held up a hand to silence her when she started to protest “—digging will be obvious to anyone walking by, so the news will spread quickly.”
“How do I do that?” she asked.
“I’ll get ahold of Liam,” he said. “He’ll pull strings and get the permits expedited. We’ll have a backhoe out here by tomorrow.”
She nodded.
“Logan and I will rent a boat in the morning and head out with the information we have so far and start searching for that cabin,” he told her.
She nodded again.
“But this evening...” he began.
“Yes?”
“Well, I’d officially like to invite you to dinner. You’re free to say no, but just so there’s no misunderstanding, I’m asking you out. On a date.” He lowered his voice and said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Well, okay, a double date with Kelsey and Logan. But it would be my pleasure to take you out to a restaurant tonight. Anyplace you choose. If, of course, you’d like to go. I’ll tell you my sign and everything.”
Hannah laughed. “I would be delighted to go on a date with you, Agent Samson. Even a double date.”
After all, the house would be well watched, given that there were currently five ghosts in residence, though with all the agents away and the Wolf down so many men here in Key West, it was likely to be a quiet night.