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“I’ve been busy.”
He grabbed a light beer for himself, a dark beer for me. I took it, though I didn’t really want it.
He drained half the beer and said, “Okay, how did Peter Carillo find out you helped his wife?”
“I don’t know exactly, but he ran my plates.”
“He ran your plates?”
“So I’m thinking he went through his neighbor’s cameras. I talked to Rick about it, he confirmed that Carillo ran my plates, and there’s a missing persons report about Annie and her kids. She left a note and there are no signs of foul play. My guess is his next step is family court. He can claim abandonment or that she’s denying him access to his children. But it’s a civil matter, not criminal, and that puts it lower on the priority list.”
“He knows that,” Jack said. “Which is why he went to Rafe.”
I didn’t want to tell Jack everything. I’d kept it from Rick and from Rafe, but now that Carillo went to the church, I needed help.
“Peter Carillo is a tightly wound abusive husband who is also a cop,” I said. “That he threatened Rafe—maybe not explicitly, but implied—tells me he’s losing his control, and I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“Is that why you got the security cameras?”
“I got the security cameras because Carillo broke into my house.”
“What the fuck?”
Now I knew Jack was truly angry.
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Because I can’t prove it. He didn’t take anything. He didn’t leave a note. He unscrewed the handle on my sliding glass door and put it back on. The only reason I knew that someone was in here was because some things had been moved on my desk, the door handle was loose, and the deadbolt wasn’t engaged. So I bought security cameras and installed them.”
“When?”
“Monday night. I noticed when I got back from our dinner.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“What could you do?”
“Protect you.”
“I don’t need your protection, and Carillo isn’t coming back. There’s no information about Annie here. If he does, I’ll be ready for him.”
“You told Rick?”
“No.”
“But—”
“I told Rick that I helped Annie, but I didn’t tell him that her husband broke in. Rick can be a loose cannon, and I couldn’t risk him doing something foolish and ruin his career. Or worse.”
Jack didn’t say anything; he knew about Rick’s childhood, just like I did.
“Rick is working the law enforcement angle, calling a few people to see what we can learn about Carillo’s behavior on the job. He probably called Otto.”
“Good,” Jack said.
“And,” I continued, “he will get what he can get. I’m being careful. I don’t know how he figured out Rafe helped Annie, but the man isn’t stupid. He could have logged every place Annie went. She only went to the church once, but once is enough.”
Jack stared at me so long I almost squirmed. Then he said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
