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I called Jack. “Uncle Rafe is getting in his car! Wait—he’s calling me.”
I hit the record app on my phone, switched to Uncle Rafe. “Hello?” I said, forcing my voice to be calm. I didn’t want to give anything away.
“Margo, don’t be concerned,” Uncle Rafe said.
Don’t be concerned? I was beyond concerned.
Carillo got on the phone. “Father Morales has graciously agreed to help mediate between Annie and me. Bring her home. You told the detective that you didn’t know where she was—I don’t believe you. Father Morales and I will be waiting for her. Don’t be long.”
He ended the call and drove away with my uncle.
The phone switched back to Jack. “He’s leaving with Rafe. I think they’re going to his house. I’m following.” I waited until Carillo left the parking lot before I started the car.
“Wait for me—”
“No time. I’ll text you his address—get there. There’s a park a block away that can’t be seen from his house. I’ll meet you there. If he goes somewhere else, I’ll let you know.”
“Don’t confront him.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Call Annie, have her call him, buy time. I’ll call 9-1-1—”
“No, that will spook him. He’s armed, and we don’t need a car chase. And I don’t have her number. I can’t call her even if I wanted to.”
“I’ll call Rick. Shit, it’s the middle of Sam’s graduation.”
“Call Otto,” I said. “I’ll call Officer Nunez. He gave me his personal cell.”
“Be careful, sis.”
“I have an idea. Rafe can’t lie, but I have no problem with it.”
I ended the call, pulled Nunez’s card from my wallet, and dialed.
“Hello,” he said when he picked up.
“Archie Nunez?”
“Yep.”
“This is Margo Angelhart. I tried Detective Sullivan, but he didn’t answer.”
“I’m off-duty right now.”
Shit. “Peter Carillo kidnapped my uncle, Father Raphael Morales, from St. Dominic’s. It’s a long story, and I don’t have time to go into details, but I’m following Carillo’s blue minivan and I think he’s going to his house in Norterra. He called me from Rafe’s phone and expects me to bring his wife there, says that Rafe will mediate a conversation to fix their marriage or some such nonsense.”
“Is Annie with you?”
“No. I don’t know where she is, I didn’t lie to you. I have no way of reaching her. Carillo is violent. He abused her, raped her.”
“She can press charges and testify—”
“And he would still have access to their kids. He never hurt his kids. She has no physical proof that he abused her, no emergency room visits. He’s a cop. Look, I know what I’m doing, and he would have eventually killed her. Now he has my uncle, and I don’t know what he’s going to do when I can’t produce Annie. I’m going to his house. My brother, Jack Angelhart, used to be with Phoenix PD. He’s following me. One of my closest friends is Clive Otter, a trooper whose brother is—”
“Jesse Otter, Captain of DPS.”
“So we’re reaching out to the right people, but if this goes through channels, he could hear, and that puts my uncle at greater risk. Please trust me.”
