Page 143 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“He’s still in San Diego. At least he was a couple of months ago. He usually calls me at Christmas, and on my birthday.”

“That’s something, that he remembers your birthday.”

“Not really, since it’s his too.” She gave him an address. “If he’s not there, I’d try jail or prison. He has trouble staying out.”

“I appreciate your time,” JP said.

“Please don’t forget to check with August. I’d love to hear from him.”

“I promise.”

Chapter 53

Saturday late morning

National City didn’t pretend to be anything it wasn’t. Tight streets. Faded duplexes. Cars parked half on curbs. Music bleeding through open windows even in the middle of the day. The kind of neighborhood where people weren’t quick to give out information.

JP parked across the street from the address Rochelle had given him. It was a unit in a small apartment complex with stucco cracked in thin lines, a security screen on the front door, and curtains drawn but not carefully.

He watched a minute, but there was no movement. Then he got out, crossed over, and knocked once.

He waited, then knocked again. A bolt slid, and the door opened just enough to show a man behind it, Marcus Caldwell. He was a little older than in the photos, and harder too. His muscular body stood about six-foot-three, with the kind of face that had stopped expecting anything good and adjusted accordingly.

“What?”

“My name’s JP Torn. I’m a private investigator out of San Diego.”

Marcus didn’t blink.

“I’m looking into something tied to Hannah Caldwell.”

His expression shifted to curiosity, and Marcus opened the door wider. “Come in.”

Inside was clean enough but worn and sparsely furnished.

Marcus gestured to a chair. JP sat. Marcus stayed standing a moment, then dropped into the couch across from him.

“Are you working for the cops?”

“No. I work for a lawyer named Sabre Brown. She was Hannah’s attorney for the dependency case.”

His face reddened. “She should’ve never let the girl go home with her mom.”

JP didn’t want to get into that. “I’m working a case that overlaps with Hannah’s. I’m here to understand what might’ve been missed.”

Marcus studied him. “You think Hayes didn’t do it?”

“Hayes took her all right. I’m just not sure someone else wasn’t involved.” JP had a wild thought about Yvonne’s exes.

“Did you ever try to get Hayes to talk?”

Marcus gave a humorless half-smile. “I have friends in Donovan,” Marcus said. “People who don’t mind asking hard questions. It didn’t matter. Hayes stuck to his story.”

“What story?”

“That he lost her.” Marcus reached for a can of soda on the floor. “Said he stopped to buy some booze, and she was gone when he came back.”

“Do you believe that?”