Page 19 of Deadly Lies

Dammit!

I blew up her cell phone and she, of course, didn’t answer.

I checked the hotel’s parking lot, and, of course, Grant’s truck was missing.

None of this was shocking to me at all.

None of it.

She had gone to see Joaquín without me. And honestly, I couldn’t blame her. I got it. He was her brother. And it was probably the right move. If she had any hope of finding out the truth from him, it was on her. He wouldn’t tell me, a stranger, an NCIS agent, anything.

I could choose to be pissed at her, yell at her for not taking me. But I had vowed to grow. Be a bigger person. Understand where she was coming from.

So, it was time for me to forgive and let go.

I called Mitch, but he didn’t answer. I know I had royally screwed up everything. But I would make it up to him.

Today, I would focus on my new task. Finding Tiffany.

To that end, I obtained a record of Joaquín’s visitor log from yesterday. It was easy to do since I had been officially assigned to his case.

The girl who’d visited him had been forced to show identification, of course.

Her name was Tania Jackson. And she had a local address in San Rafael.

Thanks to a background search, I found out everything I could about Tania Jackson. She had rented the apartment a year ago, when Joaquín was already at San Quentin. She worked as a maid. She had no known relatives or records prior to moving here.

In other words, she had appeared out of nowhere.

What the fuck was going on?

I didn’t have a vehicle. So, I hired an Uber to head over to her place.

It was a tiny apartment in the Canal, one of the poorest areas in Marin. I texted Mia the address so she would at least know where I was if anything happened to me.

Despite its reputation, the complex seemed well maintained. Maybe the residents fixed it up themselves. There were a small courtyard and a tiny playground. I arrived at Tania’s corner apartment and knocked on the door.

But no one answered.

I knocked again.

And again.

And again.

Maybe she was at work. But I had nothing going on today. I could wait.

I walked around the side of the building and peered into the window. The place was empty, with just some old newspapers on the floor.

My breath hitched.

Had she absconded in the middle of the night?

An elderly lady tapped me on the shoulder. “Excuse me, sweetheart. I’m Gladys, the property manager. Can I help you with something?”

“Oh, yes. I’m an old friend of Tania’s. Do you know when she’ll be back?”

The lady took a step back and crossed her arms. “Well, if you were an old friend, I would assume you’d know how to pronounce her name.”