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He smiled. “Then, why are you crying? Why are you feeling responsible for anything?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was shocked to find out about my gun. How in the world, after all these years, could it end up with those men who tried to frame you?”
“I don’t know, but I trust Locke and his team to find out, and I believe they will.”
She nodded. “Locke and Hollis got something going on between them.”
He lifted a brow as he pulled her closer into his arms. “You think so?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re probably right. I didn’t pay much attention. My focus was on you while they were asking those questions. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“You’re such a wonderful and caring person, Karl Halifax.”
He chuckled. “Am I?”
“Yes.”
“As long as you think so, that’s all that matters to me, Nyla.”
He then lowered his mouth to hers.
CHAPTER 26
Five days later, Hollis received a two-way call from Nate and Cranston. “Hey, Sunshine, we think we got something you can sink your teeth into.”
Hollis leaned back in her chair as she clicked her phone on the speaker. “What do you guys have for me?”
“You could call it a double whammy. You go first, Cranston.”
“Alright. That video recorder you found at the warehouse was working that night. The frequency was on a channel that sent a live recording to a location in Tampa. I should have the exact location within a few days. And just so you know, I detected someone else looking into information about those same cameras. My guess, it’s the Feds.”
That was her guess as well. “Two federal agents were snooping around the warehouse after I left. They claimed they were doing their own investigation for the Bureau. If they were, then good. They would have found the same thing I did.”
“Could be. Or…”
She knew what Cranston was left hanging, so she finished the sentence for him. “Or… they could be covering up what I found,” she said. “If you recall, that same night three guys were sent by someone to work me over. I’m not saying they were connected with that incident. I’m merely making an observation.”
“I remember,” Cranston said. “I’d hate to think two seasoned agents are corrupt, but we all know there are bad ones that don’t shine a positive light on the good ones.”
“True, and thanks, Cranston. I appreciate all your work. So, what do you have for me, Nate?”
“It’s the burner phone. I have identified the network and should be able to pinpoint the location from where the call was made in a day or two.”
They were right. Both had shared good news. “Thanks, guys. This is the best news I’ve heard today.”
After the call ended, she stood and walked to the window. So far, no transfers occurred between Adkins and Biggins’ bank accounts. She still refused to believe it was a coincidence that they were the same officers who had responded to Nyla’s burglary call. Locke had ordered a detailed report on Biggins, and so far, like Adkins, his record was clean. He moved to Tampa ten years ago from Minnesota after he got married and landed the job with the police department here.
The one thing she had discovered was that no hospital in Tampa had a record of Cynthia Biggins being seen on the night her husband claimed he had rushed her to the emergency room for labor pains. That prompted her to request a detailed report on Mrs. Biggins to learn everything she could about her.
Hollis wondered whether Detectives Connors and Tomlin had picked up the watch yet and, if so, whether they discovered how it got to Pensacola. She was tempted to call them, but hopefully, if they found anything useful, they would let her know. There was still something she thought she was overlooking. She would spend the rest of the day going over her interview notes with Nyla, as well as all the others that she’d made since working on the case.
Malik called and said he would be extending his trip for another month. When she questioned why he would want to hunt anything for that long, he had made up some flimsy excuse and rushed her off the phone. One day she would come clean and let him know she knew all about the extracurricular activities he did behind enemy lines for the government.
The same kind that got Derek killed, that she wasn’t supposed to ever know about. Didn’t he know that men couldn’t keep secrets when they had a snooping sister?
She checked her watch. Locke had left to pick up lunch, and she missed him already.
