* * * *
“I’m not understanding any of this,” Seno stated, and Justice drove the truck as they listened to what he had to tell them.
“Okay, so this whole prostitution thing has been going on for over ten years. Gunner and the team of Feds have been pulling in people, questioning them, and getting confessions for lesser charges. It seems that Phillips and Sentinel were the masterminds behind this. But they needed help from law enforcement, border patrol, and others in order to get these shipments across borders and through checkpoints. They greased a lot of hands including some law enforcement. Ellie’s friend Unc worked under that Lieutenant and a few others who have now confessed to helping in this smuggling trade all along. As the Feds uncovered in the last twenty-four hours, Unc had been playing a major role in this process. He’s our main killer. It has to be him.”
“How do you know, Justice?” Seno asked.
“He used his old police revolver to kill Phillips. They were able to trace the bullet to the type of gun used. That gun was confiscated from Unc’s desk drawer by the Feds when they went to arrest him. I’m waiting for more details and evidence, but he definitely seems to fit the bill.”
“Shit, and I let him have her. What does he want with Ellie?” Seno asked.
“She’s the only family he has, maybe he knows he’s about to get busted and he’s trying to take off and wants her with him,” Hunter said.
“Ellie wouldn’t go. When Ellie realizes that Unc is the killer we’ve been searching for, she’s going to lose it,” Justice told them.
“Unless he means to do her harm, too,” Mace told them.
“What do you mean? Why would he want to hurt her?” Seno asked. “She means so much to him.”
“I never met the guy, but you two did. You said he threatened you.”
“That was typical parental talk. He was there after Paul assaulted her. He was there long before that when her uncle was alive,” Hunter added.
“Her uncle? You mean the Uncle Brian she told us a little about?” Justice asked as they pulled into the parking lot. They were meeting everyone there. The Feds and all local police departments put out a description of Ellie and Unc as well as Unc’s vehicle. Gunner had someone looking at property ownership or any other homes, condos or even cabins around the state that Unc might have owned or stayed at. The Feds already notified the airports, train stations, and bus lines, and the media was posting Ellie’s picture during all broadcasts.
“What are you thinking, Justice? You don’t believe that her uncle Brian had anything to do with this, too, do ya?” Hunter asked.
They all got out of the truck and made their way across the media line, dodging questions, and then ducked under the yellow danger tape.
“Justice, the Feds have a team at Ray Wallace’s place. You’re not going to believe what we they found on his computer in his basement. He had a hidden room in the back cellar. The K-9 sniffed it out and the Feds broke in and gathered everything. It’s all right there. The entire operation, details, schedules of deliveries, and—”
Sam looked at Vin and then at Justice and his brothers. One of the Federal agents was standing there as well.
“What else? What is it?” Justice asked.
“There were pictures of Ellie, Justice.”
“Okay, so he was her family, why wouldn’t he have pictures?” Hunter asked.
“Not those kind of pictures. Some were of her in her bikini by some pool, others were her walking into work, hanging out with friends, and then there were ones he superimposed into other bodies.”
“What does that mean?” Mace asked.
“Oh shit, and I let him have her. I handed her right over to a man obsessed with her in that way. Oh God, he’s going to hurt her. He’s going to kill her. Fuck!” Seno yelled out.
Mace and Hunter placed hands on his shoulder.
“How about a location of a hideaway? Anything come up?” Justice asked Vin and Sam.
“They’re going over everything in the room. He’s obsessed with her, so maybe he won’t actually hurt her. As long as she cooperates with
him, it will buy us the time to locate her,” Vin added.
“If he’s obsessed with her, has been stalking her, and he knows about the four of us, he may just punish her for that and then kill her,” Seno stated.
“We can’t think that way. They have a lot of documentation to go over. More help is headed to Wallace’s place. They’ll find something.”
“Oh, how about looking into Ellie’s Uncle Brian? He died in a robbery or something over a year ago. He was a cop, too,” Justice told Sam.