En route to work he phoned the lab at headquarters. “Stan? What have you got for me on that DMSO cream used by athletes?”
“Wish I could help you out, but no brand on the market in the US matches the evidence. It had to be manufactured in a foreign country. Where do you want me to look?”
Luckey made a mental list. “Indonesia, China and Japan, for starters.”
“For starters, huh? You’re funny.”
“I know. It’s like looking for one particular grain of sand on the beach.”
“I’ll get on it, but it’s going to take time.”
“I know,” he repeated. “Thanks.”
He clicked off, only to accept an incoming call on his car phone. “This is Ranger Davis.”
“Luckey?”
Only one woman had that slightly breathless voice. Ally had been on his mind throughout the night. He’d planned to call her later in the day, but to his delight she’d come to him.
“Would you believe I was about to phone you?”
“That relieves my guilt for bothering you once again.”
He drew a sharp breath. “In case you’ve forgotten, I invaded your office on Monday.”
“That was our family’s lucky day.”
Luckey was happy to accept that collective compliment. But he was waiting for the moment when it became more personal.
“I’m calling to find out if you’d like a copy of my mother’s work on female trafficking that she compiled while we were in China. She has names, addresses, descriptions of lost girls and in some cases photos, all from areas in the Jingjinji metropolitan region and the Hunan Province. I was thinking—”
“You were thinking maybe one of the photos might match one of the girls in the morgue?” he interrupted.
“Yes.”
“It’s entirely possible. That would be a real gift for the department. Are your parents on board with this?”
“I wouldn’t have offered it otherwise.”
“No. I’m sure you wouldn’t. Where are you going to be this afternoon?”
“I’m helping out at the orphanage that brings in special-needs children from China and finds them homes here.”
“One of your father’s projects?”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “He got the foundation started a long time ago, through friends and donors.”
Why wasn’t Luckey surprised? Her family was amazing. As for Ally... “What time will you be through?”
“At five.”
“Why don’t I meet you there.” He wanted to see the orphanage and find out the backgrounds of the staff who worked there, but he’d talk to Ally about it when the time seemed right. “Then we can decide on a restaurant to go for dinner and I’ll look through the information. Tell me the address.” When she’d given it to him, he said, “You’ve made my day. See you this evening.”
The rest of the afternoon he made phone calls to silk merchants in several of the big cities in Texas, until he located a fabric store called Hui’s, in Houston. The employee who answered the phone explained that they got their silk fabric from a Chinese merchant who traveled from their main outlet in Beijing every other month. He happened to be in Houston right now. Luckey made arrangements to meet with him the next day.
With that accomplished, he’d done as much as he could on the case today. Tonight he’d be having dinner with the woman who’d captured his attention the moment she’d accidentally run into his arms. He couldn’t think about anything else.
After stopping in at home to take a quick shower, he drove to Barton Creek and looked for the historic home on Maravillas Loop that had been converted into an orphanage. As he pulled up in front, he saw Ally sitting on a porch swing holding a toddler-aged girl in her arms. He got out of the car and started up the pathway to the door. That was when he noticed a young Asian woman in a chair next to the swing.