Page 58 of Sundowners
Vanessa shrugged. “I don’t think so. Everything we’ve found out about the company seems legit.” She shared with me as much information as she had on Donna Hicks, and it was mind-boggling. This did not sound like the kind of woman who would run away from anything.
“Sterling is still digging through their financials and we’ve got warrants out for the four men. I heard you saw them last night?”
“Yeah. I was outwith… They showed up at the bar I was at.”
“Don’t worry, Roman. I already know you were out with that nurse. Unlike my brother, I wasn’t planning on giving you shit about it.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Although Rey gave me some good advice this morning, believe it or not.”
“He is capable of maturity sometimes. What does he think about the nurse?”
“I told him I think he’s keeping something from me, but that I don’t think he’s involved. He said I need to find out.”
“Sounds fair. Does the nurse make you happy?”
That was the thing. He made me ridiculously happy. I didn’t have to try with him, didn’t have to put on a front. I had to let myselfrelaxwith him, and then when I did…it was phenomenal. Then it was weird. Could we get back to that phenomenal?
“We’re here. Now, I’m going to ask her questions if she’s awake and alert. The doctors think she’s going to be fine with no lasting damage.”
Vanessa on a mission meant you had to hustle to keep up with her short legs. Shecarried herself with so much confidence in uniform, but now? In a suit, she was fire. She was power. I was descended from some fierce women, and I would never forget that.
She showed her credentials at the nurses’ station and we were led down a series of hallways. The doctor was just coming out of the woman’s room.
“I’m Detective Cabral, Santa Cruz PD, we spoke on the phone?”
“Yes, Ms. Hicks is recovering nicely, although she still seems agitated. Her husband called, and she asked that we not give him any information. I’m not sure what that’s about, but if he shows up here, I’m directing him to the social worker.”
“Good, thank you. I appreciate it.”
He nodded to us, and then entered information into a computer in the hall outside the patient’s room.
Vanessa raised her eyebrows and I followed her inside.
“Mrs. Hicks? I’m Detective Cabral, we met yesterday?”
The woman I recalled seeing in a picture in Vanessa’s report looked very different from the frightened woman with the big eyes lying in the hospital bed.
“Detective, can you protect me? I’ll tell you anything, but you have to get me out of here before my husband and the organization find me.”
“The organization?”
“Yes, it’s called… Wait, please. I don’t want to withhold relevant information, but I need to know you can get me out of here. If he finds me, he’ll turn me over to them. He’s brainwashed, and they have ways of…” She looked at me and her eyes widened. “Who is he?”
“This is Roman San Angelo, he’s a research fellow at UCSC and a police consultant working with us on the case.”
I took a moment to preen about the additions to my CV and then I stepped forward and tried to remove my perma-scowl. “How do you do, Mrs. Hicks?”
“What is your area of research, Dr. San Angelo?”
“I’m completing my dissertation this year. I’m doing work in the area of psychology and criminal behavior, specifically cults. I believe my au—Detective Cabral explained that we were interested in the men who work with you because of some assaults in the community?”
“Yes, yes, I remember. Did you talk to any of them?”
Vanessa shook her head. “No, they didn’t return to work, and the addresses your company gave us were incorrect.”
Mrs. Hicks sank into the pillow as if she wished the bed would swallow her up. “They’re protected. The Leaders, they send them out. They’re looking for someone, but they’re also gathering energy. I know it sounds weird.”
“What do you mean, energy? Like solar, wind?” I asked her, something tickling the back of my mind.
