It was another forty-five minutes and a handful of signed papers before Renz was free to go. His shoulder was stitched and bandaged, and his arm was in a sling. He was told to rest that arm since it needed a good six weeks of healing time, but he would never obey those orders.
He folded the post-surgery instructions and handed them to me. “Put these in your purse for now. Maybe I’ll read them when we’re flying home.”
I chuckled. “That could be tomorrow or in two weeks. The case isn’t solved yet. There is one thing I forgot to tell you, though.”
He frowned. “You forgot to tell me something? Jade Monroe, the woman whose mind never takes a break?”
I swatted the air. “You’re lucky you have a bum wing. I nearly swatted it by mistake.”
He chuckled. “It’s still numb. I wouldn’t have felt it anyway. So, tell me what you forgot to say.”
“Okay. I asked the sheriff to check and see if the motorcycle maniac had a brand on his left hip when he had to change into his jumpsuit.”
“And?”
“He does.”
Renz scratched his chin with his left hand. “So that makes all the dumped teens, Jane, that Malcolm character, and now the idiot who shot me?”
“Yep.”
“Are they all part of some crazy commune like how the Tate-LaBianca murderers carved X’s in their foreheads?”
“No clue, but my gut says the kids didn’t willingly agree to be branded. I think it’s more like a sign of ownership.”
“No different than the cattle?”
“Exactly, and the owner has to be Full Circle Enterprises. But since that company is based in the Caymans, I don’t know how we’ll find out who the man behind the name is.”
“So what we need to find is the actual location of the ranch. Nothing in the plat books shows that corporation name, but we know where Jane was found. There’s no way she could have walked for days on end from the point of origin. That ranch has to be within a twenty-mile radius of where she was located, so we need to compare current-day maps with current-day plat books to see what we can find.”
“That sounds easy enough, but without probable cause and warrants for said probable cause, Taft won’t let us bombard every ranch in that twenty-mile radius without a legal reason to be there.”
“Then Jane or the motorcycle maniac has to give us the reason.” Renz jerked his head toward the next hallway. “We need to speak to Tara too.”
I checked the time. By then, she had to be awake and coherent enough to talk. It was time to see if Tara could give us some of the answers we so desperately needed.
With permission from Dr. Ramsey, I knocked, then Renz and I entered Tara’s room. Her room was meant to be a double, but she was there alone. I was thankful since that meant we wouldn’t have to whisper our questions.
“Tara?”
“Agents DeLeon and Monroe. Thank God you’re here.” She frowned at Renz. “What on earth happened to you?”
“Let’s just say your assailant wasn’t done with his mission.”
“Did you get them? Please tell me you did.”
“He’s still breathing, but he’s in custody.”
“You said he? There were two of them, Agent Monroe.”
“We know, honey, and one of them is still at large. Tara, as painful as this will be for you, and you have our deepest condolences, we still need to know everything about the ambush as you and Byron were driving home.”
Tara’s voice caught in her throat. “I don’t know how to go on. Byron and my baby are gone.” She openly sobbed. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t told Byron to stop so I could pee, he and our baby would be alive today.”
That was true, and trying to minimize her feelings would be insulting. “Tara, you saved a life by being in the woods at the exact time Jane and the man with the rifle walked through.”
She nodded. “But at the cost of my own family.” She reached for a tissue from the box on the nightstand.
We had to give her a minute to compose herself. The last thing I wanted to do was cause her more anguish. We pulled two chairs closer to her bed and sat down.
“Just tell us what you remember. We need as much information as possible if we ever intend to capture the person or people responsible for the horrific crimes they’ve committed,” I said.
We waited, and after several deep breaths, she began. “We were just driving, minding our own business, you know?”
Renz tipped his head.
“I don’t remember anyone speeding up on us or trying to run us off the road. I heard a pop, and then Byron’s head snapped, and the car swerved left. There were more pops, and we were all over the road.”
“Did you get a glimpse of the vehicle? You said there were two people inside, so it had to be close to your car. Was it that dark truck you saw the day you found Jane?”
“No, no, no.” She shook her head. “It was a van, a red van.”
“You’re sure? It wasn’t an SUV? It was a van?”
“Yes, I’m positive. It had black-tinted windows too.”
“Did you see the man who was in the woods that day?”
“No, but I caught a glimpse of the shooter, and it wasn’t him.”
I looked at Renz. Her story confirmed that the man we had in custody wasn’t the shooter, but he was most likely the driver and the same man she’d described.
“Here’s the man we have in custody, Tara. Is he the man you saw in the woods?” On my phone, I pulled up the arrest photo for the motorcycle shooter and showed it to her.
She nodded. “That’s him. I’m sure of it.”
“And he’s the same man who shot at us and winged Agent DeLeon. Tell me this if you can. Does the name Jolie mean anything to you? Did you hear that name come from Jane or the man in the woods that day?”
She wrinkled her forehead as if trying to remember. “No, sorry. The only name that was mentioned was Malcolm.”
Renz took over. “Okay, going back to the crash. The shooter kept shooting as your car was barreling out of control down the highway. Did the van stop at any time?”
“No. They shot both of us numerous times, the car was everywhere, and then I think I passed out. I don’t remember anything else after that until now. What hospital am I in? Somebody needs to contact my family.” She wiped her eyes again. “And Byron’s.”
“We’ve already taken care of that, and your mom and dad will be here tomorrow. You’re at Mountainview Medical Center in White Sulphur Springs, and you’ll probably be here for at least another week.”
“What? How? We were around Clyde Park when the accident happened.”
“Tara”—I squeezed her hand—“that wasn’t and will never be considered an accident. Those people will pay. I promise you. You were transferred here so we could keep an eye on you and Jane at the same hospital.”
“Jane? How is she? Is she awake yet?”
I smiled. “She is, and little by little as she remembers things, I believe she can solve this case for us. My question to you is how would you feel about Jane being your roommate?”
“Really? You would do that for me—for us?”
“Absolutely, as long as both doctors agree it’s okay. I believe as Jane’s brain repairs itself, and we have you here to help her remember, this case will be solved in a matter of days.”
“I’ll do whatever I can. From the second I saw her with that horrible man, and then when he nearly killed her right in front of me, I knew I’d never forget her. She’d be in my heart forever.”
“Well, maybe we can arrange it so she can be in your room too.”