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Once they were outside the restaurant, Dela turned to Heath. “I want to go to West’s house and see if we can find something that might tell us where Asher is being held.”
Heath stopped and peered into her eyes. “I’m sure the FBI went over that house thoroughly. After all, an informant was tortured and killed there.”
As much as she didn’t want to admit Heath was probably right, she gave in. “Okay. But what about the cabin where Reuben took us?”
“If the FBI are doing half their job, they have someone watching it,” Heath put an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, let’s get a good night’s sleep and we’ll work on it tomorrow.”
Dela couldn’t shake the feeling they had to find Asher before his mother did something horrible to him. “Can I at least call Stedman and get a list of properties that Felicity and Reuben own?”
“I don’t mind if you do that. It will give us places to start looking tomorrow.” Heath led her out of the elevator and down the hall to their room. This time no one was lurking in the recess of the doorway across the hall.
Once inside Dela called Stedman.
“You believe that Mrs. Benedict is hiding out somewhere with the child?” the detective asked.
“It’s the only explanation, unless they left the country. However, from what Hugo says, I think Felicity is trying to take over the business his father started for them.” Dela had thought about this as she’d listened to Hugo. The woman had been smart enough to figure out how to get her hands on a very lucrative, if illegal, business.
“I’ll get someone working on the property angle. The FBI agent is ready to be released from the hospital. He confirmed that Ferris beat him up, but he kept asking him what he knew about Mrs. Benedict taking the boy.” Stedman slurped a drink and continued, “Your thoughts that she took her son seem to be spot on.”
Dela smiled. It was good to hear someone besides Heath praise her.
“The State Police and FBI are looking for Ferris. He seems to have disappeared. Oh, and looking up information on the security officers as you asked earlier, we discovered Trent Lawton is a shirttail relative of Felicity Benedict.”
Dela stared out the window at the waves rolling under the moonlight, carrying glittering white caps toward the beach. “That’s interesting. I wonder if Hugo knows that? Thank you for the information.” Dela ended the call and faced Heath. “I believe our coward wasn’t hiding from Ferris but from Felicity.”
Heath studied her. “Trent?”
“Yeah. According to Detective Stedman, Trent is related to Felicity. We need to have a talk with him. He might know a family residence that Felicity is hiding at.”
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
The next morning, Dela dressed as quickly as she could with a prosthesis, while Heath called to find out where Trent had spent the night. It turned out he’d stayed with Enos.
Dela called Enos as she and Heath headed out the door.
“Dela, do you have good news?” Enos asked.
“Yes and no. Can you and Trent meet Heath and me at the pancake house? We have some information and a few more questions.” She wasn’t going to put Trent on the run by saying they wanted to visit with him.
“Sure. We’re up and having coffee. We can be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks. See you then.” Dela ended the call and slid into the passenger side of her car.
“Pancake house on the highway?” Heath asked.
“That’s the one,” Dela said, fastening her seatbelt.
“Do you think Trent will be straight with us?” Heath asked as he navigated out of the parking lot.
“I hope so. He did find good information when he was looking at video footage. My take is he knows enough about Felicity to be scared of her. And I bet she didn’t try to pull him into her plans because she knew he wouldn’t be able to keep her secret. It was best to just scare him away from the investigation.” Dela settled back and thought about what she would ask Trent.
The parking lot at the restaurant had plenty of parking. Dela liked that the place wasn’t going to be crowded. She had no idea how Trent would act when she asked him about Felicity. If he tried to bolt, Heath would be able to stop him in a less populated environment.
It took them less than ten minutes to drive to the pancake house. They exited the car and walked to the entrance. Inside they asked for a table for four and said two more would be joining them.
Dela scanned the other occupants and then flicked her gaze to the front. When Enos appeared with Trent behind him, she waved a hand. The two walked over and took the empty seats.
“Morning,” Enos said, nodding at Heath.
“Looks like a nice day,” Heath replied as they all picked up the menus and read.
Dela tried not to let Trent see her watching him. He seemed relaxed.
Once they’d ordered, Dela told them a little bit about what they knew so far, leaving out anything about Felicity. When Trent was listening intently, she said, “Why didn’t you tell us you were related to Felicity?”
In the seconds it took for her words to sink in, Trent’s expression went from relaxed and focused to wide-eyed fear. He pushed the chair back to stand and both Enos and Heath grabbed an arm, holding Trent in his seat.
Dela lightened her voice. “Trent, we know you had nothing to do with what Felicity has done. But now it makes more sense why you were so scared to be involved in all of this. But why didn’t you tell us you were related?”
Heath stood and scooted Trent and the chair back up to the table like an adult making a child stay at the table to finish his meal.
Trent glanced at Enos and then settled his gaze on the table in front of him.
“We aren’t accusing you of anything other than withholding the truth,” Dela said. “In fact, we are hoping you can help us.”
His face rose and he studied her. “Help you? Do you think Felicity would let me live or not try to hurt my wife if I helped you?”
“She won’t hurt you or your wife. She won’t know you helped. And if I’m right, she’ll be behind bars for a long time.” Dela leaned back as their breakfast was delivered.
Trent pushed his plate to the center of the table. “I don’t know that much about her. Only that as kids she was mean to everyone and everything. She could act sweet and innocent when her parents were around. When us kids were outside, she’d pinch us and push us down and then say we were bullying her.”
“She’s still that way,” Dela said, working to get the man’s confidence.
“The first time I saw her and Hugo walk into the casino I about peed my pants. I swear she is the devil in a model’s body.”
Enos pushed Trent’s plate back in front of him. “It sounds like to me, that you need to help us put her away so you don’t have to live in fear of her.”
Trent’s gaze landed on his boss. Dela hoped Trent would remember Enos had come to his rescue when he’d received the threat. That all of them wanted to help him.
Picking up his fork and stirring it around in his scrambled eggs, Trent asked, “What do you think I can help with?”
“Felicity has to be hiding Asher somewhere close so she can keep tabs on the investigations. Are there any family properties along the coast or inland from here?” Heath asked.
Trent shoved the eggs around for about a minute and said, “She inherited a cabin a bit north of here in the coast range.”
“Is it the one where she keeps her men?” Dela asked.
“I wouldn’t know that. It was given to her by her aunt on her mom’s side.” Trent pulled out his phone and started scrolling. He held the phone up. “Here. That’s where the cabin is.”
Dela, Heath, and Enos all leaned over the table to look at the decrepit shack Trent had pulled up on a map app. The roof was covered in moss and the front porch roof sagged.
“That’s not the one we were taken to the other night,” Dela said.
“It doesn’t look as if anyone has lived in it for some time.” Heath pulled out his phone and put in the address from Trent’s phone. “Are there any other places?”
Trent thought a minute. “I think she also inherited our great-grandfather’s house in Garibaldi. I can ask my mom for the address.” He started typing on his phone.
Dela exchanged a glance with Heath. Garibaldi was closer than the shack in the forest. She had a feeling that would be their first stop.
“Here is the address,” Trent said, holding his phone out to Heath.
“Thank you,” Dela said. “We won’t tell anyone where we found this out. I have Detective Stedman looking into the property Felicity owns so they would most likely come up on his report.”
“Just find her before she hurts someone else. She acted like she was a good mother but she can turn vicious without warning,” Trent said.
When they paid and walked out of the restaurant, Enos said, “Take my keys, I’m going with Dela and Heath.” He held his keys out to Trent.
“No. We need you to contact Detective Stedman and Special Agent Pierce. Give them the two addresses and let them know that Heath and I are headed to the one in Garibaldi first. We will let them know if we find anything.” Dela could see conflict flickering in Enos’s eyes. “Please. We don’t need any more people hurt.”
He peered into her eyes. “What about you two?”
“We’ll wait for backup when we find them. We won’t move in on them unless we have to,” Heath said, putting a hand on Dela’s shoulder.
She knew it was a reminder that they would follow the rules of his police training. She would, unless someone was about to be hurt.
Enos studied Heath and then nodded. “I’ll head straight to the police station and talk to Stedman. He can contact the FBI.”
“Make sure he talks to Pierce or Swanson. Someone on the FBI has been feeding Hugo and Felicity information,” Dela said.
“I understand,” Enos said, pivoting and walking to his car with Trent following beside him.
Dela headed for her car. She felt like they were finally going to get some answers.