The wall had to be twelve feet high, and it was smooth, tough to scale. Lock took a step back to get a better view. Even just getting to the house was not going to be easy.
They could always hand this over to the cops, but the cops would need a warrant to go inside and that would take time. It also meant that Lock would have to explain to them why he believed Kristin Miller was inside, and that was an awkward conversation. Judges tended not to look too kindly on evidence acquired after you shot someone. Nor did cops, for that matter. It wasn’t the kind of thing that stood up in court.
As he took another step back, his phone rang. He saw the name and thought about letting it go to voicemail. He decided it was better to answer it.
“Ryan Lock.”
“This is Beth Adorno from the Vice Unit. You remember me, don’t you?”
“Of course. How are you, Detective?”
“Well, right now I’m super pissed is how I am. And I’d like you to bring Carl Gaudi to me.”
“Sorry, I’m a little confused, I thought you already had him in custody.”
“Well, I sure would have if you hadn’t put him in the back of your car when we raided that place.”
How the hell did she know about that, Lock asked himself. Not that it mattered.
“Now you’ve really lost me.”
“Don’t try to be cute. One of our patrols caught you on dash cam. It took us a while to work out it was you, but we did. Now, unless you want to spend the next five years in Ely prison, I strongly suggest you hand him over. I really don’t like being used, Mr. Lock.”
Lock knew he didn’t have time to think this over. He needed to make a decision, and fast. He could either come clean, tell her where he was and why, and ask for her help. But that way, they ran into the whole search warrant problem.
The alternative was to play dumb, stall, get inside this place and get Kristin, assuming she was even alive, which wasn’t a given.
“Detective Adorno, I want the same thing that you do, to find Kristin Miller. I think her life’s in grave danger, and I can move a lot faster than you can to make sure she goes home in one piece.”
“So, you do have him,” said Adorno.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. Now you can either tell me what’s going on right now, or I can have every cop in Vegas looking for you, and that doesn’t help any of us find this kid.”
Lock took a moment.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
“I think I’ve found her,” said Lock.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I can’t be certain, but I think I know where she is.”
Adorno’s tone changed, and the way it changed told Lock that she took this as seriously as he did. “Where is she?” Adorno asked him. “I can be right there.”
“Give me a half hour,” said Lock. “If I’m wrong and I haven’t found her then I’ll come in and hand myself over and you can do what you want with me.”
“No, that doesn’t work. Where is she?”
“I’m sorry,” said Lock, hanging up on her and walking back to the car as Ty opened the door.
“Who was that?”
Lock told him, then added, “She knows about us snatching up this asshole. Look, they can probably trace where we are from my cell phone, so we need to figure out how we’re getting inside this place and fast.”
“I have an idea,” said Ty. “But we’re going to have to leave him in the car. It’s gonna take both of us.”
“That’s okay. You have another pair of cuffs?”
“Yeah, I can secure him. Anyway, how far’s he gonna get with that bad foot?”