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Mason hit the table with a fist and everyone jumped.
“Hey…” the lawyer started to protest.
Mason ignored him and said softly, “You said you’d cooperate fully for a deal. If you have more information, you need to spill it.”
Howe looked down at the table and swallowed, looked at his lawyer and sighed. “I used the girl’s mother to get her to cooperate. I had a couple of pictures of Bethany’s mom and showed them to her. I told her I was watching her mom. If she didn’t do what I said, her mother would get hurt.”
Rage exploded inside Lacey and it was all she could do to keep from bolting into the room to throttle the man. Even though Georgia had basically said the same thing, hearing it come from this man’s mouth made her want to vomit.
A muscle jumped in Mason’s jaw, but he held himself in control with admirable restraint. “I need the phone number of the person you were contacting.”
Howe rattled it off and Mason glanced at Daniel who left the room.
To have it traced, Lacey supposed. Although she had a feeling it was going to be one of those prepaid phone deals that the police could never track down.
Depression settled on her shoulders. Another dead end.
Please, God, keep her safe. Lead us to her. Show us the way to find her. Let her know I’m looking and won’t give up until I have her back.
“Oh—” Mason turned back “—one more question, if you don’t mind. How did you get Bethany’s cell phone number?”
Howe startled. “What?”
“Come on, don’t play stupid. We found someone who saw her answer a phone and then run from you. Described, by the way, right down to your limp. So you might as well finish the story.”
Howe’s lawyer started to protest. Howe held up a hand. “It’s all right.” He flushed. “Yeah, I, um, got ahold of her again a couple of days ago. We struggled and my phone flew out of my pocket. She kind of snatched it as she was running away.” He flushed then his lips flattened. “She caught me off guard with a kick to my bad leg or she never would have gotten away from me.”
Lacey felt a surge of pride for her resourceful daughter.Way to go, Bethany. Now use the thing to call me!
“What’s the number?” Mason demanded.
Howe gave it to him.
Mason stood and strode from the room pulling his cell phone out as he walked. Lacey leaped from the chair and raced from the room. She knew he was going to call Bethany. She’d call herself if she thought Bethany would answer, but she doubted she would if she was trying to protect her.
Rounding the corner, she almost ran into him.
“Is she answering?”
Hanging up, he shook his head. “She’s probably scared to. Probably thinks it’s Howe.”
“I don’t guess you could leave her a message. She probably doesn’t know the password to check them.”
“She doesn’t have a reason to check them even if she could.” He shook his head. “I’ll have the cell phone tracked. As long as she leaves the battery in, we’ll be able to find her. If not, we’ll have to find another way to locate her.”
“But how?” she cried. “We don’t have anything else that connects—”
She broke off as the captain came out of his office. He looked at Mason, then Catelyn and Daniel who’d come up the hall. Daniel spoke into his cell phone as the captain said, “We’ve got a tip that Bethany was seen at the homeless shelter.”
Daniel’s attention snapped to the captain. “The homeless shelter? We’ve got a black-and-white near there, don’t we? Aren’t they supposed to be covering that area?”
The captain nodded. “That’s who called it in. They didn’t approach her because they didn’t want to scare her. They’re waiting for us.”
“All right.” Daniel looked at the captain, then Mason and Catelyn. “I’ve got another emergency to deal with. One of my other cases just caught a break. I really need to go take care of that.” Into the phone, he said, “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.”
Catelyn nodded at Mason. “I’ll drive.”
The threesome headed for the exit, Lacey in the lead. Mason grabbed her arm. “I suppose it’s futile to tell you to stay here.”