Page 122 of Facing the Enemy

At the end of the call, I remembered what the doctor had said yesterday about feeling worse today. Yet the idea of putting this horrible crime to rest, ending the baby ring, and the strong possibility of finding Harvey Sinclair and Emily Lock hit the incredibly satisfying level. If we could get the two in custody to talk.

Gage and I interviewed Anna Wright first. I gave her credit for keeping her composure. She’d requested a lawyer, and he’d consult with her tomorrow. Spending Sunday with a client wasn’t on his agenda. A point for our side if she chose to provide a little information. Now, sitting across the table from us, she placed her cuffed hands on the table and smirked as though she had a delicious secret. Gage showed the pics he’d found online of her with Florakis and Peilman.

“That’s not me,” she said. “Must be someone else.”

“Strange,” Gage said, “we have proof of you living in New York when this was taken, and our techs have identified you as the woman with Florakis and Peilman. Doesn’t appear you two tied the knot.”

“Slime.” She hesitated. “Florakis planted the bomb in Mercury’s Jaguar.”

“Thank you, but it doesn’t exonerate you from your charges.”

“My attorney will have me out of here in the morning.”

“We’ll see what the judge says. How do you explain holding Agent Jacobs at gunpoint?”

Wright shrugged. “She misunderstood our conversation.” She added syrup to her tone. “Risa, did someone work you over?”

“You should seehim,” I said.

“I doubt it.”

I eyed the woman who’d made money stealing and buying babies. “We could talk to the judge if you cooperate and give us the name of your boss.”

“No one knows who he or she is. Not another word until I talk to my lawyer. We are finished here.” The arrogance in the woman tried my patience. Didn’t help that Florakis had made the same claim.

“How do we find Emily Lock?”

“Never met her.”

“She’d been a resident at the maternity home.”

Wright shook her head.

“What about Harvey Sinclair?” I said.

“Who is Harvey Sinclair? Can’t help you there either.”

Wright was escorted back to the federal detention center, and thirty minutes later Florakis sat before us. His left wrist matched his splinted broken nose.

Gage read the numerous charges, which read like a grocery list. “How do you plead, Mr. Florakis?”

“Not guilty. My attorney will handle this tomorrow.”

I’d need Dr. Looney to sign me up for anger management classes after today. “How do you explain my abduction yesterday at Houston Healing and Hope Maternity Care?”

“You wanted to go for a ride in my car, and then you tried to kill us. You’re crazy, woman.”

“You admitted to the murders of Trenton Jacobs and Luke Reardon.”

“I have no idea who those men are.”

“Anna Wright nailed you as the kingpin of the baby ring and a killer. She said you picked out the birth mother, set her up, and walked away with a pocket full of cash. She claimed you ordered the hit on me in July, the murders of Suzi and Hai Phan, the attack onSpecial Agent Jack Bradford, and the death of Special Agent Luke Reardon.”

“She didn’t name me, or she’d be a dead woman.”

“You’re sending out kill contracts from behind bars?” I said.

“The boss will handle it.”