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“Or he thinks he’s found a money spigot and is now turning the faucet on full blast.” He cut a piece of the first omelet on his plate and lifted the forkful to his mouth.

Chewed and swallowed before continuing. “Jennings texted that Lorna Eckworth disputes McNulty’s claim about siccing him on you, but his testimony and the phone records will still weigh heavily with the judge determining Ben’s conservatorship.

You’re probably weeks away from learning all the answers this guy says he has. ”

She fiddled with her fork, not meeting his gaze.

“Even if the judge does rule in my favor, I don’t think I’ll ever get permission to visit the facility and see for myself.

I fully expect that Sedgewick will block any attempt I make to look in on him, which renders me fully dependent on whatever she chooses to tell me. ”

“That doesn’t mean she couldn’t be required by a judge to show video evidence of his well-being.”

Reese began eating. Between bites, she said, “Kervin’s crazy if he thinks I’d give him that much, but I do want to hear him out.” She held up her free hand when Hayes opened his mouth to object. “We can put it off until it’s safe to leave here. Unless they’ve already found Thorne?”

Hayes would have preferred to wait until they finished with their meal before broaching the subject.

“He appears to have slipped out of the canyon undetected.” A flash of alarm flickered across her expression before she blanked it.

He mentally damned himself for the fear he knew she was masking.

But he couldn’t protect her from the truth. And she wouldn’t want him to.

“I thought the chopper…the night vision…”

“He may have gotten away when the helicopter left to refuel. They had the open paths covered at both ends, but he could have crossed the stream and lost them in the trees. One of the trails is closed because of a rockslide. If he knows the area well, he may have realized that and taken his chances. Their K-9 unit has picked up his scent. They’ll find him, Reese. ”

Her smile looked forced. “That scent is worthless once he gets into a car.”

She was right. “But the vehicle he’d driven to the house he was staying in was confiscated.

They geo-fenced the area. If he plans to call for help, once he turns on his phone, they’ll have his number and can track it.

” Her silence spoke louder than a reply.

She probably knew that a geo-fence warrant would capture all of the cell phones used in the warrant’s defined area.

Sifting through those cell records and investigating the right one would take time. And significant manpower.

Hayes kept the last part of Mendes’s text to himself. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need to accept the deputy’s offer of an officer escort to wherever they went. They were safest just staying put. But a quiet Reese made him edgy. So did her next questions.

“Why haven’t they been able to track the occupant of the house? Or the vehicle Thorne was driving?”

He put his fork down to stare at her. “You’re starting to sound like a cop.

” Those wide brown eyes held his. Demanded an answer.

“The home is supposed to be empty. It’s part of an estate, and the family are feuding about the terms of the will.

” He lifted a shoulder. “He’d already switched vehicles from the Caravan he was seen in before.

The current car had stolen plates. They traced the plate owner, but the theft was reported four months ago.

And the last known driver to register the car got rid of it ten years earlier after it was totaled in an accident. No documentation of it since.”

A slight frown marred her brow. “How is that possible?”

“Could have been taken to a junk yard and resold from there. They don’t always keep the best records.

But they’re following the trail. Mendes sent a picture.

Prettiest little ’71 GTO I’ve seen. Baby blue with a black hardtop.

Four fifty-five High Output V8 with a four eighty torque.

Probably goes zero to sixty in under…” His words trailed off as he noticed the look on her face. “What?”

“Are GTOs referred to as GOATs?”

“How’d you know that?”

“Mendes didn’t happen to send you a picture, did he?”

“Yeah. But only because he appreciated the car as much as I did.” Hayes picked up his cell and scrolled, bringing up the image and sliding the phone across to her. When she studied it, the color leeched from her face. “What’s wrong?”

Without a word, Reese stood and left the table, heading to the bedroom. Mystified, he waited until she returned a moment later with her laptop. She sat down and did a quick search before turning the computer around to nudge toward him. “Looks like this, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” He leaned in to survey it more carefully.

Then clicked on another image in a montage of pictures.

Someone had meticulously documented every stage of the vehicle’s restoration.

“The accident caused a fair amount of damage. No way that’s the original chassis.

” He clicked quickly through the pictures.

“I wonder how long it took them to…” Hayes forced himself to refocus. “Okay, how did you find this page?”

“I discovered it last night, but didn’t really look through it. And to answer your question, restoration took about five years.”

When she said nothing more, he scrolled to the top. Discovered it was a Facebook group dedicated to muscle car restoration. He made a mental note to return to the page later to check out the other posts. “So who’s TrevorGOAT71?”

She moistened her lips. “Click on the user name.”

When Hayes obeyed, he was taken to yet another Facebook page, this one belonging to an individual.

There were several photos of a midtwenties man with the same car.

Even more of him paired with an older man and a few of Trevor, the same man, and a woman.

Parents, he assumed. He paused and looked closer, a sense of familiarity nagging at him.

“That looks like…”

“Gerald Rivers,” she said flatly. “With the son who died of cancer. Trevor Rivers.”