Page 107 of The Grave Artist

Mouse nodded. “They’re on it.”

When Heron raised an inquiring brow, she explained. “When Mouse came in, I asked her to pull video of the hotel grounds, but I also told her to activate the SHIT detail.”

“Excuse me?”

She took a moment to enjoy Heron’s confusion before enlightening him.

“You haven’t been involved in government operations long enough. Everything has an acronym.” She lifted a shoulder. “Granted, it’s usually not vulgar, but this unit’s unofficial moniker stuck.”

“What’s it stand for?”

To everyone’s surprise, Declan answered first. “Surveillance and Holistic Investigative Technology.”

“No shit,” Heron said, deadpan.

Carmen said, “What Declan doesn’t know is that it has two meanings. In law enforcement circles, any undesirable assignment is referred to as a ‘shit detail.’”

Declan’s response was instantaneous. “I am aware of that, Carmen.”

Mouse grimaced. “He’s a largelanguagemodel. Now you’ve insulted him.”

Carmen steered the conversation back to the most pertinent point. “It’s a dedicated surveillance team. They’re going to tail Lauren.”

“Okay, Sanchez, good. You knew she knows something but wasn’t going to talk. You flushed her.”

She nodded at the screen, the silhouette of Ms. POI. “Maybe that’s her, maybe it isn’t. Frankly, I don’t see any red stripes.”

Declan broke in. “I said 44.2 percent, Carmen.”

Carmen ignored him and continued, “Zero idea what she’s up to. Maybe she’s afraid HK’s following her. Maybe she’s pulling some funny business with the will. We couldn’t find one, but she just admitted it exists. And maybe she’s got a plan to screw Allison. Will it help us get closer to HK?” She shrugged. “We don’t have a lot of options.”

Heron was frowning. “This surveillance outfit ... tell me about it.”

“They’re practically invisible, and they’re damned good at what they do. And they can spy on anything, anywhere.”

Mouse chuckled at the look of disdain on Heron’s face. She continued, “They use a combination of unmarked cars—that don’tlooklike unmarked cars—traffic cams and sometimes even drones, so whoever they’re following has no clue.”

“Intrusion,” Heron muttered. “You’re always lecturing me about warrants, Sanchez.” He glanced around dramatically. “I don’t seem to see any.”

Carmen was ready with an answer. “I’d need a warrant to install a GPS tracker without her knowledge or consent, but not to track a car driving around in public, using other vehicles or traffic cameras. This is our only option. Lauren’s holding back on us. And I’m going to find out why.”

Chapter 53

Selina felt guilty. But not so guilty that she’d cave and “be reasonable.”

She and Carmen had been raised to be strong. Their parents had taught them from a young age not to be followers. Not to go along with the crowd. Both sisters had taken it to heart, each forging her own path.

Carmen had gone into law enforcement. At first, their parents had been alarmed but gradually had come to accept her choice—and eventually to take pride in it.

For Selina, that had meant pursuing gymnastics, a physically and mentally demanding sport that had given the one they had viewed as their “baby girl” a competitive streak, the ability to overcome pain and rippling muscles.

“Ay, mija,”her mother would say when, for instance, she’d sprained an ankle during a floor routine. “You have to stop.”

But Selina had asked the trainer to “tape the hell out of it” so she could finish her meet.

This was the spirit of the Sanchez women. A tradition she proudly carried on.

A tradition that was currently driving Detective Ryan Hall to the breaking point, she could see.