Page 71 of The Grave Artist (Sanchez & Heron #2)

Jake wasn’t great at delivering bad news, but sometimes it couldn’t be avoided.

Like now.

Sanchez, who had lifted her cell phone to her ear, lowered it. “I know that look,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

Selina was standing beside her older sister. Both women gave him their full attention.

He checked his tablet one more time. Nothing had changed in the last two seconds. “I just linked up with the SHIT detail. Lauren Brock was moving south-southeast from Tarzana.”

“What?” Her eyes went wide. “Near the Spalding house. When?”

“About twenty minutes ago, she pulled into a parking lot and picked up a passenger.”

Sanchez narrowed her gaze. “Did this passenger happen to match Damon’s description?”

“Yes. Well, Sanchez, you read it right. Lauren does have something going on.”

“Never guessed this, though. Man.”

She started to raise the phone again. “Now that we have probable cause that Lauren is aiding and abetting after the fact, we can pull out all the stops.”

He held up a hand to get her attention before she called the surveillance team. “They lost her.”

This was the bad news.

“No.” She lowered her head briefly.

“They were on a highway, headed south. The team figured they were making a run for the border, and would eventually hit the 5 or the 405, so they called ahead to all the checkpoints and backed off a bit.”

Sanchez groaned. “But Lauren took an exit ramp somewhere.”

He nodded. “They’ve narrowed it down to two possible roads, and they’ve split up to check both out.”

Sanchez jabbed her cell phone’s screen.

“Mouse, you’re on speaker. You heard?”

“Yeah, Lauren’s disappeared, and she may have Damon with her.”

“We’ve got probable cause on an A and B. Probably headed for Mexico, but they disappeared. Put out a BOLO and tell CHP and Border Patrol. Use the latest data from SHIT. It can’t be more than ten minutes old.”

“I’m on it.”

A moment later, Mouse added, “Done, Carmen. But I don’t get it. Why is Lauren Brock helping someone who killed her brother?”

“Oh, she’s not helping him. She’s going to murder him. I sympathize, but what she’s done? It’s premeditated. That’ll get her a life sentence.”