“I know. I know. I just… Something’s wrong.”
“Good enough. I’ll see what I can figure out.” And, with that, she hung up.
Now there wouldn’t be any hope for sleep at all for Simon. Because whatever the hell was going on had to do with Pamela. He just didn’t know if she wasn’t telling the truth or if something else was happening. And he wished to God he did know.
Chapter 22
Kate studied thewoman being checked over in the hospital. Rodney was beside her, a big grin on his face. She whispered to him, “Simon says something’s wrong.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Does he know that we got her?”
She nodded. “He does. I’m looking forward to interviewing the parents.”
“Yeah, me too. I can’t believe we found those poor girls down there.”
“I’m still shocked to know they’ve been there for years, I just…” Like Simon, now Kate was wondering what was going on. “As long as Pamela’s okay here, I’d like to go back and interview her parents.”
“They’re at the station, waiting for us.”
Leaving guards to keep an eye on Pamela, they headed back to the station. Separating the parents, she walked in on the father, introduced herself again, put down the tape recorder. “I’m recording this interview.”
“You can do whatever you want. I’m not saying another word until my lawyer gets here.”
“I understand. Human trafficking is a pretty serious crime. But, for the moment, I’d just like to talk about Pamela.”
He snorted. “You don’t have a clue about Pamela.”
“No, I probably don’t. Something’s definitely wrong.”
“You think?”
“Was she normal before she lost her daughter?”
He hesitated, then said, “All we could figure out is that’s what brought this on.”
She nodded. “When you think about it, it was pretty traumatic.” He didn’t say anything. She wasn’t even sure how to direct the conversation to help resolve the anxiety building inside her. Then she realized she had one avenue. “Given her depression over what happened, when did you realize she was a danger?”
He groaned. “She’s always been a little off. When she hates, she hates with a passion.”
“And so, she directed that passionate hate to the person who killed her daughter?”
“Yes, of course, but she couldn’t get at him because he was sent to jail.”
“And now?” She wrote herself a note to check on the status and the location of the driver.
“I believe he’s served his sentence and was released. Might want to check on their welfare instead of bothering us.”
She froze and looked up. “You think your daughter might harm the driver who killed Jillie? And how would your daughter have managed to do something like that? Particularly given the way you were holding her hostage.”
“I’m not talking. I don’t have any proof.”
“No, but you have suspicions.”
He groaned. “I’ve got a hell of a lot of suspicions. I’ve got even more than that. Butuh-uh. Not until my lawyer gets here. Then we can talk.”
“You mean that you want a plea deal for the trafficking in exchange for information on your daughter, is that it?”
He just gave her a thin smile and buttoned his lip.