Page 47 of Shadow Undercover

Trace crossed the threshold and swept right. The target was sleeping on the right side of the bed. Glancing around the room, his eyes widened. Every wall was covered with photos of Ruth Monihan.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Bridget checked her watch for the tenth time in the last ten minutes. What was taking Trace and Ben so long? They must be inside the house by now. Trace had picked the warehouse lock in Puebla is less than a minute. He and Ben had been gone for almost an hour.

Worse, she was antsy. She jumped at every shifting shadow and expected the police to drive by and demand to know why she sat in a vehicle at this time of morning. Waiting for Trace to do his job while she remained in safety wasn’t for sissies.

When Bridget reached the point where she’d have to pace or go crazy, Trace strode from the shadows and unlocked the SUV. His grim expression made her stomach lurch. Oh, man. Whatever he’d found wasn’t good. “Did you find Ruth?”

He shook his head. “There’s something you need to see.”

Bridget hurried after Trace. He took her to the back door and escorted her into the kitchen where a Hispanic man sat at a small round table with Ben guarding him.

When the man glanced up, Bridget stopped. “Juan.”

He looked embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Bridget. I didn’t know it was your house.”

Trace frowned. “You know this guy?”

“This is Juan Gutierrez. He services the vending machines at my school.”

“Come with me.” Trace headed toward the hallway.

Juan hung his head as Bridget walked past him. She followed Trace to the last room on the right. As soon as she stepped into the bedroom, Bridget skidded to a stop.

She scanned the walls, astonished. “Incredible.”

“Juan is obsessed with your sister.”

Understatement of the year. She wandered to the outside wall. On the wall were photos from the boxes in Ruth’s room along with the pictures Juan took from the walls and dressers in her home.

She retraced her steps to the kitchen. “Why, Juan? Why would you do this?”

“Roxanne is so beautiful and I wanted more pictures of her, photos that weren’t splashed all over the magazines and websites. I didn’t mean any harm, I swear.”

Bridget sat across from him, partly furious with him for the invasion of privacy. She also felt for him. Juan seemed to be a nice guy, just incredibly shy. Enticing him to talk freely when he came to the library had taken months. “Next time you want a picture of my sister, ask her for it. She’ll be happy to give you one.”

His head snapped up. “Are you serious?”

“She’s kind. She works under the name Roxanne, but her name is Ruth. My sister is shy, but she always speaks to fans.”

“What do you want to do?” Ben asked her. “We have enough on him to file charges.”

Juan’s face paled.

“Promise you won’t ever go into our house uninvited again, Juan.” Bridget rested her folded arms on the table.

“Never again,” he promised. “Please. I can’t go to jail. I need to work to support the rest of my family. I’ll lose my job if I go to jail.”

“Should have thought about that before you decided to break into the Monihan house.” Trace scowled at him.

“It won’t happen again.”

“I want the pictures you took from my house.”

Juan started to rise.

Ben shoved him back down. “Sit. I’ll get them. Bridget will go through them before we leave to be sure I pulled the right ones from your walls.” He strode from the room.

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