Page 90 of Gem Warfare

“I’m not sure what I hoped for.”

“Shall we stay longer?”

“Please. We’re out of town, following a lead but we’re heading back soon. I’ll check in later.”

“Who’s we?” yelled Mom.

“Garrett and me,” I said.

“You can tell us about it at family dinner. This timeit’s barbecue. We’re having Mexican food next time. It’s not authentic but we’ll do our best. It’s Mexican-inspired.”

My heart thumped. “Is that tonight?”

“Don’t you read my texts?” asked Mom. “No, it’s not. You still have time to go to the deli and pretend you made a side dish.”

“Gotta go!” I trilled, disconnecting.

Garrett waved a slip of paper as he approached the car. When he got in, he passed it to me.

“What am I looking at?” I asked.

“Huff’s phone logs.”

“They’re all outgoing.”

“And? What did you expect? They don’t get phones by their bedsides here.”

“Ha ha. They’re mostly all the same number. Did you call any?” I was already reaching for my phone.

“Not yet. I asked for the visitor logs but apparently, Huff didn’t get any visitors since he arrived. They did say he was really chatty about some woman he had here. My guess is that’s her number. Amybeth.”

“I’ll get her address.”

“Good. We should visit her on the way back to the station.”

“Do you know when family dinner is?” I wondered.

“Jeez. Is that tonight?” Garrett grimaced.

“I have no idea. One of us should find out.” When Garrett didn’t make a move for his phone, I added, “Guess that’ll be me.” I unlocked my phone, opened my texts and… nothing. Mom hadn’t sent anything. “Mom said she texted but she hasn’t so I guess we’ll never know when, but we do know that it’s barbecue this time and Mexican food next time.”

“I love Mexican food.”

“It’s Mexican-inspired.”

“Still food,” said Garrett. “Let’s get on the road. Mom can let us know what’s going on when she’s ready. Until then, we’re onthe clock and it’s ticking.”

As Garrett drove us down the narrow road and past the checkpoints, I put in a call to Lucas, giving him Amybeth’s name, along with the number from the call logs, and asked him for an address. Not five minutes passed before Lucas texted an address and a full name.

“Amybeth Bell lives downtown,” I said, reading the message aloud. “Lucas says she’s a cook At Tiny Treasures Daycare and they’re not related so she has to be the girlfriend.”

“What’s a daycare cook doing with a felon?”

“You’d be surprised,” I said. “Don’t serial killers usually amass a big female following?”

“Huff is hardly a serial killer.”

“Maybe she’s working her way up. Start with a run-of-the-mill felon and eventually marry one of the worst humans on the planet in a jailhouse wedding,” I said and Garrett cast a side-eye at me and grimaced. “So he’s got a woman in town and it sounds like she’s a romantic interest, not a female relative. Doesn’t explain why she’s not on the visitor logs.”

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