Page 44 of Diagnosis Attraction

“You can just eat like that—after someone’s tried to kill you?”

“That’s the best time for a hearty meal.”

She shook her head and reached for a slice, pulling her chair around to his side of the table so she could look at the screen while she ate.

“Okay, this is good,” she admitted.

He inserted the thumb drive into the USB port before booting up the machine. They both ate pizza and sipped their drinks while they waited for the start-up routine to complete.

“What do you think is on the drive?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Too bad it’s not my biography.”

“Well, since we know your name, I’m sure we can get an approximation. There’s probably a bio of you at the place where you work. Probably one of the county or city social service agencies.”

“I didn’t think of that. But let’s read the thumb drive first.”

He switched the computer’s attention to the external drive and got a list of files.

“Which ones first?”

“Might as well start at the top.”

The first file contained snapshots of women—all of whom looked like they might be of Eastern European origin.

Next was a picture of the Port of Baltimore and one of the huge containers that were often taken off ships and set directly onto tractor-trailer trucks.

They both stared at the pictures.

“It might seem far-fetched, but I think I understand the connection between the pictures,” Elizabeth said. “Does it sound crazy to think that Derek Lang is using cargo containers to smuggle women illegally into the country?” She swallowed hard. “And then something bad happens to them.”

“Well, we know something big is going on. Big enough for Derek Lang to want you out of the picture.”

“As in—dead.”

“You must have found out about it. But how could you stumble onto something like that?”

She shook her head in frustration.

They opened more files. Some contained dates and times. Others were lists that looked like order forms.

They kept looking through the files, but there was no more information that helped Elizabeth unravel the mystery.

“We have to help these women,” she murmured. “Which means we have to figure out where they are.”

“And we have to help ourselves because we’re not going to be safe unless Derek Lang is off our backs.” He turned toward her. “I’m thinking it would be hard to pull off an operation like this without police protection.”

“Or police being paid to look the other way.”

“There has to be a reason.”

When Elizabeth looked at Matt, she knew he had caught her thoughts about how to come up with more information about the women.

The first time I remembered anything about myself was when you touched me. I think we need to try that again.

He nodded, but she was pretty sure it was going to take more than simply holding hands.

Keeping her eyes on him, she stood up, kicked off her shoes, and watched him do the same.

---