Page 42 of Heartless Legacy

We continue on and they make a left-hand turn onto a road that eventually intersects with Canyon Cove Drive. We take a right, and another left, entering a residential neighborhood I’m unfamiliar with. I stop in front of a house near the corner, watching as the SUV pulls into the cul-de-sac and drives through a gate at the end of the street. I can’t make out the address from here, and I don’t want to risk being spotted driving through the street, so I’ll come back at night and investigate on foot.

I pull up my maps app to figure out where the hell we are. The location pin has me in the middle of Canyon Falls and Red Cliffs. I frown at the dot. When the hell did they build houses and a thru road from the Southside of Canyon Falls out here?

“You’re sure about this?” I ask, gesturing towards Holden’s screens. He’s doubled down on digging through the records for Three Kings Waste Disposal.

“The company has a contract to pick up and transport biomedical waste from Rockridge.” He pulls up another screen and says, “What I haven’t found is the contract for our burned down hospital.”

“But you think they’re connected?”

“I do, which means it’s somehow connected to The League.” He leans back in his chair, placing his glasses on the desk next to his keyboard.

“We can go back out there and look for more clues.”

Instead of agreeing, he says, “Tell me again about the men you saw at Canyon Falls General.”

“I told you everything and showed you the video. They said they were looking for a patient. Someone named Marcye, who was supposed to be the shorter guy's sister. The nurse said there was no one by that name admitted to Canyon Falls General.”

“Did they say she was from our mystery facility?”

“I never heard them mention a treatment facility name.” I replay the video and let him hear for himself.

“They were good about keeping things vague.” He says when the video ends. “I’ve gone through the hospital records. The nurse was telling the truth when she said no patient named Marcye was admitted.”

“What did you find out about that address I gave you?”

“The house is about twelve years old. The name on the tax documents is Phyllis Pacheco. She passed away about five weeks ago, and the obituary lists an unnamed grandson and granddaughter as the next of kin.”

“So they were telling the truth?”

“I didn’t say that. I did a quick search of previous addresses and got a list of places in Florida with possible relatives still living there. The most recent address update was last year.” He motions for me to come closer, and shifts his screen so I can see it. “This phone number is registered to a Maria C. Estrada, possible age 23-30.”

Maria C.Marcye.“I think we should give Maria Estrada a call.” I say, but Holden’s already dialing the number.

“Hi, this is Maria. I’m probably recording right now. Leave a message or join my live stream.”

It only takes a few minutes to find her social media profiles and, sure enough, she’s live streaming a show on pet grooming to promote her mobile grooming business.

A few of the comments are welcoming her back, others are offering condolences on the loss of her grandmother. I pull up her account on my phone, scrolling through the pictures. They all have tags of her in various neighborhoods in Florida, and a few posts about her grandmother who spent the last two years in Florida.

One of the posts lists the grandmother as having dementia, but she looks happy and well cared for in the pictures. “The part about the grandmother being confused tracks, but there’s no way this girl was in the hospital when it burned down.” Lookingover at Holden, I ask, “Did her grandmother discharge her while the brother was deployed and forget to tell him?”

“Maybe, but if Marcye is a nickname, wouldn’t a brother know to ask for her given name? And he never gives specifics. Doesn’t provide any options for one of the many birthdates he says the grandmother could have used.”

I pull my butterfly knife out, flicking it open and closed. “Okay, let’s figure this out. Vague answers. A girl who’s not this girl. A vulnerable old lady, and a hospital in the middle of nowhere that technically doesn’t exist, was burned to the ground. Why would someone go through all this trouble to keep something secret?”

He counters with, “Why do people create shell companies? Why do I have an avatar and screen name? Why do we have a bunker? Why do you know the company that collects trash for the city and campus?”

That’s an easy answer. “For protection, and to hide potentially illegal activities.”

“Exactly.”

Chapter 27

Thea

Aknock sounds on my door, and I poke my head up from the blanket I’m wrapped in, as Wolfe walks over to answer it. Alexz steps inside my room, carrying a folder.

“Mind if I sit?” Alexz asks, stopping next to the couch.

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