Page 117 of Facing the Enemy
The faint sound of a police car met my ears. More like music.
66
GAGE
I pulled into Houston Healing and Hope alongside three HPD cruisers and two FBI vehicles. Beneath the stately oak shading the curved driveway sat Risa’s car. I longed to have overreacted, played like a fool, but my gut said otherwise.
Drawing my Glock, I rushed to the front door and met Wright in the receptionist area.
“What’s going on?” Her eyes widened when she saw my firearm.
“Where’s Risa Jacobs?”
“I have no idea.” Wright wrung her hands, and I didn’t swallow her ignorance.
“Her car is here, so where is she?”
“Agent Patterson, she left in a silver BMW.”
“With whom?”
“I have no idea. She finished talking to my girls, but when she walked to her car, a man pulled in. They talked, and she got into the car with him.”
“Where did they go?”
“I have no idea.”
Police officers entered behind me. “Search every inch of the home,” I said, “beginning with Ms. Wright’s office.”
She stiffened. “I demand to know why these officers are here.”
“We have questions about evidence linking you to Peter Florakis, who is wanted for murder, and Norman Peilman, a known felon. Both men are connected to a baby ring.”
She touched her throat with one hand and slid her other hand into her pant pocket.
“Lift your hands,” I said.
The two FBI agents walked in behind me. “Gage, there’s nothing suspicious outside,” the female agent said.
“I think Ms. Wright may have a weapon in her right pocket. Would you check for me?”
The agent retrieved a pocket pistol.
“Do you have a license to carry this?” I said.
“The home can be a dangerous environment.”
“That’s not what I asked. Are you ready to tell us the whereabouts of Agent Jacobs?”
“I thought she’d retired.”
“She’s been working undercover.”
A police officer walked into the area carrying Risa’s black purse. “Agent Patterson, I found this under the desk.”
“Is her phone and firearm there?”
The officer ferreted through the purse. “Her phone but not a gun.”
