Page 59 of Built of Illusions

“It’s likely. We have evidence of at least one souvenir with each of the women he has targeted.” He listed a few of them and Zenaida’s eyes filled with tears.

“He wants to kill me? I tried to take him with me, begged him to come, but he wouldn’t leave his father. And now he wants to kill me for it.”

Hell. The resignation in the woman’s voice was typical of a victim of abuse. The belief that more abuse was impending and inevitable.

Nico kept his voice soft and firm. Anything that sounded like pity would not be welcome. “We’re going to stop him. You’ll be safe where you are. Can you tell me any cities in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington where you would have sent a souvenir?”

Her first answer of San Francisco confirmed the city. He noted the others. He’d contact those departments but he hoped they’d have Nelson in a cage before then.

“Do you remember any quirks of Adrian? Things he particularly liked or habits he had that were noticeable?”

Zenaida frowned and looked into the middle distance. Remembering. Looking back into hell.

“He was always a smart kid. Smarter than was good for him. Didn’t like when people did better than him.”

“What if someone made fun of him? How do you think he would react?”

Zenaida hummed. “He hated that. He and his father always needed to be the best.”

And that might give Nico the tip he needed.

Josie set down her charcoal and flexed her hand. She had no idea how long she’d been sketching, but it had been long enough for all of her muscles to stiffen. She stood from the chair and moved through a couple of stretches to limber up.

Nico, Sam, and Flynn sat around a laptop at the dining table, probably chatting with Joe or Roman, maybe both. Nico looked up and smiled at her before dropping back into the conversation.

At the other end of the table, Tessa and Tansy worked on their laptops. The dogs were scattered around the room, napping in their favorite sunbeams. And the others were scattered around the house and property doing other work.

She felt useless.

At least Nico had convinced Zenaida to speak with him. It didn’t sound like much to Josie, but the present and former FBI agents were setting up a plan and backup plans to have in place no matter what Nelson did.

Josie’s head had been swirling with images of Zenaida Jiminez and she’d spewed them onto her sketchpad.

A young woman once in love with a charismatic man.

A pregnant woman, happy.

A wary woman, bruised and battered, trying to protect that child.

A woman torn by the decision to leave her child behind in order to survive.

Selecting souvenirs to send to her son via a neighbor.

A woman worn down by life and choices and the terrible actions of a husband and then a child.

How could you not feel sorry for such a woman? It wasn’t often Josie thought about her birth parents, but she hoped that her own mother didn’t look back at her own life with such regrets. She hoped the woman who’d given her birth had found her own joy and happiness.

The onslaught of the emotions brought on by the last few weeks and the sketching had Josie feeling more than a little wrung out herself.

It was late but no one looked to have any intention of going to bed yet. She wasn’t much of a cook, but she could put together sandwiches and snacks for the group. At least she could contribute in that way. Once she had things ready, she plated it all to bring through. It would take a few trips. Maybe Tansy’s next robot creation would be a server. Were there any famous comic book servers?

When she entered the living room with the first load of food, she found that the groups from the table had shifted to stand around the chair where she’d been sitting.

Nico was holding her sketchpad and flipping through it. Everyone was watching. Josie felt her skin go hot. Those hadn’t been sketches for anything other than expelling the emotions swirling inside her. She should have closed it.

As one, the group of them looked up at her.

Nico grinned. “You did it again, Josie. Every time we’ve been stalled on this case, you’ve figured out the next steps.”

---