C13 Chapter 13

They dressed and Zane left the way he had entered. Through the back window.

Zane left Hope feeling more besotted than ever before. He felt as if he was adrift on the ocean. He had not felt the way he did about Hope since his fiancée. He was disappointed though. She was not going to give him the chance to show her that he could help her. She was going to continue regardless. Whatever hold the people had over her, it was more than she believed he could offer her.

He told himself that he had to wise up. He had to be strong and accept that she was going to go down at some point.

At this point, everything was between him and her and he had to believe that she would have some honor if she was caught and not take him down with her.

Zane pondered their chat and her remark that there were corrupt cops involved. She had denied that there was any corrupt police on his team but since she had turned up here just maybe there were corrupt police on his team and she didn’t even know it. He recalled her rap sheet. Booking after booking in city after city and she had escaped all of them. Coincidence? He was thinking not.

And she had escaped here too. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. But who could be implicated in that? Brian?

He decided that he needed to start contacting the police stations where she had been arrested previously and see if he could dig up some details on her from the police that had handled her case in each of the places where she had been arrested. It might be lighting a fuse but it also might just reveal something.

He made his way back to his cruiser and headed to the station. When he arrived, Brian was at his desk.

“Hey Chief, where you been?” he asked.

“Just questioning some of the boys who got arrested and let go.”

“They offer you anything valuable to follow up? Any clues on where we can go next?” Brian asked.

“Nada. Nothing. They are all too damn scared to talk. Besides, now they’re out of prison, they’re saying nothing. I guess they know who’s got them covered.” Zane paused a minute, then said to Brian, “Tell you what, see what you can dig up on their attorney. If we can find out who his clients are, we’re most likely halfway there to finding out which one is

involved in what’s going on here.”

“Good idea. We can try boss.”

“Great. Let me know as soon as you have something,” Zane said.

Then he turned and left the station deciding that he was heading home for the day.

Zane arrived at his home and opened the garage door with his remote. He drove in and closed it behind him. He entered the house and half expected to find Hope waiting for him again but she wasn’t. He made his way to his study and sat down.

He scrolled through his address book on his phone and finally found the name he was looking for. He looked around and told himself he was becoming paranoid. He got up, walked out the rear side of the house into his garden, and placed the call.

The phone on the other end rang a few times before it was answered.

“Sanchez,” was the one-word greeting given. It was one of the ways he knew he was talking with the right person.

“Sanchez,” he said cheerfully. “This is Zane.”

“Zane? Zane!” Sanchez was excited to hear from Zane. “Hey man. Long time no hear! How are you? What are you up to?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“Fine man. How can I help you?”

“Where are you based these days?” Zane asked ignoring Sanchez's question.

“I’m in Massachusetts, you still in Hurstville?”

“I am,” Zane answered. “I need to come and see you if you can spare some time.”

“Sure, when?” Sanchez asked.

“I can be up there tomorrow,” Zane replied.

“Okay. Great. Just give me a call when you get here and I’ll arrange to meet you.”

“Thanks, Sanchez. Will do.”

“Looking forward to it,” Sanchez said and rang off.

Zane felt a bit better after he had arranged to meet Sanchez. Next, he called Brian and told him he wouldn’t be in the next day.

“You not feeling well Chief?” Brian asked concern evident in his voice.

“On the contrary, I’ve got some personal things that have come up. I need to sort them out. I’ve left them to build up for a while now but I can’t put them off any longer. Housekeeping.”

“Okay boss. No worries. I’ll see you the day after.”

“Thanks, Brian. Hold the fort for me,” Zane said.

“Will do Chief,” Brian answered.

Zane turned on his computer and found the travel site he always used when booking local travel. He booked his ticket to meet Sanchez, printed it, and put it in his briefcase along with the files of the children that had been arrested and Hope’s file. He added his laptop to his briefcase. He did not need a change of clothes since he would be back tomorrow night.

Once he was satisfied everything was ready for his trip, he sent a message to Sanchez with his flight details. Then he had dinner, showered, and went to bed early.

Zane was up early the next morning. He drove to the airport, checked in, and waited for his flight to board. The flight took a little over an hour and a half. When Zane walked out of the airport, Sanchez was waiting for him.

“Hey!” Sanchez said stepping out of the crowd of people waiting for other passengers to exit the airport.

Zane smiled. “Hey! This is a surprise! You didn’t tell me that you’d fetch me!”

“Yeah. I thought I’d surprise you,” Sanchez laughed.

“Well you sure did!” exclaimed Zane.

They hugged like two best friends and then walked together to Sanchez's vehicle. They left the airport and Sanchez drove to a restaurant since it was almost lunch.

They entered the restaurant, a nice establishment that served Mexican food.

“As I recall, Mexican is your favorite?”

“Absolutely,” Zane said. “You’ll have to come down my way so I can treat you to your favorite in my world.”

“I’m sure I will get there at some point,” Sanchez smiled.

They studied the menus and ordered their food. They made small talk while they waited for their food to arrive. The food was excellent and Zane thoroughly enjoyed the meal. They had dessert and coffee and then, with the meal finally finished, Sanchez steered the conversation to Zane’s real reason for coming to see him.

“So, what brings you here?”