Taken Read Online Free Page B

weeks.”
    Nita came over and picked up the articles. Her face was lined so deeply as she read, she looked like a stack of folded towels.
    I said, “Did she pack for a long trip or a weekend?”
    Nita didn’t answer.
    “Ms. Morales?”
    She looked at me, but her eyes were vacant, as if she couldn’t quite see me. It took her another full second to answer.
    “Everything’s fine.”
    She backed away, blinked three times, then left. We only knew she had gone when we heard the front door.
    Mary Sue said, “What’s wrong?”
    I considered the articles Krista had highlighted, then looked at Mary Sue.
    “Would you do me a favor?”
    “Sure. I live to serve.”
    “Keep looking. Look for something that tells us where Krista went, or why, and where and how to find her boyfriend, okay?”
    “Okay. Sure.”
    I gave her my card, left her in Krista’s room, and found Nita Morales seated behind the wheel of her car. Her sunglasses were on, but she hadn’t started the engine. She was holding the wheel in the ten and two o’clock positions, and staring straight ahead.
    I got into the passenger’s side, and made my voice gentle.
    “You okay?”
    She shook her head.
    “Talk to me.”
    Nita studied me from the far side of her car on that spring day, a distance too close to some clients and miles too far from others. She looked as if we were going a hundred miles an hour even though we weren’t moving.
    “I am not a legal resident of the United States. My sister and I were sent here when I was seven years old and she was nine. We came to live with an uncle who was legally here on a work visa. I have been here illegally ever since. I am here illegally now.”
    “May I ask why you told me?”
    “What Mary Sue said. That Krista started all this two weeks ago.”
    “You told her two weeks ago.”
    “This isn’t something you tell a child, but she is almost twenty-one, and now she has this job in Washington. I thought she should know. So she can protect herself.”
    “Did she react badly?”
    “I didn’t think so, but she grew worried when we discussed what would happen if this became known.”
    I wasn’t an expert on immigration, but anyone living in Southern California becomes conversant with the issue.
    “Do you have a criminal record?”
    “Of course not.”
    “Are you involved in a criminal enterprise?”
    “Please don’t make fun of this.”
    “Nita, I’m not. I’m trying to tell you ICE isn’t going to knock down your door. Are you scared Krista is doing whatever she’s doing because you told her?”
    “I’ve lied to her.”
    “You said it yourself. This isn’t something you could have told her when she was a child.”
    She closed her eyes as hard as she clenched the steering wheel.
    “She must be ashamed. This girl earned a job with the Congress, and now her mother is a wetback.”
    She tried to hold it together, but convulsed with a sob, and covered her face with her hands. I leaned across the console and held her. It was awkward to hold her like that, but I held her until she straightened herself.
    “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I thought it would be. I don’t know what to do.”
    “You don’t have to do anything. The World’s Greatest Detective takes it from here.”
    A tiny smile flickered her lips.
    “I thought you hated being called that.”
    “I made an exception so you’ll feel better.”
    She studied me for a moment, then picked up her purse and placed it in her lap.
    “I didn’t hire you because of an article. I did my homework, but the picture caught my attention. I read the article because of the picture. The one with your clock.”
    “Pinocchio.”
    “The puppet who wanted to be a boy.”
    Two pictures illustrated the article. One was a close shot of me on the phone at my desk. The second photograph was a full-page shot of me leaning against the wall. I was wearing a shoulder holster, sunglasses, and a lovely Jams World print shirt. The shoulder holster and sunglasses were