She shook her head automatically, then frowned. “Wait, maybe.”
“What was it?” He practically held his breath as he waited for her to respond.
Eva was quiet for several long moments, then she started to hum a few bars of a tune.
“It sounds familiar,” he said. “Do you recognize what it’s from?”
“It’s a cartoon that Mikey’s watched before.” The hint of tears vanished from her eyes. She reached out to grasp his arm. “They wouldn’t put cartoons on the television if Mikey was hurt, would they? He must be okay.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I agree. Having Mikey watch cartoons is a good way for them to keep him quiet and less likely to cause trouble.”
“I’ll call Pete to let him know,” she said, glancing down at her phone.
“Hold off for a moment,” he advised. “If you call Pete, he’s going to think we found Mikey. Let’s not raise his hopes up over nothing.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded. “You’re right. It’s just that even knowing this much helps.”
Was he making a mistake by holding her back from contacting Pete? He wasn’t sure. The cynical cop inside him couldn’t help wondering if Pete had arranged for these guys to kidnap Mikey and to hold him for ransom in order to get the package back. Pete being out of town at a conference provided a rock-solid alibi.
He just kept coming back to the fact that it was difficult to believe that Pete hadn’t known what Malina was doing. That she was using drugs and possibly selling them, too.
The ringing of his phone interrupted his dark thoughts, and he lifted the device to his ear, recognizing the number as coming in from the K-9 headquarters. “Gallagher.”
“We got a tip about the missing kid,” the dispatcher told him.
His pulse spiked and he locked gazes with Eva. “What kind of tip?”
“Some woman saw the Amber Alert. She claims she was driving by Griffin’s when she saw a man dressed in black running from the patio with a child matching Mikey’s description. She saw him run down the block and then jump into a midsize black sedan.”
“Did she get a license plate?” He held his breath, hoping and praying that she had.
“A partial. First three letters are Bravo, Delta, Tango. She wasn’t sure, but she thought the first number was five, but it also could be an eight. We checked Griffin’s video and saw the car but couldn’t get the plate number. We’re running a trace on the partial plate now, looking for matches with a black four-door sedan.”
He remembered how, a few days ago, one of the men had tried to get Eva into a vehicle. That one, too, had been a four-door sedan. Not a coincidence and the first tangible lead they’d got since Mikey’s disappearance.
“That’s great, thanks. Let me know when you get a list of potential matches.”
“Will do.” The dispatcher disconnected from the call.
“We have a license plate number?” Eva’s wide eyes were full of hope. “That’s good news, right? We’ll be able to use that information to find Mikey?”
“It’s good news, but it’s not a complete license plate number. We’ll be able to narrow it down to a manageable list of possibilities.” He glanced up, noticing the sun was beginning to set, dipping low on the horizon. There was less than an hour of daylight left. “Let’s get back to the house. They’ll call when they have some information for us.”
“I don’t like giving up the search,” Eva said in a low tone. “We need to keep looking.”
He understood where she was coming from. Hadn’t he felt the same way? But waiting for the partial plate information was far better than wandering aimlessly around Forest Hills. “I need to check in with the rest of the team anyway. See if anyone came up with something.” When she opened her mouth to argue, he gestured toward Abernathy. “My K-9 partner needs food and water. Resting for a while until we have something more concrete to go on is the best thing for him, and for us.”
Eva bent down to give Abernathy’s golden-yellow fur a rub. “All right. Let’s go.”