“I see,” Kay replied, trying to seem much calmer than she felt.
“Have you learned anything that might be helpful to us?”
“No. I’ve been wearing my locket, so you’ve heard everything,” Kay told her.
“All right, I-,” she started, but her words were cut off by a woman protesting out in the hall.
Kay tried to look as confused by it as Agent Pilosa, who was already on her feet. She was almost at the door when it burst open, an angry looking Bradley barreling through.
“Where is he?!” he demanded.
“Where is who?” Agent Pilosa demanded.
Bradley stopped and looked around at Kay and then back at Agent Pilosa. He studied her for a moment, noting the gun on her hip and the plain black suit.
“Who are you?”
“A friend of Kay’s,” she responded.
“What’s going on in here? I thought this was a massage parlor?”
“We’re getting massages. It’s a two for one deal. Just waiting on our robes and the masseuse.”
“You always bring a gun with you to a massage?” he asked, nodding toward her sidearm.
“Mr. Ryan, why are you here?”
“I came here to see what Kay was doing. She’s been a little cagey lately, so I followed her. That woman out front wouldn’t tell me where she was, so I opened doors until I found her.”
It was only then that Kay noted the woman standing out in the hall looking at them, waiting for instructions.
“Did you call the police?” Bradley asked her loudly. “I’ll be gone before they get here, you know.”
“Bradley, stop this. You’re being ridiculous,” Kay said.
“Yeah? You come home wearing a new necklace that I didn’t buy, and you never take it off and you’re sneaking off for long massages that you never used to get? I came here expecting to find you with a man, but it’s even worse than I thought. You’re here getting couples massages with a woman.”
“It’s not like that.”
“What is it like then, Kay? I know we got off to an awkward start, what with our arrangement and all, but I thought we were past that. I thought you loved me.”
“I do love you.”
“Then why?” he asked, dropping into a nearby chair and covering his face.
“She’s with the FBI,” Kay blurted out.
“Kay!” Agent Pilosa admonished, looking positively startled.
A back door opened, and three more men flew into the room. Bradley jumped to his feet as one of them shut the door to the room and locked it. The others stood with their guns pointed at him. Bradley looked at them, defiant.
Whether they bought the act or not, it seemed to be working out as planned, Kay thought. Still, she was petrified by them holding guns on Bradley, though he seemed non-plussed by it.
“Okay. Okay. Let’s just settle down and talk about this then. You’re the feds. What do you want with my wife?” he asked, as if this had nothing to do with him.
“Sit down, Mr. Ryan,” Agent Ryan told him.
“You’re here. You know we’re talking to your wife now. So, let’s see what we can work out.”
“Work out about what? If she’s done something wrong, I’m going to need to find her a lawyer before either of us have anything to say to you.”
At the mention of lawyering up, Agent Pilosa began to shake her head.
“No. No. That’s not what this is about. It’s about you, not her.”
“Me? I’ve done nothing that involves your bunch trying to scam my wife somehow.”
“We aren’t trying to scam your wife. We are trying to find some missing girls.”
“Missing girls? What does that have to do with me?”
The agents went through the details of what they were looking at just as they had with Kay. Bradley listened intently, as if he wasn’t already aware of it. They didn’t have the photos but painted an equally heartbreaking picture.
“So, Mr. Ryan. Are you peddling drugs to underage girls?” one of the agents asked.
“Of course not.”
“Are you selling them to people who are selling them to kids?”
“Once again, no.”
“Then you are turning your head to the people on your ranch that are producing meth,” Agent Pilosa said angrily, more a statement than a question.
“No one on my ranch is producing meth or any other drugs. I know every inch of my property like the back of my hand. There are no drugs.”
“What were you burning a few mornings ago, Mr. Ryan? Our agents saw smoke from several locations.”
“You’re watching me?”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“We burned off some fields to prepare them for new crops.”
“New crops of cannabis or something else?” she asked.
Bradley hesitated, considering his next words and then spoke to her slowly.
“Look. I don’t want to be the one that causes you trouble in finding what you need to get these girls home, if they are even still alive to be brought home in the first place.”
“Then answer our questions,” she replied.
“Okay. Fine. I discovered a field of marijuana growing on the property. After I found it, I destroyed it and I looked for others. I destroyed them too. I have no interest in turning my property into a covert pot operation for someone who doesn’t want to follow my rules.”