Hondo said, “How many are they bringing in?”
“Not large numbers now, because they’ve expanded their operations. Maybe two dozen a month. What the smugglers have done is expand on what they’re doing. The women are carrying things into the country for the smuggler, and they’ve been joined ne
ar the border by other people being smuggled in, and these people are Caucasians.”
“What do you make of that?” I asked.
“The best guess is the Caucasians are East Europeans. They are paired with the women to pass as couples. It makes it easier to travel through the US if you’re a couple.”
“Were the women in the canyon part of this?”
“The woman I talked to in Mexico said she thought so.”
“Why didn’t we find any men?”
“Nobody knows, but my guess is the Caucasians are separated as soon as possible and sent somewhere else. They’re paying a lot of money to be smuggled in, and they’ll be taken care of. The women are expendable. If they get caught, they are only sent across at Tijuana, or like the ones in the canyon, documented and let go.”
“What kinds of things are the women carrying into the country? Is it narcotics?”
“No, it sounds like jewels and gold artifacts.”
Hondo and I looked at each other. I said, “So, they must be stolen or the smugglers could bring them through Customs.”
Hunter said, “Uh-huh. What they found, two Border Patrol Agents near El Campo worked a canyon north of town and found a woman who had been stabbed and left for dead. Her last statements were of carrying a wrapped package and that she was killed because she peeked inside.”
Hondo asked, “Did she say what was inside?”
Hunter took a sip of Tecate and looked at Hondo for several seconds, then at me, “The woman said it was a golden egg, covered with green, red and white jewels.”
Hondo and I were silent as it sunk in. “A Faberge egg?” I said.
“What it sounds like,” Hunter said. “That was the last thing she said before dying.”
“Ho-ly shit,” I said.
“Even if it’s a copy, they had to be smuggling it in because it was stolen,” Hondo said.
“And each woman was carrying something?” I said.
Hunter nodded. “So, about two dozen pieces a month over the last year.”
I said, “Be nice to know if that egg was original. We could narrow things down pretty fast then.”
Hunter said, “Yep. That’s the only account we have, and it doesn’t describe in detail what the egg looked like.”
Hondo said, “Well, with what I found out today about the Russians involved in smuggling, and Faberge eggs are Russian, maybe we can start there, see where it takes us.”
Hunter said, “Sure, but after we eat. I’m starving.”
**
We went to a place in Santa Monica on Entrada Drive that served good chicken fajitas and nachos and we continued our talks, but switched to iced tea to drink. I paid for the meals and we went back to the office, getting there about seven PM.
The answering machine light was blinking on the phone and Hondo pushed the PLAY button. Mickey’s excited, breathless voice came over the speaker, “Ronny, Hondo, I’ve been checking into some things and I think I’m really on to something! I’ll be sleuthing this evening and I’ll fill you in tomorrow morning. If it works out to what I think, you’ll be so excited! It will help us find Bob, and answer a lot of questions, too. I know, I know, I’ll be careful. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye-bye.”
I picked up the phone and called Mickey’s cell phone, but got no answer. I left a message for her to call, then called every other number for her and got no answers on any of them. I left messages on them all and hung up after the last one. I said, “Mickey’s going to get a real chewing out when we see her again.”
Hondo said, “She was too excited not to have found something.”