'Is she there now?'
'Yeah.'
'Can I talk to her?
'I don't think that's a good idea. You have to wait until you see her.'
'When do I get to see her?'
'I don't know. I have to figure a way to get you here. You're always being followed. It's starting to get on my nerves.'
'I don't believe you. I bet she isn't there.'
His voice ratcheted up again. 'Of course she's here. Where the hell do you think she'd be?'
'I don't know. I thought maybe she ran away.'
'Okay, you can talk to her but make it quick.' There was some fumbling noise, and I heard Scrog prod Julie. 'Talk,' he said off stage.
'Hello,' I said. 'Julie? Are you there?'
'Who's this?' she asked whisper soft.
'It's Stephanie. Are you okay?'
She took a moment, and I was unable to breathe, waiting for her answer.
'Yes,' she said. Her little girl voice wobbled. 'Do you know my father?'
'Yes,' I said. 'We're friends. I work with your father.'
She absorbed that for a beat. 'Well, I hope you come visit before we move on again.'
There was a yelp and the line went dead.
I looked over at Ranger. His face was devoid of expression, and his breathing was slow and measured. Ranger was in lockdown mode.
I didn't have a lockdown mode. Tears swarmed behind my eyes, and a large, painful undefined emotion clogged my throat. I blinked the tears away and blew out some air. 'Jeez,' I said.
Ranger cut his eyes to me and gave me a moment to get myself together. 'You have a goal,' he finally said quietly. 'The goal is to rescue Julie. You have to focus on the goal. If you give yourself up to unproductive emotion you can't focus on the goal. Let's think this through. Scrog wouldn't risk taking Julie in the car when he was following you around. So he saw you go into this building and then he returned to his hiding place. That means he's no more than twenty minutes away. And Julie said they were moving around. That might mean they're in a camper or a motor home.'
'Can you run stolen property checks?' I asked Ranger.
'Yes, but the police have faster access.'
I called Morelli on his cell. 'Can you run a stolen property check for me? I want you to see if any campers or motor homes have been reported stolen in the last two weeks. All of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.'
I hung up and my phone rang again.
'I had to hang up,' Scrog said. 'If you stay on too long they can trace you.'
'How do you know all these things?' I asked him.
'I know everything. I'm the best bounty hunter in the world. Anyway, everybody knows about tracing. They always talk about it on television and in the movies. I called back because I have a plan. The feds are watching you so you have to act natural. I want you to dress like a bounty hunter so they think you're going to work all the time. And then I'm going to show you how to lose them. I want you to be in your car driving around at midnight tonight. I'll call you on your cell phone.'
'Can't we do this earlier? I don't stay up that late.'
'Midnight. It's so the people following you will be tired. Jesus, take a nap or something. What's your cell phone number?'