Chapter 6 - Nora Had Left a Message for MarlaAlicia Grant spent her first night free in a hospital.
Jamie Voss did too.
Both were dehydrated, exhausted, and frightened.
Neither had life-threatening injuries.
That was enough for one night.
Dana did not interview them immediately.
Medical care first.
Advocates.
Sleep.
Basic dignity.
She had seen investigations damage victims by treating information as more urgent than people.
Not this time.
Marla learned Jamie had been found alive through her lawyer.
She cried so hard Rebecca requested a break.
Thirty minutes later, Marla asked to speak again.
Dana entered.
Luis remained beside her.
Marla stared at the table.
“You found the message.”
Dana did not ask which one.
“Yes.”
Marla closed her eyes.
“Nora wrote it.”
“You saw her at the ranch.”
“Yes.”
“You said you never saw her after the yard.”
“I lied.”
Dana stayed quiet.
Marla continued.
“Boyd took me to R-4 two weeks after Nora disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Silas wanted me to see Jamie.”
Dana frowned.
“Jamie was already there?”
“No.”
Marla shook her head.
“That was later.”
“Then why?”
“To scare me.”
“With Nora?”
“Yes.”
“What condition was she in?”
“Scared.”
“Physically?”
“Alive.”
Dana disliked the evasiveness.
“Was she able to speak?”
“Yes.”
“Walk?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“They put us in the same room for ten minutes.”
“Why?”
“Silas wanted Nora to tell me what happened to people who caused trouble.”
Dana felt cold.
“What had Nora done?”
“She refused to give account passwords.”
“Silas expected you to persuade her?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Dana studied her.
Marla looked up.
“I told her not to give them anything.”
That was the first thing Marla had claimed that sounded like resistance.
“Why?”
“Because I knew it wouldn’t help.”
“What did Nora say?”
“She asked me if I had family.”
“Jamie.”
“Yes.”
“I told her.”
Marla swallowed.
“She said that was why I stayed.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“She understood?”
“Yes.”
Then Nora told Marla something unexpected.
“She said Silas was going to move her.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“Where?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Then why write ‘Marla knows where’?”
Marla looked away.
Dana leaned forward.
“Enough.”
Marla’s eyes filled.
“Nora found something.”
“What?”
“A shipping label.”
Dana waited.
“On boxes in Silas’s office.”
“Address?”
“New Mexico.”
“Where?”
“Outside Las Cruces.”
Dana felt the investigation cross state lines.
“Exact address.”
“I don’t remember the number.”
“Road?”
“Camino something.”
Marla shook her head.
“Nora said there was an old motel symbol on the label.”
Dana frowned.
“What motel?”
“She said ‘Desert Star.’”
Luis was already searching.
There had once been a Desert Star Motor Lodge west of Las Cruces.
Closed eight years ago.
Property changed owners twice.
Current owner:
Red Mesa Hospitality LLC.
Dana almost laughed.
Red Mesa again.
Silas.
“Nora thought that’s where people were moved?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Why write the message?”
Marla started crying.
“When Silas took me back to the ranch later, Nora had scratched it into the wall.”
“Later when?”
“Two months ago.”
Dana froze.
“Two months ago?”
“Yes.”
“Nora was still at R-4 two months ago.”
“Yes.”
Dana’s pulse accelerated.
That was much more recent than Marla admitted.
“Why did you go back?”
Marla’s voice broke.
“Jamie was there.”
Dana understood.
Silas had finally taken Marla’s brother.
“He showed him to you.”
“Yes.”
“Alive.”
“Yes.”
“And told you?”
“That if I stopped working, Jamie moved where Nora went.”
Marla covered her face.
Dana felt anger and reluctant sympathy coexist.
“You kept doing jobs.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Dana Mercer—me—was next?”
“No.”
“Boyd selected me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you recognize me when I removed my helmet?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Dana needed that clear.
“What happened after you were arrested?”
“I thought Jamie was dead.”
“He isn’t.”
“I know.”
Marla cried again.
Dana let her.
Then asked:
“Why did Nora tell you about Desert Star?”
“Because she thought I might eventually break.”
“She was right.”
Marla looked at Dana.
“I didn’t break.”
“What do you call this?”
“Getting caught.”
Dana had no answer.
That honesty mattered.
Marla continued:
“I wish I could say I came to you because I became brave.”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t.”
“You talked because Boyd left you and Jamie might still be saved.”
“Yes.”
At least she understood herself.
Luis spoke.
“What happened to Tessa Monroe?”
Marla’s face changed.
“I never met her.”
“You knew the name.”
“Boyd talked.”
“Alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about Howard Pike?”
“No.”
“Anyone else moved to Desert Star?”
“I don’t know.”
Dana stood.
“We’ll verify.”
Marla looked frightened.
“What happens to me?”
“That’s not my decision.”
“I helped you.”
“You also helped them.”
Marla flinched.
Dana continued.
“Both things are true.”
Outside, Luis asked:
“You believe her?”
“About the motel?”
“Yes.”
“Everything else?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Dana looked at the map.
Las Cruces.
New Mexico State Police and federal partners would need coordination.
This was no longer a local robbery case.
The network crossed state lines.
Identity fraud.
Kidnapping.
Vehicle theft.
Potential unlawful detention.
Possibly worse.
Then Dana received a message from the ranch search team.
They had processed the writing on the wall.
MARLA KNOWS WHERE.
Beneath it, almost invisible, another line appeared under alternate light.
Nora had written more.
TRAVIS MOVES US.
Dana stared.
Former deputy Travis Cole.
Not Silas.
Not Boyd.
Travis personally moved the victims.
That explained why he vanished three months ago.
Maybe he had taken Nora to Desert Star.
Maybe he still had her.
Dana called Marcus.
“We need Las Cruces moving fast.”
“We are.”
“Travis is the transporter.”
“Got it.”
Then Marcus added:
“Dana.”
“Yes?”
“Boyd was spotted.”
Her attention snapped back.
“Where?”
“Gas station camera south of Benson.”
“Heading?”
“East.”
Toward New Mexico.
Dana felt cold.
Boyd knew the ranch had been hit.
Marla arrested.
Police closing in.
If he was heading toward Desert Star, he might be trying to warn someone.
Or move someone.
Nora.
“Send the image.”
Dana stared at the surveillance still.
Boyd wore different clothes.
Baseball cap.
He was buying bottled water and fuel.
A truck waited outside.
Not his.
Stolen plate.
He had a head start.
Dana thought of Nora writing on a wall.
Telling a woman who had betrayed her how to find her.
Betting that eventually somebody would choose differently.
“Please be alive,” Dana whispered.
Then Luis said:
“What?”
Dana looked toward New Mexico on the map.
“Nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
May you like
For the first time in four months, they had a place Nora might have been taken.
And the man who had helped make her disappear was driving toward it right now.
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