Page 53 of Everything We Found

“Tom. Nadia. You better get in here.”

Their heads jerked to look at Cammy in the stable’s extra wide doorway, her arms loose at her sides, hands tense.

“What is it?” Thomas asked.

“Something’s happening. It’s all over the news.”

17

NADIA

EIGHT YEARS AGO

“Hello?” Nadia answered. She didn’t remember picking up the phone. She didn’t remember even hearing it ring. She’d been dead asleep.

“Aimee just called me.”

“Who is this?” she asked, her tone thick with sleep. She peeked at the screen and saw that it was Kristen. It was 2:03 a.m.

“It’s me. Now wake up.” She came across panicked. No good phones calls arrived at this hour.

“I’m awake.” Nadia rolled onto her back, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“I just got off the phone with Aimee. She was rambling about James. Nadia, she believes he’s still alive.”

Nadia came fully awake with a sudden hardening in her stomach. “Excuse me?” She didn’t even have to fake her shock. She would have had the same response whether or not she knew about James.

Her mind raced. How did Aimee find out? Who told her?

“She says she has proof of life.”

The dread in Nadia’s stomach thickened. What did Aimee have? Who gave it to her?

“Did she tell you what it is?”

“Something about a painting. She wasn’t that specific. But I got the impression she had other clues. Like I said, she was rambling. Jesus, Nadia. I didn’t realize she thought he was still alive.”

“Neither did I.”

“It all makes sense now, why she’s never moved on. Why she’s kept everything of his. She believes he’s coming back.”

Nadia wished that were true almost as much as she wished she’d never walked in on Thomas with James’s open casket. But it was her understanding that Thomas didn’t want James to return until his safety was guaranteed. Until James’s return wouldn’t putotherlives in jeopardy, like Aimee’s, or Kristen and Nick’s. Hers. Where he’d once admitted to her he thought James only needed to remain hidden for a few months, Thomas didn’t just believe he’d never return. He didn’t want him to return. No matter how much damage federal agencies could do to disrupt their supply lines, cartels never fully disbanded. Factions were always in line to take over another’s territory. Someone was always ready to step into a leadership position. A threat to one’s life never truly disappeared. Promises were always kept, especially promises to kill anyone who was a threat to the cartel’s operation.

“I’m seriously worried about her, Nadia. She’s flying to Mexico in the morning to find him.”

“She’s what?” Nadia snapped upright, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

“She’s going to Puerto Escondido. This is insane, right? And I’m not just talking about her thinking he’s still alive. She’s flying to Oaxaca by herself. Not exactly the safest place to go right now.”

Puerto Escondido. Was that where James had been all this time? The opposite coast from where everyone had been told he died?

“Yeah,” she said, the word hanging flat in the air. It was insane. If Aimee was headed to Puerto Escondido for a vacation, she’d be fine. But since she was looking for James, all she had to do was ask the right questions with the wrong person and it could be her body washing ashore next, especially with the state’s recent unrest.

A lot had happened since James’s funeral nineteen or so months ago. In one day, the FBI raided Donato Enterprises along with dozens of other businesses throughout the southwest the Hidalgo Cartel had been using to launder money. Phil had been arrested. Shortly thereafter, Mexican authorities captured Ernesto Ramirez, the cartel’s chief adviser and second-in-command. And just the other day, they raided a ranch in Oaxaca and took Fernando Ruiz into custody. He’d be extradited to the U.S. to go on trial. They’d all go on trial. It had been all over the news.

And all this time Aimee had been convinced James was still alive.

How did Nadia miss that? Why hadn’t Aimee said anything?