Page 50 of Built of Illusions

“What?”

He rolled his eyes and poured her a mug of tea. When he handed it to her, he didn’t let go of the mug. His eyes were serious when he looked at her. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for. Nothing at all. We’re working together to put a slime ball into a cell for the rest of his life. The fact that he targeted you doesn’t put you at fault. Are you blaming the dead women?”

That shocked her. “No. Of course not.”

“Are you blaming the women he has on the list that he hasn’t got to yet?”

“No.”

“Then stop blaming yourself. Because of you and your observant brain, the team has more to go on than he suspects. We’re going to get him. Now, stop being a ninny and help me set up breakfast.”

Then he let go of her mug and kissed her on the cheek. “We’ll get him.”

She sucked in a breath, nodded, and helped set up the breakfast. Tessa was sitting at one end of the dining table with her laptop in front of her. Josie didn’t think she even noticed as she and Flynn set up the food around her.

The group tended to eat together in the morning and at night, although that varied with what classes were being taught at Midnight Security and what the others were up to.

Tansy and Sam had just walked in when Tessa whispered. “Gotcha.”

Everyone froze and waited as Tessa’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Josie wasn’t certain Tessa was even working on their case, but hope soared so high her body shook.

Then Tessa nodded fiercely and started to push up from the table. She startled when she spotted the four of them watching her. With a flush, she shook her head. “I found him. Adrian Nelson based in Houston.”

Sam moved to look at her screen. “How sure are you?” He had his phone out as he asked.

“Very.”

“Nico, it’s Sam. Tessa has his name. I’m putting you on speaker. Tansy’s going to loop in everyone on a conference call and we’ll find out the details.”

In moments, everyone was sitting around the table with Sam beside Tessa at the head of the table. He nodded at her.

Tessa glanced at Josie with a small smile before she spoke. “Surprisingly, there are a lot of women with the first names of Zenaida Marie, Zenaida Maria, or Zenaida Mari. None of the ones in the legal databases matched our data. So I started searching across the border and on nearby islands. Zenaida Marie Jiminez was born in Mexico and crossed the border illegally with her family when she was a child. It appears she married, or was forced to marry, a much older man named Charles Nelson. The man had a history of assault charges and worked as an accountant. Not all of his work was above board and he was arrested for fraud. He was killed in jail last year.”

Jiminez. J. Josie. One letter before the only J.

“Is Zenaida alive?” Nico asked from the phone. She wished he was here, wished she could touch him.

Tessa answered immediately. “Yes, she’s living in Seattle.”

Nico huffed out a breath. “So he started in his hometown and made a path from there to her current home. Is she working in an artistic field?”

Tessa nodded. “She’s a dance instructor.”

Josie had to ask. “We’re going to make sure she’s safe, right?”

The chorus of Yes from around the room helped. Josie gripped her fingers together to stop the shaking. They knew his name. They would catch him before he hurt anyone else.

Sam frowned. “How is he funding all of his travel expenses?”

Tessa pointed at her screen. “He’s an accountant like his father. From what I’ve found so far, he does his work remotely and can work from anywhere.”

Which meant he could be anywhere.

Flynn stood. “I’m going to call Janis Jenkins.” He looked at Josie. “She’s the assistant director down in Houston. We’ll get her updated and she’ll get people working on tracking him down.”

Then he moved out of the room, already with the phone to his ear.

Joe pulled out his phone and stood as well. “I’ll call my contact in Seattle, get them looped in.”