They left Roswell early the next morning, heading north. Rip was quieter than usual, lost in his thoughts. He’d left a message with Susanna’s office that he was going out of town and wouldn’t be back for a couple of days; then he’d turned off his phone.
The country they were heading into was dry, but not desert. The morning was cool and clear, and didn’t get a lot warmer as the day progressed. She lost her cell phone service, which wasn’t surprising considering the emptiness around them. New Mexico was a big, beautiful state with fewer than two million people living in it, but the vast majority of them were grouped around the cities. This section averaged something like two people per square mile, which didn’t mean each square mile had two people in it. In fact, she saw many square miles that had zero population. She was glad she hadn’t done this trip the night before.
The small town where the county seat was located had a population of around three thousand. The courthouse was a small adobe building, with the sheriff’s department occupying an adjacent adobe building. Milla’s first step was to find out if the woman, Ellin Daugette, still worked at the courthouse in the probate office.
The probate office was the first door on the right, and when they approached the counter a smiling, overweight woman with an improbable shade of red hair came over and said, “May I help you?” Her name tag said she was Ellin Daugette, and Milla had to grip the edge of the counter.
“My name is Milla Boone,” she said, using the name she always used when on a search. “This is Rip Kosper. May we speak privately with you?”
Ellin looked around the office. They were the only people there. “This looks pretty private to me.”
“It concerns kidnapped babies and falsified birth certificates.”
Ellin’s face changed, the friendly smile vanishing. She stared at them a second, then sighed and said, “Let’s go into the judge’s office. He won’t be back from lunch for another hour, at least.”
She led them to a small, crowded office and closed the door behind them. There were only three chairs in there, including the one behind the judge’s desk, so she took it and heaved another sigh. “Now, what’s this you’re asking about falsified birth certificates? I don’t know that it’s possible, with everything computerized now.”
“When was this office computerized?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Ten years ago?”
Ellin surveyed Milla, the look assessing. “No, not that long ago. Five or six years, maybe.”
Ellin was keeping her composure, trying to find out how much they knew. Milla decided to oblige her. “My son was one of the babies kidnapped.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s taken a long time, but we’ve finally broken the smuggling ring. Let me name some names for you: Arturo Pavón.” She watched closely as she said each name. Ellin showed no sign of recognition. “Susanna Kosper.” Still nothing. “True Gallagher was the boss.” Ah, there was a telltale flicker. “Ellin Daugette.”
“Damn it!” Ellin slammed her hand down on the desk. “Damn it all! I thought all that was over with. I thought it was over.”
“You thought you’d gotten away with it.”
“It’s been a long time, of course I thought that!” She seemed to realize there was no use in prevaricating now. “Are you two cops?”
“No. I don’t know that any cops are coming. I can’t promise you that they won’t, but I don’t intend to tell them anything about you—in exchange for information.”
“You’re looking for your baby, aren’t you?”
“That’s more important to me than anything else.”
“What makes you think I’d keep incriminating evidence around? Do I look stupid to you?”
On the contrary, Ellin looked like a cagey woman who knew how to look out for number one. “Yes, I think you’d keep it. It would give you an edge, wouldn’t it? Something to bargain with, whether it’s with someone private like me, or a district attorney, or even True Gallagher. If you ever felt that you couldn’t trust him, you’d need some way of keeping him in line.”
“You’re right about one thing. I wouldn’t trust Gallagher as far as I could throw him.”
Milla leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, pinning Ellin with a cool look. “I really, really hope you have what I need, because otherwise you’re no use to me.”
“You’re threatening to turn me in.”
“No, I’m promising it. Just as I promise not to if you help me. Like I said, I don’t know if the cops will come calling or not. The people you dealt with are involved in a series of murders, and they’re going down. The investigation will probably concentrate only on that.” She felt Rip tense beside her, and wanted to pat his arm in comfort. Instead she concentrated on Ellin, pouring all her force of will into her face and voice. “If they hadn’t been the same people running the smuggling ring all those years ago, I wouldn’t have made the connection to you. But I will turn you in, in a heartbeat, if you don’t help me.”
Ellin said “All right” so easily Milla could scarcely believe what she was hearing. “I believe you. Let me get my list.”
“You kept a list?” Milla couldn’t believe it.
“Well, how else would I remember which birth certificates were legitimate and which weren’t? It’s not like I wrote ‘FAKE’ across the bad ones.”