"I guess I like to get the judgment out of the way," she muttered.
"I wasn't judging anything."
"Oh, come on. You've been judging me since you showed up here this morning." She let out a breath. "I can't believe that was just this morning. So much has happened since I went to the park last night."
"That's for sure. And I did judge you for taking Sabrina's phone. I wasn’t completely sure you were telling me the truth, but the events of the day have convinced me you were just hoping for information."
"We did get information from the phone. We found Alanna, and she led us to AJ."
"Who pointed us to the boxes. Where are they again?"
"They're in a storage unit in the garage. We should have gotten them when we were down there. We can go now."
"In a minute. Take a breath." He paused as he glanced down at his phone to read a text.
"Is that about the case?" she asked.
"It's about the car that followed you. I sent the license plate to my team. The vehicle is registered to Steven Holliday, a seventy-three-year-old man who resides in Torrance. One of my team members called him, and he said he doesn't use the car anymore. He gave it to one of his grandkids on their sixteenth birthday last month."
"The guy following me was not seventy-three or sixteen."
"I would agree. One of my team members will follow up with the teenager and see if he lent his car to anyone."
"We should warn Alanna that things might be heating up. AJ was smart enough to take off as soon as he spoke to us. I'm afraid for her now."
"I'll give her a call." He punched in her number, but after a moment, he left a message, saying, "Alanna, this is Agent Lawson. Give me a call back. I'd like to talk to you about ways to increase your security." He left his number, then ended the call.
"Can't you get her protection?" she asked Matt.
"Unfortunately, our resources for protecting people who are not in immediate danger are limited."
"But she could be in immediate danger."
"I'm more worried about you at the moment."
"Well, I'm worried about both of us. She didn't answer her phone. Something could have already happened to her."
"I'll send someone over to do a welfare check."
As he made another call, she settled back on the couch, feeling better that they were doing something to ensure Alanna was all right. The fact that someone had followed her from AJ's made her wonder if that person hadn't been following her all day.
Matt ended the call and said, "Someone from my team will check on Alanna."
"Thanks for doing that."
He took a sip of wine, then said, "Tell me more about you and your brother. Let's start before he went to college. What was your family life like?"
"Why does that matter?" she challenged.
"Because it will help me understand who Landon was."
"You don't need to know who he was to find his murderer."
"His past could be relevant. When AJ talked about Landon's pet project, you got an odd look on your face. You said you didn't know about it, but there was something that resonated with you. What was it?"
"I don't like to talk about my past."
"We're talking about Landon's past."
