By eight, they were all up and packed up, ready to go. Les was driving with Asher and Mina in their RV, towing the smaller SUVs, and Eric was driving the other RV with Joe and Greg, towing the bigger SUV. The plan was to drive to an RV Park just outside of Mackinaw City in Michigan, and with three people per SUV, they could swap out drivers every three hours.
They had decided to do the PI charade with Derrick's mother, so they would be expected and not looked at with suspicion when they arrived with questions. They parked a few streets over and watched on the body cam as Eric and Greg walked up and knocked on the door.
"Can I help you?" Dorothy Talbot opened the door, a crack with the chain on it.
"Are you Dorothy Talbot?" Eric asked, smiling at her.
"Who's askin'?"
I'm Lance Drayborn, and this is my partner Evan Dolch. We're private detectives hired by Mina Talbot. She's trying to find your son so she can serve him with divorce papers and said you would be the only person he would tell his whereabouts to."
"I don't know where he is." She shook her head. "She shouldn't be divorcing him."
"He's stolen her money and abandoned her. She has every right to divorce him."
"Will you missed him, he's not here."
"Do you know where he might be?"
"Said he was goin' to visit family."
Eric pulled out a card. "If you hear from him, please have him get in touch." She took the card and shut the door.
"That went as expected." Mina nodded as she dropped down into a chair. "Now we wait until she calls me."
When Eric and Greg got back, they got on the road; Les drove first while Asher and Mina sat at the table in the back. Mina was working on the portraits of Greg's niece and nephew, and Asher was working on some paperwork for his company on his laptop. Then, about an hour into the drive, Mina's phone began ringing, and he passed it to her. Greg had set it up to record when she answered so they could go over the call when that got to the next campsite.
"Hello?"
"Where do you get off sending private eyes to my house?"
"Because he might be there, and if he wasn't, you're the only one who might know where he is!"
"Divorce is a little much for sleeping with a prostitute Mina."
"He also stole all my money and ran off!."
"He's just doing the annual inspection." Dorothy said placatingly. "He'll be back in a few weeks."
"He's been gone two, and he's not answering my calls and texts. Not to mention he stole almost sixty thousand dollars from my bank account! He's lucky I haven't pressed charges… yet."
"You can't steal from your spouse."
"You can when his mother insisted on a prenup that kept our finances separate. Maybe I should call the cops and report his crime. He'll have every cop in the country looking for him, and he'll go to jail. Maybe I'll even bring up the strangulations."
"I'll give you the money back Mina." There was nervousness in Dorothy's voice now. "When I talk to him again, I'll tell him to contact you."
"Don't you ever get tired of cleaning up his messes?" Dorothy didn't respond, and Mina huffed out a sigh. "You have a week to put the money back in my account, or I'll go to the cops."
"What about the divorce?"
"That's happening. I'll file under abandonment."
"I'll have him call you soon."
There was a click, and Dorothy hung up. Mina looked up at Asher to see him smiling proudly at her. "Good girl." He murmured. "Do you think she'll give you the money?"
"Oh yeah, she's shuffling her way to the bank right now, can't have the cops looking for her baby boy. I froze my accounts after; money can't come out unless a certain PIN is used. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear from Derrick in the next few days too. He gonna want to know why I'm not a zombified prostitute yet."
Asher leaned back. "So he didn't hand over the money he took from you to Draco and sixty thousand, plus whatever he got from his mother won't keep him going for long, and he can't live his whole life on the run… What's his endgame here?"
Les looked in the rearview mirror. "I would assume he has nieces, sisters, and sisters-in-law he might be okay with handing over."
Mina's heart stopped, and she quickly pulled out a piece of paper and began writing down the names of Derrick's sisters, nieces, and sisters-in-law then began to check them off.
"What are you doing?"
"Narrowing down the choices." Mina went through them quickly, crossing off his favorites and the ones who were too young or not good choices, and by the time they reached the first bathroom break and driver switch-up, she had narrowed it down to six potential candidates.
She passed the list over to Asher as she got up to take her turn driving. "He has two sisters, a sister-in-law, and three nieces he would turn over without hesitation or guilt. One in Michigan. Two in Washington, one in North Dakota, and two in Montana."
Les had a look at the list. "What are we gonna do with this information?"
"He's not going to take them with him, he's going to pass the information on to Draco and have them picked up," Asher said pensively
"Warn them?" Les suggested. "Will they listen?"
"Maybe, we have to provide enough proof that they'd listen."