Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
“I can stay, if you don’t mind,” Larrsen said. “We’ve been working on this night and day for a couple of months. The four of us. Losing Ramsey was a terrible blow. The three men murdered felt like that was on us, and then the women being terrorized and now this happening to Rory. I’d rather stay and hopefully be here when she wakes. If you prefer, I can wait in my car just outside.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Mack said before Gideon could answer him.
Thought this was my house.
Mack grinned at him. You’ve got four floors and too many rooms to count. You’re being an ass on purpose. Do you have a grudge against that man?
At the moment, all of them. I’m still upset that they didn’t figure out a way to protect the other women, especially Larrsen. Lydia, one of Rory’s friends—who, by the way, has a three-year-old daughter—likes the man, and I thought he was all about her.
“In case the three of you haven’t figured it out yet, instead of Rory lying here, this could be Lydia or Sally or one of the others,” Gideon reminded them. “But I suppose, even with our offer of a safe house and guarding the women, it was too big of a risk to one of you quietly talking to them and asking them to come with our people.”
Larrsen and Abbott both shifted their gazes to Wilson. Clearly, as the lead detective, he’d had to make the judgment call.
Wilson nodded. “We only had a short time to make the decision. We didn’t have a safe house or anyone we could trust to watch over them. We couldn’t take a chance that the information would get out over police channels. I didn’t understand that your people were intending to keep them safe for us, and even if I had, I would have had to check with resources in Washington to ensure you were reliable.”
Gideon could understand the man’s dilemma to some extent, but he still felt the women should have been watched. There were three men. Someone should have been on them all the time. Larrsen should have warned them to stay together. Maybe he had. He’d remained suspiciously silent, not attempting to defend himself.
“Stay,” Gideon capitulated gruffly. “There’s plenty of room.”
“If the kidnappers were going to return, wouldn’t they have done so by now?” Abbott asked, looking at his watch. “According to the doctor’s report, if you hadn’t shown up when you did, she wouldn’t have lasted even another twenty minutes.”
“It’s possible they don’t intend to return,” Mack said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t track them. My team is very specialized in what they do. We’re going to give it another couple of hours. If nothing else, they may come back for her body to remove any physical evidence.”
“I would understand that you might want to claim this as a military operation, but we need jurisdiction here,” Wilson said. “This investigation has been ongoing for nearly two years and cost the life of a very good man. If you pick up a prisoner, or more than one, you can’t interrogate them. You must turn them over immediately or risk blowing everything we’ve done.”
Mack nodded abruptly. “I understand. As long as Rory’s alive, we’ll play ball with you. Anything changes on that score, all bets are off.” He jerked his chin toward the door, and he and Marc immediately led the two detectives out before Wilson could protest.
There was a small silence as Larrsen waited for the front door to close, although the bedroom where Rory was located was a distance away.
“I asked the women to stick together and not go to work,” Larrsen admitted. “And I did tell them if they were uncomfortable in any way, to go to your house, but to do it with all of them together. That could have gotten me fired, but Lydia, Ellen and the others were more important than my job. I trusted you to take care of them without a government report. Fortunately, the women trusted me enough to do as I asked, and they didn’t leave the apartment building or one another’s company until you sent someone for them.”
“How did you know someone from my team came for them?” Gideon asked.
“Lydia texted me. She said a woman by the name of Jaimie said she was Mack’s wife and that she knew Gideon. She said Gideon and Mack wanted all of them to look at some safer apartments, and in the meantime, they could stay there, where it was safer. I told her Mack was one of the good guys.”
He refused to be intimidated by Gideon’s piercing gaze and stepped closer to the bed. “Yeah, you didn’t need to remind me this could have been Lydia. Now I can’t raise her. She isn’t answering my calls or my texts. Where is she?”