Page 52 of To Have and to Hold

Knox focused on my black eye.

“One time, man,” I said.

“Come with me,” Knox said, maintaining the brisk pace of a detective on the prowl, and I—simply a concerned family member—trailing behind him that needed to be dealt with. But I followed along. Whatever Knox might’ve gotten from Dave was about to be trumped. I just didn’t want to do it in the middle of the pen of cops and support staff.

Knox went to his desk and sat down, his cubicle cornered on all sides by notebooks, evidence photos, a pile of unopened mail, and a computer that housed even more information with the organization of at least 50 file folder icons cluttering his desktop.

He gestured for me to sit, his gaze red-rimmed, swollen, and slightly glazed from the constant peering at electronic screens—a look I was coming to recognize.

Knox said while shuffling through his notes, “I don’t have a lot of time, Spence. Emme’s parents are due to arrive any minute now. I thought I told you I’d call if there was any—”

“The kidnapper contacted me.”

Dead silence as Knox digested my words.

I held up my phone. “An hour ago. I was having breakfast with—at the diner, and he called as I was finishing up. He watched—saw me eating. He was right there but I didn’t have a clue.”

Knox half-rose from his chair. “Tell me you—”

“Of course I did.” I flipped the phone and opened the relevant app, Levi shuffling closer as I placed it on a pile of folders. The kidnapper’s distorted voice filled the small space. Though the volume was up as loud as it could be, Knox’s fists were on the desk, his form towering over the device.

The recording repeated the same sounds that had branded my ears. The burst of the kidnapper’s altered voice mid-sentence as soon as I’d hit the record button, the startling revelation, then Emme. Knox reacted with the barest flinch when the kidnapper mentioned Emme’s lack of clothing. Levi held a loose fist to his mouth throughout the entire endurance. Though he didn’t know Emme, never met her the way Knox had, the tight concern in his coiled limbs meant something. This one was hitting home.

When it ended, my nose was almost as close to the screen as Knox’s was. Knuckles aching, I relaxed my hands against my thighs, missing the physical pain as it ebbed.

“Again,” Knox said.

I hit replay and we went through the rigors once more. Emme’s voice somehow summoned more fractures in my skull the third time I heard it.

Knox scribbled furious notes, his left hand flying across his notepad, transcribing the conversation and offering his own question marks to mine. When the recording finished, he held up his hand and I paused with my index finger hovering, ready to tap replay again.

“Basement. She said basement in a house,” he said.

Knox didn’t fail in getting straight to the marrow. Didn’t waste a single second by saying she’s alive or thank god or some other useless revelation or platitude.

“Describing what she could,” Levi said. The very act of sharing this unexpected phone call dissolved all energy in the air. It hurt to breathe and I was glad Levi found some oxygen.

Knox nodded. “If that’s all…we can narrow it down to half of New York State.”

“He’s smart enough to give her nothing.” I lifted my head. “In those few seconds, Emme would’ve provided as much information as she could. If she’d seen his face, she would’ve led with something like that. If she’d gotten anything unique, she would’ve said it.”

Levi said, “Shit.”

“Then we go with what we do have,” Knox said, tapping his pencil with an erratic beat.

“Why the kidnapper called,” I answered, because we all knew the truth. Kidnappers rarely returned their victims unharmed and alive, and this guy hadn’t even asked for a ransom. “There’s a reason he chose to contact me.”

“He knew you had a connection to Emme,” Levi surmised. Knox’s pencil smacks became louder.

“We’ve got a fucking historian on our hands,” Knox said. “Why would he contact a guy who dated his victim two years ago?”

“There’s more to it than that,” I said. I rubbed my mouth. “I’ve made some enemies in my few years as prosecutor.”

“Emme was taken because someone wants to get back at you?” Levi asked. Knox said nothing, instead regarding me with flat-eyed study.

“There are two major cases I can think of,” I said. “The Tabernathys and Max Torro.”

“Torro we’re familiar with,” Levi said. “Mexican drug cartel connections, and you have him up for attempted murder. Fuck, if Emme were taken by drug guys…”

---