Page 17 of Save Her Life

Silence hung across the line. She could have said something, but her mind was busy dredging through the past. How she had driven herself to the brink of obsession trying to unravel the timeline of events that ended with her brother in a body bag. Even at fourteen, she had been hungry for a reason, unable to fathom how her beautiful brother, with his infectious laugh, could just be gone.

Ray tapped his finger on the notepad in front of her. She’d spaced out for a second, and he must have sensed it. He’d written,Offer him something in exchange, chance to find out if he has an endgame.

She nodded her thanks to him. “Gavin, you didn’t want any of this to happen, and that tells me that you’re a good person in a bad situation. Let me help you. How about you release Vern Wilcox, and I do something for you? What do you want?”

“I just want to take the meds and leave.”

“I can only imagine that would be appealing. It’s been a long day, but it’s all up to you, Gavin. You can go home if you want to. Right now. Just say the word.”

Gavin hung up on her again.

“What are we supposed to make of that?” Ray asked her.

“We wait and see.” In her experience she found trying to read minds pointless, if not potentially dangerous. Profiling had its place, but in the real world no person fit perfectly into any one box.

EIGHT

“Meet Vern Wilcox, customer,” Patrick said, passing Sandra his background. “His car’s the Audi.”

She read down the report. Sixty-one, resident of Woodbridge, single. The picture attached to the background showed a man with silver-streaked black hair and of serious expression. He looked the image of a powerful businessman.

“Just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Patrick lamented.

No one added to that, and they proceeded to listen to a playback of the last conversation. What struck Sandra was one of the last things Gavin had said. “‘I just want to take the meds and leave,’” she reiterated and added, “This could be interpreted as he has the meds in hand now. In the least, he wants this over with. Is that desire selfishly motivated or does he need to get the meds to someone?”

“Patrick,” Garrison, the team leader said, “follow up with the FBI on the pharmacy system. Find out what’s taking so long.”

“Will do.” Patrick put his phone to an ear.

Sandra only half-listened as he spoke to Simon. She was sipping coffee and watching the video monitor and debatingwhether to try calling Gavin again when the front door of the store opened.

An injured man stumbled out. From what she could tell, it was Vern Wilcox.

“Hallelujah!” Richie said.

“Now, that is terrific progress,” Garrison said.

She kept her thoughts to herself. It was a step in the right direction, but she wasn’t letting her guard down yet. Really thepartywas just getting started. Gavin had relinquished a hostage without securing something in return. Was this a sign he planned to take her up on her offer and surrender?

Armed SWAT officers moved in to secure the man and get him to an ambulance out of the line of fire.

Patrick wrapped up his call and shot out the door of the command vehicle. As the intelligence officer, his job included gathering information. And Vern Wilcox would be a golden resource as the first person to come out of the store.

She watched on the screen as Patrick walked to the man, who was now seated on a gurney at the back of an ambulance. As she observed the interaction between Patrick and Vern, and an irritated paramedic, thoughts of her brother rolled in again. At least Vern was getting the help he needed. Hopefully, his injuries weren’t serious.

When Patrick returned several minutes later, she was fast to question him. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He has a concussion,” Patrick told everyone. “Guess he rushed the HT and got pistol-whipped for his troubles.”

“Did he know what kind of gun?” she asked, curious if their earlier theory held weight.

“He just described it as black and compact, so it could be the security guard’s Smith & Wesson M&P.”

“If so, it’s unlikely he’d have that without the guard putting up a fight,” Garrison said.

“There are other ways of manipulating people that aren’t physical,” Sandra countered.

“Except we can’t ignore that Gavin responded physically to Wilcox. Being turned away at the pharmacy counter probably evoked a similar immediate reaction. And we can’t overlook where we are now,” Garrison pointed out.

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