Page 69 of Save Her Life

“Let’s find out.” Brice logged on to his computer. A few keystrokes later, he said, “Looks like the assault took place during the attempted robbery of a convenience store. He hit the clerk when he tried to block the way to the register.”

That reveal made her feel a bit better about Dennis Eaton in one sense. Assault was a broad label, subject to intent and level of violence. This sounded more reactive than downright violent. “Was he armed?”

“No, but…” Brice pried his gaze from the screen. “An eyewitness said there were three men involved. Only Eaton was caught. Were the other two Patton and Jennings? After all, you’ve got three amigos, all from poor households. Did they talk each other into it, a way to change their futures?”

Change their futures…But nothing was fully clicking. It felt like her brain had stepped out, like the years she’d spent obsessing over the transcripts from the incident that killed her brother had never happened. Additional recollections from the recent grocery store came to her more easily though. Gavin McConnell had wanted to prove himself to his girlfriend by being a better father and taking care of his daughter when she was ill. Essentially providing for her… Then her thoughts clicked into focus. Darrell Patton had said something along the lines of providing for his daughter. She’d read the transcript at least a thousand times and should be able to recall this readily. Then finally it came to her. The statement was also one repeated in court. “During the standoff with Patton, he claimed he could be a better provider for his daughter than the girl’s mother. He also claimed he did what he had out of love.”

“How could he be a better provider? You just said he had no money. Even the cash from the robbery Eaton was implicated in was recovered from his person. A measly five hundred dollars.”

“That’s the thing. At the time, Patton had a dead-end job at a body shop. No one could understand how he could claim to provide for his daughter better than her mother. She held a steady corporate job with good pay and benefits, and it allowed her flexible hours to work from home. And Patton refused to answer the question when asked directly during his trial.”

“All right, so did this guy come into money somehow? Possibly by shady means?”

“And does it have anything to do with Dennis Eaton’s ship coming in?”

Brice cracked his knuckles and started typing.

“What are you doing?”

“Searching for any unsolved robberies in the area. Let’s say the three were involved with the convenience store. They could have worked other heists together.”

“Great idea. I’d focus on the time after Eaton’s release and before Patton killed my brother.”

Brice looked over his shoulder. “What would I ever do without your brilliant mind?”

She nudged his arm, and he laughed as he continued to enter parameters.

A few seconds later, Brice sat back and pointed at the screen. “The week before Patton kidnapped his daughter, Liberty Bank was hit by three armed suspects. The crew made off with nine gold bars, a value then of one-point-four million. No arrests have ever been made, and the gold bars never resurfaced. It would be worth much more today.” He pulled up an internet screen and looked at the present-day values and let out a whistle. “The bars are worth nine point eight mil now.”

“I’d say the gold was taken out of the States or melted down, except so far this seems the strongest possibility of what Jennings is after. If he, Eaton, and Patton robbed the bank maybe Patton stashed the bars someplace only he knows about. All I know for certain is he didn’t have gold bars in his car when he was arrested. He could have planned to pick them up after grabbing a bite to eat with his daughter.”

“Only he didn’t get that far. But this could explain why Jennings and Eaton want Patton out. They need Patton to take them to the gold.”

“If we’re right about this, Patton could be refusing to disclose the location until he’s out of prison. Something I can’t blame him for. How much do nine bars of gold even weigh?”

Brice googled that and read off the answer. “Two hundred and forty-seven pounds.”

Two hundred and forty-six point six, to be precise…He’d rounded up from what she saw on his screen. “They must have divvied it up to be able to carry the weight. Three guys, three bars or eighty-two-point-two pounds each.”

“Are you going to talk to Patton about this? Or I can?”

She shook her head. “He has no reason to talk to us yet. So far, we’ve only got a theory. To sway him to talk, we’d need proof and some leverage. Both of which we don’t have.”

“Any ideas how we get either?”

“I do. When Patton went to prison, he left two close relatives behind. One of them would have become responsible for his possessions. We chat with them and gain access to his things. We could find something to support our theory. Possibly the gold itself. If not, we might find that Patton confided in her.”

“You talking about the daughter now?”

“Yep.”

THIRTY-THREE

As Brice drove, Sandra felt quite confident in her suggestion they speak to Patton’s daughter. Natalie’s last name was Roth since she married seventeen years ago. If they were right about Patton being involved in the bank robbery, he was likely motivated to do so for his and his daughter’s futures. In that case, it would stand to reason if he was going to confide in anyone it would be her. He’d said in the parole hearing he hadn’t spoken to his daughter, but that could have been a blatant lie to protect the gold’s whereabouts.

Sandra and Brice stood at Roth’s front door, and she knocked. A small, yappy dog started barking and jumping at the window. In the background, a woman was yelling for the animal to shut up. As she headed toward the door, Sandra could feel the vibration on the floorboards of the porch.

It cracked open, and a boy about ten ran behind his mother with a toy gun, calling out, “Pew! Pew!”

---