The Rescuer (34 page)

"Meghan wouldn't leave here without Blackie. Even if he bolted in the thunder, she would not leave without him."

"Okay. Third option: If she did go with someone else and it wasn't voluntary, why?"

"The jewels." Stephen leaned his head down against the front seat. "We found a case hidden in the lining of the piano bench Neil gave her. It's the reason Meghan was traveling with me to begin with. The page came in and she didn't want to stay out at my place with them. I was going to drop her off at the jewelry store on the way to the clinic to get the ambulance so she could put them in the vault. That case is not in the truck."

"Who knew she had them?" Dave asked.

"No one. We found them literal y minutes before the page for the wreck came in."

"What were the stones?"

"Emerald earrings, a diamond-and-emerald bracelet and necklace."

Kate looked over at Dave, her own alarm hard to check. Those pieces went with the ring Meghan had given her to check out. They'd been stolen from the wife of a mob boss. Had he heard about the ring being discovered? That inscription I have, I hold-he would have known immediately it was the real piece. Kate could just hear the simple direct order: Find that blind lady and get my ring. And as they had discovered tonight, the only road into Silverton was this one.

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Headlights shone across them as several cars arrived.

"Let's get this search underway" She didn't want to explain the implications of option number three to Stephen.

Jonathan parked the car in the al ey behind the jewelry store, waiting until lightning showed they were alone before shutting off the car. "Come on."

Meghan didn't move.

He circled the car, opened the door, and pul ed her out.

"The passive aggression isn't going to help so I suggest you start cooperating. Give me your keys."

He tugged around her jacket to get to the pocket and she pul ed out her hand to give them to him. "Why are you doing this?"

He ignored the question. He opened the door to the store and pushed her inside. He shook rain off his jacket.

Without the dog, control ing her was simple. She couldn't see him, so she couldn't fight him, and she couldn't run. And so far they had been on territory she didn't know. This store she knew and he saw the change as she reached out one hand behind her to touch the wal , feel the door frame, and get her bearings.

"The faster I get what I want, the faster this is over." He caught her elbow and led her into the back room.

"Since the security guard is gone and you have pretty much cleared this room of furniture, I gather the vault is also empty?"

"It's empty"

"Then you won't mind showing me. Open it."

She tueeed against his hand.

C_X_?C_?

"Don't push me, Meghan. You don't know what's going on here tonight. If the vault is empty, just show me. It makes no sense to resist on principle when there is nothing to protect."

She moved to the vault and began turning the tumblers.

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He set the case she had with her in the truck on the work- table next to a computer she must have brought in, for Neil had never owned one. He opened the clasp on the case.

The luck of the evening was with him-he had three of the four pieces. Maries earrings, necklace, and bracelet. Five years had dul ed his memory of their beauty. He picked up the necklace. Now that he had the pieces, what was he going to do with them? Dump them in the river, bury them, somehow make them disappear.

He needed the ring.

He sat down and turned on her computer. While it booted, he looked through the papers on the table.

Anything incriminating he was going to burn. And given the rain, he couldn't just torch the store and be confident that everything would burn before the rain extinguished the fire. The computer came on and he set it to not just delete files but also to wipe the data.

He pul ed over the two registries Neil kept. He was startled to see in one the stolen pieces over the years.

He scanned for his name and didn't see it, but someone matching his itinerary to this list would see too many similarities for comfort. Burn it.

Meghan opened the vault door.

Jonathan joined her. "Ladies first." He didn't want her closing him inside the vault; she'd do it if given a chance. He kept a hand on her arm as he pul ed trays out and confirmed they were empty.

"Not even a loose clasp left in here...you did a thorough job." He steered her out of the vault and walked her over to a chair. "Who has the ring you found? You know the one; the inscription says: I Have, I Hold."

She set her jaw and didn't answer.

He left her sitting in the chair. The electrical box in the corner of the room gave him water and fire alarm circuits. He cut both. He tugged the metal garbage can into the center of the

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room. Jonathan tossed a match onto the pages in the trash can, and while it burned, he ripped pages from the ledger and tossed them into the flames.

She shoved the chair back as she smel ed smoke.

"Where's the ring, Meghan? Or should I just leave you in this building?"

"I don't have the ring. Stephen's sister Kaf? has it."

"But you can get it." He picked up the phone, walked over, and handed it to her. "Cal Kate and tel her to bring the ring."

"What?"

"It's a simple deal; the ring for your location."

"You wouldn't-"

"I'm dead if that ring is left out there. Get me the ring, Meghan. Or you're not going to see tomorrow."

Kate shoved maps to the side and arched her back as best she could in the car seat to ease the ache that had become nearly a cramp. The problem with being this pregnant was everything in her body protested being in the same position for more than ten minutes at a time.

The radio crackled as another searcher cal ed back his grid number. She marked off another square on her hand-drawn map of the road, the wreck, and the area they needed to search. Dave and Stephen were out with Blackie, and nine others had now arrived to help with the search. They would find Meghan. They wouldn't stop looking until they did, but it was taking longer than expected. She wished the sheriff would cal and say Meghan was in Silverton and this was a mix up.

Radio tones sounded and the updated weather warnings were read. Kate grabbed the knob and turned up the volume as the town list was read again.

She found the map and struggled to read the fine print of town names. She closed her eyes and

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wanted to swear, but instead put her hand on the car horn and gave a fifteen-second-long blast, paused for five seconds, and gave another long blast. She forced her arms into her coat and wrestled open the door. The wind slammed the door back at her. The nearest officer coming her way had a radio. "There's hail coming, quarter of an inch. Get everyone back in!"

Blackie pawed at the car door. Stephen wrapped his arms around the wet animal and pul ed him back. "I know you want to go out there and find her, but you can't go, boy"

The dog shook water off his coat and rested his head on Stephen's arm. "I know." Stephen shared the dog's depression. The hail on the roof was deafening. "If she's out in this-" Stephen couldn't finish that thought.

"We pray." Kate said from the front seat. "We pray, we hope, and when it eases up, I'm joining the search too."

Stephen buried his head in the dog's fur. Jesus, Meghan loves You, and I love her. I failed to keep her safe. Please, help me rescue her. Wherever she is, help me find her.

Car lights swept across the rear window. Stephen looked back to see if it was more help arriving, but the car drove past.

"We've got another theory beyond she got lost and is out there somewhere in this," Kate offered.

He turned toward his sister. Anything was better than the image of Meghan out there getting pounded by this hail. "I'm listening."

"The ring Meghan found, the pieces you found in the piano bench-they're from the same robbery. If the original owner heard about the ring, he may have sent someone to retrieve his property. He'l be after the four pieces, and Meghan has three of them with her. She knows I've got the fourth."

Dave nodded. "Or another possibility: The ledger had a

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column of payments to someone who made the exchange. The person who original y swapped the pieces could have heard the jewelry had been found and is trying to get hold of them."

Kate looked at her husband. "Good point."

"I know you're making up these hypothetical scenarios to help me out," Stephen said, "but why would the ring be so important to justify snatching Meghan?"

"Steal something from a mob boss, you kind of hope it never reappears in your lifetime. The guy who made the exchange needs the pieces back no matter what the cost. Jail is an easier alternative than death. And if the mob boss wants them back, I don't think he's going to wait for the cops to return them."

"I don't care who or why, we just have to get Meghan back safe."

The car phone rang and they al froze. It had been a hypothetical idea to keep his mind off the fact Meghan was out getting bloodied by this hail, but suddenly he was out getting bloodied by this hail, but suddenly he wasn't sure, and neither were they.

Dave looked at Kate. "You're the negotiator."

Surprise crossed her face as Dave offered her the lead in this, and then her expression smoothed out and became impassive as Kate mental y shifted to work mode. No matter what happened, she'd try to calmly shape events. She picked up the phone and answered in a smooth and cheerful voice, "This is Kate."

"Let's go, Meghan. We've got an exchange to make."

Jonathan pul ed her to her feet. The smoke was choking them now as it settled in the room. The pieces he had taken recently in Europe were marked on that ledger page as sold. A surprise, but Neil apparently had been moving pieces taken on other continents as soon as they came in. It was his second lucky break of the night. That left the ring and its chil ing inscription as the final piece to

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find before he could safely disappear.

He opened the drivers door and pushed Meghan's head down to put her into the car. "Slide over." He wouldn't put it past her to try to bolt on him into the darkness.

"No matter where you run, they'l find you."

"You're the only one who knows my identity, and you won't be talking."

"I won't cover for you."

He started the car. "Stephen wil be dead if you don't.

These stones were stolen from a man who would think nothing of murdering to get them back. You try to suggest I'm involved, and I'l make sure one of those pieces in that case is delivered to the owner by courier, and I'l point at Stephen as the thief. He'l kil Stephen slowly and ask questions later. Do you understand me?

"

"I hear you."

He drove north. There was one good thing about having known Craig. If this town had a shadier side and hiding places, Craig had known them. Jonathan knew where they could wait without risk of being found.

The sheriff's office was crowded. Kate rested her hip against the desk and sipped at the 7 Up Dave had gotten her for the nausea. "He knows this town. Look at directions to the drop-off point: 'Leave the ring east end of the bridge, in a briefcase on the concrete bench honoring the flood victims of 1913.' This has got to be the guy who worked with Craig and Neil. Meghan didn't give any indication she knew the person who took her, but I bet she's got an idea. With this weather, we can't track him from the air, and on country roads we'l have a very hard time staying with his car without revealing our presence. You can't be stealthy in a downpour."

"Meghan's location and safety is the only thing that matters,"

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Stephen insisted. Kate reached over and squeezed his arm. "It's the first thing that matters. He's got every incentive to make this trade and make it fast. He'l want to get away under cover of the storm. I doubt Meghan wil be close to the exchange site. He'l want to use the fact we have to go get her as a way to buy himself more time to get away. Lying to us and taking her with him- it would only add to the intensity of the manhunt.

It's in his best interests to tel us where she is. Stephen, do you want to stay here, and we cal the location in so you can go with the cops to get her, or do you want to go out to the drop site?"

"I'm going with you," Stephen said. "Where are Meg's parents?"

"On their way back from Chicago. Bil was at the hospital with a patient when we got word to him.

Elizabeth had gone along to help the patient's wife. I sent an officer to drive them back," the sheriff replied.

"Can you divert them to their home? After this is over Meghan wil need a safe place to decompress, and I'd rather take her to her parents' home than back here for the debriefing. Anything short of serious medical needs, her father can best handle."

"Done."

"Who do you suggest should leave the briefcase with the ring at the bench?" Kate asked.

The Sheriff nodded to his deputy. "Tom. He knows that area wel . He can leave the briefcase, drive away, and find the nearest secluded spot to stop and observe. My guess is the guy wil try to cross the Mississippi and head into Iowa. This weather is going to cut off a lot of his options. We've got power lines down and numerous trees. We can get resources on the most likely crossing points."

"What if this guy goes to ground somewhere around here after he picks up the ring? Just sits and waits for the search to cool off?" Stephen asked.

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"He'd be risking Meghan being able to tel us who he is." The front door of the sheriffs office slammed open.

"The jewelry store is on fire!"

Stephen surged outside with the officers. The store..

.the vault. If the guy had locked Meghan in the vault and tossed a match on some gasoline... Meghan's dog bolted away from him and into the night, heading in the direction of Meghan's house.

"Blackie!"

He couldn't go after the animal but couldn't lose him either. Meghan would need Blackie when they found her.