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“Sounds good,” Greenway said and bobbed his head. “We also need to talk about sending someone undercover in place of Ms.Byrd. We can assume the caller knows what May looks like and will be watching that garbage bin. We’ll need an officer about May’s size. Then we’ll make her up to look like May.”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” May breezed into the room and gave all of them a look through narrowed eyes. She’d gone past grief and progressed to rage. “He said no police.”
“May,” Amanda beseeched. Her name dangled out there, carrying the weight and implication that May simply couldn’t go. PWCPD protocol would never allow for risking the life of a civilian in this way.
“You heard that man. No police,” she reiterated again. “I’m not risking that guy smelling a rat and killing my niece. You all hear me?” May jabbed a pointed finger at everyone in the room.
A chorus of hollow “yes, ma’am” circled the room. Not one of them came from Amanda.
“I can’t let you do this,” she told May.
“It’s a good thing, then, that I don’t need your permission, Amanda Steele.” May stared her down, and it had her catapulting back to when she was a teen and being reprimanded by her mother. Only then, it would involve the use of her middle name, Julie, also her mother’s first name.
“I strongly advise that you don’t do this, ma’am,” Greenway said and earned a steely glare.
Amanda put her hands on May’s shoulders. “Please, don’t do this. Let us handle it.”
“I thought you, of anyone, would understand why I need to do this, Mandy.” The softened appeal tugged at Amanda’s heart. “Kat is family, and you do anything for family.” Her voice caught on her words.
“I still highly recommend that you let us take care of this,” Amanda told her. “We can give you a bulletproof vest, keep an eye on you, but if this guy catches a whiff of trouble, what’s to stop him from aiming for your head?”
May flinched and nodded, her cheeks flushed, and she appeared to melt into the closest chair. Amanda had resorted to laying out a cold, dark possibility, but there was no way in hell she could let May go in and jeopardize her life. Call it tough love, but she had no choice. They didn’t know who they were dealing with here. It had taken nearly seventeen hours before a ransom demand was even made. Almost as if it had been an afterthought. Then other words the caller had said struck. “We have an opportunist here. We’ve been trying to figure out the endgame in taking Katherine and have speculated a lot, but I don’t think money was initially part of the original plan. He said, ‘from what I see, business is doing well.’ As if it was a new discovery and then he stated the amount. How did he see?” She followed a hunch and checked the internet on her phone. Before, when she’d searched Katherine’s name, Amanda had been interested in how the shooter had found her. Now it was to determine how he saw a payday. Was he simply placing all bets on the grieving aunt or something more concrete?
She searched Katherine’s name and Hannah’s Diner again. As she waited for the results to load, this was one time she’d be fine if her suspicion was wrong. Her stomach formed into a lead ball when she saw the title of the first article.
“Former PWCPD Police Sergeant Taken in Abduction That Left Teen Dead”
The byline identified the author as Fraser Reyes. “That son of a…”
Everyone in the room was watching her, as if waiting for her to finish her sentence. Her finding was just as she’d feared. Along with the news of that morning’s events, Fraser included a bio bite on Katherine. It said that due to her efforts, the diner had gone from strength to strength.
“Listen to this,” she said. “‘Hannah’s Diner is no longer the go-to spot for just Dumfries locals, but is a must for anyone within driving distance who wants an excellent cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie. Within the last six months, the trajectory of the diner’s success makes it legendary, with much credit to the founder’s niece, Katherine Graves.’” She took a few heaving breaths. “I might strangle this man with my bare hands. Wasn’t a media ban put in place?” She leveled a look at Malone.
“I’ll get an officer to bring him in, put some fear in him,” Malone said.
She threw her arms in the air. “What’s the point? He’ll walk. He’ll claim some freedom of the press bullshit and throw the constitution in our faces. But if his article results in Katherine being murdered, I will make it my mission to watch him and prosecute him for any little misdemeanor he does.”
Eventually, Malone said, “You’ll have the support of the entire PWCPD.”
“Mandy,” May said. “Please, just help me get Katherine back alive.”
Amanda sat next to May and gestured toward the PWCPD members in the room. “We will do just that.” It was a promise she had no right to voice, but she’d make good on it if it was the last thing she did.
THIRTY-SEVEN
8:59 AM, TUESDAY
Missing for 28 hours, 9 minutes
61 minutes until ransom drop deadline
Amanda had barely slept and beat the sunrise to a new day. CSI Blair had emailed to advise there was no trace of Katherine in Lowell Mooney’s motel room. It wasn’t enough for Amanda to shake her suspicions of the guy though. Someone with a murder record and a vendetta doesn’t travel all this way just to talk. With any luck, by midmorning they’d have their shooter and his accomplice in custody and Katherine back safely. The attack plan was laid out before everyone went home last night.
Officers would be hidden in the woods at a few points surrounding the playground. They’d be dressed in camouflage to blend into the cedar and other types of evergreens. The soft- and hardwood trees had lost their leaves, rendering them pretty much useless for providing cover. A few other officers would pose as hikers passing through, dressed appropriately. They found the perfect May substitute in Officer Sophie Bennett, a third-year cop, just enough past being a green rookie to make the success of this exercise possible.
It was 9 AM, and Amanda had already handed the cash over to Officer Bennett. Amanda had called the bank last night through their twenty-four-hour customer service line and got her call elevated to a senior manager. They woke the local branch manager at home, and the money was ready for pick up at eight thirty. This was before the bank even opened to the public.
Everyone was on the move to the park, as were she and Trent.
