“Did I understand correctly,” Aberdeen said, “that you two were held captive in the Sweetwater?” He gestured with his thumb across the field toward the cannery.
“Yes,” Matt said. “And no one goes in.”
“Excuse me?” He sounded irritated, as if Matt was giving him an order.
“There are booby traps and dangers all over the place. A net of bowling balls is secured over the main set of doors. If you go in that way, they’ll fall on you. And that’s just one of many potential dangers.”
Aberdeen nodded and stepped away, already talking rapidly over his radio.
“Damn, there’s already cops over there,” Kara said. “I hope they’re okay.”
Matt took her hand and said, “You’re bleeding again.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Let me just finish here, then I’ll check your wound,” the paramedic said.
“It’s just a cut,” Kara said.
“You need stitches and antibiotics,” Matt said.
“Michael, what’s happening on your end?” Kara asked.
“When Matt didn’t show up for his meeting with Tony Monday morning, Ryder figured out pretty quickly that something happened to you both at the resort. We flew down within hours. Reid was released on bail Monday afternoon, and since then we’ve learned quite a bit about Reid and his partner, Clara Dolan. She has many names, and legally her name is now Audrey Reid.”
“Reid?”
“She is in fact legally married to Garrett. She also went by the name Hope Davidson.”
Matt said, “Davidson works at the resort. In the gym.”
“Yes, sir,” Michael said. “In a nutshell, while Garrett Reid was a willing and able partner, Clara Dolan was the instigator. The first victim—Emily Masters Henderson—used to work with Clara and married, then divorced, Clara’s ex-boyfriend. I honestly don’t understand why she was so offended by Masters. And she has control of a multi-million-dollar trust fund. That’s how we found you. One of her LLCs owns this property, and Jim matched forensics with this area, which helped us narrow it down. And then Ryder got your message.”
Michael relayed what they’d done over the last twenty-four hours, and how they were clued in to Hope Davidson as Garrett’s partner.
“Damn, I should have seen that,” Kara said.
“Why?”
“Because she was too attentive at the gym. Asked questions that were all small talk—where are you from, oh you’re newlyweds, how cute, things like that. I mean, some people are just chatty, but in hindsight, I don’t know. It seemed off, but I didn’t register that she was involved.”
“Because we weren’t thinking he had a partner,” Michael said.
“I see it now.”
“So you didn’t see her when she grabbed you?” Michael said with a frown.
“Nope,” Kara said. The paramedic told Matt to stay still, and moved over to Kara. She winced as he removed the bandage on her leg. “I sensed that someone was watching me, but as I was about to check it out, we both felt sick and then she hit us with tranquilizer darts. I remember nothing after that until we woke up in the factory twenty hours later.”
Another helicopter was landing, this one red with a white cross underneath. Conversation was impossible, but Kara shoutedto Michael, “They both need protection. We don’t know where Hope, Clara, Audrey, whoever she is, is going next.”
Matt said, “Nathan can identify her. He saw her before she put on a disguise and kidnapped him and his mother.”
Michael nodded, went over to where Sloane was talking to the deputies, spoke to the group, then pulled out his phone and walked away from the noise.
Lily had regained consciousness once, then went out again. Kara said to Nathan, “She’s going to make it.”
“Promise?”
