“She told me that even though you were a cop, that you and that other agent were an item. Showed me a photo of you two outside a restaurant, said that you were staying together at the resort even after I was arrested. Is that true?”
“Yes,” Kara said. Matt winced. They were never supposed to give personal information to suspects. But in this case, Kara had to maintain the rapport she’d built with Garrett earlier. His whole world was crashing down around him, and he knew it was just a matter of time before he was back in jail, this time for decades. And if he didn’t help them, Clara would remain free while he paid the price.
“Do you love him?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
“I loved Becca. It feels different. It’s... hot and cold, exciting and scary, and I would have spent the rest of my life with her. I would have married her, we would have had kids, we would have been happy. I never really felt anything until I met Becca.”
“What happened, Garrett?” She left the question open-ended, not sure where his head was at.
“We went to different colleges. She came to visit and we got into an argument. It was stupid. She wanted me to fight for her, but I told her if she didn’t love me to leave. She left, so I assumed she didn’t love me. It gutted me. But I wasn’t going to chase her if she wanted to be free.”
“Because you loved her,” Kara said.
“Exactly.”
“Did Audrey know about Becca?” Kara used the name Garrett was comfortable with, her voice calm, no accusation.
“I never thought about it. Until now.”
“And?”
“She stole the only person from me that I have ever loved, the only person who was so good, deep down in her soul good, who mademegood.”
“Where is Audrey right now?”
“She will soon be in hell, where that fucking bitch belongs.”
He ended the call.
“Well, shit,” Kara said. “Get the nurse, get this thing out of me, he’s going to do something stupid.”
“The sheriff’s department has a team on his apartment,” Matt said. “And Zack is wired on energy drinks pouring over all her financial statements. We have every ID we know about flagged and she’s not flying out or crossing the border. We’ll find her.”
“She could have identities we don’t know about. Get the nurse, please? It’s almost done anyway, and I need to be prepared.”
“Neither of us should be in the field right now.”
“We can observe, can’t we? I can’t lie around here and do nothing when he is going to kill her.”
Matt reluctantly left the room.
Kara tried calling Garrett back. It went to voicemail.
“Garrett, it’s Kara. If you tell us where she is, we can apprehend her and tell the court you cooperated. That’ll help you in the long run. But if you do anything rash, if you go after her yourself, you’re only going to be putting the final nail in your coffin. What would Becca want you to do? Call me. We’ll talk again.”
She hung up, tense and agitated.
A text message came through a minute later.
Becca was a saint. I am not.
She tried calling him back. She got a call center recording.
“The number you are trying to reach is unavailable...”
She ended the call mid-recording, swung her legs around to sit up, and was about to take the IV out herself when the nurse came in. Maybe it was the look on Kara’s face, or Matt had said something to her, but she didn’t argue about taking out the IV.
