He turned and walked out the door. Pinfield was still standing outside.
“Say everything you needed to say?”
“Yep. I suppose I should feel bad about what shape he’s in. But I don’t, not even the smallest bit.”
“I assume you fingerprinted him with that kit you had in your pocket?”
Tanner raised an eyebrow. “You don’t miss much.”
“That would be why I am a US Marshal. And also, this.” Pinfield pulled out a file and handed it to Tanner. He opened it and found multiple sets of fingerprints, which had been taken by hand and run against a master set that was attached to the inside of the folder.
“We take fingerprints at the beginning of every shift, after any sort of medical procedure where Jeter is taken out of this room, or if anybody just gets the heebie-jeebies. We’re all aware that the first thing someone trying to assist Jeter would do is change his fingerprints in the system. So we always use the hard copy. Those fingerprints have not changed since that prison bus accident. And we’re going to make sure no one tries to switch them out under our watch.”
Tanner shook the man’s hand. “Thank you. Thank you for taking this seriously. Thank you for making it so that I can sleep a little better at night.”
Pinfield smiled. “Just doing my job.”
Tanner left the hospital feeling much better than he had when he’d arrived. He shot a text to Whitaker letting him know that he was on his way back.
Pinfield had this under control. Tanner wasn’t sure there was anything he would be doing differently if he was in charge.
But more important, it was good news for Bree. Soon Jeter would be in prison where he belonged.
He opened his car door and got inside. They still had a few hours before their flight. Maybe he would see if Bree wanted to come back here. She hadn’t gotten her closure on the stand like she wanted. Maybe this could be the next best thing.
He was about to pull out of his parking spot when a knock on his window stopped him. All Tanner could see were the scrubs of a doctor. He rolled down his window a little.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m sorry. I’m Dr. Arnold. Are you Tanner Dempsey? Deputy Tanner Dempsey?”
Tanner rolled his window the rest of the way down. “I am. Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yes. I just wanted to see...”
The doctor shifted and Tanner felt a sharp pinch at the side of his back. He was reaching for his weapon as everything began to blur.
The doctor leaned down so that he was now gazing directly into Tanner’s window and Tanner could see his face.
“You...” His voice sounded distant and foreign to his own ears. The fingers reaching for his sidearm wouldn’t seem to work.
“What were you just saying about how if I wanted to get to Bree I was going to need to go through you?”
Michael Jeter’s face without any burns at all smiled out at Tanner.
And then everything faded to black.
Chapter Twenty-One
Tanner knew he was in trouble as soon as he woke up. He was in a box, not unlike the ones Rory Gresham and his cronies had used on their victims.
But this one was wood. Basically a plain coffin, just not yet closed.
“Don’t worry, Tanner. I can call you Tanner, right? Deputy Captain Dempsey seems so formal.” Jeter waved from a few feet away. “Either way, don’t worry, I’m not going to drown you. You had enough drowning excitement for one week, right? Plus, who has time to figure out all those details about how many drips of water it will take. That’s just nuts.”
Tanner blinked, trying to clear his mind. “Who is that man in the hospital and how does he have your fingerprints?”
How was it possible that Jeter was standing here right now without a scratch on him?
