Page 191 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“They’ll take you to Polinsky, a home for minors. I’ll go with you and make sure you’re settled in. Then I’ll come back tomorrow. But first, I’d feel better if you would let them take you to a hospital to get checked out. I’ll go with you.”

A long silence followed.

Then Hannah said, “He told me you’d hate me when you found out.”

Confused, Sabre asked, “Hate you for what?”

“For not trying harder to get home.”

That one nearly broke Sabre, because Hannah still thought like the child who disappeared. She still believed survival needed apologizing for.

Sabre turned fully toward her now. “You were five. None of this is your fault.”

Tears spilled down Hannah’s face. Sabre wrapped her in her arms, then Hannah completely fell apart. But she held on tight.

Chapter 74

Thursday late afternoon

DuBois stood outside Interview Room Three watching Daniel Rourke through the glass. Rourke sat perfectly still at the metal table with cuffed hands resting calmly in front of him. No pacing, no demands, and no lawyer yet.

Urban stepped beside him holding a paper cup of stale coffee. “He’s either the calmest child abductor I’ve ever seen, or the craziest.”

“Both maybe.”

Inside the room, Rourke finally looked up toward the observation window, not nervously, just aware, like he knew exactly where they were standing.

Urban lowered his voice. “Do you really think he believed he was helping her?”

“I think somewhere along the way he convinced himself he did.”

Predators who enjoyed destruction were dangerous but the ones who rewrote it into love were even worse.

Urban shook his head. “Eight years.”

“Yeah. A five-year-old girl turned into a frightened young woman who apologized for surviving.”

DuBois had worked homicide long enough to stop pretending things shocked him. This one still did.

An officer approached down the hallway. “Hannah Caldwell’s officially confirmed through DNA we got from her father.”

Urban nodded. “There it is.”

It was real now. Hannah Caldwell was alive after eight years.

DuBois took the file the officer handed him. It contained initial statements, preliminary notes, and witness confirmations. Then he saw the line near the bottom. Witness states she observed suspect strike Todd Maddox in the head after Bay Mercer fled apartment.

She was a murder witness. That changed everything.

Urban read over his shoulder. “Well,” he muttered, “It looks like Bay’s walking.”

“She should.”

Neither man spoke for a second. Then Urban glanced toward the interview room. “Are you going in?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think he’ll talk?”