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Jensen had been right to consider Treven his nemesis, and it stung deep to be outsmarted like this. Treven could not win against him again.
Captain Rhodes met him in the hallway. Jensen started issuing commands. “Get his fingerprints and a DNA sample and figure out who he is and what his affiliation with the Rindlesbachers is. Wake up Warden Geary and have him call me. If anybody can get him to talk, they get a promotion and a pay raise. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Yanking out his phone, he called Lieutenant Yost first. He should never have left Livvy. Treven could even now be figuring out a way to bust through his security and get to her. His pulse raced.
Guards stood at attention but watched him warily as he stormed past.
“Chief?” Lieutenant Yost answered on the second ring.
“Is the property secure?” he asked in a rush.
“Yes, sir. Is everything okay?”
“No.” Doors buzzed open and finally he reached the exterior door. He shook Captain Rhodes’s hand quickly, nodded to him, and then he upped his pace to a jog as he reached the employee parking lot.
His phone buzzed. Another incoming call—Warden Geary. Captain Rhodes must have somehow gotten ahold of him as they’d walked.
“Treven Rindlesbacher has escaped,” he told Lieutenant Yost.
“No,” she muttered.
“Get everybody patrolling, and be on alert. That guy could be anywhere, and we both know he has resources and intel that he should never have.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m on my way back now.” He climbed into his car.
Searching for Treven would be a top priority, but he would stick to Livvy’s side like glue. Treven and his parents had somehow made a doppelgänger and gotten Treven out of prison. Was it possible Treven had never gone back to prison after he’d been released last month because of William’s trickery? Maybe the guy who kidnapped Ellery had been the double?
Starting the car, he switched the call. “Geary?”
“What’s happening, Chief?” Geary’s voice was scratchy from sleep, but he sounded alert.
“A nightmare.” He should’ve believed Livvy. But how could he have imagined this? “Treven Rindlesbacher has a double. Either he somehow escaped from prison and switched with this guy, or the fake has been there since Ellery’s attempted kidnapping.”
“Sir, Captain Rhodes personally checked last night?—”
“Our prisoner’s eyes are the wrong color, his voice is different, and if you compared his face, I’m betting you’d find some slight differences.” He cut him off. There was no doubt. Livvy had been right all along. “Captain Rhodes is already working on fingerprints and a DNA sample to figure out who he is and what his affiliation with the Rindlesbachers is. Get your best people to review film as far back as you need to go to figure out if they switched, and if they did, who helped Treven escape. Also have them review the film from Treven’s admission last month. The fingerprints and DNA on file. If someone can get the prisoner to talk, they get a promotion and a pay raise.” He repeated the instructions he’d given Rhodes. He didn’t care if anything got done twice. He wanted nothing missed.
“I’m on it, sir.”
“I know you are. Thank you, Warden Geary.” He paused. “Also, be on high alert with Officers Bradford and Palmer. They’ve shown …” He hated to say allegiance, as the mutters Livvy had heard had never been confirmed. But he’d failed to believe Livvy tonight. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “A weird allegiance to Rindlesbacher before.”
The loyalty to Rindlesbachers went beyond money. Did they promise spots in their new regime, or did they blackmail, extort, and manipulate? Probably all of the above. Their horrific mix of genius and treachery knew no limits.
“Got it.”
“I’ll check back in soon.” He hung up and dialed his assistant’s number. It rang twice and then Sheryl said groggily, “Somebody had better be dead.”
He actually smiled. “I wish Treven Rindlesbacher was.”
“Me too, boss. Me too.” Sheryl was a forty-year-old mum of three teenagers. How she kept up with everything at his office, at home, and with her kids’ sports was beyond him, but she was organized, smart, had a supportive husband, and was always after Jensen to delegate more to her. He’d liked telling Livvy he’d delegate. To spend more time with her. That warm look in her eyes had made him irrationally happy. Now he had to focus completely on recapturing Treven and keeping Livvy safe.
“Sorry, lover. Go back to sleep,” Sheryl said to her husband. There was a pause as she most likely walked out to her living room. “What’s up?” she asked. “Besides me at this insane hour.”
“My apologies.”
