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“The rest of us?” Heather asked. She had no doubt that Daniel and Jarrod would be out there searching for Haldyn as long as it took them to find her. Those two men loved that woman.
“We keep going. Play this out. There are only four or five roads off this highway before the Barratt County line. And Clay Addy and his people have that line roadblocked now. No one is getting past them.”
But that still left miles and miles of territory to cover in the meantime now. With a damned reservoir in between. And they had pulled bodies from that reservoir before. Haldyn could already be dead.
Daniel’s phone rang again. He listened.
“Everybody, let’s move!”
“What is it?” Heather asked.
“Hostage standoff, parking lot at FCGH. One of our ERT vans is there now. Female hostage—several people caught in the parking lot, taking cover behind cars.”
Daniel looked at the paramedics. “Divert to County! Hostage situation at FCGH!”
“Got it! Stay safe, guys!” the paramedic—she thought he was Drew, but she couldn’t be sure—yelled back, as he helped lift Brett into the ambulance.
Heather’s blood froze. FCGH. She knew—Cashlyn and Samia would both be getting off work very soon, if they hadn’t already. They could be there right now. “What in the hell is going on here?”
ERT. Evidence Recovery Team. And there were two teams on the clock now. Forensics was already stretched thin—Hope would volunteer to go out on scene under those circumstances. Heather already had her phone out before she even pulled the door closed.
She dialed.
Hope never answered. Where the hell was her baby sister?
94
“She thought he was a good man at first. He knew exactly how to play her and he did. But she figured it out after two or three dates. Frankie was an accident,” the little blond doll baby said. “Hope is nine years younger than we are. We’ve always taken care of Hope. Hope was so sick as a baby. Did you know that? She barely made it to four years old, but after she was five…she just somehow got better. Her heart got stronger. We…call…her our little miracle baby still. Our hope.”
“He hurt her. Hope and Heather, both. I couldn’t let him hurt her again. I couldn’t let him keep bringing that shit into our county either. I did. I drove plenty of that damned drug around. Hope’s good. Wilson isn’t. He deserves to die. My Maribeth didn’t.”
“I can understand that. But…I also think you don’t want to hurt Haldyn either. I know she’s Hope’s friend. How did she get hurt? Her cheek? Is she hurt anywhere else?”
“Wilson hurt her, honey. Punched her, she fell, hit her head.” Sol pulled Haldyn closer. They weren’t going to try anything as long as he had Haldyn and the gun. They just weren’t. And Sol had things to say first. Real things to say. Things that would help stop it all. “Costovia and Wilson were going to take out the forensics team to prove a point. They did get Naylor. Shot that boy to get him out of the way. Hallie and I found him, called it in.”
“Who told him to do that?” Acardi, again. Cagey bastard, that one.
“It’s people in Wichita Falls and people in Finley Creek. Working together. You tell your boy that. It’s people in Wichita Falls and Finley Creek TSPs. But they ain’t all TSP. Some are private companies. That’s who Marshall and McKellen are really looking for. The companies, they just use the TSP as foot soldiers now. There are others behind everything. Running it all. I don’t know their names. Hell, I wish I did. I’d give them to you right now if I did. I know they’ve been operating a ring for decades, though. Ones running it now didn’t even start it, it’s that old. They are second generation bastards.”
Sol wanted them to know. So that it could all just stop. No one else should have to lose someone they loved because of those bastards out of Wichita Falls. “They keep it all anonymous. For most involved, it’s all about the damned money. Just the money. Beauty of the internet. Never have to see their faces. I have never regretted anything more. It cost me my baby.”
“I am sorry about your daughter,” the blond doctor said, staring at him with little Hope’s eyes. “But I really need to know. Hope needs medical attention. Does Madison? Is Madison hurt as well? Let me go to them. I’ll take Dr. Lake with me, and we’ll just go get Hope and her friend back. We’ll bring Madison right here, to her mother, too. Cherise and Vince will take Haldyn inside. Get her taken care of, while they wait for Madison. Madison is Cherise’s daughter, her little girl. Just like Maribeth was yours. And someone will take care of Steve. So he can be arrested for what he’s done to people we all care about. And answer everyone’s questions. That’s the only real way to end this.”
“Where are Hope and Madison at?” Lake asked, nudging those two little things further behind a car. That same damned sedan little Hope had ridden in before. Blocking them with his own body. Being honorable, being a man. Protecting them. The way a real man should. “You can even come with me, and keep the gun. We’ll go get them together, and I’ll go with you to my brother after. You can tell Murdoch your side of the story. He’ll listen. He and Zoey—they just want answers now. I’m a trauma doctor here. I can help Hope once we get to her. I understand you didn’t mean for her to get hurt tonight. But you have to tell her sister and her nieces where she is. Her family. They love her and just want her back. Help them get her back.”
“I don’t know where she is.” Sol was running out of time. But…he would wait. Until Major Crimes got there. So they could know. Be best to tell them all at once. Before the Wichita Falls boys heard what he’d done. Came for him. Word about Bell had to have got out by now. “Hallie here opened the damned door and shoved Hope and Madison out of the back of the van when I stopped at the intersection to the Value Reservoir Bridge. Boethe Highway, right where it meets Old Garrity Road. I saw the girls run off after, back toward the city. In those dark shirts and pants, they blended right in. They thought I was going to hurt them or something.”
“No. It wasn’t you they ran from, Sol. It was Wilson,” Hallie said. “Wilson was planning to do something. I could see it in his face. If he got the gun away from you…he really hates Hope. I knew he’d hurt her. So I pushed open the door. Mads jumped out and I pushed Hope out after her. It wasn’t because of you, Sol. It wasn’t. I just wanted to protect Hope and Mads from him.”
“Is…is Madison hurt?” Madison’s mother asked. Hell, Sol could hear the panic. He knew exactly how she felt right now. “Please, detective. Is my daughter hurt? Is she out there in the dark and hurt and afraid? Please.”
“No. Maybe a bit banged up, bruised a bit, but I didn’t let Costovia do what he intended, honey. I stopped him before he could hurt Madison. I wasn’t going to let him hurt that kid again. I promise. She’s out there. With Hope now. Probably still walking along the damned highway.”
“By Value Reservoir Road?” that Acardi asked. “Dr. Lake and I will go get them. Let us go get them and we’ll bring them right back here. You can explain all of this. Help Dom and Detective Lake and Detective MacNamara and all the rest figure this out. That’s what you want, right? To atone? Hell, I can understand that. A man can’t reach our age without needing to make something right. I respect that. But you can’t help anyone with that gun. Haldyn, how are you holding up, honey?”
95
“There’s our damned ERT van,” Jake said. “What in the hell is going on tonight?”
