by Laura Scott
He had to trust that Darcy would find the brass left behind by Dower’s gun.
Once they found the guy, he planned to charge him with attempted murder of a police officer, adding to the long list of crimes the guy was guilty of perpetrating.
Additional crimes they no doubt had yet to uncover.
What had Dower been doing with Damon Berk in the back of the restaurant? Was it possible he’d threatened Berk? If so, with what? Did Dower have something to hold over Berk’s head? Was the sweat beading on Berk’s face more of an indication of fear, rather than nervousness at getting caught doing something illegal?
He didn’t know and that bothered him. The only clue they had to why Willow and Lucy were in danger was related to the stupid photograph. Unless...he straightened in his seat. Unless Dower and Berk thought she knew more than just what she’d captured on film.
Like what? He had no clue.
But the possibility wouldn’t leave him alone.
* * *
Willow tried to ignore Officer Kuhn as she played with Lucy. The female officer was nice enough, but not nearly as friendly as Vivienne, Noelle and the other members of the K-9 unit.
The ones she knew were more like family to Nate and Murphy.
Not that being nice and friendly really mattered as long as she and Lucy were safe.
As the hour approached noon, Willow pushed herself to her feet. “I’m making grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for Lucy’s lunch. Would you like one?”
“No, thank you.” Officer Kuhn’s tone was polite, yet distant. “I’m vegan, so I ordered online from a local vegan restaurant that delivers.”
“Okay.”
“Aunt Willow, I hav’ta go to the bathroom!” Lucy suddenly jumped up from the floor, so Willow led her into the bathroom.
She heard a thudding noise from the apartment and thought it was likely that Officer Kuhn’s vegan lunch had arrived.
“I’m hungry,” Lucy said as Willow helped her wash her hands.
“Lunch will be ready soon, honey.” Willow used the towel to dry Lucy’s hands. “You need to clean up your toys while I grill our sandwiches.”
The door to the bathroom abruptly opened, hitting her sharply in the elbow. “Hey!” She turned toward the doorway, annoyed that Officer Kuhn had barged in. But it wasn’t the female officer at all.
Craggy Face stood in the doorway, his expression grim with a mixture of anger and satisfaction. She noticed his face was flushed and sweaty, his overall appearance disheveled. Had the man run here from somewhere? He held a gun in his hand, the muzzle pointed at her chest. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”
Her pulse spiked, her mouth desert dry with fear and loathing. How had he gotten in her apartment? Where was Officer Kuhn? She felt trapped in the tiny bathroom yet managed to find her voice. “What do you want?”
Lucy began to wail. “Bad man with a gun!”
“Shh, it’s okay.” Willow didn’t take her gaze off Craggy Face but reached down to pull Lucy up and into her arms, cuddling the little girl close and smoothing a shaky hand over her hair. “Stop it! You’re scaring her.”
“You should be scared. Move it.” Craggy Face stepped back, waving his gun in a way that indicated she needed to come out of the bathroom. Dressed in black from head to toe, baseball cap on his head, he looked menacing and all too capable of carrying out his threat. Willow didn’t want to leave the sanctuary of her apartment, but what could she do? There was no way to outrun a bullet.
If it were only her being held captive, she might have taken the risk. But she couldn’t put Lucy in danger.
It was her duty to keep the little girl safe.
Dear Lord, help us! Please, keep us safe in Your care!
The prayer helped calm her nerves. Nate and Murphy were out there. They’d figure out that she and Lucy were missing and would do everything in their power to find her.
Craggy Face locked a hand on her arm, squeezing so tight she winced. The cold barrel of the gun pressed into her side. “We’re walking out of here nice and easy, understand? If you say or do anything to get someone’s attention, I’ll shoot you and deal with the consequences.”
“Wh-why?” She forced the words past the tightness of her throat. “Y-you have the photographs. What more do you want?”
“It’s not what I want.” His breath was hot against the side of her face and reeked of onion. She tried not to gag. “It’s what the boss wants. Let’s go.”
He shoved her hard and she stumbled, nearly losing her grip on Lucy. As much as she didn’t want to leave the child alone, she couldn’t bear bringing her into the center of danger. “Hold on, Lucy will slow us down. Let me leave her here.”
Craggy Face sneered then shrugged. “Hurry!”
“Stay here, Lucy, okay? You’ll be safe.” She put Lucy down. It wrenched her heart to listen to Lucy’s sobs as she closed the bathroom door to keep the little girl inside, but knew it was for the best.
She gasped when her desperate gaze landed on the prone figure of Officer Kuhn, lying in an unconscious heap on the floor, blood seeping from a wound on her temple.
“Wait! She needs medical attention!” Willow dug in her heels, trying to stall for time. Maybe Nate would contact Officer Kuhn, and then rush over here when she didn’t answer her phone. “We need an ambulance.”
“No.” Craggy Face dug the gun barrel into her side, making her suck in a breath as pain shot through her midsection. She tried to shrink away from the gun barrel but couldn’t. “Move it! Or you’ll be sorry.”
She moved as instructed. Craggy Face pushed her into the hallway and closed the door behind them. He didn’t take her onto the elevator, though, shoving her instead toward the stairwell.
“Not a word,” he warned.
She swallowed hard and nodded. She continued repeating her silent prayer, hoping someone else would come upon them in the stairwell. That someone would notice there was something wrong and call the police.
But as they went down one set of stairs after another, taking all seven floors down, they didn’t see anyone. And when they reached the lobby, Craggy Face wrapped his arm around her shoulders, as if he were comforting her, while the barrel of the gun pressed painfully in the soft tissue beneath her rib cage.
Remembering the cameras in the lobby, she glanced upward, attempting to telegraph her fear with her eyes without raising Craggy Face’s suspicions. Yet even as she did her best, she knew it may be hours until anyone watched the video footage.
At which point it may very well be too late.
When they stepped outside, her hope of being discovered evaporated into a fine mist. Pedestrian traffic was brisk; summer tourists crowded the streets. Everyone was in a hurry, no one paying attention to the woman being ushered down the street by a man old enough to be her father.
Maybe they assumed Craggy Face was her father.
She glanced from person to person, trying to make eye contact in an effort to let someone know there was something wrong.
But no one appeared to notice.
“Wh-where are we going?” Her voice was hoarse with fear.
“I told you.” The onion breath was strong, and she couldn’t help wrinkling her nose beneath the assault to her senses. “To meet the boss.”
The boss? She frowned. “Damon?”
Craggy Face let out a harsh laugh. “Not hardly. This is all his fault in the first place. If that idiot doesn’t watch out, he’ll be dead meat, too. This is his last chance to make things right.”
Dead meat, too. The boss. Not Damon Berk. Willow managed to put one foot in front of the other, following Craggy Face’s orders with a sick sense of dread. She felt as if she were walking toward her execution and didn’t know how to stop it.
She truly didn’t understand what was going on. Something criminal, clearly, but what? The photograph had b
een of Craggy Face. What about that had gotten her to this point? To the assault on a police officer? To being dragged out of her apartment at gunpoint?
To this man being so willing to shoot her in cold blood?
SIXTEEN
“I really want to get inside that restaurant.” Nate looked at his boss, Sergeant Gavin Sutherland, seated across the table. “All roads lead to the Burgerteria.”
Gavin nodded. “Henry’s working on the search warrant...but I haven’t heard back yet.”
They’d gathered in the large conference room located on the second floor of their precinct. He’d only been there for thirty minutes and was itching to get back out to the alley. Darcy hadn’t found the bullet casing yet, but he knew it had to be there somewhere.
Although getting the casing and matching it to the others they’d found wouldn’t necessarily convince a judge to sign off on the search warrant. They needed more.
He put his hand down to stroke Murphy’s soft fur, forgetting they’d all kenneled their partners for the meeting. Gavin had requested a rundown, which he’d given as succinctly as possible.
“Anything else?” Gavin asked.
“No. That’s it.” Nate hesitated for a moment, then added, “Listen, I need to go.” He couldn’t ignore the itchy feeling crawling up his spine. “I want to get back to the Burgerteria in case the search warrant comes through. And if it doesn’t, I still might be able to convince Damon Berk to cooperate.”
Gavin leveled a steady glare at him, as if silently warning him not to go off the rails. “Fine. But keep me updated on what you’re working on. I don’t want to hear about an officer nearly being shot from the dispatcher.”
He couldn’t stop in the middle of a pursuit to contact his boss, but he understood Gavin was more upset about Murphy’s close call than angry with him.
“I will.” He surged to his feet and left the conference room. Down on the main level, he freed Murphy from his crate and headed back outside. He drove straight to the Burgerteria, intent on getting through to Damon Berk.
He knew, deep down, that somehow the restaurant was the key to cracking the case.
His phone rang. Officer Kuhn.
He pulled over to the curb, double-parking in a spot near the entrance to the alley. His heart thudded painfully in his chest as Kathleen said in a groggy voice, “Willow is gone. I—He hit me. I lost consciousness but when I came to, she was gone and the kid was closed up in the bathroom. I’m sorry.”
Who had grabbed Willow? Even as the question formed in his mind, he knew it was Craggy Face. Carl Dower. “Stay with Lucy, will you? I’ll call for an ambulance and backup.” He disconnected from the call, quickly called dispatch and jumped out of the SUV. After taking Murphy out of the back, he ran to the back side of the restaurant.
Rounding the corner, he caught a glimpse of Willow being pushed in the rear door of the restaurant by Dower.
No! His chest was so tight it hurt to breathe. He reached for his radio. “I need backup in the alley behind the Burgerteria! My prime suspect, who I believe is Carl Dower, has kidnapped Willow.”
“Ten-four. Backup on the way.”
He and Murphy ran down the length of the alley, his mind grappling with the fact that Willow was inside with Dower. He couldn’t wait; he needed to go after her right now. There was no need for a search warrant; these were exigent circumstances. A crime in progress.
Weapon in hand, he paused at the door, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves before easing it open.
Please, Lord, keep Willow safe!
The prayer rose from his heart, reaching for the sky as he entered the building with Murphy at his side. The idea of Willow being harmed made it difficult to concentrate. He kept his partner off leash, knowing that they would need every advantage in order to get Willow out of there, alive and unharmed.
Inside the building, he noted a steep staircase leading down into a basement storage area. Terse voices echoed off the concrete, but the words weren’t easy to understand.
Holding his breath, he eased down on the first step, expecting a loud creak or groan of the wood to give him away. Hearing nothing but the staccato beat of his heart, he eased down a second step. Then a third, hugging the wall and holding his weapon ready.
Using hand signals, he instructed Murphy to stay at his side. As he drew closer to the bottom of the stairs, the words from the men below became clear.
“Why is this my fault?” Damon Berk’s nasal voice was distinctly familiar. “You’re the stupid idiot who shot Paulie right behind the restaurant over a stupid phone. What did you think would happen? Of course the cops came here looking for you.”
“Paulie was threatening to talk! And it’s your fault because of her!” The lower, husky voice had to be that of Carl Dower. “You encouraged her to take those pictures! Now the boss wants our heads on a platter!”
“She was supposed to take pictures of burgers, not people!” Damon’s nasal voice turned whiny. “How was I to know she was some sort of amateur photographer? And would find your ugly mug interesting!”
“That photo is on the wall of the community college for everyone to see!” Dower’s low voice rose with anger. “I grabbed it, but not until it had been posted for days. All because of you!”
“You need to convince the boss it was her fault, not mine,” Damon whined.
Nate wondered if Damon and Carl were the only two men down there, or if there were others, possibly someone standing guard over Willow. He took another step. The wood beneath his boot creaked and he froze, his heart lodged in his throat. He signaled for Murphy to stay and leveled his weapon, prepared for the worst.
The seconds ticked by slowly. Eventually, he let out his breath in a soundless sigh. The two men were arguing loud enough that they must not have heard him.
Every cell in his body wanted to rush to Willow. But he forced himself to remain calm. Nate took another step and noticed there were several large boxes piled along the wall in front of him. He thought they must contain food or other restaurant supplies, but then he caught a glimpse of a popular phone logo along the side.
What in the world? He frowned, trying to understand why the basement of the Burgerteria would contain boxes of expensive phones, when it clicked. The expensive new phone that Paulie White had.
This wasn’t about drugs, as he’d originally suspected, but about stolen goods.
Involving enough money to kill for.
* * *
Willow huddled as far from Craggy Face and Damon Berk as she could get within the confines of the small space. The entire basement was filled with boxes of various sizes and shapes, containing items like high-end televisions, laptop computers and phones.
There was even a box of cameras just like hers.
She tried not to worry about Lucy, hoping the little girl was safe in the apartment. She backed up to a stack of boxes and leaned against them for a few moments. She knew Craggy Face had brought her here to face their boss, but he hadn’t let a name slip.
While the men had argued, she tried to reach for her phone again. She pushed the buttons on the screen without looking, estimating the numbers 911, but without success. The call didn’t connect. She tried again, and when that didn’t work, she edged the phone out further and glanced down at the screen.
No service.
Swallowing hard against a shaft of disappointment, she slipped the phone back in her pocket. Being surrounded by concrete must have made it impossible to get a cell signal.
The stairs were to her left and a little behind her. Maybe if she could get to the staircase leading up to the main level, she could make a run for it.
Maybe.
The image of being shot in the back caused a shudder to ripple through her. But what option did she have? She couldn’t just stand here waiting for the boss to arrive.
For all she knew, the boss
planned on killing her anyway. Might as well try to escape before that happened. Especially since the two guys were intent on their argument.
Willow sent up a silent prayer, asking for God to give her the strength she needed to get out. Feeling calmer, Willow eased away from the boxes and took a tiny and silent step to the side, toward the stairs.
She thought about what Nate had said about his childhood. She understood his perspective a little better now. Being in danger like this, knowing Craggy Face was armed with a gun, made it difficult to believe. But she refused to give up hope. Deep down, she knew God was watching over her, and that He would send Nate, or another cop, to save her, too.
“I’m going upstairs to wait.” Damon’s statement caused her heart to sink in her chest. She didn’t want to be left alone down here with Craggy Face.
In her heart she didn’t believe Damon was a killer, but there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind that Craggy Face could pull the trigger, shooting her in the blink of an eye.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Craggy Face took a menacing step toward Damon. “We’re waiting right here, understand?”
Damon shrank from the older man. “Yeah, uh, sure, Carl.”
Willow took another step, her gaze glued to Craggy Face. Had he noticed her movement? He continued threatening Damon Berk until the man was practically cowering in the corner, his face buried in his hands.
Now! She turned and ran toward the stairs.
“Hey! Stop or I’ll shoot!” Craggy Face’s voice held a note of panic.
She didn’t stop. She hunched her shoulders, expecting to feel the sharp impact of a bullet at any moment.
A dark shadow moved from the landing of the stairway, and she feared she was too late. That their boss, whoever he was, had come down without her hearing him.
But then she recognized Nate and Murphy. She knew it! Her heart soared in her chest. She knew he’d come!
“Get behind me.” Nate grabbed her arm and quickly shoved her behind him. She heard a sharp retort ring out, followed by a second gunshot.