“Kate?” Suki bristled at the question. “How would I know? I don’t understand. What do you mean where’s Kate?” Suki asked.
“Kate’s gone missing, too. You’re telling us you don’t know anything about that?” Patel questioned, placing his hands on the table as he leaned toward her.
“Well, I—I—” Suki stammered.
She’s hiding something, Ryan thought. She may not know where Kate is but she must know that her brother has taken her. She also knows his intentions. But will she give up him up to the police?
“Where’s Kate? Spit it out!” Patel snarled.
“I don’t know where Kate is!”
“But you do know who took her, don’t you?” Patel pushed. “Now, come on, Suki, when you thought Kate was responsible for killing your mother, maybe you were willing to help Ethan. But now...” he paused, looked her straight in the eyes, “...how can you let your brother kill an innocent woman?”
Suki remained silent.
Ryan couldn’t take his own silence any longer. “If you can let Ethan know about the note, and that it wasn’t Kate’s fault after all, maybe you could stop him before he goes through with his plans.”
Raj shot him a warning glance and Ryan thinned his lips, forcing himself to stay out of it. He stepped back.
“Do you have any idea what he’s done with her?” Porter asked, maintaining more composure than his partner or Ryan.
Suki sat stony silent, trying to think of what she should do.
“Suki, for heaven’s sake, tell them what you know,” Mrs. DiMarco pleaded.
“I want my lawyer. I told you that before.”
“If we have to wait for your Public Defender to show up, Whitney and Kate could be dead. Is that what you want?” Patel asked.
“No, but I need someone on my side to help me out of this,” Suki replied.
“I understand, Miss Henderson, but look at it this way. Right now, you’re in a little hole. It won’t be so hard to dig your way out of it. However, if Whitney or Kate are found dead, you’re going to be in a hole so deep you’ll never see the light of day again—your brother, too. Now, tell me, do you still want a lawyer?” Porter asked.
“No, I guess not, when you put it that way.”
“Let me ask you again,” Porter said, “do you know who took Kate?”
“I think my brother, Ethan, took her,” she said, guardedly.
“Do you know where he would have taken her?” Porter questioned, leaning in closer to Suki, searching her eyes for the truth.
“No, I don’t. I wish I did, but, no.”
“But you do know where Whitney is, don’t you?” Patel asked.
“Yes,” Suki hesitated, “but—”
“Tell us!” Patel yelled. “Where is Whitney McAllister?”
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. She’s in a hidden room in the underground city, below Pioneer Square, where I work,” Suki cried, the truth spilling out. “I hid her in a locked storage room to get Kate to come to Seattle.”
“Is she dead?” Porter asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Suki answered, not able to look him in the eye. At least she seemed ashamed of what she had done to Whitney.
“You don’t think so?” Patel questioned. The veins in his neck were visibly pulsating from the stress.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. I’ve kept her sedated with sleeping pills.”
“Oh, Suki...” Mrs. DiMarco sounded stunned.
“I was going to check on her when you picked me up outside of where I work,” Suki explained. “I didn’t just leave her there.”
Porter directed Raj to call for an ambulance to meet them at the building in Pioneer Square where the Underground Tour begins, and he dashed out of the room to make that call.
Then Porter stepped out in the hallway for a moment and Ryan paced back and forth, desperate to find Kate too.
Porter returned with a uniformed policewoman. “Suki, we need you to figure out where your brother took Kate. And we need to find Whitney now. Right now.”
She looked up at him with understanding.
Time was not Whitney’s friend and Porter’s face had grown gravely serious. “I think you already know that I’m going to have to arrest you, but don’t make it any worse. I need you to show us, right now, where you’re keeping Whitney. Hopefully, she’s still alive.”
“I understand,” Suki agreed. “I never intended to kill Whitney...” she let the words trail off.
“Officer Diaz, after you handcuff her and read her her rights, meet me at my car. I want both of you to go with us to find Whitney.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer answered.
“Mrs. DiMarco. Thank you for your help.”
“I hope you get there in time.”
“You and me both.”
At that, Ryan rushed out as Patel was calling for an ambulance. He stood by as Raj then phoned a junior officer, directing him to contact the manager of the Underground Tour to meet them there too, ASAP, to unlock the place and turn on all the lights.
“Raj. Did you hear back from the forensic team yet? Do you have some word on Kate,” he pleaded.
“No, not yet. But the investigators have been all over the area behind the restaurant and didn’t find anything.”
“When was that?” Ryan asked.
“I sent a couple of CSI’s out there when I left the room while Will was questioning the DiMarco woman.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Ryan. You can’t.”
“I need to find Kate!”
“You need to find Kate? Ryan, you’re still a civilian. You can’t be running all over town trying to do our job.”
“I know I’m not a cop anymore, but I can keep my eyes open. I promise I’ll stay out of the way.”
“All right,” Raj said, his eyes darting around to be sure no one was within earshot. He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “You better just stay in the car and wait or we’ll all be in a lot of hot water.”
“You have my word.”
“Come on. We’ve gotta go find Whitney,” Raj told him as he headed out the door.
Ryan reached out and tapped Raj’s arm to stop him. “I understand about Whitney, but what about Kate?”
“We’ll continue questioning Suki in the car. Hopefully, we can get her to tell us something that will lead us to Kate, too. But in the meantime, I can’t have you doing anything crazy. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you. But if Kate is right about Ethan killing her parents, it’s more than possible he took her. And if that’s the case, you know he won’t hesitate to kill her.”
“We don’t know for sure that he killed her folks.”
“I know, but it’s possible, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” Raj nodded. “I’d like to stay and debate this with you, Ryan, but we really do have to go.”
“Please, Raj, find a way to get Suki to tell us where Kate is, too.”
“I’ll try,” Raj said, as they caught up to Porter and dashed out the door.
Chapter 17
Officer Diaz and Suki met them at their car, and they all climbed in and sped off to meet the ambulance and other officers at the Underground Tour. Ryan, Diaz and Suki rode in the back, while the detectives used the opportunity to draw more information out of their suspect.
“Suki, I’m glad you decided to cooperate and show us where you’ve been keeping Whitney. It was the right thing to do, but we need to find Kate, too, before your brother hurts her. Do you have any idea where he might have taken her?” Porter asked, watching her periodically in the rearview mirror as he drove.
“Not really. He never told me.”
“What is he planning to do with her?” Patel questioned.
Suki didn’t respond. With her hands cuffed behind her back, she dropped her head down. A few tears fell onto her cotton blouse, leaving dark spots.
It took everything Ryan had, not to reach over and make her talk.
“Suki, an
swer me,” Patel pressed, as he turned in his seat to look back at her. He wore an expression that looked like he had the same bad feeling that Ryan had, when he saw her bending forward and crying.
“Suki, what is your brother planning to do with Kate?” he insisted. “Tell me.”
“He’s going to kill her,” she blurted out.
Porter glanced at the rearview mirror again, then over at his partner. Their eyes met with a look that said they knew they didn’t have much time.
“Think, Suki. You know your brother better than anyone else does. Where would he take her?” Porter demanded.
“I don’t know!” she screamed, shaking her head from side to side. “I don’t know. If I knew I would tell you!”
Ryan felt so helpless sitting there listening to this. If it were up to him, he would find a way to make Suki tell them what they needed. Suddenly his phone vibrated. He snatched it up hoping it might be Kate.
“Hello, Ryan,” Vanessa said.
“Vanessa, I don’t have time for this! Something terrible is going on—Kate is missing.” He didn’t want to get stuck talking to her.
“Missing?” she asked. “Are you sure? I saw her earlier.”
“You did? Where?”
“I was on a date, at Yellowfin’s and when Jonathan and I first walked into the restaurant, I saw her head for the ladies room. Then, all of a sudden, she turned and walked toward the kitchen.”
“I was there then, but I didn’t see you,” Ryan said.
“I know. You had your head buried in the menu, so I saw no reason to disturb you.”
“Did you see anything else?” Ryan asked. “Anything out of the ordinary?”
“Yes, something peculiar,” she said.
“What?” Ryan pressed.
“I saw her stick her phone down her shirt, probably into her bra. I thought that was odd. Don’t you think that was odd?”
“Yeah, that is strange,” Ryan agreed. “Anything else?”
“No, that was it. Why do you believe she’s missing? That wasn’t that long ago.”
“I can’t talk about it right now. I need to go. Thanks for the info, Vanessa.” He hung up.
Questions swirled around in Ryan’s head. Was that Ethan on the other end of her phone call? Did she leave on her own? Was she hurt? Was she alive?
Ryan looked up to see Patel staring at him and Porter eyeing him through the rearview. “Well?” the two detectives asked in unison.
Ryan explained that Vanessa had seen Kate go out back.
“Too bad she didn’t tell us anything we don’t know,” Raj said then went back to questioning Suki.
“Suki, is there any place you can think of where your brother might have taken Kate? A warehouse? A park? Or a house your brother might go to? Somewhere he used to work? Think!” Patel urged the young woman.
“Our house, yes. He might have taken her to our house, the one we lived in when our mom died,” Suki said.
“Wouldn’t someone else live there now?” Officer Diaz asked.
“No, it’s vacant,” Suki told them. “Yesterday, my brother told me he went by the house, just to look at it for old-time sake, trying to remember when we were kids and we were happy. He said it was empty and had a for-sale sign out front. We lost the house after my mom died, but the people who bought it must have lost their jobs or something and lost the house, too.”
“So, what’s the address?” Patel asked.
“Oh, gosh, that was ten years ago. I was only fourteen.”
“You have to remember.” Patel yelled, his eyes wide, staring at her in the back seat. “Think!”
“Well, it was on Queen Anne Hill.”
“What was the name of the street?” Patel demanded.
“Let me think. Stop yelling at me and just let me think!” she cried.
Maybe she’s dead, kept replaying in Ryan’s mind. He shook his head, as if he could shake those thoughts out of it. No, I have to stay positive. I have to find her.
Then he thought about what Vanessa had said—that Kate put her phone in her bra. Why? Normally, she would have stuck it in her pocket or in her purse, but putting it down her bra meant she did it on purpose. It occurred to him that maybe she left her phone on and silenced it so the police could track her by GPS. That would mean she knew she was going to be taken.
“Raj.”
“Yeah?”
“Vanessa said something else. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but now—”
“What is it?”
“She said she saw Kate put her phone down her shirt before she went to the kitchen. I think that says she knew she was in danger. Do you think you could get a police tech to track her phone by GPS?”
“Yes, that’s a great idea,” Raj agreed.
“And what about finding the last person who called her? Could the tech find out who that was and track that phone, too?”
“Probably. Let me call.”
“Okay. What now?”
“Ryan, just sit tight.”
Chapter 18
“Look, there’s the ambulance, Raj. The Underground Tour building must be right up ahead.” Porter pulled over to the curb. A couple other officers had already blocked off part of the street for the ambulance and police cars.
Porter and Patel jumped out first, grabbing their flashlights. Officer Diaz helped Suki out of the vehicle and kept a firm grasp on her arm while Ryan stood beside the car. If he stayed put and let the detectives do their job, they would find Whitney sooner and then they could get back to looking for Kate.
The manager had already unlocked the front door for them, turned on the lights and was waiting for them in the foyer. Diaz escorted her prisoner toward the building.
“Suki,” the manager said when he saw her, “what have you done?”
She looked at him for a moment, then hung her head in shame and kept walking.
“Miss Henderson,” Detective Porter said, “where do we go from here?”
She lifted her head when he called her name. “Down those stairs,” she answered, motioning with her right shoulder to the wide set of stairs with peeling green paint which took them to the lower-level souvenir shop.
Porter stepped just outside the front door and signaled to the paramedics to follow them with the stretcher, as a gurney would be too difficult to handle going down the stairs and into the underground city.
“Show us where to go, Miss Henderson,” Porter ordered and they disappeared into the lower level. Raj shot Ryan a warning glance as he descended the stairs too.
Left with his thoughts, Ryan did his best not to think the worst. Then he remembered the TV being on when they were at Whitney’s apartment. Could Ethan have been there? It made sense. What if he was still there when we were? What if Kate had gone alone? He could have killed her right then.
“That would explain why he called Kate shortly after that,” Ryan said aloud, having an epiphany. “That would mean he was in an even more agitated state, more determined.” Oh, Kate. Just hold on.
Just then, Officer Diaz came up with Suki in tow. She ushered her into the back seat and had just gotten in herself when the paramedics came up carrying a woman on a stretcher. She had short blonde hair and bore a definite resemblance to Kate. Whitney, she’s alive.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Whitney cried in a hoarse voice, tears streaking her face. “I thought I was going to die in there.” She reached out and grabbed Will’s hand.
“You’re safe now,” Porter assured her, patting her hand. “These paramedics are going to take you to the hospital. They’ll check you out and take good care of you. When you’re up to it, we’ll come by and talk with you. Okay?”
“Okay,” she answered in a raspy voice. She nodded and wiped her tears with her hands.
“Get this girl some water to drink, guys. She seems pretty dehydrated,” Porter said to the EMTs.
“We’ll take care of her, sir.” The paramedics lifted Whitney’s body onto the stretcher and carried he
r out to the ambulance. Porter, Patel, and the manager followed close behind.
Ryan walked up to them. “Is she okay?”
“She seems to be. We’ll know more after the docs examine her.”
“That’s great, Raj, but now we need to find Kate.”
The detectives were approaching the police car when they heard Officer Diaz calling to them from inside. Porter and Patel rushed over. “What is it?” Porter asked.
“Suki said she just remembered the name of the street their house was on—Comstock.”
“Comstock?” Ryan asked.
“Sound familiar?” Raj questioned as he got into the passenger side.
“Maybe. Hang on.” Ryan got into the backseat and looked up the active homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service on his cell phone. He found the address for the only home currently for sale on Comstock. It happened to be the home he was interested in buying—the one he’d shown to Kate that first night.
“What are the chances of that?” he muttered.
“The chances of what?” Porter asked, getting in behind the wheel.
Chapter 19
The movement of the vehicle stopped. When the engine cut, Kate realized they must be parked. Wherever he was taking her, it seemed that they had arrived. The trunk opened. Kate was just rousing from unconsciousness. The whack on the head had knocked her out, and now her head was throbbing.
Ethan pulled her out of the trunk by her arm and practically dragged her from the car, through the side gate, to the back of a house. There was something familiar about the place, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
She was not yet steady on her feet, nor was she conscious enough to fight back. “Where are we?” she asked.
“We’re home,” he said, grinning. “Do you know how lucky we are? No, of course you don’t.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. He must be crazy.
He pulled her up the stairs. “This is my childhood home. You know, the one we lost because of you. Since the day you came into our lives, everything unraveled. It’s all your fault! And one way or another, you’re gonna pay for it. Tonight.”
Kate was terrified. She thought she could try to reason with him. “If you lost the house because of me, how come we’re here now? Doesn’t it belong to someone else?”
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