Then came had the call he’d been hoping for. Sammy was safe and well.
The Howes flew with Hedley in a private jet to Eagle airport. While the parents chattered, Hedley used the travel time to pull up information about the three involved in their son’s kidnapping. Breckenridge PD had emailed Jack Thompson’s statement. He was the son of a wealthy Texan CEO who ran an aviation insurance company. Jack had a juvenile record but only for misdemeanors. Nathan Beranson, who’d been apprehended with the boy, was a San Antonio PI, a former cop with an excellent record. Hedley knew nothing about Kate Thompson other than what her husband had told them.
Hedley drove straight to the hospital. He needed to speak to the boy but he let the parents have their moment while he went to another part of the hospital to speak to Jack. A police officer sat outside the room. Hedley showed his ID and went in. Jack lay on his back, oxygen mask in place, his face marked with fine cuts, right arm bandaged and an IV in place. Hedley noticed the shiny wedding ring and remembered Amy’s excitement and how he’d thought it was a long shot.
Hedley still had a guy trawling through that list of newlyweds until the phone call had come from Breckenridge.
“Mr. Thompson?” Hedley stood next the bed.
Eyes flickered open.
“Jack? I’m Special Agent Hedley Moss from Las Vegas.” He held open his ID.
“Found them?” The voice was raspy.
“Yes.”
“Thank God. Safe? Tommy okay?”
“Sammy’s fine.”
Hedley watched Jack’s face under the mask. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. He took out his recorder. “Have you been read your rights? Up to discussing your statement?”
“Yes…I took the boy…Kate pointed him out. She told me he was ours and I believed her. So sorry…His poor parents…Kate’s sick. Needs help.” He began wheezing and Hedley became concerned.
“Take it easy. I’ll make this quick, but it’s important.”
“Should have known,” Jack croaked. “Blame myself. She’s been depressed for months. Confused. Her parents died…couple weeks apart…since then she’s been hurting herself.”
“In what way?”
“Cutting at her wrists mainly. But she—oh God….”
“What?”
“I came back from town…found her and Tommy—Sammy in the bathroom.
She’d written my name on her back…got him to cut on the lines with a knife.” Hedley looked at him in disbelief. Did this guy think he had idiot tattooed on his forehead?
“Hey, I know how it sounds. The kid can’t write…her back’s a mess…. Look, we’re both a bit fucked up…. I’ve been in and out of mental institutions…. Kate, too…but I’d never have taken the boy if I hadn’t believed he was ours.”
“Have you ever hit your wife?”
“Not without her consent.”
Hedley sucked in his cheeks. “What does that mean?” Jack pulled the mask from his face. “We’re into rough sex…. We went to S&M clubs in San Antonio…. We play games, use handcuffs, knives…. We have a code word, so we don’t go too far…Charlie. Ask Kate.” Jack smiled, then the smile fell away. “Only when I confronted her about Tom—Sammy, she flipped out…started saying all sorts of crap about me. Nathan arrived in the middle of it all…she starts yelling she’s not even married to me.” He began to cough and dragged the mask back over his face.
Hedley was alarmed by the grayness of his skin. “Don’t talk any more. I’ve read your statement, I’ll come back and see you later.” Hedley went back to the room where the Howes had been reunited with their son, still thinking about what Jack Thompson had said. Was this case going to end up with defendants incompetent to stand trial? The kid was alive and back with his parents which was what really mattered. Hedley still wanted a successful prosecution.
Sammy sat curled in his mother’s arms, an oxygen mask on his face. He clutched an ugly blue toy with a singed ear. Amy’s face was wet with tears.
“He okay?” Hedley asked.
She nodded. “He just needs oxygen for a while. He won’t let go of that toy.
They gave it him.”
Her chin quivered and Marshall patted her shoulder.
Hedley bent so his head was level with the boy’s. “Hi there, Sammy. I’ve been helping Mommy and Daddy look for you. We’ve all been wondering where you were. Who’s been taking care of you?”
“My other Mommy.”
Amy flinched.
“Where’ve you been living?” Hedley asked.
“In a house.”
Hedley smiled. “What did you do in the house?”
“We played games. I was a help. I had to sleep in the tub.”
“Why did you sleep in the tub?”
“Mommy was bad. She hit my other Daddy with a stick. He made her stay in the bathroom. He shouted a lot.”
“Did they ever hit you?”
Sammy shook his head.
“Did they hit each other?”
His head dropped. “Sometimes.”
“Did your other Mommy ever ask you to do anything to her back?” Hedley watched his eyes. The kid nodded. Damn. He hadn’t expected that. “What did you do?”
He burrowed deeper into Amy’s embrace.
“Sammy?” Hedley pressed. “No one’s mad at you. You can tell me.”
“A knife,” he muttered.
Hedley’s heart hammered. “Knives are icky, huh? And sharp.”
“Yeah. I didn’t get any yucky stuff on me, though.”
“Yucky stuff?”
“Yeah. You know.” He leaned in and whispered, “Blood.”
“You did something with a knife?” Hedley asked. “Who told you to? Was it your other Mommy?”
He nodded. Hedley caught the Howes’ concern and backed off. “How did the fire start, Sammy? Do you know?”
He pressed his face into Amy’s chest.
“That’s enough,” Marshall said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
John McAllister, a Summit County deputy sheriff, took Hedley to an observation room sandwiched between those containing the prisoners.
“Neither has asked for a phone or a lawyer,” McAllister said. “The woman hasn’t said a word.”
Hedley watched Kate for a while through the one-way glass. Apart from the dirty face, she could have been a wax figure, she sat so still. Her sweater and jeans were filthy. He turned to look at Nathan, who leaned back on his chair, his feet on the table, his eyes closed. His clothes were scorched.
“Have they been checked by a doctor?” Hedley asked.
“They’re not injured, just dirty.”
Hedley ground his teeth. “They need to be seen by a doctor. Did they resist arrest?”
“He didn’t. The child clung to her. It made the arrest…more difficult.”
“Find his gun?”
“No. He said it was stolen.”
“I’ll speak with him first. But get the duty doctor in to see both of them—now.” Hedley didn’t want some spineless snake of a lawyer turning this case upside down on a technicality.
***
Nathan’s pockets had been emptied, his car keys and the contents of his wallet documented and put in plastic bags. While he was being photographed and fingerprinted, he offered no more information than was necessary. He knew he was guilty of nothing, but anxiety still gnawed at his stomach. He’d been left in an interview room, his hands re-cuffed in front of his body.
His head ached with trying to figure this out. He didn’t want to be angry with Kate, but he wondered if he’d been played by her and Jack. Nathan glanced at the one-way window on his left. It didn’t feel good being this side of the glass. He guessed Feds would come from Las Vegas. He thought about phoning his father, but decided not to, at least not yet because he already knew what the old man would say.
Nathan opened his eyes and moved his feet from the table when two men walked in.
“I’m Special Agent Hedley Moss, out of the Las Vegas f
ield office.” The cop removed Nathan’s cuffs and left. Nathan sat motionless while the Fed read him his rights.
“Do you understand each of these rights I’ve explained to you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you wish to waive your rights and answer my questions?
Nathan knew he should ask for a lawyer and keep quiet, so he wasn’t sure why he heard himself say, “Yes.”
“This room is equipped with a tape recorder, so our conversation will be recorded. Do you understand that?”
Nathan nodded, annoyed his pulse rate had increased. “Yes.”
“I don’t need to remind you kidnapping is a federal offense,” Hedley said.
Nathan erupted. “Tell Jack, not me. I was in San Antonio on surveillance when the child was abducted. My computer records will back that up. There are photographs in my camera, timed and dated. Check the receipts in my wallet. You can follow my journey from San Antonio to Echo Lake from the gas I purchased. I sure as hell didn’t go near Las Vegas.”
“How did you know he was taken in Las Vegas?”
“Kate told me.” God, had she lied? Nathan’s head throbbed and a wave of nausea swept over him.
“Like to explain what the boy was doing in your car, fifty miles away from Echo Lake?”
Shit! She’d driven that far? Nathan didn’t know how to not make this look bad for her.
“Look, let me go back a step. I was trying to do the right thing here. When I went out to the house this morning, Kate slipped me a note asking for help.”
“Still got the note?”
Nathan’s jaw ticked. “Jack took it.”
“What did it say?”
“We need help. Jack is dangerous. Get the Police. Don’t do anything on your own.”
“What did you do after she gave you the note?” Hedley leaned forward and stared straight at him.
“I was going to find a place to turn and go back to the house but I saw the Suburban coming up fast behind me. Kate was driving. I couldn’t see Jack. She skidded into a ditch. I got out and ran to her. Jack jumped out of the back of the SUV and we got into a fight. He hit her and knocked me unconscious.”
“He said you skidded off the road. They went to help you and you all went back to the house to get shovels to move the Suburban.” Nathan didn’t like this. He shook his head. “Jack tried to kill me.”
“He says you tried to kill him.”
Nathan gritted his teeth. “He’s lying.”
“Why would he want to kill you?”
“Why would I want to kill him?”
Hedley tapped his fingers on the table. “Jack admits he took the boy from McDonald’s and drove the three of them to Echo Lake, but claims it was Kate’s idea. She told him the boy was theirs.”
Despite everything, Nathan wondered if that could be true.
“Her husband says she’s become increasingly unstable since her parents died.
She self-harms.”
The pain between Nathan’s eyes increased. He rubbed the spot with his fingers.
“Once Jack suspected the truth about the boy, he confronted her. But he was so frightened by her reaction, of what she threatened to do, that when you turned up, he pretended the child was his to keep her calm.”
“I don’t buy that. He tried to kill me. When I didn’t die from the blow to my head, he planned to drown me. Then he changed his mind and was going to pretend the kid shot me by accident. He put cloth under the cable ties he used on me so there were no marks. He handcuffed his wife to a pipe in the upstairs bathroom and swallowed the key to the cuffs. The bastard left her to die in a blazing house. He left the kid to die.”
“Did you see him tie up his wife?”
“No, nor did I see him take my gun or throw away my cell phone, but they didn’t leap out of my locked trunk on their own.” Nathan coughed. He felt like he was bringing up smoke.
“How did you get free?”
“I found a knife. I think Kate might have dropped it under the couch.”
“How did you get her free?”
“Used an axe.” Nathan stared straight at him.
“What were you doing while Jack was handcuffing her to a pipe?”
“I guess I was lying unconscious in the living room.” Nathan was pleased to see the look of anxiety cross Hedley’s face, no matter how fleeting.
“So she could have set the fire and used the cuffs on herself?” Fuck. “For what reason?”
“Did you cuff her and set the fire?”
“No.” Nathan met Hedley’s gaze.
“Why did you drive away leaving Jack trapped in the house?”
“We saw him as we drove away.”
“He says after he carried Sammy out, you forced him to go back inside.” Jack, you sly bastard. “I got the kid out.”
“You hit Jack over the head and put cable ties around his wrists and ankles,” Hedley said.
Nathan’s heart pounded. “He knocked me out, twice. You can check the bumps on my head. He didn’t want me to leave with his wife.” Nathan started to cough again, agitation aggravating his lungs.
Hedley got to his feet and walked round to look at the back of Nathan’s head.
“I’ve got a doctor coming in to see you. You sure you’re fit to continue this?”
“Yes,” Nathan snapped.
Hedley returned to his chair. “So does Jack not wanting you to leave with his wife seem unreasonable?”
Now Nathan didn’t answer.
“How well do you know Kate and Jack Thompson?” Hedley asked.
“I’d never seen Kate before this morning. I met Jack for the first time several months ago.”
“A long lost brother?”
“Something like that.” Nathan started coughing again. His lungs ached.
“Well, that’s exactly what he is, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“A long lost brother you have a grudge against?”
“Do I?” Nathan kept his tone neutral.
“I understand your mother deserted you when you were three years old, the same age as Sammy Howe, and married again. You’ve always been jealous of Jack. He took your mom from you.”
“I had a mother. My father married again.” Nathan pressed his nails into his palms.
“Jack told us that he had a brief affair with your fiancée, Alison Taylor.”
“What does she have to do with any of this?” Nathan fought to keep the anger out of his voice. He knew the Fed was trying to provoke him. He’d used the same tactic himself.
“Another reason for you to kill your brother.”
“Kill him? Why wait a year?” He damn well wished he hadn’t.
“Because he was in a psychiatric hospital. Jack says you’ve been watching him since his release. What will we find when we check your computer?” Now Nathan was shocked. Jack knew he’d been under surveillance? Shit.
Nathan had deleted the file, but it still lurked on his hard drive. Fuck.
“Maybe you were waiting to spoil Jack’s new marriage. Have you slept with his wife?”
“No.” Nathan snorted. “Couldn’t quite manage to fit that in between getting hit over the head, and saving her and the kid from the fire.” He coughed.
“She’s lied to you,” Hedley said. “She’s used you. Maybe you and she planned this whole thing and set up Jack Thompson from the start.” This was not going well. Nathan wanted to stop talking but silence now would make him look even worse. “Have you spoken to Kate?”
“Not yet,” Hedley said.
“Look at her wrists. She’s in an abusive relationship. She told me she had a baby that died. Jack made her think the kid was hers. She’s scared to death.
When we escaped from the house I let her drive because my vision was blurred.
When I woke, she was still driving. She wanted to get as far away from the guy as possible.”
“This is the same man that put cloths around your wrists so the ties didn’t leave a mark? Why would he want
others to see marks on his wife?”
“Maybe he gets off on it,” Nathan retorted.
“Or they’re self-inflicted injuries.”
“For fuck…Ask Kate.”
“We will.”
“I don’t see any basis for you to hold me. I can prove I had nothing to do with the kidnapping. As far as the attempted murder allegation, it’s Jack’s word against mine. I’m an ex-cop. Jack Thompson has spent months in a mental institution. Who do you want to believe?”
Nathan didn’t get an answer.
***
For the first time in as long as he could remember, Jack was pleased to see his father.
“How are you feeling?” Don asked.
“Tired, sore…could be worse.”
“How’s your arm?”
“Nasty burn. My ribs hurt more. I think I must have been blown into the side of the Suburban.” He watched his father’s gaze sweep over him.
Don pulled up a chair. “Is this place okay? I could get you transferred.”
“Not sure the police would let you.”
“You better tell me everything that’s happened.”
“I’ve fucked things up.”
His father tilted his head. “Don’t you always?”
“Yes.”
Jack wanted to laugh at the shocked expression on his father’s face, but went for sad instead. “I know I’m a disappointment. Not the son you wanted.” Don’s face didn’t change. “Tell me about this girl you married.” Jack’s rage flared like a struck match. You fucking bastard. I’m the only son you’ve fucking got. Aren’t you even glad I’m alive? It crossed Jack’s mind to finish it now. If he’d had his knife, he might have. He struggled to suppress his anger. Not the time. This game wasn’t over.
“I met her in Hoopers. She was visiting a friend. We slept together a few times.
She liked the idea of a crazy boyfriend.” Jack moved and then groaned. He hurt less than he wanted his father to believe, but Don took no notice anyway. Fucker.
“She stopped coming to visit her friend and I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. Then I bumped into her at the zoo just before I was admitted to Ashlands.
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