“Don’t,” I warned.
I wiped angrily at the tears on my cheeks.
“Rain, what I’m saying is I realized that although I hadn’t…even though I wasn’t going to be a father anymore...I…” Jimmy’s voice broke and I couldn’t look at him. “I realized that as a father, you hurt when your children hurt. God wasn’t punishing us, Rain. He was grieving with us. He felt the loss of that child with us, right in that hospital room. All that we’d done; that’s already been paid for. That’s grace, Rain. The Lord already covered all of our mistakes and sins with His death. The only thing we can do is accept that.”
“I don’t know if I can just believe like you do, Jimmy. I don’t know how to trust like that. I’m trying, but…” My voice trembled, and I shrugged helplessly.
Jimmy looked at me and nodded. His face was strained, like he was holding back a wave of words. “OK, ma chér,” Jimmy said and pulled me to his chest. “You answered my question.”
I didn’t understand what he meant. I’d only managed to scream and cry and toss surveillance equipment around.
Still, the look on Jimmy’s face was relief, and that made me feel better somehow.
Purple Knot
35
I walked across the newly watered lawn that spanned the front of Digi-Safe’s building. It was white and sleek, with black glass windows and steel fixtures. It looked high tech, which I’m sure instilled confidence in their clients. I couldn’t see Parker’s car but he’d probably parked a bit away to be safe. I could feel the worry rolling off of Jimmy.
I forced myself to focus on catching Parker, so I searched the grass and found what I was looking for; new footprints in the watered grass. I pointed them out to Jimmy and took a few photos.
“I see them,” he said quietly.
The lock on the front door of the building looked scratched. I took a few more pictures. The infra-red light, invisible to the naked eye, did not cause a visible flash so I wouldn’t alert Parker unless he heard the click of the camera’s button. That was almost inaudible so I wasn’t too worried. I pointed to the ruined lock. “Check out the door frame.”
“He’s in there, then?” Jimmy asked.
I nodded. I took a step back and looked up at the building’s roof. A small camera light flashed against the dark sky. Something looked weird about it. I squinted. I pointed up and Jimmy looked, too. “He used shaving cream to cover the lens.”
“Guess that explains the pit stop at the gas station.”
“This is definitely going down,” I whispered. “Parker just broke the law.” I took a picture of the shaving cream on the camera. “This place has tons of sensitive data. There’s no way a single camera is their only security measure. If Parker is in there, then he’s probably tripped an alarm.”
“You think the cops are on the way?” Jimmy looked hopeful for the first time tonight.
“Maybe, but will they get here on time?”
Uncertainty flit across Jimmy’s face. “Let’s go in, then,” he said finally.
We walked into the main lobby. It was one room, no bigger than my living room. A large white counter dominated the space. It was the reception desk. We huddled under the counter, and I peered down the hall. I saw a light flash in the space under one of the closed doors. Parker was in there. I stood to move but Jimmy snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me back down.
“You get any closer and he’ll hear you.”
“I need to get him in the act of destroying the files, Jimmy. Otherwise he can explain it all away!”
“Rain, this is getting too dangerous. We need to call it in.”
“The police probably already have the call. They’ll be here any minute.”
“You don’t know that!” Jimmy whispered harshly.
I heard a noise down the hall and wiggled out of Jimmy’s grasp. I crept forward, willing my knees not to crack and give me away. I glanced back at Jimmy. The blue glow of a cell phone lit up his face. He held out his arm, motioning me to come back.
Another scrape, then a sloshing sound and a hollow bending metal sound spurned me to move. I jumped to my feet and ran for the closed door. I heard Jimmy call me. His hand grabbed my shoulder, but my hand was already on the knob. I flung the door open my finger pressing down on the camera’s button the whole time.
Parker staggered back yelling and the smell of gasoline nearly knocked me down.
“What are you doing here?” Parker dropped the gasoline can and grabbed for me.
Jimmy was already pulling me backwards out of reach. He slammed the door as Parker lunged, smashing him back into the server room. Jimmy wedged himself against the door outside and braced his legs against the opposite wall.
Parker screamed and rammed from the inside over and over again trying to get at us.
“Run, Rain!” Jimmy shouted. “Get outside!”
“What if he ignites it?”
Jimmy gritted his teeth with the strain of Parker’s blows. His whole body lurched forward with every hit. “Let’s hope he remembers that he’ll burn up, too.”
Another blow nearly knocked Jimmy over and I nodded and scrambled out toward the front door. Up ahead the flashing blue and red lights blared through the front windows and my heart leapt. I could see the patrol officers rush toward the door.
“Hurry! We’re in here!”
The sound of something slamming against the metal door chilled me, and I turned to see Jimmy holding the door closed, even as Parker was shoving against it, trying to get out.
Parker’s voice screeched through the crack of the door and echoed along the empty hallway.
“Help! Help us!” I turned on the balls of my feet and sprinted for the police.
The first officer was through the door and then another. They were yelling at me and then I registered what they were saying. “Let me see your hands!” they yelled. “Your hands!”
I held both arms out and froze in my tracks. Behind me, I heard a deafening crash and the smell of gas flooded the room. The light from the server room poured out into the hall, and I could see Jimmy and Parker balled up in a fight on the floor. I coughed with the fumes and yelled frantically at the officers.
“He’s trying to set the building on fire!”
“Stop him! He’s got a flare!” Jimmy yelled from down the hall.
“Please!” I begged the officers. “He poured gas everywhere! He’s trying to destroy evidence!”
“Stay there!” one of them yelled and then started down the hallway.
I twisted and watched him run, but the other officer grabbed me and I went down to my knees sobbing.
“Jimmy! Jimmy!” I screamed.
The other officer held his gun on me and shouted into his shoulder radio for back up. Then everything went still. I heard Jimmy’s voice and the officer’s.
More police arrived, skidding to a stop outside the Digi-Safe doors, and piling into the tiny lobby. I tried to see past them, through the fumes. A few minutes later, I was still on my knees with my hands up when one of the officers led Jimmy past me in handcuffs.
Jimmy saw me and relief flooded his face. “Call your lawyer,” he said as he passed me. “And don’t talk to anyone.”
“Hey, stop talking!” One officer snarled.
“No one,” Jimmy yelled over his shoulder.
I nodded even thought he couldn’t see me. Finally someone helped me to my feet and took my camera. I stared dumbly down the hall waiting to see Parker. I didn’t realize someone was talking to me until they repeated their question louder.
“Hey,” the female officer snapped. “I said are you injured?”
I shook my head. She cuffed hands behind me and propelled me toward the door. Out of the corner of my eye I spied Parker’s lumbering form and turned to look at him.
Disheveled and bleeding from the nose he screamed at me as they walked him out the door. “You have no idea what you’ve done! There’s no stopping Crawley now, Reyna. No stopping him!”
; I watched him dumbfounded, unable to reply.
Parker didn’t look angry, he looked terrified.
Purple Knot
36
Being processed through the system was the same as when I’d been arrested as a teenager. I found it oddly comforting that the same guy who took my fingerprints for swiping a calculator from the local electronics store back then, was the same guy rolling my fingers in black goop for nearly blowing up an even bigger electronics facility tonight. Irony is truly a gift that keeps on giving.
“Name,” the officer intoned. His brass name plate read Officer Stuart.
“I want a lawyer,” I said evenly.
“You can give us your name, ma’am,” Stuart replied without interest. “Otherwise we might have a hard time locating you in holding when your lawyer does come. We have a few Jane Does, already.” He motioned toward the holding cell.
The bench lined room held quite a few women who apparently made unwise and speedy dating decisions.
I looked back at Stuart. “Reyna Cruz.”
He wrote down my name on the processing form. They took my mug shot and my belongings, before dumping me in the cell with the other ladies.
I waited in the cell for a few hours and learned a couple of interesting tidbits about Seattle’s social life from a woman who called herself Sinnamon, but with an ‘S’ instead of a ‘C’. I was deep into an explanation of how to obtain a private investigator’s license before Officer Stuart called my name.
“What’s going on?”
He snapped his gum in his mouth and eyed me with suspicion. “Funny how your lawyer showed up and you haven’t had a phone call yet.”
“I’m just awesome like that.” I smiled winningly.
Officer Stuart took me to the second floor of the police station. We passed the interview rooms on our walk down the hall. Each door had a tiny window at eye-level and I craned my neck to see into each one. I was looking for Jimmy, but didn’t see him. Stuart led me into the last door in the hallway. Inside was a conference room, not an interview room.
“Have a seat, Ms. Cruz,” Stuart said and then left without another word.
I sat on the wood chair and rested my head on the cool table in front of me. I was exhausted. The door opened and I turned my head.
Sierra Hopkins walked in. She rolled her eyes when she saw me. “Woman, didn’t I tell you to stay out of trouble?”
“Actually, you said to keep my mouth shut. I did that.”
Sierra made a murmuring noise and sat next to me. She put her briefcase on the floor and folded her hands. “We’re waiting,” she said when I gave her a look.
“For…”
“For Bennet and your boy,” she said quietly.
My heart paced up. I hadn’t seen Jimmy since his brawl with Parker. I wondered how he was.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Bennet called me. He said Jimmy and you were arrested trying to blow up some sort of computer store and to get over here as soon as I could.”
“We tried to stop someone from blowing it up. There’s a difference.”
“My guess is we’re going to have to prove that one.”
I bumped Sierra with my shoulder and smiled. “I’m so happy to see you Sierra.”
She checked her watch and sighed dramatically. “Ms. Cruz, it is two in the morning, I hope you realize I am charging double for this visit.”
“You’re worth it.”
I saw a slight smile tug at her mouth. The door opened again and Bennet walked in with Jimmy.
“Jimmy,” I cried and flew out of my chair to hug him.
He wrapped his arms around me. His face was bruised and he still smelled like gasoline, but he was OK. I said a silent prayer of relief.
“Hey, Rain.” He sounded tired.
“What’s happening?”
Jimmy pulled toward my chair and urged me to sit down. The look on his face was scaring me.
“Jimmy?”
“Rain, there’s a problem.” He sat down next to me. When I looked in his eyes I saw fear there.
“What is it?”
Before he could answer the door opened a second time and a man in a conservative dark gray suit, walked in. He had a file in his hands. He extended his hand to me.
“Ms. Cruz, my name is Special Agent Rawling.”
I shook his hand confused. “What does the FBI have to do with Parker’s break in?”
Rawling looked at me with surprise. “Nothing,” he said. “This is about Crawley.”
The name rang a bell. Rawling handed me the picture Salem had taken of the motorcycle gang member that met with Shane.
“His name is Crawley?”
“Yes, he’s actually been on the DEA radar for a few months, now. The past couple of years he’d been trying to climb up the Dark Legion ranks.”
“So you know about them? You know about the connection with Veno Pharmaceuticals?”
Rawling nodded
“I made a call when we were at Digi-Safe to Bennet, Rain. I told him to meet us at the police station and to bring Mrs. Hopkins.” Jimmy spoke up.
“I thought you were calling the police.” I looked at him astonished.
“I counted on Parker having tripped the alarm.”
Bennet cleared his throat. “At Mr. Corbeau’s request, I retrieved your files on Parker and Crawley from his residence. Detective Worpel has them now. This isn’t about Parker anymore, Ms. Cruz. This is about the Dark Legion connection.”
Agent Rawling chimed in. “Ms. Cruz, we’re here because after interviewing Mr. Evans…well, there have been some disturbing developments.”
Jimmy reached for my hand and I felt like I was waiting for Rawling to hit me with an anvil.
“What? Can somebody tell me what’s happening?”
“We think that Crawley took the baby, Rain.” Jimmy’s voice broke. “We think he kidnapped Autumn.”
“No!” The room got hot and I shook my head vehemently at Jimmy.
“Rain,” he tried.
“No! This is over.” I stood and yelled at Rawling. “We caught the bad guy! Parker is the bad guy, we caught him!”
“Ms. Cruz…”
“How did this happen?”
“We called Parker’s family as soon as we got the information. Autumn was supposed to be with Mona tonight,” Jimmy said. “She’s not answering her phone. No one at Hill House knows where she is.”
“What do you mean, no one knows? Mona never answers her cell phone, anyway. How can you be sure?” I was desperate to find a flaw in their logic. Desperate to prove this was all a big mistake. I was shaking uncontrollably and Jimmy wrapped his arm around me.
“Mona stepped outside with Autumn for a few minutes. She said she was just going to take the baby to see the rose garden.” Jimmy croaked. “She never came back.”
Panic tore through my chest and I gasped for breath. That monster had Summer’s baby. I looked for the door as if I could run out of the precinct and track Crawley down by sheer will. Then I remembered Parker’s words at Digi-Safe. He’d been terrified.
“Oh, Jimmy. Parker said that I’d done this. That there was no stopping Crawley!”
“This is not your doing, Rain.”
Jimmy pulled me back and I wiped my eyes. Desperate for answers I looked at Rawling. “Did you talk to Parker?”
Rawling nodded and then pulled the chair out and sat down. He leaned in, his hands flat on the table. “From what I could understand, and keep in mind that Mr. Evans was very intoxicated, he was attempting to cover his theft of the pseudo-ephedrine by vandalizing Digi-Safe.”
“Vandalizing?”
Rawlings nodded and pushed the file towards me. “He made a series of calls to all the digital archive services in Seattle earlier in the day. Apparently, from what we can gather, he made threatening remarks and alluded to a, ‘digital apocalypse’.”
“He was laying down a motive,” Jimmy said. “He made sure the people who took those calls wrote
down the name of an anti-technology group.”
I looked at the written statements of the people who’d received Parker’s calls. This was way more sophisticated than I’d given him credit for. “So he admitted he was attempting to cover his tracks. What else. What did he say about Crawley?”
“According to Parker, Crawley threatened to take Autumn if he didn’t deliver the pseudo-ephedrine tonight. That was where Parker was going after he burnt down Digi-Safe.”
My stomach lurched. We’d gotten in the way. I’d stopped Parker from delivering the chemicals to Crawley, so he’d snatched Autumn.
“Is there…can we stop…” I didn’t know what questions to ask. Fear and frustration banged against each other, drowning out any sort of reason.
“In the past hour, Mr. Corbeau’s cell phone received a call.”
“Was it Crawley?”
Jimmy nodded.
“He said he had my, ‘bundle’, and if I wanted it back I would pay five million dollars for it.”
My head was spinning. This was a kidnapping now?
“I don’t understand. He doesn’t want the pseudo-ephedrine now?”
Rawling shook his head. “Crawley knows that deal’s not happening. Now that we have Parker, he’s not going to get what he needs to make delivery to his buyer.”
“I’m sorry, buyer?”
Jimmy nodded. “Parker said that Crawley had a huge deal going down. Close to two-million dollars worth. Now that the police have shut down Parker’s department, Crawley still wants his money.”
“What about Shane Morrison?” I asked. “Maybe we can find Crawley through him.”
Jimmy shook his head. “They went to pick up Shane Morrison but he wasn’t there. What they did find was the tablet stamper with the purple knot logo.”
“So now what?”
“Our bank is getting the money together as we speak. Crawley wants the drop to happen at six in the evening.”
I checked the wall clock. That was a few hours from now. “OK, so did he say how?”
“No, he said he’d call with instructions.”
Purple Knot Page 24