by Beverly Long
Laura felt sick. Absolutely sick.
“How did his fiancée die?” Rico asked.
“That was public record. Hit by a train in Brooklyn, New York. After fireworks on the Fourth of July. Platform was really crowded and a couple guys got into a fight. The crowd surged, in an effort to get away from the fight, and somehow she fell onto the track at the wrong time. Rankin was there and I was able to surface a couple photos of him. He looks very distraught.”
Was it possible that it had been an accident? Just like Joe’s and Ariel’s deaths? She did not think so. Surely Detective Phillips had to know this about Rankin.
“There’s something else,” Seth said.
How much more could she take? “What?” she asked.
“Another death. A woman by the name of Gloria Wise.”
She looked at Rico. Knew that he was recalling her telling him about Hannah’s babysitter, Mrs. Wise. She’d never known that her first name was Gloria. And now the woman was dead. “That was Hannah’s babysitter,” she said, her voice sounding dull to her own ears.
“Yeah. Shot coming out of her yoga class.”
“When?” Rico asked.
“Last Wednesday.”
That had been the day that she’d taken off with Hannah. The day that Mrs. Wise would have gone to the daycare to pick up Hannah only to be told that she wasn’t there.
“What do you think Mrs. Wise would have done first when she got to the daycare and realized that Hannah wasn’t there?” Rico asked.
“I think she’d have immediately contacted Hodge Rankin. That is exactly what had happened the day before when Rankin brought those people to the daycare. He left with Hannah and Mrs. Wise still showed up to pick her up, probably because he never thought to tell her otherwise. She might have thought the same thing had happened again.”
“But I thought you said that you called, pretending to be Mrs. Wise, to advise that Hannah was out sick. Wouldn’t the daycare people think it was weird that she shows up to pick her up the same day?”
“Not necessarily. The office staff take the calls. All that the care providers, the people in the classroom, know is that this or that child isn’t there. And sometimes care providers get shifted between classrooms, so the person there when Mrs. Wise comes to pick up Hannah might not have been there the whole day. He or she has no idea if Hannah has been absent the whole day or perhaps picked up earlier in the day.”
Rico drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “So let’s assume she calls Rankin and says, hey idiot, I made another wasted trip to the daycare. You got to start telling me when you’ve already picked up Hannah.”
“And Rankin,” Seth says, easily stepping into the conversation, “says oh, yeah, sorry. And Gloria Wise, with an unexpected night off, decides to go to yoga. And she comes out all relaxed and full of deep breaths and gets shot.”
“Because the next morning, when she reported to work and Hannah wasn’t there, she was going to know that something was really, truly wrong,” Laura said. She leaned her head against the side window. The cold felt good. It matched her heart. Had Gloria Wise died because of what she’d done? Because she’d removed Hannah from what she perceived as immediate danger, had she caused the woman’s death?
She felt Rico’s hand on her leg and realized he was driving with just his left hand. He squeezed her thigh. “I know where your head is going. You think this is your fault. It’s not. It’s a matter of timing. If Rankin was selling Hannah, then she was simply going to disappear one day anyway. Then he’d have had to handle Gloria Wise. Her number was up the day she accepted a job with the guy.”
“She was a nice woman.”
“I’m sure she was. And somebody needs to pay for her death. And if we’re right, for your brother’s death and your sister-in-law’s and for the poor damn fool who got pushed in front of the train.”
She was almost overcome with emotion. If Rico wasn’t here to help, she really didn’t think she would have the strength to go on.
Seth cleared his throat. “You two need a moment?”
“Nope,” Rico said. “Gloria Wise wasn’t the only loose end. There’s a whole daycare expecting Hannah Collins to show up the next day. Laura, it would be good to know what Rankin told the daycare. Do you think you could call them?”
“If it helps,” Seth said, “the news of Gloria Wise’s death is public. She was buried yesterday. The newspaper is reporting that police are continuing to investigate the shooting.”
Laura tried to think. “Maybe I could call my boss, be all apologetic because I’ve been gone without checking in and ask if I could get back on the schedule. Maybe I could mention that I saw Mrs. Wise’s obituary in the paper. That might lead us to talking about Hannah.”
“Let’s try it,” Rico said. “Seth, you did good. Thank you.”
“Good luck,” Seth said. “And stay away from Hodge Rankin.” He hung up.
She would be happy to do that but didn’t see any way to figure this out without some contact with the man. “The daycare will be closed now,” she said. “I’ll need to call them in the morning.”
“No problem. By the time you talk to them, we’ll be close to Nashville. I just hope Detective Phillips is in the office because I have a feeling that is going to be one of the first places we go.”
Chapter 19
At about two in the morning, Rico pulled over at a rest stop. “I’m going to close my eyes,” he said. “Just for ten minutes.”
“Is that even worth it?” she said.
“Power naps work. Uncle Sam taught me that.”
“I feel guilty because I slept through most of Kansas.”
“What else should you do in Kansas?” he teased. He’d been glad that she was catching a nap. She was going to need her wits about her once they got to Nashville. He was again so grateful to Jennie and Paddie for keeping Hannah. If Laura had her to worry about, there’d have been no sleeping.
He pulled into a spot. There were probably at least a dozen semitrucks also using the rest stop as a bedroom. They, however, had nice beds in their cabs. He was going to have to simply push his seat back and do the best he could.
He wished it was practical to pull Laura into his arms, to have her sleep on his chest. But the console in the middle made that pretty difficult. Instead, he simply reached for her hand. Her skin was warm and soft.
And he closed his eyes.
His internal clock woke him up twelve minutes later. She was looking at him, a smile on her face. He felt his face get hot. He didn’t snore. He didn’t think so anyway. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey, yourself. I was going to let you sleep.”
He shook his head. “I’m good to go. I’m going to run inside and use the facilities. You got to go?”
“For sure,” she said. “I imagine you’re not stopping again until Nashville.”
“That’s about right.” He opened his door, grabbed his shaving kit from his bag in the back seat and waited for her to join him on the sidewalk. He smiled when he saw that she’d grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste from her backpack. “Your dentist must be very proud,” he said.
She ran her tongue over her teeth and it made him remember when she’d run her tongue over him. Took him deep into her mouth.
“You’re breathing funny,” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy.” There was no way that they were having sex in a highway rest stop. But once they put this thing to rest, all bets were off. They were going to find a bed and make damn good use of it. “Five minutes,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” she said, and gave him a mock salute.
It took her ten but when she came out, her face was shiny clean and she’d put her hair in some kind of knot at the top of her head. When she got close, he grabbed her. Kissed her hard.
“Minty fresh,” he said when he finally cam
e up for air.
“You, too,” she said. She rubbed a hand across his jaw. “And smooth.”
He grabbed her wrist gently, bent to talk in her ear. “Touch me again like that and you’re going to see how smooth these walls are because I’m going to take you up against one of them.”
She smiled and started walking to the SUV. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
It was silly banter and it felt good. Because both of them knew that when daylight came and they reached Nashville, it wasn’t likely to be much fun.
Once Laura confirmed with the daycare that Rankin had given them some bogus excuse about why Hannah was no longer in attendance, they would go to see Detective Phillips. If he wouldn’t listen or be helpful, then Rico intended to work his way up the chain of command until somebody would listen. Hannah was safe, but how many more people would be hurt by Rankin before he was stopped?
They got in the SUV, buckled up, and he took off. And they didn’t stop again until they crossed the Tennessee line. “We need gas and breakfast,” he said.
“By the time we do that, I should be able to call the daycare.”
The diner he chose was clean and warm and he got a big plate of eggs with biscuits and gravy. Laura got pancakes and bacon. She got coffee; he got tea. Once they’d paid the check and were back in the SUV, Laura made her call. She put it on speakerphone.
She stuck to the script and apologized for the absence. The manager huffed and puffed a little and said that she’d expected Laura to keep in touch better but she understood that a death in the family could be a trying time. She said it had been especially difficult because Mary Margaret had also up and quit last week, too.
Mary Margaret. That had been the woman who’d also been upset by the questions from the people visiting the daycare with Rankin.
Laura apologized again and it was clear that the boss was willing to give Laura her old job back. Not that it mattered. Laura was a physical therapist. Had a career she loved. That’s what she should be doing.
Then Laura mentioned Mrs. Wise and how surprised she’d been to hear about her death. The manager said that it was a shock and she wasn’t sure if it was related to Mrs. Wise’s death or not, but Hannah Collins’s stepfather had notified the center that Hannah would no longer be attending the daycare.
He and Laura made eye contact. He wasn’t surprised by the news. It was really the only thing Rankin could have done if he wanted to continue to hide Hannah’s absence.
Laura ended the call shortly after that, promising to see her boss the following Monday.
“Well, now we know,” he said.
She nodded. “Here’s what we don’t know. We don’t know if Mrs. Wise told Rankin that she’d handed Hannah off to me outside the daycare. I mean, there would really be no reason to if he’s acting like there’s no issue with Hannah.”
“But if he was fishing for information, he might have made something up. Like, Hannah was kind of quarrelsome when I picked her up, did everything go okay when you dropped her off? Something like that that would get her talking.”
Laura nodded. “And if she tells him about me, and if he somehow finds out that I’m not there the next day, he likely would put two and two together and I’m a math answer.”
“Lot of ifs,” he said.
“This is a man who has managed to target two women and engineer multiple deaths in order to receive substantial life insurance payments.”
He started the SUV. “Odd that Mary Margaret quit the same time.”
“It is. She was already working there when I got hired on. I thought she was really good with the kids. Seemed to take an interest in Hannah. In fact—” she hesitated “—sometimes I would actually get jealous because Mary Margaret spent so much time with Hannah.”
“She’s an easy kid to spend time with,” Rico said.
“Yeah, you’re right. We should get going. Now I’m really anxious to talk to Detective Phillips.”
* * *
When they were still fifteen minutes out of Nashville, Rico took an exit off the interstate highway. “Do we need gas?” she asked.
“Nope. That sign back there said the town was four miles. We’re going to drive a mile or two, find a nice stretch of deserted road, and I’m going to drive the Mustang out of the trailer.”
“And leave it here?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to drive it into Nashville. We want it found sooner than later so that this part is behind us.”
“But...that could be dangerous,” she said. “What if a cop sees you?”
“I could probably pass one and not get a second look. Cars are reported missing every day in a city. It won’t be top of mind for any officer. The only danger is if I get stopped for something else and they run the plates. But I won’t do anything that gets me stopped, and this is ultimately less dangerous than the alternative.”
“What’s the alternative?”
“Driving it out of the back of the trailer on a city street where there is a much greater likelihood of street cameras.”
And potentially more people to see them. “Okay, but once you drop the car somewhere, how are you going to get back here?”
“Not back here. You’re going to drive the SUV and empty trailer into Nashville. How well do you know the city?”
“Not that well. The daycare was close to the campus for Vanderbilt University, so I know that stretch pretty well. And I guess I know the tourist area, what they call Honky Tonk Row. I went there for a couple different music events with my friend Melissa.”
“Okay. That’s the area I know, as well. Bought a real nice pair of cowboy boots as I recall on one of my trips.” He fiddled with the GPS for a few minutes. “I’ve got this set for Broadway and Fourth Avenue, which is smack-dab in the middle of Honky Tonk Row. Head for that. Find a parking spot somewhere close and then call my cell phone with an exact spot. You’ve got your phone, right?”
“Yes. In my purse.”
“Enter my number in your contacts,” he said. He watched her dig in her purse, pull out the phone and enter the information. “Now enter your number in my phone,” he said. She did that, too, then slipped her phone back into her purse.
“I’ll find a good place to ditch the Mustang and then catch a cab,” he said. “Lots of people getting dropped off in a tourist area—less chance of standing out or being remembered for any reason.”
“Then what?”
“We go see Detective Phillips.”
“I think we should call him versus just popping into his office. Makes it seem as if we’re more respectful of his time.”
“You’re probably right. And this case isn’t the only one he’s working. He might need a few minutes to shift gears. When we talk to him, I want him one hundred percent focused on us. Do you have his number with you?”
“I memorized it. But I’m kind of afraid to call him.”
“Why?”
“I know that Seth had his cop friend check to see if there was a warrant out for my arrest and they didn’t find one but...but what if it’s being kept very quiet and now...well, now I’m about to just fall into their laps. Like an early Christmas present.”
He shook his head. “Christmas is more than two months away. We have to talk to him. We didn’t drive all this way for nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” she said. “We’ll have returned the Mustang.”
Rico shook his head and held out his phone. “Call him.”
“Fine,” she muttered. She dialed and put it on speaker. Listened to it ring.
“Detective Phillips,” the man answered.
“Detective, this is Laura Collins.” She wet her dry lips with her tongue. He would surely remember her.
“What can I do for you, Laura?” he asked, as if he did.
“I’d like to come see you. I...have some info
rmation that I’d like to share.”
“Information about what?” he asked.
Rico shook his head. She nodded. Cleared her throat. “I’d like to discuss that in person,” she said. “Could I come see you?”
“I’m available at noon,” he said.
“Fine. I’ll be there.” She hung up.
“Good job,” Rico said. “And that gives us plenty of time.” He opened his door. “Showtime.”
She got out, walked around the back of the SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat. Stared straight ahead as she listened to the back doors of the trailer being opened. Knew that he was putting out the ramps. Heard the car engine. Felt the vibration of the car being driven out of the trailer.
Now she could see it in her rearview mirror. Such a sweet little car to be causing so much trouble. Had she known that Hannah’s disappearance wouldn’t be reported and that she wasn’t suspect number one, she would have driven her own car and avoided this whole mess.
But who would have imagined that. It was true that Rankin paid almost no attention to Hannah and left her in the care of others but still, a child was missing.
She heard the rear door of the trailer being shut and watched Rico get back into the car. Then he was driving past her, rolling down his passenger-side window. He had on his sunglasses and wore a baseball cap, pulled low onto his forehead. He’d turned up the collar of his coat to hide more of his face.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Okay,” she said. She summoned up a smile. “See you in Nashville.”
“Give me a ten-minute head start,” he said. “This is going to be easy-peasy,” he said, invoking one of Hannah’s favorite phrases.
She hoped so. The alternative was too terrible to consider.
* * *