by Harris, Lisa
“Why don’t you let Amie go, Rafael? I brought food so I could do something to help. This would help.”
“I already let Philip leave. She’ll be fine.”
“I appreciate what you did for Philip, but Amie needs to see a doctor.”
“No.” Rafael stuck out his gun and shook his head. “I’m not letting anyone else leave this room.”
“I’ve been working to get you the money you asked for. This would be a sign of good faith to the parents that you aren’t going to harm their children. It will go a long way.”
Rafael’s face reddened. “I’m still in charge, and I said no.”
“Okay.” Mason held up his hands and took a step backward. “No one is disputing that you’re in charge. What I want to do is get this over with as quickly as possible without anyone getting hurt.”
“It’s clearly too late for that. I want my money, and then it will be over. Not before.”
Mason studied Rafael’s expression and caught the fatigue in his eyes. His emotions were draining him. As soon as this was over he was going to crash.
Mason needed a new approach. “Have you thought about what happens when you get the cash? We need to talk about that.”
Rafael shook his head. “What happens to me really doesn’t matter. They’ll kill my brother if I don’t get the money.”
The tension in Mason’s gut tightened at the obvious implications. Rafael didn’t expect to leave this room alive a free man. Apparently, the cartel—if they were the ones behind this—had come up with the perfect plan. They’d gain access to the money while Rafael took the fall.
Or a bullet if it came to that.
“You’re wrong, Rafael. What happens to you does matter.”
“You know what … I’ve had enough of your talk. You never should have come in here.”
“Rafael—”
“No.” Rafael held up the gun and pointed it at Mason, shaking his head. “I don’t want you as my negotiator. Go sit down in the back of the room. I’m finished talking to you.”
13
I don’t want you as my negotiator …
Rafael’s sharp words to Mason echoed through Emily’s mind. She shoved her uneaten pizza aside as Mason walked down the aisle toward her. She’d watched his interaction with Rafael. Voice even. Temper in check. But clearly nothing he’d said made a difference. Rafael had made it clear he was finished talking. That meant that whoever was behind this had found a way to completely control Rafael.
Mason slid into the seat in front of her. No matter what Rafael’s reaction had been, Mason’s presence helped take the edge off the panic she’d felt all morning. With him in the room, she could almost believe they were all going to be okay.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
She managed a smile. “I’m fine, considering my day.”
“I’m fine aside, how are you really doing?”
She shivered and reached for her sweater from the back of the chair. He leaned forward to help wrap it around her back. His hand brushed against the back of her neck. Prickles ran down her spine—having nothing to do with the dropping temperature of the room. And everything to do with the man sitting in the desk in front of her. Emily slid her arms into the sleeves. This wasn’t the time or the place to let her imagination—or her heart, for that matter—distract her. But while the girlhood crush she’d had on him in college had faded years ago, what she was feeling now was something brand new.
She focused on his question as she rubbed her finger across someone’s pencil doodle of a unicorn on the top of the desk. “My stomach is knotted, and I’m cold, except for my hands, which are sweaty. But we’re all still alive, so I feel as if I have something to be thankful for. And …” She hesitated again. “Having you in the room helps a lot.”
“Being here clearly isn’t making a difference with Rafael.” He kept his voice low, but his frustration was obvious. “You should eat. Keep up your strength.”
She looked at the slice of pizza on her desk. “I can’t eat.”
“I understand. I was certain that if I could just get in here, I could find a way to convince him to turn himself in, but now … I’m not sure there is a way out short of finding Eduardo or handing over the money.”
“Then that’s what we wait for. Because he’s determined to see this through.” Emily glanced up at Rafael, not knowing if she and Mason should be talking. For the moment, though, he was letting them. Just like he’d allowed her to continue to walk around and check on each of the students every few minutes. “You texted that they took Rafael’s mother.”
Mason nodded. “At this point we’re assuming she’s with Eduardo.”
Rafael had worked hard to keep his family together. Knowing his mother’s life was on the line would have been enough to push him over the edge.
Emily lowered her voice. “Any leads on their whereabouts?”
“Your sister’s team is working on finding him. Jackson and the lab are trying to narrow down a location.” Mason glanced back at Rafael. “Do you still have the phone? I need to send the captain a text.”
She nodded, then slipped him the cell phone under the desk.
The clock ticked in the background while Mason wrote a text to the captain. Rafael had started pacing again in the front of the room. Fatigue showed on his face.
The kids sat quiet. Waiting. Pizza boxes lay open at the back of the room, half empty. A couple of the kids were still eating. Some hadn’t eaten at all. Emily tapped her fingers against the desk. She couldn’t blame them. Having your life threatened with a bullet tended to erase your appetite.
A moment later, Mason finished typing, then slid the phone under his leg. How could he be so focused and alert and calm?
“Do you ever get scared?” she asked.
He touched the dark stubble on his face. With his hair brushing the collar of his leather jacket, he had a look of rugged charm about him. Complete opposite from Charlie, who preferred suits and ties to jeans and Tshirts.
Not that she was comparing.
“I’ve learned to cope with fear, but yeah, I get scared. I remember one of my first assignments as a rookie cop. We were called out to handle a domestic dispute with weapons and ended up walking into a shooting match. Before we could arrest the couple, I was certain I was going to get killed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”
“I guess we know the outcome to that one.” She caught a brief flicker of a smile at her response and grasped onto the small sliver of hope that this day would also end without anyone dying. “What did you do?”
“I ran.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “You ran?”
“It was either that or get shot. Turns out the weapons they had were assault rifles, and they were shooting at anyone who came near them.”
“You were lucky.”
“Nope.” He smiled at her, and she noted the dimple in his right cheek. And the fact that his eyes weren’t just plain brown, but a half-dozen shades of the color. She looked away. She was clearly losing it. “I’ve learned God had something else in mind for me. It’s taken me a long time to realize that though. As for you, you’ve held up under a lot of pressure today.”
She felt her stomach flip at the compliment. It’d been a long time since she’d let a man affect her this way … since Charlie. For some crazy reason there was something about Mason that was managing to rekindle feelings she’d thought were long buried.
Or maybe it was just the fact that she’d been thrust into a terrifying situation, and he’d suddenly become her hero.
She pushed the thoughts away. “I just wish I’d been able to convince Rafael that what he’s doing isn’t going to work.”
“You can’t beat yourself up either, Emily. I’ve known him for a long time as well and couldn’t get him to step down. You’ve done a great job in not allowing a bad situation to get worse.”
“I don’t know how it could get worse. A boy was shot and almost killed in front of
all these kids. Amie’s still having trouble breathing, he held a gun to my niece’s head …”
“Your quick response helped save Philip’s life.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t have a choice. No matter how scared I am, these kids are my responsibility.” She glanced back at Rafael, surprised he was still allowing them to talk. He lifted the blinds a fraction, peaked outside, then started pacing again. No matter what had happened or what he had said or done, he was nothing more than a scared boy. “What about my texts? I know someone is manipulating him, and there has to be a way to figure out who is behind this.”
Mason lowered his voice. “There’s a team scanning for a signal. If he’s wearing an earbud—and if someone’s out there—they’ll find them.”
“Do you believe someone’s manipulating him?”
“Yes, but only because I don’t want to believe he was able to orchestrate this on his own. But no matter what I think, we can’t rule out the possibility that he’s playing us.”
“Playing us?” Emily leaned forward. “Why would he do that?”
“If he can’t find a way out of this, blaming someone else would be a viable option for him.”
“So he finds a way to make me believe someone else is out there controlling him, so when this is over, he can walk away?” Emily shook her head. She didn’t buy it. “If he’s doing this on his own, wouldn’t he want me to think he’s in complete control? Otherwise, he’d appear vulnerable and weak.”
“I don’t know. I spoke with him this morning. He sent me the photos of his brother, and I heard the fear in his voice. I don’t think there’s any way he could do this on his own, but that doesn’t mean the captain doesn’t have a point. We have to consider all the options.”
“And in the meantime?”
“I’m going to give him a few minutes more to cool off, then try and talk with him again.”
Feelings of vulnerability she’d tried to bury all morning resurfaced. “Odd how all the scenarios we went over in our teacher training tried to prepare us for what to do, but not for the emotional impact.”
“Sometimes nothing can fully prepare you.”
Like Avery. Even with all of her sister’s experience in dealing with tragedy, knowing her daughter’s life was on the line was going to affect her. “What about Avery? I’m assuming she knows Tess is here?”
“Yes.”
“How’s she handling it?”
“You of all people know that your sister’s strong, but I know this has to be tough on her. The captain sent her back to the precinct to run intelligence and search the Cerdas’ apartment.”
“Ouch. I’m sure that didn’t go over well. I know she’s wishing she could barge into this classroom with the SWAT team, grab all the kids, and run.”
Mason chuckled softly. “I’m sure she’s thought of that idea once or twice.”
Emily tapped her fingers on the desk and looked at Tess. She sat in the next desk over, head down, eyes squeezed shut. “Avery and Tess fought this morning before school. I know it has to be weighing heavily on both of them.”
He paused for a moment, a shadow crossing his expression. “I’m sure she’s also not happy that I’m the one in this room trying to negotiate your and Tess’s release.”
Emily shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I’m pretty capable of forming my own opinions of people.”
“So her feelings toward me haven’t affected your trusting me to head up this negotiation?”
“I learned a long time ago to let Avery have her own opinions. I might look up to my sister, but that doesn’t mean she’s always right.”
“She’s completely wrong in this case.” The hint of amusement on Mason’s face vanished. “I didn’t have anything to do with Michael’s death, Emily. He was my best friend. I never would have done anything to betray him.”
“You don’t have to explain—”
“Maybe not, but I feel like I do.” He shook his head. “I need you to believe me.”
She ran her finger across the doodled unicorn again. “Avery was hit hard when Michael died, and we’ve both seen how his death has affected my mother. Add to that, Avery’s the kind of person who wants to fix everything. There are some things that simply can’t be fixed.”
“And you?”
“It’s been a hard few months. Michael and I were close. But so were you. I haven’t forgotten that you lost your best friend and, really, lost a family too.”
“Your family always was the family I could only dream of having. Mine … well. Let’s just say I love my brothers, but beyond that, it was your typical broken, dysfunctional unit.”
She could read the disappointment and longing in his eyes. She knew enough about him to know that his home life had been difficult. He hadn’t experienced the healthy family she’d been blessed with.
Mason grabbed the phone from under his leg, then glanced up at Rafael, who was slouched against the teacher’s desk.
She felt her heart pound. “Another message?”
“From the captain. This might be over sooner than we thought.” Mason squeezed her hand. “They think they’ve found where the cartel is keeping Eduardo and his mother.”
14
Avery felt the familiar punch of adrenaline rush through her as she and her team burst through the doors of Graceland Funeral Home with a warrant from Judge Atlas. Tory had taken Jackson’s discovery of glutaraldehyde—a chemical used to embalm bodies—on three of the four victims in the Torres case, cross-referenced it to suspected cartel involvement, and found one probable match. Which at the moment gave them one shot at finding Eduardo and his mother.
The strong scent of flowers engulfed her inside the pale-blue reception room. It was exquisitely decorated in order to make a grieving family feel comfortable when they walked through the door. For her, though, it only managed to dredge up unwanted memories connected to Ethan’s and her brother’s deaths. The pungent scent of flowers. The casket and burial vault display room. Why was everything bringing on a slew of unwanted emotions today?
A woman walked into the reception room. She looked to be in her late twenties, with a red-highlighted black ponytail, jeans, and a pink Mickey Mouse T-shirt. “I’m sorry, but we’re closed …”
Her voice faded as she caught sight of the uniformed officers behind Avery.
Avery held up her badge. “Who else is in the building?”
“No one … just … the janitors.” She tugged on the end of her ponytail. “We’re closed on Mondays. I’m just here to finish some paperwork.”
“We have a warrant to search the premises.”
The girl pulled out a phone from her back pocket. “I’ll need to call my boss—”
“You can hold off on making that phone call for now,” Avery ordered.
The girl’s face paled. “I don’t understand.”
“Where is the room where all the documents and files are kept?”
“Downstairs.”
“Which room?”
The girl hesitated.
Avery’s patience was gone. They’d noted the edge of a file cabinet in Eduardo’s ransom photos, and since many funeral homes had a windowless, concrete room so records and files would be preserved in the case of a fire, that’s where she planned to look first. “I have a warrant. Which room is it?”
“It’s at the end of the hallway, but I can’t let you in there. Diego would kill me if he found out—”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the key.”
“That’s not a problem.” Avery nodded at one of the uniformed officers. “Stay with her. Griffin, Tory, and I will check out the records room. The rest of you spread out and search the building.”
Ignoring the girl’s protests, Avery started down the dimly lit staircase in front of Griffin and Tory. At the bottom of the stairs was a long hallway with a couple of naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling and casting eerie shadows along unfinished cement walls.
She grabbed her flashlight as they started down the hall and shone it down the line of doors, a stark difference from the polished decor upstairs.
Lord, they have to be here …
A guard sat in front of a door at the end of the narrow corridor, chair tilted back, earphones plugged in, eyes closed.
Avery kicked the chair onto all fours. The guard grabbed for his gun but didn’t react fast enough.
“This is an interesting place for an armed guard.” Avery pointed her gun at him. “Set your weapon on the ground, stand up, and put your hands behind your head.”
He yanked the earphones out of his ears, set his weapon beside him, then stood up slowly.
“Where are they?” she asked.
“Who?” He shook his head. “I’m just the janitor. Taking a break. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Right.”
Griffin pulled a set of keys from the guard’s back pocket and started fishing for a match for the doorknob. “Got it.”
Avery stepped into the room while Tory cuffed the guard. She switched on the light and felt the air in her lungs escape. She recognized the boy sitting in the corner from the photos. The same bloodshot eyes, bruised cheekbone, crooked nose … How many others had sat in this room trying to prepare themselves for a horrible death?
He glanced up at them, his eyes squinting at the light. He started pulling against the pipe where his hands had been secured with duct tape, unable to speak with the gag in his mouth. Avery knelt down beside him and untied the bandana. Her stomach quivered. A few more hours, and he might have been another victim for her to find with his throat slit.
“Eduardo. We’re the police. It’s over.”
He gasped for air. “They said they were going to kill me.”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know. I never saw them before.”
Avery glanced behind a row of filing cabinets for the boy’s mother, but there was no sign that Elaine Cerda had even been there.
“Where’s your mother?”
“My mother?”
She helped Eduardo to his feet, grasping his arm tighter when the boy stumbled. She’d make sure he got the medical care he needed, but there were questions she needed answers to first.