“Who was visiting you to give you the opportunity to sit there and watch Rabor?” Penny asked.
“My attorney.” He chuckled. “And believe it or not, I had the occasional groupie, too, who I humored out of sheer boredom—and the desire to see who Rabor was entertaining that day.”
Holt rubbed a hand over his chin. “Where is Rabor now? Where would he go?”
“Well, he and Allen and this chick, whoever she is, had all that worked out.” He paused. “But I think I’ve given you enough. If you want to know where Rabor is, get Carol here to visit me. Once that’s done, then I’ll tell you where I think he could be.”
Holt rubbed a hand across his eyes. The whole drive to Columbia, he’d fought to find a way to bring up his sister Zoe and had fumbled the pass with each opportunity. Every time he pulled her name to his tongue, he froze.
Now, he and Penny sat in the fast-food parking lot, engine running, heater blasting, sandwiches in hand. Hers slowly disappeared, while his dripped ketchup on his fingers, his mind on Rabor, Allen, Jenkins, and Carol.
“She doesn’t live far from here,” Penny said.
“Uh-huh.” Rabor was out there and he was convinced Jenkins knew where he was. It infuriated him that the man was pulling their strings.
“We could swing by and see if she’s there.”
“Uh-huh.” There was no way he wanted to give in to the demands of—okay, bargaining with—a killer, but what choice did they have? They could talk to Jenkins’s daughter, tell her what her old man wanted, and if she said no, she said no. If she said yes, then that would be a win, right? Jenkins was a walking dead man anyway. Maybe Carol would like the opportunity to settle some things with her father before he died.
A gentle punch on his arm jerked him from his thoughts. “Hey! What was that for?”
“Did you hear a word I said?”
Had he? He blinked. “Oh, the daughter.” He took a bite. On a different day, he would have relished the explosion of flavors. For now, he just needed the energy the burger would give him. “I don’t know, Penny. I don’t want to give him that much power.”
“I don’t blame you, but if it will allow you to stop Rabor before he kills again, then . . .”
“It’s a no-brainer. Yeah.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and paused. “I think an in-person visit would be best.”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m going to run it by my supervisor first and . . .”
“And what?”
“We have to consider this may be an ambush set up by Rabor.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
“But first, let’s see if Carol is available.”
He dialed the number and put it on speaker while he swallowed another bite.
“Hello?”
The soft alto voice held a gravelly edge that sounded like he’d just woken her up. “Carol?”
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“I’m Holt Satterfield.” Now, how much to tell her? Would she shut him down if he told her about his visit with her father?
“Should I know that na—” She went silent. “Wait a minute. I do know that name.” All traces of sleep had fled. “My father killed your partner, Max Isaacs.”
“Yes.” And a little boy and his nanny, but he’d refrain from mentioning that for now.
A slight hesitation, then, “Why are you calling me?”
“I’d like to come visit you for a few minutes if it’s convenient?”
More silence. “Or even if it’s not?” she finally asked.
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
“Why? He’s not getting out, is he?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. But it is fairly urgent, and I’d rather discuss this face-to-face, and we drove down from Asheville.”
“Um . . . sure. Okay. I assume you have my address?”
“I do. We’re about ten minutes from you, but if you need more time, we can give it to you.”
A sigh slipped through the line and Holt winced. “No, that’s all right. I work third shift as a lab tech so I usually sleep during the day, but I’m off tomorrow, so I can rest up after I talk to you.”
“Thanks, Carol. I really appreciate this.”
“Sure.”
He hung up and finished his burger and fries in less than a minute. Penny was eyeing him, her brows hidden beneath her bangs. “That was almost too easy.”
“She doesn’t know we’re going to talk to her about her father.”
“True.”
“Now one more call.”
He dialed Gerald’s number and the man answered with a gruff “Yeah?”
“I need to fill you in.” He explained the situation, and Gerald promised to arrange for local law enforcement to meet them at the house.
He programmed the GPS with Carol’s address, then pulled out of the parking lot.
About ten minutes later, they arrived at Carol’s home. A small house in a tiny neighborhood close to the private hospital where she worked. Holt climbed out of the car, waved to the officers on the curb, and walked over. “Everything look okay?”
“Yeah. We did some recon and she’s alone. Ran her license and no outstanding warrants, no gun permits, or anything else. She’s a lab tech who works third and has an outstanding record there, according to her boss. Looks legit.”
“All right, thanks. Can you just hang out here until we’re done?”
“Planned on it.”
“Thanks.”
He motioned to Penny and she followed him up the three steps to the front door. It opened before he had a chance to ring the bell. A young woman in her late twenties stood there dressed in sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Her black curly hair streamed down her back, and her dark eyes glittered with a suppressed anger that Holt didn’t think was directed at him. Not all of it anyway.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Holt and this is Penny.” He showed her his badge.
She studied it for a long moment, then stepped back. “Come on in.” Once he and Penny were seated on the love seat, Carol settled into the wingback chair in the corner opposite them. “What can I do for you?”
Holt blew out a low breath and said a silent prayer for the right words. “Okay, so I’m just going to come right out and tell you what’s going on.”
“Okay.” That one word held all the wariness in the world.
“Penny and I went to see your father early this morning.”
Carol’s lips tightened and her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because he asked us to come. Said he had some information on a case I’m working and promised to tell us what it was if we would visit him in person.” Blackmailed us would be more accurate, but he didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with her.
“I see. What does that have to do with me?”
“He wants to see you.”
“I know. I don’t want to see him.” She shrugged. “End of story.”
“Not quite,” Penny said, speaking for the first time. She shot a glance at Holt, as though asking for permission to continue, and he nodded. “Your father is very ill. I’m in the medical profession and I can tell you that he doesn’t have much time left. He said he was told a few months, but I’d be skeptical of that.”
Carol leaned forward, her face pale. “He’s dying?”
“Yes.”
The woman dropped her head and went silent for a moment. When she looked up, her expression held a frozen contempt that chilled Holt to the core. “Good,” she said. “Then maybe I can finally be free of him and his tragic legacy.”
Holt sighed and scrubbed a hand down his cheek. “I can understand how you’d feel that way, but there’s more to this than just us delivering a message that your father is dying.”
“I kind of thought so. Why don’t you just spit it out?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of Darius Rabor.”
She frowned. “Who hasn’t? The serial killer who escaped and—” She stilled. “Wait, let me guess. He has something on
Rabor and he wants something in order to give you the info.”
“Yeah.” Holt nodded.
She stood. “No. Don’t let him pull your strings.”
“I wouldn’t normally,” Holt said, “but there’s nothing normal about this situation.”
“So, what does he want?”
Holt hesitated only a fraction of a second. “You to visit.”
Her eyes flashed and her nostrils flared. “Yeah, that’s kind of where I thought this was going. But . . . absolutely not. You can leave now.” The finger that pointed at the door shook.
“Please,” Penny said, her voice soft. “Won’t you at least consider it? At first, being in the same room with him kind of creeped me out, but once I got a good look at him—he’s not a threat to you or anyone else right now.” She leaned closer. “He might have information leading to the apprehension of a killer. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but if you don’t do this, someone else may die.”
“Then you shouldn’t have let him escape.”
Holt raked a hand over his head. “You’re right. He should have had better security. Something. But we can’t go back and get a do-over. We have to stop him now.”
“Then you’ll have to do it without me. I’m not going to see him. Ever.” She crossed her arms and clamped her jaw tight.
“What if it was someone you loved?” Penny asked. “Your mother, your sister, or your best friend? And you found out someone else could have stopped the killer and didn’t? How would you feel?”
For a moment, Carol looked like Penny had reached out and smacked her across the face. Tears welled and she groaned, then dropped back onto the chair.
Penny pressed her palms against her temples. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t try to guilt you into it.”
“No, you shouldn’t, but . . . ugh!” Carol shook her head and looked at the ceiling. “Do you know what that man has cost me?”
“I can’t imagine,” Penny said.
“No, you can’t.” She swiped the tears on her cheeks. “Fine. I’ll go see him.”
Thank you, Lord. “Thank you,” Holt said.
“When?”
Holt pursed his lips, then sighed. “Now.”
Her eyes widened. “Now? But it’s almost dark and visiting hours—”
“We have a serial killer to catch. Every minute he’s out there could mean there’s someone breathing her last. We have special permission to take you there.”
Carol flinched and Holt felt bad about his direct shot, but . . . it was true.
“Wow,” Carol muttered, “nothing like giving a girl a chance to prepare herself.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Fine.” She paused. “I’m not on the list of visitors.”
“Actually, you are.”
“Of course I am.”
“Would you like to ride with us or—”
She waved a hand. “No. I’ll drive myself. If you’re from Asheville, then no sense in you having to come back this way.”
Holt nodded. “Thank you.”
She paused.
“Everything okay?”
“No, I’m just thinking . . . I’m going to call my best friend and ask her to go with me. I think after seeing my father, I’m going to need the support.”
“Of course. I should have suggested it.” As long as she didn’t back out, he was okay with whatever she wanted to do.
“Let me just give her a call.” Carol pulled her phone from her back pocket and stepped into the kitchen. “Hey, Jackie, you’re not going to believe what’s going on here . . . yeah . . . uh-huh . . . I need a favor . . .” She moved away and he wasn’t able to hear the rest of the one-sided conversation but was again comforted that she seemed to be following through with everything.
Holt turned back to see Penny rubbing her temples. “Headache?”
“Yeah. Stress and still getting over being punched by Joel Allen, I guess.”
He frowned. “You need to get checked out?”
“Nah, just need some Motrin.”
Carol hung up. “My friend Jackie said she could go with me and just wait in the car. Why don’t we just meet you there?”
Holt didn’t like it, but it would give them a chance to grab some fuel and make sure everything was ready for Carol to visit. He nodded. “Text when you get close.”
“I will.”
Finally. They couldn’t get this visit over with soon enough, as far as Holt was concerned. Because the longer it took them to find Rabor, the shorter someone’s life was.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Penny kept an eye on the mirrors, worried someone might have followed them, but so far, so good. A few minutes from the prison, Holt slowed. “Great.”
“What is it?”
“A wreck, I think. They’ve got us detouring.” He turned right. “I was trying to stay away from the back roads.” He got his phone and called in their change of route.
“You think that’s necessary?”
“Absolutely. Until Rabor is behind bars again, we’re not taking any chances.”
“You think the wreck was a setup? That it was done to get us off the main road?”
“No. Rabor’s clever, but he had no idea we were going to see his prison buddy. I don’t see how he had time to set that up.”
“Unless his prison buddy called him after we left and told him what we were doing?”
Holt shot her a surprised look. “You sure you don’t want to join the Bureau?”
“Why?”
“Because you think like an agent.” His fingers flexed on the wheel and he took the next curve in a smooth motion. “But it wasn’t Jenkins.”
“How do you know?”
“Before I left, I made sure that Jenkins wouldn’t have access to a telephone for the rest of the day. He’ll be in solitary until we’re done and back in Asheville.”
“Oh. Good.” She fell silent, then chuckled.
“What?”
“Not sure how good an agent I’d make since I thought about that much later than you.”
He shot her a soft smile. “I’ve been doing this job for a while. You train, build your skills as much as possible, then learn from experience.” His smile faded. “And you learn from your mistakes.”
“You’ve made mistakes?”
He scoffed. “That’s sarcasm, right?”
“Kind of. But not really.”
“Oh, I’ve made my share of mistakes, Penny.” His fingers clutched the wheel. “Like letting my partner walk into a situation that didn’t have enough protection for him. He was too vulnerable and I—”
“Did you really have any say in the matter? Was it really you letting him do it?”
“Well, no, I guess I didn’t let him do anything, but I keep going back to the fact that I never saw it coming. One minute he was making the drop, the next minute he was dead.”
“Didn’t he know the risks when he signed up for it?”
“Yeah.”
“But it doesn’t make it any easier.”
“No.”
A small pop sounded through the SUV and the vehicle jerked to the right. Holt yanked the wheel back. “What in the world?” He guided the car to the side of the road and cut the engine.
Holt stepped out of the vehicle. Penny pushed her door open.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
He popped the hood. “Getting ready to find out. Tires are fine, so it has to be something under here. This is a newer car. It’s only got thirty thousand miles on it.”
Even though it was a two-lane back road with open fields and pastureland on either side, traffic was still busy. Thankfully there’d been plenty of room to pull the vehicle over.
A car zipped past and Penny frowned. “They go fast on these little back roads, don’t they?”
“Yeah. They do.” He leaned over the engine.
An eighteen-wheeler approached. Yet another vehicle she thought should go much slower. “What’d you find?”
/> He looked up. “I’m not sure, but I think someone sabotaged the battery cable. There’s some residue on the cable that wasn’t there the last time I looked and I check under the hood often. There’s no way this would have happened so fast.”
Oh boy.
The semi whipped past, sending the vehicle rocking and Holt scowling. “Makes me wish for my state trooper days.”
“State trooper? Really? How long did you do that?”
“About two years before I was accepted into the Bureau.” His frown deepened. “Okay, I think we’re set.” He stepped back and put his hand on the hood.
“Uh-oh,” Penny said.
“What is it?” He shut the hood as the roar of a motorcycle reached them.
Penny watched it from the corner of her eye. “Holt?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s got a gun.”
Holt grabbed Penny’s arm and jerked her behind the cover of the Bucar. Bullets slammed into the side and Holt snagged his weapon from his holster. “Call it in!”
Penny was already dialing and he knew he could count on her to keep her cool. And her head down.
While she shouted their location at the dispatcher, Holt watched the shooter spin around and charge back his way, the bike roaring. This time no bullets came their way. Instead, an object flew through the air, bounced off the hood, and landed on the ground.
Sirens ripped through the air even as the rider gunned the bike and sped away.
Holt bolted after him, trying to see the plate but missed it. The whole thing took less than two minutes, and no other cars had been on the road at the time. Their attacker had chosen well.
Penny jogged up beside him. “What was that all about?”
“I have no idea.”
“He threw something.”
“Yeah, but at least it didn’t blow up.” Holt hurried to the vehicle’s trunk and grabbed a pair of gloves. He slipped them over his hands just as the first cruiser pulled to a stop behind him in the emergency lane. Holt rushed to give the officer the direction the shooter had disappeared and the man took off. The next cruiser pulled up and Holt launched into a rapid-fire description of the situation. “It was all over incredibly fast.” He’d have a better understanding now when a victim claimed everything was a blur. That’s exactly what it was like. He stopped at the object the guy had thrown and noted the piece of paper wrapped around a rock. “How original,” he muttered.
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