He skipped a line, then wrote one hundred. But wait, he thought. It’s not a just a hundred. It’s a hundred cubits. In the footnote of the Bible, it stated that would be about one hundred fifty yards. Maybe the number he wanted was 150? But 389 what? And 150 what?
Then he wrote the verse from Numbers. Chapter seven. Verse seven. Seventy-seven. He gave two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites, as their work required. Two carts and four oxen. That could be six if he added the numbers or it could be twenty-four if he just wrote them side by side. But again twenty-four what?
Thomas scratched his head. Not what, he thought. The question isn’t what. The question is where. Where the artwork was. Like he’d thought before. It’s not a code. The verses provided an address. Some combination of these numbers provided a zip code or a street number or maybe even the postbox or bank number where the paintings were.
Then Thomas remembered what Darcy had said about the Bible being a part of the message. If the verses and the numbers were all that was needed then why had Jesse hidden the Bible, too? That only made sense. Thomas flipped back from one verse to the other. This wasn’t Jesse’s Bible, but it was the same edition. If something was important about the Bible, surely the intended message would be on the same pages as the two verses.
Thomas read the pages. He studied them. Something was there staring right at him, but what? Page numbers? Maybe. He scribbled those down, as well.
Thomas wrote the numbers several different ways. It was a lot of numbers. Too many for a zip code. Too many for a street address. But what other way could one locate something using numbers?
Coordinates. If he took the verse reference numbers and added the triple-digit page number to each of the verse reference numbers then... Thomas wondered if it was about what you needed to give a very precise longitude and latitude. He wasn’t sure, but thought maybe a little time on a computer would help. Of course, he didn’t have one. But Abigail did. He hated to wake her after all the help she’d been earlier at the singing, but this was important.
Thomas pushed himself off the bed and hobbled down the stairs and out to the stable, where he usually kept his phone. He was going to get this figured out.
Tonight.
* * *
Agent Danvers had been quiet as they walked out of the hospital. Darcy paid the cab driver who she had asked to wait. She took her things out of the backseat, then followed the agent to her truck and climbed in. The drive to her town house seemed interminably long. The snow had stopped and the main roads were completely clear, but still it seemed like they were moving at a snail’s pace. Darcy had asked Agent Danvers what would happen when she relocated. What were all the people she knew going to be told? What would her design team think? Her boss? The US Marshal had not been too forthcoming with her responses. Something about it all being explained to her later.
Darcy knew she was doing the right thing. But she already missed Willow Trace. She missed all the friendly faces. She missed Thomas. She hadn’t even been able to say goodbye.
Finally, they arrived at her town house. Darcy unlocked her car and took out the Bible that had belonged to Jesse—not the one he’d hidden away, but the worn one he’d obviously read regularly. In all the commotion of the last trip to her place, she had forgotten to take it to read to Jesse in the hospital. But she was glad she’d forgotten now, because she had it to read herself. To learn more about God and also as a keepsake to remind her of Jesse and Thomas.
The first thing Darcy did when she got inside was turn on her phone. She wanted Wissenberg and whoever his little minions were to know that she had left Willow Trace. She got on her computer and answered several emails, too.
As she now rummaged through her town house, gathering the few things she wanted to take with her to her new life, Agent Danvers kept rushing her. In fact, the woman paced her living area, and was biting her nails and constantly talking on her phone in whispers. Darcy couldn’t figure out what she was so nervous about. Darcy was the one who was giving up her life. Not Agent Danvers. Danvers was just doing her job. Shouldn’t she be used to this sort of thing?
When Darcy emerged from her bedroom, she found Agent Danvers hovered over a huge mess on her coffee table. “What are you...?”
Darcy paused about halfway across the room. She could see what was spread out over the table. It was Jesse’s box. The woman had completely disassembled it.
“What did you do that for?” Rage rushed through Darcy’s veins.
“I knew there had to be more than one key,” Danvers said. An evil smile spread over her lips. She reached down over the table and lifted up a small key.
Darcy stumbled back a step. Why would Agent Danvers be looking for a key?
* * *
“It’s a place in Washington, DC,” Abigail told Thomas over the phone.
His heart pounded. “This must be where the paintings are,” he said.
“I don’t know, Thomas,” Abigail said. “It’s some sort of restaurant and bar.”
Thomas thought for a second. “Well, I may be off a little. I thought my Bible was the same edition as the one we found in Jesse’s highboy. But it’s possible that it’s not—meaning the page numbers could be slightly different. We need to call Agent Ross.”
“I don’t have his number,” Abigail said. “I’ll have to call Elijah and I doubt he’s going to answer his phone at this hour. In fact, I doubt he even has it in the house with him.”
“You answered.”
“My husband’s an ER doctor. We always answer the phone,” she said.
“Then we will just have to drive over there,” Thomas said.
“We? Thomas, it’s the middle of the night. This can wait till morning.”
“I don’t know, Abby,” Thomas felt his pulse racing. He felt a sense of urgency that he couldn’t explain. “I got this feeling that we need to take care of this tonight.”
“Go back to bed, Thomas,” she said. “I’m getting another call.”
Thomas decided he would call Elijah himself, even though he knew Abigail was right. There was no way his friend had his phone on and inside the house. Eli’s father, the bishop, tolerated phones for business and emergencies, but he wanted them out of the home whenever possible, which when you got right down to it was most of the time.
Elijah’s line went to voice mail and Thomas left a detailed message explaining his theory about the location. He wanted to hitch up his buggy and ride over to the Millers’. He especially wanted to share what he’d discovered with Darcy. But Abigail was right. He knew that a buggy ride would be slow and painful with his leg hurting so much, and the Millers would hardly be happy to see him at this time of night. It could wait a few hours. It would have to.
Thomas pushed himself up and started to go back to the house, when he heard his own phone ringing. Maybe Elijah had kept his phone nearby and had heard the message? It wouldn’t have surprised him with all the excitement that they’d had the past few days if Elijah wanted it close in case of another emergency.
But when he looked down at the phone, it wasn’t Elijah’s number calling. It was Abigail. He answered.
“Change your mind?”
“No, I didn’t change my mind,” Abigail said. “That was Blake on the other line. He called to tell me that Jesse woke up.”
TWENTY-TWO
Abigail did come to pick up Thomas and the two of them hurried to the Millers’. But not so much to tell Elijah about the coordinates, as to tell Darcy that her father had woken up. Jesse was going to live. What a blessing!
The coordinates didn’t even matter anymore. Now that Jesse was awake and alive, he could tell them everything. This was all going to be over. Darcy would be safe.
“I’m glad I have a key,” Abigail said, as she exited the car and skipped up to the front porch. Thomas stayed in the car t
o rest his leg.
Abigail let herself in and disappeared into the dark house. About three minutes later she reemerged not with Darcy, but with a dress and apron in her hands.
“She’s gone,” Abigail said. “The bed’s made and my dress was laying right across it.”
Thomas felt the worst sinking sensation travel from his head to his gut. He opened the car door and started to climb out. “Where’s Elijah?”
“I’ll go get him,” Abigail said. “Hannah is going to kill me for waking them up.”
“And I’m going to kill Elijah for letting Darcy escape,” he said. Of course, he didn’t mean it. Elijah couldn’t keep her there if she’d wanted to leave. He was just so upset. Hurt. Why would she leave? How could she leave? Without even saying goodbye...
* * *
“You’re not really a US Marshal, are you?” Darcy felt nauseous, as if she could faint.
“Just now figuring that out?” Danvers snapped.
“Then who are you?”
“What’s it to you?” Danvers said. “You’d be dead already if I didn’t need you to open the mailbox.”
“Mailbox? You know where to use the key?”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“You left us all the clues,” Danvers said. “The ones your dear old dad left for you.”
“But you don’t have them. An agent at the FBI has them,” Darcy said. “And you don’t have the key, either. That key only works on the box. The one you just broke into a thousand pieces.”
“I have friends in the FBI,” she said smugly. “Friends who work in Cryptography. I couldn’t get my hands on the key. It was held in a different department. But I got the address and I bought myself some time before that Agent Ross who you got involved will find out about it. And as far as your key goes...well, you’re right. One of the keys works on the box. But you and your handsome farmer friend didn’t look hard enough. Your father was too paranoid to have just one key in one hiding place. There was another one. And I found it.”
Darcy had to admit the key did look just like the one they found in the highboy. “How did you know to look in the box?”
“You and your friend were pretty loud at the cottage.”
“That was you?” Darcy said. “You shot Thomas?”
“Yes, but I missed the fatal shot I was aiming for and I really don’t like it when I miss.”
Darcy looked around her home. Could she run? Could she make it to her car? Maybe she could cut through the back and escape down the alley. If she could get her phone, she could call 911. But she’d left it back in her bedroom.
“I need to get something,” Darcy said, turning toward the bedroom.
Danvers quickly pulled a pistol from her phony US Marshals coat. “I don’t think so. I think you’re going to be sticking right next to me until the post office facility opens up at eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Now, let’s go. We got a little driving to do.”
* * *
“The coordinates point to a mailing facility in northern Virginia,” said Elijah after hanging up the phone with Agent Ross.
“Not a restaurant,” Thomas said.
“No, you didn’t have the right Bible. The one Jesse left has slightly different page numbers, so that shifted the exact location slightly. Anyway, Ross is going to drive down there right now. He said it would take about three hours.”
“What about Darcy?” Thomas asked.
“No one can get a hold of her. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Anybody call the US Marshals?”
“You think she went with Danvers?”
“I hope not. But maybe she thought it was the only way to stay safe?” Thomas rubbed his scraggly beard with his hand. “What about the taxi driver? You said she left in a taxi. Can he tell us where he took her?”
“Worth a try.”
Elijah lifted his phone and within a couple of minutes, he was speaking with the driver. Thomas could hear his friend using every means of persuasion that he could to get the driver to talk to him. Finally, he clicked off. “She went to the hospital. Stayed about fifteen minutes then came out, paid the fare and left with a woman with short, spiky blond hair.”
Thomas took off his hat and twisted it in his hands. What were they going to do?
“I’ll call Agent Ross. I don’t think Agent Danvers would take a call from us, but she wouldn’t be able to ignore another federal agent.”
“It’s worth a try,” Thomas said, trying to slow his pounding heart.
“And relax,” Eli said. “I’m sure it’s not too late. It’s only been a few hours. We’ll get her back with her dad in no time.”
Elijah turned away with his phone again. Thomas hoped his friend was right. He hoped they weren’t too late to stop Darcy from making the biggest mistake of her life. He wished there was something else he could do...besides just rely on Elijah’s connections. But he was thankful they had them.
Elijah’s eyes met Thomas and his friend dropped the phone to his side. “There’s no Agent Danvers working in the US Marshals.”
* * *
Agent Danvers held the gun at Darcy’s chest and Darcy froze. She didn’t even dare breathe. She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid to think that it was normal that Agent Danvers was hovering around her father’s hospital bed waiting for her to show up. She couldn’t believe that none of them had suspected the so-called agent earlier back at the hospital, when she acted so nervous and over important. No wonder she seemed so callous and flippant about relocation. She wasn’t even an agent. She was a criminal and she’d sat in on a meeting with the Lancaster chief of police without anyone suspecting.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door.
“Our escorts are here,” Danvers announced. The fake agent pressed Darcy toward the front door. Darcy opened it to find two huge men standing there.
“Miss Simmons,” Danvers said, “meet my two brothers. They’ve been kind enough to volunteer to escort us to Virginia. I wouldn’t have even worried about it if it weren’t for that meddlesome farmer and his friend. But I have a feeling they may come looking for my truck and me, which is why we’re going to take your car. At least, part of the way.”
Darcy studied the two men. She remembered Thomas’s description of the guy in the woods that he’d caught. Thomas had said he looked like a young version of Wissenberg. Well, so did these two guys. In fact they looked so much alike they could be twins, and they strongly resembled the man she suspected to be their father. Now that she was looking for it, she realized Danvers looked like him, too. Especially if she didn’t have the fake blond hair, but the smoother darker hair of her brothers.
“Well, they’re my half brothers,” she added. “Different mother.”
Wissenberg’s family. How nice of them to all work together, she thought.
Danvers took a set of keys from one of the men. “Go get her ID and car keys.”
One of the men disappeared into her home while Danvers pushed Darcy through the front door, gun at her back, and led her to the passenger side of her red car.
“You didn’t think I’d let you drive, did you?”
Danvers handcuffed Darcy to the passenger door. Apparently, she hadn’t bothered to lock it that night she’d left with Thomas and Elijah. She truly had been in a state of shock. She wished she had left the Bible in the backseat. The one that belonged to Jesse. It would have helped to calm her nerves. But still she remembered the words of Bishop Miller. She was a child of God. He would take care of her. And she believed it.
God, I know I don’t know You too well. But I’m trusting You’ll help get me out if this. If You can.
And Thomas always said that anything was possible, if it’s God’s will.
Danvers walked around to the driver
side. One of her half brothers came running out with her clutch bag. He handed it to Danvers, who clawed out her keys and threw the bag at Darcy’s feet.
Her clutch. Darcy’s heartbeat quickened. She didn’t expect that God could answer her prayer so fast. But He had. He had given her hope.
Yes, the clutch had her ID in it. It had her car keys in it. It also had her phone in it. Unless they’d been smart enough to take it out. She hoped they hadn’t been. She hoped the guy was as stupid as he looked. And she hoped that the phone was still tucked away in its little zippered compartment.
“We will be a few cars back,” the man said. And off they all went. Danvers drove frantically through her little town and then even faster once she got to the highway. Darcy felt bile and adrenaline roiling through her. She was nauseous. What did they need her for?
“So where are we going?” Darcy asked.
“South,” she said.
“I can see that. Anyway, why do you need me?”
“Only you or Jesse can get to the postal box. Even with the key, it’s in a secured area. Anyone allowed access has to have ID.”
“What are you going to with me afterward?”
“Take you for a little swim,” Danvers said.
“So is your name Wissenberg, too?”
“Anyone tell you you ask too many questions?”
Darcy took that as her cue to fall silent, though her thoughts kept racing. She just wanted to get her hands on her phone and get help. But would she have a chance before this madwoman ended her life?
* * *
Thomas thought he had felt every sort of emotion there was, but what he experienced now he had no words for. It was more than panic. More than rage. It was some sort of combustible power inside him that he knew folding his hat over in his hands would never soothe away.
“We have to do something,” Thomas said.
“Agent Ross is sending a car for us,” Elijah said. “He’s going to have us meet him at the heliport. It’s the only way we can catch them. They have a huge head start on us.”
“They’re going to let us go with them?” Thomas knew that had to be completely due to Elijah’s friendship with Agent Ross.
Lancaster County Reckoning Page 16
