“At first, I thought that Frank might have mentioned the Renoir in his will and, if so, that Carolyn would confide in me.”
“But he didn’t mention it in his will,” Zander stated.
“That’s correct.”
“So you and Nick started following me.”
“Initially, we followed Carolyn, her daughters, and you. But when you and Britt visited the cemetery in Enumclaw, we realized that the two of you were actively investigating Frank’s history. From then on, we concentrated most of our attention on you and Britt, which proved the right play in the end. You were the ones who paved the way to the painting.”
“Why help us now?” the chief asked. “Tom has the painting. Doesn’t that mean your debt is paid?”
“Had I found the painting shortly after arriving in Merryweather, Tom would have taken it as payment. But now he’s invested time and money and men in this pursuit. I’m betting that they’ve come to view the painting as payment for the work they’ve put in here in Washington. Which means they’ll view my busted job as a separate event and still want to collect on that.” Her manicured eyebrow arched. “Neither Tom nor Nick contacted me today when they set off for Olympia, which assures me that they don’t consider me to be their partner.”
Kurt opened his laptop. “It’s likely that they’ve taken Britt to the same place they took Emerson and Frank.”
“I agree,” Chief Warner said.
“Where did you and Nick meet Frank after Nick called Frank at the jobsite?” Kurt asked Emerson.
Emerson provided an address.
“How long would you estimate you drove after leaving that location?”
“Thirty minutes or so.”
“At approximately what rate of speed?”
“The top speed that the roads around here allow.”
Kurt went to work on the computer.
The chief adjusted his chair to face Emerson more fully. “What else can you tell us about the room where you and Frank were held? Any detail, no matter how small, could be helpful.”
“I heard the sound of airplanes taking off and landing,” Emerson said, then went on to describe the room’s details.
Kurt turned the computer screen toward the occupants of the table. It showed a detailed map, a portion of which was circled. Shaw pointed to the circle’s epicenter. “This is where Frank met Nick after leaving the construction site. I determined the search area based on the amount of time they traveled and the speed at which they traveled. Within the search area, there’s only one airstrip. Jefferson Airport.” He pointed to its location. “It services private jets.”
He zoomed in on the airstrip and indicated its nearby structures.“There are a network of hangars and commercial buildings adjacent to the airport that were built in the 1950s. Old enough to line up with Emerson’s account of the room where she was held.”
“I’ll get a search warrant for those buildings,” the chief said.
Agent Delacruz spoke from the iPad. “I’ll pull up the information I have on those warehouses and forward it to you immediately. I’ll also contact The Residences to see if they have surveillance footage of their parking lot.”
“I’ll be meeting with my SWAT team in fifteen minutes,” the captain said.
“Thank you.” The chief looked to Kurt. “Take Zander and Emerson and have them ID all the suspects involved in the kidnapping.”
“Yes, sir.”
Zander sat next to Emerson in Kurt’s office as she supplied names for Tom and his men. After each name, Kurt pulled up a photo for him and Emerson to positively identify. The faces of the men who’d taken Britt would be burned into his psyche forever. So far, they’d ID’d three. Only one left.
Kurt’s screen revealed a picture of Nick’s blunt features and thick neck.
“Yes,” Emerson said. “That’s him.”
Kurt looked to Zander.
“Yes. Nick’s the one who was following me several weeks back.”
