Whoops.
Dewi scooped the remaining items off the roof, walked around the car, and dumped them into the passenger seat.
Fawny looked terrified where she stood next to the passenger door. “What’d you do to him? Who are you people?”
Dewi grabbed her arm. “Forget about Emily, and forget about Hannah. Leave your purse and phone in the car. And stop being a goddamned grifter. When I tell you, go stand by the canal over there. When you see the cops pull up, scream at them, yell that you’re trying to kill yourself, make sure you have their attention, then jump into the water and head for the other side. When they fish you out and question you, this entire morning is a complete blank in your mind. You got high or drunk or something.”
She nodded.
“Dewi,” Joaquin said. “Clarify.”
“What? Oh. You’re notactuallytrying to kill yourself. Just put on a good show for the cops so they think you are so you distract them. Don’t tell them I told you to do it. Don’t say anything about us—forget about us. And what’s your phone lock code?”
She recited it. Dewi grabbed her phone and unlocked it. “Okay, now walk over there and get ready. Don’t get hit by a car.”
Fawny headed off.
“What do we do?” Joaquin asked while Dewi reset the code. Behind them, traffic was starting to back up, and they spotted vehicles pulling over for approaching FHP cruisers.
In the back seat, the baby was still crying but looked unharmed.
Joaquin still wore the tactical gloves. “Take this car,” Dewi said. “Head back to Emily’s. I’ll hang here to run interference and then catch up with you. Toss the keys to the other car.”
He did and then jumped into Henry’s car and took off while Dewi pulled the Saleen off onto the shoulder and got out to wait while traffic tried to resume moving around them.
When the first FHP cruiser pulled up, Dewi frantically waved at the trooper with both hands and pointed to where Fawny now stood on the canal bank. It looked like Henry had already made it to the other side of the canal, climbed out, and was heading west, quickly disappearing into a thick stand of sawgrass.
“She’s trying to kill herself!” Dewi screamed. “Stop her!”
The officer turned, spotted Fawny, then hurdled the median barrier and sprinted toward her while yelling into the shoulder mic of his radio. Fawny started shrieking she was going to kill herself and jumped into the water.
Shit. I hope she can swim. Whoops.
Dewi dove into her car and peeled out, quickly catching up with Joaquin, who’d turned east at US27 to return to Emily’s.
“How’s your passenger?” Dewi asked Joaquin over the radio.
“Screaming her head off, so she’s probably hungry or needs a diaper, but she sounds strong. Want me to pull over so we can check on her?”
“No,” Dewi said. “Let’s get her back to her momma right now. Turning my radio off while I make calls.”
Dewi called Emily next. “We got her. Safe and sound. Heading back to you.”
Emily burst into tears. “Oh, thank god! Thank you so much!”
“We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” She ended that call and then called Ken. “Tell Beck you told him so, honey.”
“You found Hannah?”
“Yep. Safe and sound. Easy-peasy! Taking her back to Emily right now. I’ll call you before we leave here and are on our way back.”
“Huzzah! Great job! Love you, baby.”
“Love you, too.” She ended the call and grinned, breathing a huge sigh of relief.
I know I shouldn’t feel petty about this but I can’t wait to rub Beck’s face in this.
Because, yes, she couldstillsafely do fieldwork.
