Within ten minutes, Evie was seated in an interview room with a detective and a bottle of water. She’d been told the FBI were already on their way. The detective asked her to describeeverything she could - Tommy, the man who’d taken him, the car, the direction they’d gone, so they could issue an alert, set up roadblocks, and get a BOLO out as fast as possible.
She had just finished when a knock sounded at the door. Two men in dark suits entered, and the detective excused himself.
Evie looked between them, heart hammering, assuming they were the FBI.
“Miss Stanley, I’m Agent William Smithback, and this is Agent James Harker. We’re with the FBI.”
The taller, lankier, of the two, with brown hair that looked like he’d run his hands through it a dozen times set a recorder on the table and pressed the red button. “Can you tell us what happened from the beginning, please?”
Evie nodded stiffly and launched into her story, starting with Tommy’s text telling her he was outside and ending with her sprint through the cemetery and desperate arrival at the precinct. When she finally stopped, Agent Smithback glanced at his partner before leaning forward.
“You said this was the anniversary of his parents’ deaths. Do you go to the cemetery with him every year?”
Evie nodded, not sure why that mattered. “Yes. His parents were my godparents. We’ve gone every year since I was ten.”
“So, most people in your lives would know that.” Smithback said, his tone mild but probing.
Evie hesitated, realizing what he was getting at. “Fewer people than you’d think,” she said after a moment. “It’s not something either of us talks about, we don’t always go on the exact day and never at the same time.”
“Not consistent, then,” Agent Harker murmured thoughtfully.
“No, and I’d actually forgotten this year.” She shifted uncomfortably as they both raised their eyebrows at her. “It’s my first year doing computer science at Columbia, and I’m in the middle of exams.” She explained a little defensively. “It’s not that I forgot the anniversary was coming up, I forgot what day it is.”
“So, you didn’t tell anyone you had plans with Mr. Sloane?” Smithback asked as he made a note on his notepad.
Evie shook her head. “No. I texted my study group before I left, just to say I couldn’t make it. I told them I’d forgotten about a family thing I couldn’t miss, but I didn’t say what it was.”
“Do you know who Mr. Sloane might have told?” Harker asked.
Evie drew a deep breath, thinking it through. Would Tommy have told anyone? “No,” she said finally. “He would’ve noted the afternoon off in his schedule, which a few people could see, like the board president, COO, CFO, his assistant, and a handful of others at Sloane. But he wouldn’t have listed why.”
She paused, twisting the emerald ring on her middle finger, the one Tommy had given her for her birthday, as nerves crept back in. “They would’ve known anyway,” she added softly.
Harker nodded, already pulling out his phone. Evie watched in silence as he placed a quick call, asking someone to contact Tommy’s assistant and even providing her name when prompted. His tone stayed professional, efficient.
When he hung up, he studied her for a long moment. His expression gave nothing away.
“Why didn’t the abductor take you?” Smithback asked suddenly, catching Evie off guard. “Your family’s well off, and your father’s the COO of Sloane Tech. Everyone knows how closeyou and Mr. Sloane are. He’s had to publicly clarify more than once that you’re not in a relationship, that he sees you as a little sister. Frankly, if this were about money, you’d be the easier target. Your family and Mr. Sloane would be fighting to pay your ransom.”
“I don’t know.” Evie frowned, turning the question over. He wasn’t wrong - she would have been easier to control, and Tommy would’ve handed over his entire company to get her back. “He said no harm would come to me if Tommy went with him quietly. When I asked if he was going to hurt him, he said, ‘Not today.’”
She swallowed hard. “He let us both see his face, and it was two in the afternoon on a Friday. The cemetery wasn’t busy, but it wasn’t empty either.”
Her knee began to bounce under the table as she replayed the encounter. The man had been so calm, so composed, yet his behavior didn’t make sense. “He took my phone so I couldn’t call for help, but he let Tommy give me the keys to the Porsche so I wouldn’t be stranded. He didn’t seem to care who saw him, and people woulddefinitelyremember him. He was huge and… honestly, really good-looking.”
She hesitated, her brow furrowing as the contradictions lined up in her mind. “Some of what he did made it seem like it was his first kidnapping, but the rest…” She shook her head. “The rest felt practiced. He knew exactly what he was doing. Like he was certain everything would go according to plan.”
Both agents leaned forward, their attention fixed on her. “So, in your opinion, he was a professional?” Smithback asked quietly.
Evie thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. I think he was hired to take Tommy. He didn’t know either of us, andhe was too confident. Like he’s done this before and gotten away with it.”
“Can you think of anyone who would want Mr. Sloane out of the picture?”
Smithback’s question hit her like a slap. Only one name came to mind, and she immediately tried to push it away.
He wouldn’t.
“Yes, he would,”a small, impish voice whispered from somewhere deep in her brain.You know he would.
