“They expected her to die when they left her there, Mack,” Gideon said.
“I got that.” Mack’s voice was grim.
“When I thought it was Whitney’s men, it made sense. She didn’t do her job. She was disposable to him. But what could these men want from her? I’m concerned that her friends might be in danger. They were shouting questions, but I couldn’t understand what they were asking her. I think the hood and her lack of oxygen muffled everything for her, as it did for me.”
“I’ll call Larrsen back and tell him to round them up and get them into a safe house. He can bring them to one of ours.”
Gideon nodded. “That might be a good idea.”
“It might tip off our kidnappers.”
“Better that than another one of these women gets taken. Two of them have children, Mack. Javier is an elite tracker. He’s been in that warehouse for some time now. Jacob is with him. You know what he’s like. Nothing gets past his nose. Whoever these men are, they aren’t GhostWalkers. They’re going to leave something for our boys, even if it’s sweat. That will be enough for them to follow. We’ll find them one way or another. Better the women are safe.”
Mack agreed and made a second call.
Larrsen was hesitant. He had to talk to his boss and didn’t seem to think the man would agree. There was too much at stake.
Mack argued: What was more important, protecting the women from kidnap and torture, or finding a cop killer? He ended up hanging up on the detective.
Gideon sent Mack a brief grin. “You still have that edge, Mack. Flares up every now and then.”
“Total bullshit to say they can’t round up those women quietly and bring them to us. We offered our safe house. They wouldn’t be paying for it.”
“It’s possible they are suspects,” Gideon pointed out. “All along,Rory’s been worried that someone has been trying to frame her or one of the other women. Or trying to implicate them in Ramsey’s death. Rory looked as if she could be working in Harvey’s organization because she moved around so much. Working in a bar, she would have a lot of contacts.”
“I could see that.” Mack was already texting his people, setting up at one of the buildings they owned to house the women. They just needed someone to persuade them to come to the apartments.
“Who are you sending?”
“Jaimie and Rhianna. I’ll have Lucas back them up. We own the building across from our home. It’s high-end, secure, and we have several apartments we can rent out. Rhianna and Jaimie can easily persuade them to come look at them. They’re leaving now.”
Gideon had total faith that the women could get the job done. From what Rory had told him, Cindy wanted to move. Janice and Pam had no reason to stay, and if Cindy could persuade Lydia, they could get Sally to move as well. Rhianna and Jaimie would keep the rents comparable to what the women had been paying. Once they were at the apartment building, Rhianna and Jaimie would convince them to stay until it was safe for them to leave. In other words, until they found whoever was responsible for murdering Detective Ramsey and kidnapping and torturing Rory.
19
Gideon knew the predator in him was showing. The three detectives were clearly uncomfortable in his presence, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t about to back off. Rory looked fragile, with her face swollen and bruised, her eyes dark and hollow. She still seemed to struggle for air, and Gideon didn’t want the cops questioning her; he wanted Paul working to undo whatever Whitney had done to make her lungs worse than what she’d been born with.
Rory was nervous with the detectives close to her. The moment Gideon sensed that, he moved to protect her, his killer instincts taking over. He didn’t bother to tone down the piercing stare or the fact that he had warned them to keep a distance from her bed.
“This is Dr.Mangan. If he stops the interview, it’s done,” Gideon said. “No arguments. We found her barely alive. She insisted on trying to help you, or I would have forbidden this interview until she was better.”
“Who are you to her?” Detective Morgan Wilson asked. He had been introduced by Larrsen as the man in charge.
“Her fiancé,” Gideon said without a qualm.
Rory’s fingers curled in his hand, but she didn’t otherwise react to his blatant statement.
Wilson nodded. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Ms.Chappel. We’re very thankful that your fiancé found you when he did.”
“How exactly were you able to do that?” Detective Abbott asked.
Gideon was prepared for the question. Mack and he had discussed how best that would be answered. “Often, when she got off work, we would walk together to the Koi Garden and sit on the patio and talk. I knew she was going to walk Lydia home first, but I didn’t like the idea of them walking alone, so I was on my way with one of my teammates to meet up with her. We got there just as she was being pulled into a vehicle, and the car took off. There was no license plate that either of us could see—”
“You called in the description of the car?” Larrsen interrupted.
“No,” Mack said, his voice calm. “At the time, we were too busy running down every lead we could to find her. We were afraid if it got out that we even had that much, they might kill her.”
“We’re fast runners. Very fast,” Gideon continued his explanation, “but the car was able to disappear. That meant it didn’t get to the freeway or any of the main streets. She had to be somewhere in the harbor. We hunted every place they could have taken her.”
