She didn’t answer him right away. He could feel her drifting. At least she was breathing easier. Paul insisted she still have the oxygen flowing to her. The mask, not just a simple nosepiece, and Gideon made certain it was securely in place. He sat beside the bed, not prompting her to say anything more, just waiting. If the detectives needed the information, they could wait as well.
A half an hour later, Mack returned to the room with the three detectives. “Anything?”
“She fell asleep, but she definitely has information she wants to relay. She said they kept asking her about a book. Over and over. At first that confused her. She didn’t understand who they were or what kind of book or what they were talking about. One was very angry, and he beat her and cut her with a knife when she couldn’t answer. But then she said she began to associate the question with Detective Ramsey. She said they kept asking the question over and over in various ways. Three of the four men questioned her.”
“About a book?” Wilson exchanged a look with the other two detectives. “Peter Ramsey preferred to write everything by hand ina notebook rather than use a tablet. He was old-school when it came to that. Afterward, he typed up his reports, but when he was working, he liked to arrange his notes a certain way. He always used a brown notebook that resembled a diary.”
“Did she say anything else?” Abbott prompted.
“She thought she might know where it was, but she didn’t tell them that. She drifted off before she could tell me,” Gideon said.
Wilson looked frustrated. “What did the doctor say about her condition? I read his report, and she’s very lucky to be alive.”
“He said to let her rest as much as possible. He still has more work to do on her,” Gideon said. “Rory was very insistent she tell you what she thinks, but she drifted off before she could let me know. I’ll call when I’ve got something for you.”
“I can stay, if you don’t mind,” Larrsen said. “We’ve been working on this night and day for a couple of months. The four of us. Losing Ramsey was a terrible blow. The three men murdered felt like that was on us, and then the women being terrorized and now this happening to Rory. I’d rather stay and hopefully be here when she wakes. If you prefer, I can wait in my car just outside.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Mack said before Gideon could answer him.
Thought this was my house.
Mack grinned at him.You’ve got four floors and too many rooms to count. You’re being an ass on purpose. Do you have a grudge against that man?
At the moment, all of them. I’m still upset that they didn’t figure out a way to protect the other women, especially Larrsen. Lydia, one of Rory’s friends—who, by the way, has a three-year-old daughter—likes the man, and I thought he was all about her.
“In case the three of you haven’t figured it out yet, instead of Rory lying here, this could be Lydia or Sally or one of the others,” Gideon reminded them. “But I suppose, even with our offer of asafe house and guarding the women, it was too big of a risk to one of you quietly talking to them and asking them to come with our people.”
Larrsen and Abbott both shifted their gazes to Wilson. Clearly, as the lead detective, he’d had to make the judgment call.
Wilson nodded. “We only had a short time to make the decision. We didn’t have a safe house or anyone we could trust to watch over them. We couldn’t take a chance that the information would get out over police channels. I didn’t understand that your people were intending to keep them safe for us, and even if I had, I would have had to check with resources in Washington to ensure you were reliable.”
Gideon could understand the man’s dilemma to some extent, but he still felt the women should have been watched. There were three men. Someone should have been on them all the time. Larrsen should have warned them to stay together. Maybe he had. He’d remained suspiciously silent, not attempting to defend himself.
“Stay,” Gideon capitulated gruffly. “There’s plenty of room.”
“If the kidnappers were going to return, wouldn’t they have done so by now?” Abbott asked, looking at his watch. “According to the doctor’s report, if you hadn’t shown up when you did, she wouldn’t have lasted even another twenty minutes.”
“It’s possible they don’t intend to return,” Mack said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t track them. My team is very specialized in what they do. We’re going to give it another couple of hours. If nothing else, they may come back for her body to remove any physical evidence.”
“I would understand that you might want to claim this as a military operation, but we need jurisdiction here,” Wilson said. “This investigation has been ongoing for nearly two years and cost the life of a very good man. If you pick up a prisoner, or more thanone, you can’t interrogate them. You must turn them over immediately or risk blowing everything we’ve done.”
Mack nodded abruptly. “I understand. As long as Rory’s alive, we’ll play ball with you. Anything changes on that score, all bets are off.” He jerked his chin toward the door, and he and Marc immediately led the two detectives out before Wilson could protest.
There was a small silence as Larrsen waited for the front door to close, although the bedroom where Rory was located was a distance away.
“I asked the women to stick together and not go to work,” Larrsen admitted. “And I did tell them if they were uncomfortable in any way, to go to your house, but to do it with all of them together. That could have gotten me fired, but Lydia, Ellen and the others were more important than my job. I trusted you to take care of them without a government report. Fortunately, the women trusted me enough to do as I asked, and they didn’t leave the apartment building or one another’s company until you sent someone for them.”
“How did you know someone from my team came for them?” Gideon asked.
“Lydia texted me. She said a woman by the name of Jaimie said she was Mack’s wife and that she knew Gideon. She said Gideon and Mack wanted all of them to look at some safer apartments, and in the meantime, they could stay there, where it was safer. I told her Mack was one of the good guys.”
He refused to be intimidated by Gideon’s piercing gaze and stepped closer to the bed. “Yeah, you didn’t need to remind me this could have been Lydia. Now I can’t raise her. She isn’t answering my calls or my texts. Where is she?”
Gideon respected him even more for the ice in his voice and the steel in his gaze. “We had to shut down all communication. That’s standard procedure in a safe house for their security. They were toldthe rules before they agreed. Lydia was made aware that you would know she wouldn’t be able to contact you.”
“I’m a detective.”
“And you’re most likely under observation.”
