Detective Parks nodded and walked away. Roman didn’t watch them haul Frank through the mall. He couldn’t. Instead, Roman walked to the food-court business where the shaken hostage had returned to get her keys.
“Tell me your name,” Roman asked gently.
“Kerstin.”
“Kerstin, I’m so sorry this happened to you today. Do you need to go to the hospital? Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m okay. The paramedics checked me out. I’m sorry. I can’t stop shivering. They said it was a reaction to….” She waved a hand toward the center of the food court, and one of her colleagues stepped closer to wrap his arm around her waist.
“I’m going to have you driven home. You’re too shaken up to drive. If you’ll leave your keys with me, I’ll have your vehicle delivered to your house within an hour,” Roman told her.
“I need to stop and get some formula,” the young employee told him, rubbing her hand over her face as if to gather herself. “I’ll be okay.”
Roman looked at the manager, who stood with his staff. “Can you get me the details of her address, the type of formula she needs, and her car information?”
“Of course, sir,” the manager said quickly.
“Kerstin, a driver is going to pick you up at the west entrance in ten minutes. Let your manager walk you there. He’ll take all the information and take care of everything. Okay?”
“Okay. Thank you.” The pure relief on the young woman’s face told him a lot.
“Will there be someone with you?”
“My mom. She’ll stay.”
“Perfect. I’m going to get the ride set up while you talk to your manager and give him your keys. I promise to have someone treat your car with care,” Roman assured her.
“You’re wonderful. Thank you. I just want to get home safely to see my son.”
An image of Coco flashed into his head. All Roman wanted was to rush home to her, but he was trapped here for a while longer. “That is the most important thing to do.”
He excused himself and talked to Bert in the security office. He called an older security officer to transport Kerstin and grabsome supplies for her. Pulling out his wallet, Roman counted the bills he had in the money clip and gave the new arrival two hundred and fifty dollars to buy a case of formula, and some different staples for the household and fill up the gas tank.
Bert nodded and instructed, “Get receipts, Charlie.”
“Thank you, Charlie,” Roman told him.
“You got it, boss. I enjoy being the good guy.”
When Charlie had walked away to get one of the mall patrol cars, Bert turned to him and warned, “You might as well stick around for a while. It’s going to take a while to get your car out of here. The newsies are swarming everywhere.”
“This has already made it to the news?” Roman asked.
“Oh, yeah. Every station is here.”
Immediately, a warning blared in his mind. Had Coco heard of this happening? She wouldn’t be online while at the vet’s office, right? He grabbed his phone.
“Thanks, Bert. You have my phone number. Call if you need me.”
Walking to a quieter spot, Roman called his Little girl.
“Daddy?” Her voice trembled with stress and worry.
“Coco, I’m fine. I’m sorry to scare you, baby girl. Are you at work?”
“Work?” she echoed. “Oh, no. I’m going to get flambeed… fired. Isabella showed me her phone, and I froze here watching the reporters.”
“We aren’t going to fire you.” Roman heard Sofia’s voice in the background. “Is your Daddy okay?”
