“I’m just glad we found you alive,” I admit.
“Me too. It didn’t look too good there for a while,” she says with a sound that kind of resembles a laugh, but I’m pretty sure it was a despairing one.
I grab Jackson’s hand and pull him after me as we rush across the street. She watches us go and likely knows that we don’t leave until the police have pulled up to help her.
“I’m nervous,” Jackson says.
“About Patel?”
“She’s so by the book. What happens when she looks into you? You know she’s going to. The second she has a phone in her hands, she’s going to be tearing your life apart.”
I lean back in my seat while Jackson starts the car. “I can’t tell you that. But maybe there’s a way we can win her over.”
“Please don’t tie her up in the basement.”
“You’re sopicky,” I decide.
“That’s me. Jackson the picky, all because I don’t want a detective tied up in our basement. I really think that only works once.”
“That’s true. We’ll leave it reserved for Henry. You’re such a smart man.”
“That’s me… the smart one,” Jackson says, sounding quite sarcastic.
“You did good with the lights.”
“Yeah, but I left Patel vulnerable. If you hadn’t put the vest on her, this would have ended differently.”
“I don’t think this would have turned out as well as it did without the lights coming back on,” I assure him. “He had access to the security system from his phone and could see me easily because of it. It was making it rather troublesome. But my handsome man came to the rescue.”
“I’m just glad I figured out where the breaker box was.”
“That’s because you’re the smartest man alive. As long as there’s not a fence in front of it, you can accomplish anything.”
Jackson’s stare tells me that he definitely agrees.
TWENTY-EIGHT
LELAND
“Have a seat,” Patel says.
“Is this a trap? Jackson, this feels like a trap,” I comment, and because I wait too long, Cassel pops his ass down in my seat and Jackson takes the other. Now I’m left standing as the only person in the room without a seat.
We’d picked the location to talk to Patel, deciding that if we had control over it, she couldn’t bug it, record our confession, and then destroy our lives. So we’d chosen Henry’s office. He’d been in it since we agreed to meet with Patel, so we know it’s safe. We made her leave all electronics outside of the room and then Cassel ran something that would disrupt any that she tried to use in the room so we could talk freely.
“How are you?” Jackson asks, since she doesn’t look the best. Her eye is still bloodshot. The bruises on her face have turned a nasty yellow. Her hands are bandaged and she really looks like she should still be at home or in the hospital instead of facing off with us.
“He called you the Sandman. I looked into that name, you know,” she says. “I had a lot of downtime in the hospital. I could turn you in… but I realized that I have no proof. All I have is whata ruthless killer said. I could possibly search your house. I could throw your name out there… but oddly enough, everyone in this department seems to like you. And every time I’ve tried looking into you, I’ve been hit with walls I can’t get past. It seems like they’re willing to look the other way or protect you, and I don’t know why. Who exactly is going to believe me when even the chief of police seems to love you?”
“That is quite the question,” I agree.
“I mean, you could sit here and deny everything that man said. And maybe it would be best if you did, but I don’t know if I can in good conscience let a man run free that I know kills people for a living.”
“Did you find any proof that I’d killed anyone recently?” I ask. “Would you believe me if I said that I am working as a PI to help people? Sadly, the police aren’t always able to help save people. It’d be nice if they could. But just like you looking into me, you were stopped by legalities every step of the way.”
“It doesn’t make it right,” she says.
“We’re not here to decide whether my life was right or wrong. I can’t change what I did in the past, and you have absolutely no idea why I did what I did. Honestly, I have no desire to tell you anything else about myself. But I’m here to offer you something to keep you quiet.”
