‘No, I’m not leaving. I’m okay. Jill’s standing. And Liam. He works for Lisette.’
‘I know who the fuck Liam is,’ Marcus growled.
‘Yeah, but your cop there doesn’t. Donna from Accounting and Frank from the warehouse. They all got down to the archive room. They’re unhurt. Stone’s breathing. The medics are working on him. That’s all I know.’
‘I’m on my way,’ Marcus said, his jaw hard and unyielding.
‘No,’ Diesel said. ‘Go straight to the hospital. Stone’s going to need you. So will Audrey and your mother.’
‘Is that Marcus on the phone?’ It was a young female. ‘Marcus, it’s Jill.’
Scarlett was surprised. The subdued voice sounded nothing like the young woman who’d been so angry in the OR waiting room the night before.
‘Stone’s conscious,’ Jill said. ‘He was wearing Kevlar under his clothes, down past his knees. Liam and I cut his clothes off him so we could try to stop his bleeding. He took a lot of bullets. The Kevlar didn’t stop all of them, but the bleeding is slow. Not gushing. Just so you don’t worry.’
Scarlett muted Marcus’s phone. ‘She’s too calm. She doesn’t know about Gayle.’
Marcus squared his shoulders when she unmuted the phone. ‘Jill, where were you?’
‘Down in the archive room with Cal.’ Her breath hitched, broke. ‘Marcus, Cal’s—’
‘I know,’ Marcus interrupted, his face twisting in pain. But he kept his voice level. ‘What happened?’
‘We heard the shots in the lobby and the next thing we knew Liam, Frank, Donna and me were all being shoved down the stairs by Stone. Cal was already down there. Stone told us all to stay put and he went back up and shut the door. But Cal didn’t listen.’ Her voice broke again. ‘I’m just glad Aunt Gayle had left already.’
They all went silent and Diesel’s face must have shown the truth, because Jill began to whimper. ‘No. She wasn’t here.’
‘Jill!’ Diesel yelled. ‘Wait! Fuck,’ he muttered.
Jill’s ear-piercing shriek cut through all the background noise.
‘Gayle’s purse is still on the desk,’ Diesel said heavily. ‘I gotta go. One of the officers had to pull Jill away from the desk. Do not come here. Go to the hospital. Scarlett? Make him go to the hospital.’
‘I’ll make sure of it,’ Scarlett said grimly. She disconnected and, keeping one hand fisted in Marcus’s shirt, found Jeremy’s number, dialing it with the other. ‘Jeremy, this is Scarlett Bishop. Marcus is all right,’ she added quickly when the man gasped. ‘But Stone’s not.’ She quickly filled him in, her gaze locked with Marcus’s the entire time. ‘Where are you?’
‘At home. With Keith.’
Which meant he was at least forty-five minutes away.
‘I’m here, Detective,’ Keith said. ‘I put it on speaker, so I heard it all. Which hospital?’
‘I don’t know yet. Probably County. They’ve got the best trauma unit.’
‘We’re leaving now. Call when you know where they’re taking him.’
‘Wait,’ Jeremy said. ‘Does Della know?’
‘Not yet. I’ll call Audrey. If she’s not home, I’ll get Mrs Yarborough myself.’
‘Thank you, Detective. Marcus?’
Marcus swallowed audibly. ‘I’m here, Dad.’
‘Okay. I just needed to hear your voice. We’re on our way.’
Scarlett disconnected. ‘Do you want to call Audrey?’
He nodded, made the call, his voice breaking all the way through. ‘They’re coming.’
Scarlett slipped his phone into his shirt pocket. ‘Your family needs you.’
He shook his head, agony in his eyes. ‘Gayle is my family too. God, when I think about what’s he doing to her. Sonofabitch. If he hurts her, I’ll kill him. I swear it.’
Scarlett drew his head down to hers, touching foreheads again. ‘Don’t think about that. You can’t. We need to focus on finding out where he took her. The “why” is clear. He wants you. And he can’t have you. Because you’re mine, Marcus. You got that?’
He drew a breath. ‘I got it. Let’s go. Just stay with me, all right?’
She put her arm around his waist. ‘Try to push me away.’ She looked up to her father. ‘Thanks, Dad.’
‘I didn’t do anything,’ he said. ‘You had it.’
The three of them had turned for the door when Marcus froze. Scarlett followed his gaze to the other side of the glass, where Kate Coppola was on the phone, her expression gone grim.
Deacon, Scarlett thought. Deacon had probably called Kate. But Marcus wasn’t staring at Kate. He was staring at Alice Newman, who sat smiling. Smirking.
With a roar, Marcus snapped, pulling away before Scarlett could stop him.
‘Fuck,’ Scarlett muttered, chasing after him into the interview room, grabbing him around the waist and pulling back as hard as she could. But he was six-two and a solid two hundred twenty pounds of muscle. And out of his mind with fury.
He grabbed Alice, chair and all, and shoved her against the wall, reaching his hands for her throat.
‘Marcus!’ Scarlett yelled. ‘Don’t! If you kill her, she can’t tell us anything.’
It was her father that stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him to the side. Marcus hit the wall hard. The officer standing guard in the room had him in a hold a second later, but Marcus didn’t seem to even notice.
‘Stop!’ Jonas thundered, getting in front of Marcus, right in his face. ‘You will not do this.’ He jerked his head toward the door. ‘Officer, get him out of here and cuff him if you have to. Just until he calms down.’
Scarlett took a minute to cup Marcus’s face in her hands. ‘She’s shit, Marcus. Not worth your freedom. I need you.’ She held him until he shuddered out a breath.
‘I’m not sorry.’ His body still trembled. ‘I want her dead.’
‘I know,’ Scarlett said calmly. ‘But if you kill her, they will take you from me. Please,’ she added in a whisper. ‘Trust me to do my job.’
He stared at her a long time, his breathing slowly calming. Finally he said, ‘All right. I’ll wait outside.’
Scarlett turned to Alice, who was grinning from ear to ear. Scarlett breathed calmly, letting her lips curve in a smile that no intelligent person would confuse for friendly. She held Alice’s gaze until the bitch’s grin faded.
‘We haven’t met, Alice. I’m Detective Bishop.’ Dragging Alice’s chair back to the table, she briskly cuffed the woman’s other hand to the chair, yanking just hard enough to hurt her without the cameras picking up any suspicious movement. Then Scarlett sat down beside her, aware of her father standing at the door. Protecting me, she thought. She might not have needed protecting, but it was sure nice to have him watching her back. Just in case.
‘Are you supposed to impress me?’ Alice taunted. ‘Scare me?’
‘Do you know where you’re going, Alice? Of course you do. You’re a lawyer. But just in case you graduated at the bottom half of your class, let me explain that you’re going to lockup pending your arraignment. Then you’ll go to jail, and, sugar, orange is so not your color.’
‘I’m so amused,’ Alice said, rolling her eyes. ‘Bored now.’
‘Then jail’s just the thing for you,’ Scarlett said, continuing to smile. ‘It’ll be a party. Especially when everyone finds out that you’re a pedophile. That you have bought and sold people. Children. For the sex trade.’
Alice shook her head, smiling as if Scarlett were pitiful. ‘Pedophile? Really? You can’t charge me with that. You’re just trying to scare me and it won’t work. You’re fishing. You have no evidence at all and you know it.’
Scarlett hadn’t known for sure, but the calculation in Alice’s eyes told her that she’d hit pay dirt. ‘I don’t have to have evidence and you don’t have to be charged. I just have to whisper to whoever’s in lockup with you. Pedo was on the table, but you pled down. You’re a lawyer. Anyone in jail will believe you’re capable of shimmying out of a charge.’
Alice’s jaw tightened. ‘You’ve got nothing.’