“What did you say?”
“The army chaplain. Somebody tried to kill him last night, but they failed.” Her chuckle was raw. “Didn’t know about that either? Your boss must trust you, Rocky.”
The sarcasm fell flat because Rocky knew her boss didn’t trust her at all. Rocky was smart enough to know where she stood. That cop Paul was higher on the totem pole than she was. A lot higher. A fact Bobby had made abundantly clear on many occasions. Rocky’s temper began to boil. “So have you spoken to her? To Monica?”
“I told her what you said to tell her.”
Rocky popped the trunk, snapped a picture of Genie Cassidy. “I’m sending a picture to your phone. Show it to Monica. It’ll keep her quiet until you can kill her.”
“If I go down, I’m taking you down with me.”
“Tell the police. You can’t prove anything and the cops will just think you’re insane.”
“I hate you. And I hate Bobby, too.” The phone clicked as the nurse hung up.
Rocky sighed. I was handling this. That nurse’s sister didn’t need to die. It would just bring more attention to them and that they didn’t need. She found Tanner in the kitchen, preparing Bobby’s tea. “I’ve got a new guest in the trunk of my car,” she said. “Can you get her warm and clean? Where’s Bobby?”
“In the study.” Tanner raised a bushy gray brow. “And none too happy with you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” Rocky muttered. She knocked on Bobby’s door and entered before being given permission.
Bobby looked up, eyes ice blue. “You’re a little late. I sent you on a simple errand last night and you return eight hours later.”
“You had that nurse’s sister killed.”
Bobby’s brows lifted. “Of course. The girl’s still alive.”
“Yeah, she is. And so is Beardsley.”
Bobby shot up, furious. “What?”
Rocky laughed. “So the swami doesn’t know everything.” Then her head was knocked sharply to the left as Bobby’s hand connected with her cheek.
“You little bitch. How dare you?”
Rocky’s cheek stung. “Because I’m angry. I guess I just got angry enough.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t know the meaning of the word. I gave you a job. You failed.”
“I reconvened. There was no way the nurse was going to be able to kill Monica Cassidy in ICU.”
“So she told you. And you believed her,” Bobby said with contempt.
“And I found another way to achieve the goal, which is more than I can say for whichever flunky failed to kill the army chaplain.”
Bobby sat slowly, features like granite. “Beardsley flatlined.”
“Obviously they brought him back,” Rocky said coldly. “Now ICU is locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”
“Tell me what you did.”
“I drove to Charlotte and snatched Monica’s little sister. She’s in the trunk of my car.”
Bobby actually paled, sending Rocky’s pulse skyrocketing. “You did what?”
“I took her sister. I’ve been chatting her up for two months now. Monica sold so well, I thought her sister would sell well, too.”
“Did you stop to think about the repercussions? One child running away with a guy she met on the Internet is believable. Two… Now the cops will be all over this. You’ll have a grieving mother on the TV sobbing for her child’s safe return. We might as well kill the sister now. Nobody’s going to want her with her face on every damn milk carton.”
Rocky sank into a chair. “I hadn’t thought about that. But it’s okay. I went to the bus station wearing her hoodie and bought a ticket to Raleigh, where her father lives. If the cops do investigate, it’ll look like she went to live with him.”
“I see,” Bobby said coolly. “I see that I gave you a simple task-to ensure the nurse’s compliance. I see you failed to do so. And I see you’ve taken a failure and compounded it with this unauthorized procurement. I will deal with the new girl and the nurse myself. You are dismissed.”
Rocky stood, willed her body not to tremble. “The new girl is here. You might as well use her. She’s even prettier than her sister. You can ship her out of the country where they don’t have milk cartons. She’ll bring a good price.”
Bobby tapped the desk, thinking. “Perhaps. Now go.”
Rocky stood her ground. “What will you do to the nurse?”
“What I promised.”
“No. You promised to kill her son next. He’s only eight. Just like your-”
“Enough.” Bobby rose, eyes ice blue with fury, and Rocky could no longer control her trembling. “I will have obedience, from the nurse and from you. You are dismissed.”
Bobby waited until Rocky was gone, then redialed Paul.
“I thought I told you not to call me again today,” Paul snapped.
Insolent man. I’d kill you, but I need you. “I need you to go up to Raleigh.”
“I’m on duty tonight.”
“Call in sick. I pay you triple what Atlanta PD does, anyway.”
“Dammit, Bobby.” Paul’s sigh was frustrated. “What do you want me to do?”
“I need you to clean up Rocky’s mess.”
“Rocky’s made quite a few messes lately.”
“Yes, I know. When you’ve cleaned up this one, we’ll discuss disposition of Rocky.”
Atlanta , Saturday, February 3, 8:40 a.m.
Luke told the team Susannah’s story about the black sedan, Darcy Williams, and the day six years ago in Hell’s Kitchen. Hardly anyone breathed until he was finished.
Chase sat back, stunned. “You mean to tell me that Susannah was assaulted twice on the same freaking day, seven years apart? And nobody thought this was strange?”
Luke hesitated. “She never reported either assault.”
“For God’s sake, why not?” Chase thundered.
“She was a victim, Chase,” Mary McCrady said in her psychologist voice.
“None of this is easy for her,” Luke said, “and now she’s got some creep in a black sedan following her around. She’s planning to go to Sheila Cunningham’s funeral today and I’m concerned for her safety until we find out who this guy is.”
“So you’re going to the funeral to see if black sedan man shows up,” Ed said. “You’ll want video surveillance. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks,” Luke said. It wasn’t the only reason he’d decided to go to Sheila Cunningham’s funeral, but it was the main one. “Susannah also said this swastika with its bent edges is a common symbol in Eastern religions. Like Buddhism.”
“The thích we were searching for,” Pete murmured. “It all falls together somehow.”
“Let’s figure out how,” Chase said. “Hank, get down to Savannah and find Helen Granville. We need to know the truth about her husband. Pete, I want you to take over the search at Mansfield ’s house, and Nancy, you track down this Chili Pepper. I want to know who hired him.” Pete opened his mouth to protest and Chase shot him a warning look. “Don’t try it, Pete. You’re not getting within a mile of this guy.”
“I can handle myself,” Pete said tightly.
“I know,” Chase said, gently. “But I’m still not putting you in the situation.”
“I’m still tracking the medical supplies we found in the bunker,” Ed said. “We’re also running PCRs on the hair samples we found when we swept the bunker’s office area. Maybe something will match with the DNA patterns we have on file. We’ll search the area outside the bunker for more victims. And we’ll dust that road atlas for prints.”
“Good,” Chase said. “What else?”
“I want to talk to Susannah Vartanian,” Mary said.
“I’m meeting her at her hotel in a little while,” Chloe said. “I’ll tell her to call you.”