"He said he got a call from Barnett, asking for help. Barnett told him that he only meant to rob the bank but things went wrong. He wasn't about to turn himself in. He didn't want-"
"He said Barnett said that exactly? That he wasn't gonna turn himself in?"
"Yes, and that he didn't want to go back to jail."
Pakula couldn't believe how calm she was, when he felt like a wet rag. Why the fuck was it so hot again?
"He said he knew Kramer would never be able to get him off this time," she continued, the details the same as the last time she told him. She didn't even need her notes. "That all he needed was some money. And then he told Kramer to wire the money to the Triple J Truck Stop on Interstate 80, west of Grand Island, just off the exit for Normal, Nebraska."
"How much money?"
"He asked for twenty-five thousand dollars. Kramer said he has it ready to be wired if and when we tell him to."
"And this morning was the first time he heard from him?"
"That's what he said."
"But he has to know we can check that out." Pakula didn't trust this asshole any more than he trusted Barnett. Were the two of them setting up something? A distraction, perhaps, while Barnett headed in the opposite direction? "You think he's on the level?"
Grace filled her arms with the stack of files from his extra chair, looking for a place to set them so she could sit down. He grabbed them from her, a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought to do it himself. He put them in the corner and let them slide into a mess. Then he sat in his own chair so he wouldn't tower over her, even though he wanted-needed-to be up and moving.
"At first I was skeptical. But Max Kramer has no idea we have the locket. He can't possibly know that we suspect him of anything." She shook her head as if she couldn't believe how slimy the guy might be. "There was something in his tone, and I can't even explain what it was, but he almost sounded self-righteous about this, like, of course, he had no choice but to do the right thing. I mean, give me a break."
"So he probably thinks he'll be able to milk this, too?"
"Maybe."
The phone rang and Pakula stood to answer it even though it was right at his elbow.
"Pakula."
"I've got a SWAT team assembled and ready to meet us there." It was Sanchez-he didn't need an introduction. "The Black Hawk will be ready for us in about twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes? You've got to be kidding."
"We don't have much time. Are you ready to go or not?"
"I'll be ready," Pakula said and Sanchez was gone.
He looked down at Grace and wiped the sweat from his head as he grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "God! I hate helicopters."
CHAPTER 65
10:40 a.m. Highway 281N
Andrew knew from watching the road signs that they were headed in the wrong direction again. They were on Highway 281N. Colorado was west, not north. Jared kept the map laid out in his lap. He gave Melanie directions, left or right, but not much more. And neither she nor Charlie asked. Neither of them seemed to mind letting Jared be in complete control again.
He leaned his head against the back seat. How stupid he had been, thinking either of them were strong enough to take on Jared. Back at the hotel, the way she manipulated the situation, the way she got Jared to take him along, made Andrew think Melanie had grown a backbone. Now he realized he was wrong. She had eased back into her role as accomplice as if everything was back to normal.
She had the radio turned up, listening to Rush Lim-baugh after fiddling with the dial, preferring talk radio to the morning's livestock and grain prices. It was already turned up when the news brief began, and yet she reached for the dial to turn it up even more.
"We have new information on the Amber Alert that was issued this morning. At around seven-thirty a white Ford Explorer was taken from a Texaco gas station north of Hastings, off Interstate 80. The young mother had left the engine and air conditioner running for her fourteen-month-old baby while she went inside to pay for her gas. Someone drove off with the SUV and the baby. Now, law enforcement officials are saying that the alleged car thief may not have realized there was a baby in the vehicle when it was stolen. We've just been alerted-and this is just coming in as I'm reading it off the wire, so bear with me-that the Ford Explorer has been found. An anonymous tip was phoned in after the Amber Alert was issued. It's uncertain who called in and told law enforcement officials where they could find the vehicle. The SUV was found in a retail-shopping parking lot with the engine and air conditioner running and the baby…"
The announcer hesitated as if not prepared to read the rest on air, and Andrew expected the worst. He could see from Melanie's face that she did, too.
"The baby is fine. She appears to be just fine. She was found still strapped into her car seat and fast asleep. Again, I repeat, the SUV that was reported stolen earlier this morning has been found. The Amber Alert has been-"
Melanie snapped the radio off. But before she moved her hands to the bottom of the steering wheel, Andrew could see that they were shaking.
CHAPTER 66
12:22 p.m.
Melanie was tired of Jared bossing her around again. This way and then that way. Right then left. They were backtracking and still headed in the wrong fucking direction, and she knew it. And it wasn't about keeping off the interstate or confusing law enforcement officials. No, Jared had something else planned. She could feel it. And he wasn't telling her again. Just like he wouldn't tell her about the baby. How hard would it have been to tell her the baby was okay, instead of simply saying he had taken care of things?
She glanced over at Charlie, sitting next to her reading another comic book. He was quiet and content, no sign of this morning's outburst. She didn't want to think about that again. It only made her angry, angry that Jared would involve Charlie in this. It was Jared's fault. All of it. The entire mess. She knew she should be relieved that Jared hadn't killed that little baby. Only a monster would do something like that, a monster like her father. And, no matter how angry she was with Jared, she knew he wasn't any more a monster than she was.
She looked up in the rearview mirror and Andrew Kane's eyes were there to meet hers. He was watching her, studying her as if trying to figure her out. Maybe he was grateful she hadn't let Jared kill him back at the hotel. Maybe he simply wondered what would happen next. She ignored him and looked, instead, for patrol cars. Most of them would have been busy this morning looking for a white SUV and not a black Toyota Camry. They were sticking to the two-lane highways, although from the signs she knew they were approaching the interstate again. After driving north and away from it, here they were again driving south toward it.
"We have to make a stop," Jared said suddenly. "I want you to get on the interstate and head west." "I thought we were avoiding Interstate 80." "There's a truck stop. It shouldn't be too far." "You're hungry again?" It couldn't be much after noon yet. "No, we're not eating there. I need to pick something up." "'What can you possibly pick up at a truck stop?" "Just do what I fucking tell you to do, Mel." Her face burned. Her hands balled into fists around the steering wheel. She kept her mouth shut and her eyes ahead. Sometimes he reminded her of her father, and this was one of those times.
CHAPTER 67
1:40 p.m.
Triple J Truck Stop-East of Normal, Nebraska
Pakula watched from the tinted windows of the TV-repair van. His knees still felt a little unsteady but he was glad to be back on the ground. And he was glad he wasn't in charge. All this firepower made him nervous.