“No.”
“I can’t believe you’d deny me the chance to talk about him,” Denis said.
Smooth.
He was unbelievably smooth.
Lisa reached into the pocket of her coat and withdrew the Glock, which she armed and pointed at Denis’s chest. Again he didn’t flinch or show surprise. There was no fear in his eyes. He kept drinking.
“Put that away, Lisa,” he said.
“Where’s Purdue?”
“I know you’re not going to shoot me. The only thing you’re going to do is hurt yourself. Or worse, get yourself killed. No one wants that. Put the gun on the floor, and let’s talk.”
“I’m done talking, Denis. I want the boy. I will do whatever it takes to keep him away from you.”
“Yes, I understand that.”
“Where is he?”
“You know where he is,” Denis said. “Why don’t you tell me?”
Lisa felt something crack inside her. She couldn’t even define what it was. She crossed the kind of line from which you can never find your way back. She saw a mirror on the wet bar behind Denis, a pane of glass reflecting the back of his head and reflecting her own face, too. She didn’t like what she saw, didn’t like the person who was standing there, but she had come too far to let that stop her.
She pointed the Glock at the mirror, and she fired.
The noise was like a bomb in the closed-in space. The mirror exploded, showering them both with glass. Denis finally flinched, going pale with fright. He hadn’t expected her to do that. He ducked, dropped his cane, and spilled his drink on the carpet. He put both of his hands slowly in the air.
“Lisa, for God’s sake!”
“Where is he?” she demanded again.
Denis didn’t answer. Even a gunshot didn’t draw the truth out of him. But she didn’t need him to tell her. She glanced at the closed door to his office, and she knew. Purdue was there. Purdue was waiting for her.
“Get down on the floor,” she told Denis. “On your stomach. Spread-eagle. Don’t move.”
He did as he was told.
Lisa knew she only had a few seconds before Garrett and Stoll would break through the front door, or come around the side of the house and find the broken window. She needed to get Purdue and get away.
Now.
She ran for Denis’s office and wrenched open the heavy door. Inside, she slammed it behind her and turned the dead bolt. Denis would always have a lock to keep his secrets safe. She spun around, and her breath flew out of her chest.
There he was. Purdue, tied to the chair. His eyes lit up with joy when he saw her.
“Lisa! You came back. You didn’t leave me.”
“Leave you? I would never do that. Now come on, we need to get out of here.”
She ran to the chair and fumbled with the twine that kept the boy secure. Her fingers couldn’t undo the knots. She pulled at it, but couldn’t manage to free him. Sweat gathered on her neck. Outside, she could hear footsteps, and then someone’s fist pounded on the office door.
It was Denis.
“Lisa! Lisa, come out of there!”
She ignored the noise. Her gaze flicked to the door that led out to the river, but she saw no one. That wouldn’t be true for long. They’d be here any second. She studied Denis’s desk for something, anything, that would cut the rope, and she spotted a pair of scissors stuck inside a misshapen ceramic mug, the kind of gift a child would make for a grandfather. She grabbed the scissors and used the blade to saw at the twine.
It came apart into threads, and then it broke.
She loosened the bonds that held him tight and pulled the rope away over Purdue’s head. His arms flew around her.
“I love you, Lisa.”
“I love you, too. Now let’s go!”
She held his hand, and they sprinted for the patio door. Again she could see her reflection in the window; again she didn’t like what she saw. It didn’t matter. She pulled it open, letting in the storm. The backyard and the dark waters of the river were in front of them. When she took one more look back over her shoulder, she noticed an oil painting hung on the wall, and the sight of the painting made her heart break all over again.
It was Danny. He was still watching over her.
“Run, Purdue,” she said.
37
Denis was sitting on the stairs that led to the upstairs bedrooms, with his hands on his knees, when Deputy Garrett came through the broken window into the living room. The police officer had his gun drawn, and his gaze flew to the mirror that had been shot into a thousand pieces. As he walked across the carpet toward Denis, his boots crunched on shards of glass.
“Are you okay, sir? What happened? I heard a gunshot.”
Denis was still in shock himself and trying to work his way through it. “I’m all right, Garrett.”
“What about your wife?”
“Sleeping like a baby. She slept through the whole thing.”
“What happened, sir?” Garrett asked.
“It was Lisa Power.”
“She shot at you?”
“Yes, she did.” Denis shook his head. “Honestly, I never thought she’d go this far.”
“Is she still here?”
Denis nodded toward the office door. “She went in there and locked the door. I can’t hear anyone inside now, so I’m assuming she’s on the run again.”
As if to confirm his suspicions, the office door opened from the other side. Deputy Garrett began to raise his weapon, but he lowered it again when he saw Deputy Stoll in the doorway of the office.
“Lisa Power was here,” Garrett called to his partner. “Is anyone in the office?”
Stoll had his gun drawn, too. “No, it’s empty. The patio door’s open. If she was there, she’s gone now. There are footsteps in the snow heading away toward the river.”
Denis pushed himself to his feet from the stairs. His legs were rubbery, and he grabbed for his cane and leaned his weight on it. He limped toward the fireplace and stood in front of it, hypnotized by the flames. His silence weighed on the deputies, who were both impatient for instructions.
“Sir?” Deputy Garrett said after a minute had passed. “What should we do?”
“Do we think she’s still driving the Camaro?” Denis asked quietly.
“As far as we know. We’ve been looking for it, but with the darkness and snow out there, we haven’t been able to find it yet.”
Denis took another long length of time to process his thoughts. His mind kept replaying the gunshot that had roared past his head. The noise. The smell of the smoke. The cloud of glass. He ran his hand through his wild hair, and fragments of the mirror fell to the carpet.
“She’ll be trying to get out of town,” he said. “There are only so many ways across the rivers.”
“What do you want us to do?” Garrett asked.
“Pull everyone in. Get every police car on the road. We have to keep her contained. Call East Grand Forks, Crookston, and Bemidji, and see if they can spare some men, too. And alert the border. It’s possible she may head to Canada.”
“Yes, sir.” Deputy Garrett hesitated. “And what do you want me to tell them?”
“That we need to find her,” Denis said.
“Yes, I know, but they’re going to ask. What then? Do they confront her if they locate her? What are we supposed to do?”
Denis closed his eyes. The fire was warm on his face, but he could feel the chill on his back from the wind blowing through the house. “Tell them she’s a threat,” he said.
“Sir?”
“She fired a gun at me, Garrett! If anyone confronts her, she’s likely to do it again. And we suspect she has more guns, don’t we? That’s what Curtis March said. Not just the Glock but assault rifles, too. This situation is explosive. I don’t want this getting out of hand any more than it already is. We need to find her and keep her locked down.”