Seven minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a nice home in Folsom. Gideon’s heart was racing in his chest. Please. Please let us get to her in time. Please don’t let him hurt her. Please.
He wasn’t sure Mercy would survive another assault. The four of them piled out of Rafe’s Subaru and hurried to Bain’s front door. Erin met them there with a scowl. “You brought them with you? What the actual fuck, Sokolov?”
“Carson Garvey has abducted his sister,” Rafe said quietly.
Erin’s face fell. “I know that. You told me. But, Rafe, Gideon shouldn’t be here. You know this.”
Yes, I should be here. If anyone’s making plans that involve my sister, hell yes I should be here. Erin Rhee could not make him leave.
She just couldn’t.
He took a step closer. “Erin, please.” He’d get on his knees and beg if he had to. “You saw what he’ll do. Please.”
Erin’s eyes filled with sympathy. “I know, Gideon. But—”
“I didn’t save her the first time,” Gideon blurted out. “Please, let me help her now.”
Erin looked confused, but Rafe sighed. “What he didn’t tell you Thursday night was that his sister was also in the cult. Gideon didn’t escape as much as he was smuggled out by his mother because he’d been beaten nearly to death. His sister was also smuggled out by their mother four years later and Mercy . . . well, she was in bad shape. Gideon searched for that compound the entire time his sister and mother were still in there.”
Erin’s eyes had widened, but she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Gideon, I really am. You have to wait outside. I’m not going to jeopardize this case because you got close to a witness and tried to force him to talk.”
Gideon’s mouth opened to beg, but Rafe stayed him with a gentle hand. “Wait,” Rafe murmured. “Erin, I want to call in my marker.”
Erin stared at him. “Seriously?”
Rafe’s normally smiling face was uncharacteristically sober. “Yes. Seriously.”
Gideon wanted to know what this marker entailed, but he was holding his breath, waiting for Erin’s agreement. She looked undecided, her gaze bouncing everywhere but them. Finally, she nodded and he could breathe again.
“Okay,” she said, resigned. “Don’t blame me if this blows up in your face.”
“I won’t.”
“Just bring them in,” an irritated voice called from inside the house. “You’re letting the cold in and giving my neighbors their third show of the night.”
Erin held the door open and the four of them filed in.
A disheveled man sat at the kitchen table, staring dolefully at an empty bottle of beer. He looked up at them when they took seats around the table, his expression sad and weary as Erin introduced them.
“I couldn’t help overhearing,” Bain said. “I’m sorry about your sister.”
Gideon nodded. “I need to bring her home.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Bain promised. “Within reason. I don’t want to take him a plane. He told me to come alone and I’d like to see my kids grow up.”
“He’s not getting a plane,” Erin said. “There’s no way anyone is letting him fly out, especially considering he has Mercy.”
“Do you know where he’d go?” Gideon asked the man, hearing his own desperation and not caring.
Bain shook his head. “I already told the detectives—Carson and I weren’t friends. We didn’t confide things. The only personal things I know about him is that he’s the boss’s son, he was banging the boss’s wife, he was expecting to get the company when the old man retired, he loved his roses, and he really got off on listening to Barry Manilow. When he’d get stressed, he’d sometimes listen to the guy’s music on his phone.”
That fit at least. Gideon remembered Molina telling him that one of his victims was a woman who’d just been to a Barry Manilow concert. The friend she’d gone with said that a man had approached after the concert, angry that she’d stood up and danced. They’d argued and the women laughed it off. Then the friend was never seen again.
He’d also provoked arguments with both Trish and Eileen. He chooses women who’ve angered him. Even if he has to provoke them into making him angry.
Daisy had propped her elbows on the table, her forehead furrowing. “What if you could put him off? Tell him that you can’t get him a plane now, but you will when the cops leave the airport. Until then, maybe offer him a car. One that he hasn’t had to steal, so the police won’t be looking for it.”
“And a place to stay until the heat dies down,” Frederick added. “Then you’ll bring him a plane in a day or two.”
“But we’ll provide the car,” Rafe said, nodding his approval.
Gideon shook his head. “He’ll kill her when he sees you.”
Rafe looked at Erin. “Not if I can make myself look like Mr. Bain long enough for you to come up from behind and get the shot.”
“We need to have backup in place,” Erin said with a frown. “Confronting him alone is suicide.”
No! Gideon wanted to scream. No cops. He’ll kill her. But he forced himself to think about it more rationally. Like a professional. “I’d trust a trained SWAT team,” he said. “But not a group of local cops or even FBI agents who are untrained in hostage situations.”
Erin nodded. “All right. So what car do we offer if he accepts Mr. Bain’s counterproposal? Mr. Bain’s? No,” she answered her own question. “Seeing as how they work together, he might worry that the police would connect the car to him.”
“He’s been to my house,” Rafe said. “So he may have seen mine. It’ll need to be yours.”
“Okay,” Erin said. “And the place? It needs to be a real place, a real address so he can check it online if he decides to.”
“I’ve got a cabin in Lake Tahoe,” Frederick offered.
Daisy blinked at him. “You do? Since when?”
“Since you moved to Sacramento and I finally sold the ranch,” he answered. “Needed an investment. Can I use your paper and pen, Detective?” Erin slid them to him and he jotted the address and the name “Cadajulor, Inc.” “I bought it under the corporate name I used when I bought the ranch.” He shrugged. “I don’t like to be found. Old habits die hard.”
Cadajulor, Gideon thought. For Carrie, Daisy, Julie, and Taylor. The man loved his daughters. The pang of sympathy that Gideon felt for Frederick and his rocky relationships with his daughters gave him respite from the overwhelming, oppressive fear that was pressing on his chest. For just a minute, but the respite was welcome.
“The final detail,” Rafe said, giving Bain an appraising look, “is to make him think I’m you long enough to distract him while the SWAT team lines up their shot.”
“What about Mercy?” Gideon asked, able to imagine the scene all too well. The bastard would hold Mercy at gunpoint. Once Carson realized he was surrounded . . . He shuddered, unable to think it.
Rafe met his gaze, steady and calm. “I’ll get her away from him.”
Gideon felt a new wave of dread, this time for the man who’d been a brother to him for sixteen years. What was Rafe planning? “How?”
Rafe squeezed his arm. “I’ll find a way.”
“A safe way,” Gideon gritted out.
“Don’t worry,” Rafe said firmly. “I’m not planning to be his final victim.” He turned to Bain, the topic clearly closed. “You’re a forty long?”
“Yes. You want one of my uniforms? I’ll get you one.”
Rafe stood. “No offense, sir. You’ve been very helpful. But I’ll need to go with you.”
Bain nodded once. “Of course.”
When they left the room, Erin gave Gideon, Daisy, and Frederick a serious look. “You are not going. Are we clear?”
Like hell I’m not. But Gideon held that back, nodding instead. “Yes, Detective.”
A few minutes later, Rafe returned wearing a white captain’s uniform, complete with the cap. They were the same size, their hair different shades of blond, but close enough that if Rafe dipped his head to hide his face, he could pass for Bain from far enough away. Especially if it was dark.
“Okay,” Rafe said. “This is how this is going down. Detective Rhee will sit with Mr. Bain while he makes his call. I will go into another room with the three of you.”
Gideon started to protest, but Rafe held up his hand and kept talking. “From his cell phone, Mr. Bain will call my cell phone first. He’ll then call Carson back and merge the calls, so that we are conferenced together. Mr. Bain will have his phone on speaker so that Detective Rhee can hear. I will have my phone muted and on speaker so that you can hear, Gideon, but not interact.” He shot Gideon a look of apology. “If that’s not acceptable, Gid, the three of you will need to wait in the squad car outside.”
Gideon started to object, then realized that Rafe was right. He wasn’t sure he could stay silent when he finally heard that sonofabitch’s voice. “That is acceptable,” he said roughly. “Thanks.”
Relief flashed over Rafe’s face. “All right then. Let’s—”
“Wait,” Frederick interrupted. “Won’t he see who else is on the call?”