Daisy shook her head with a weary smile. “Of course you are.”
Molina managed to look like she was rolling her eyes even though she didn’t. “Agent Hunter, I need you at the office. We’re examining the computer taken from Carson Garvey’s home. I need your expertise. I’ve got someone to take Agent Reynolds’s protection detail.”
Hunter nodded once. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Gideon!”
As a group, they turned to see Frederick running around the corner, his face pale. Several nurses frowned at him for shouting in the hallway in the middle of the night, but he didn’t seem to see them.
“It’s Mercy,” he called out desperately. “She’s gone.”
Beside her, Gideon swayed. “What?” he exploded.
Frederick reached them, breathing hard. “I went to the men’s room. Two minutes. I was gone two minutes. When I got back she was gone. I ran to the elevator, but the cop there said that no one had come that way.”
The agent guarding Zandra’s door stepped forward, expression grim. “Agent Molina, a nurse—male Caucasian—tried to get into the victim’s room. When he heard you were in there, he said he’d be back.”
“Description?” Molina demanded.
“Brown hair, longish.”
“Shaggy?” Gideon asked harshly.
The agent nodded. “Yes.”
They stood there for a second as the truth sank in. No. No, no, no. It couldn’t be.
“Oh God.” Gideon’s whisper was tortured. “He’s got her.”
Molina dialed her phone and began giving a description of Mercy to whoever she was talking to. “Do you have a photo, Agent Reynolds?”
Gideon’s response was slow. “Yes. But it’s old.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, but fumbled with it.
Daisy took the phone from his shaking hands, punching in the code he’d given her when she’d called for help in Macdoel. She opened his photo file and held the phone while Gideon tapped on his favorites folder. The photo of Mercy was at the top and it was an old photo. The face looking from the phone screen was thinner than Mercy’s was now. Her hair was longer now. He tapped a few more buttons, then nodded at his boss.
“I sent it to you,” he said. “But she looks different now.”
Molina nodded. “I saw her tonight. I’ll take care of getting the right info out, Gideon.” She laid her hand on Gideon’s arm. “Try to stay calm, okay?”
He jerked a nod, then strode to the elevator, the rest of them following close behind him. When he got to the elevator, he jabbed the DOWN button. The officer on guard started to get involved, but Molina shook her head and the man stepped back but stood ready.
“Where are we going, Gideon?” Frederick asked, his tone the one he’d used on restless horses on the ranch.
“To find her,” Gideon bit out. “Before he can hurt her. And kill her. Like he killed thirty-one other women.”
Daisy sucked in a breath. “Oh my God.” She glanced at Hunter, then Molina. And saw that it was true. Thirty-one women.
Frederick sidled up to Gideon, angling himself between Gideon and the elevator, and Gideon glared. “Do not try to stop me, Frederick.”
“I won’t. But I will go with you.”
The elevator opened before Gideon could respond. Stepping around Frederick, he moved into the elevator, only to be pushed back out by Rafe Sokolov.
“Rafe,” Daisy breathed in relief. “Mercy’s been taken.”
Rafe looked between them all like they were insane. “What?”
“Carson Garvey came into the hospital and took Mercy,” Daisy said impatiently. “What are you doing here?”
“I came because I got home and my neighbor had to tell me what had happened. Nobody updated me.”
The nurse who’d been standing on the sidelines stepped in. “Ladies and gentlemen, I know you’re dealing with some kind of a crisis, but you’ll need to do it somewhere else. This is a hospital and you’re disturbing the other patients.”
Molina held the phone away from her ear. “Tom, go to the office. Your replacement will take them home.”
“I’ll take them home,” Rafe said, his gaze never leaving Gideon’s stony face.
It was the expression Gideon had worn the first night they’d met, Daisy thought. She’d become so used to the more open Gideon in the past few days that the hardness of his jaw caught her by surprise.
Ignoring them all, Gideon jabbed the DOWN button again.
Molina nodded. “I’ll send Agent Hunter’s replacement to your house, Detective Sokolov.”
“I’ll walk with them to their car,” Hunter offered.
The elevator doors opened and, as a group, they got in, surrounding Gideon. Partly for support, Daisy thought, and partly to control him if he tried to bolt.
Because there was sheer terror in his eyes.
Because he’d seen what this killer was capable of. He’d seen Trish’s body. He knew about the others.
Thirty-one, he’d said. It was the first she’d heard of it, and Daisy wondered what else they’d find in that house. The house where he’d held Zandra. Where he’d tortured her. Where he’d tortured so many others.
Thirty-one.
Please don’t let him hurt Mercy. She’d already been through so much.
And Gideon had just gotten her back. Please.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2:10 A.M.
No. No, no, no.
Gideon knew he was getting into the backseat of Rafe’s Subaru, but he was too numb to control his own body. He wanted to scream. Wanted to throw his head back and scream until he had no more voice. But that did nothing to help his sister.
Soft hands cupped his cheeks and he looked up to see Daisy’s concerned eyes studying him. She said nothing, just leaned in to buckle his seat belt. A minute later she was beside him, holding his hand tightly.
Still she said nothing. No words of comfort. Nothing pithy or wise. No We’ll find her, Gideon or It will be all right. Because she couldn’t promise those things.
But she was here. With him. Holding on to him like she’d never let go.
“He might be hurting her right now,” he said hoarsely.
She brushed at his cheeks and he realized he was crying. “Gideon, listen to me.” She waited until he’d drawn a breath and nodded. “He took her for a reason. He’s on the run. He’s scared. He’s going to try to escape.”
Gideon nodded, her words cutting through the haze of panic. “Leverage.”
She nodded. “He won’t hurt her yet. He hasn’t made any demands.”
He nodded again, her words like a lifeline. “Okay. We need to find him.”
“And now we know who he is and what he does. More than we knew a few hours ago. So breathe. Molina is good at her job, right?”
Another nod. “Yeah.”
“Then hold on,” she said as Rafe and Frederick got in the front seats, slammed doors, and buckled in.
Gideon saw Tom Hunter walking to his SUV and realized the three of them had been talking. “What were you talking to Hunter about?”
“Comparing notes,” Rafe replied. “Seems like SacPD knows stuff and the FBI knows different stuff. They may be sharing info up at Molina’s level, but a lot isn’t trickling down.”
“Like?” Daisy asked.
“The FBI knows the victims’ names. Both FBI and SacPD know where Carson works, but SacPD knows who he works with. SacPD surrounded the office where his father operates a charter airline. Erin and I went straight there when we got in from Portland. We got the flight manifests and employee records. Carson’s main copilot is Hank Bain.”
“Is he a suspect?” Gideon asked.
Rafe shrugged. “It’s possible. All the abductions happened when they shared a shift. We searched his house and questioned him, but he swears he knew nothing of Carson Garvey’s actions. According to Bain, they weren’t friends and didn’t hang out together. He didn’t object when we did the search and we found nothing indicating he’d brought any victims to his home. Nothing like what was found at Carson’s house.”
Daisy frowned. “How does he explain the fact that Garvey transported victims—live women—on their flights?”
“He says that Garvey had a cooler in the plane, that he took it home after every flight to clean it. Claimed Garvey said he hunted and would bring home a quartered deer or elk.”
“And he never looked in the cooler?” Frederick asked, incredulous.
Rafe shrugged. “He says he’s a vegetarian, that red meat makes him sick. And that had he known there were live victims in the cooler, he would have looked. He said that they went their separate ways between legs. He had an alibi for the time that Zandra was taken from the bar. He was having sex with the airport shuttle driver. She confirmed it. He gave us a list of women to call, in fact. He’s got a woman in every port. Apparently, this got him into trouble with Mrs. Bain. He was in New York City on Sunday night when one of his women called the very pregnant Mrs. Bain, tearfully told her the truth, and Mrs. Bain left him and took the other kids with her. He was on his way to getting very drunk when we got there, but finding out his copilot was a serial killer sobered him up fast.”