“As much as I want your help,” he began with a sigh, “I need you to stay with Olivia.”
“Sir,” he responded, nodding, as Alexander headed out of the office and down the hallway.
“How does he know it’s a viable lead?” O’Malley called after him, following him toward the front door.
“Because, O’Malley.” Alexander spun around. “The FBI never said this man was wanted in connection with Melanie’s disappearance. They simply said he was a person of interest wanted in connection with an ongoing investigation. This wasn’t just another caller looking for his fifteen minutes of fame. This is the real deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
December 20
7:10 AM
OLIVIA’S EYES FLUTTERED OPEN and she looked around, disoriented. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in Alexander’s arms as they sat together in Melanie’s room. Now, she was in their bed…alone. Pushing back the covers, she noticed she was still in the clothes she wore the night before, but it was no longer night. The sun had risen, trying to break through the heavy gray clouds blanketing the sky.
She glanced at the clock, wondering how long she had been asleep, seeing it was already after seven in the morning. Her chest grew tight thinking about all the time she had wasted. It was selfish to sleep so soundly and comfortably when she should have been doing something…anything.
Jumping out of bed, she dashed into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face. After putting on clean clothes and pulling her hair back, she headed downstairs in search of an update as to what was going on.
The smell of bacon met her as she drew near the kitchen. Agent Long sat on a stool at the large eat-in island in the center of the room as Colleen fried bacon, whipped up some scrambled eggs, and toasted bread. There was already a plate of blueberry muffins, as well as trays upon trays of different kinds of Christmas cookies. Olivia wondered if Colleen had slept at all, or if she simply stayed in the kitchen, baking and cooking away her heartache.
“Olivia, dear,” Colleen said when she saw her enter. She stopped what she was doing and walked up to wrap her arms around her. After a longer than usual hug, she pulled back and met her eyes. Olivia could see her pain, her fear, her unease. She looked like a woman doing everything to keep the pieces together. “How are you holding up?”
“Okay, Colleen.”
“Okay?” She squeezed her arm, holding her gaze.
“Okay,” Olivia repeated, drawing in a shaky breath. Would she ever be anything more than okay again? “Is Alex here?”
“No, he’s not,” Agent Long answered in a curt tone. Olivia whipped her head around to face her.
“Sore subject, dear,” Colleen murmured into Olivia’s ear.
“He left the house earlier this morning…without my approval.”
“Where did he go?” Olivia pushed. “And I didn’t realize we needed your approval to leave. It was my understanding we could come and go as we pleased, that your job here was to simply answer any questions we may have or to offer us support, not to restrict our movements.”
“I also have to ensure your safety, particularly after last night’s ransom demand that could have led to another abduction.”
Olivia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You really think you can do a better job at keeping my husband safe than he can?” she scoffed. “Not likely. Where did he go?”
Agent Long flipped the page of the newspaper. “He went out on his own, even after Agent Moretti warned him not to interfere, and is following up on a lead received earlier this morning.”
“A lead?” Olivia perked up.
“Yes, Mrs. Burnham,” Agent Long replied with a heavy sigh. “It’s our general rule of thumb to investigate leads before involving the family so we don’t raise any hopes.” She glanced up from her paper and met Olivia’s rapt gaze. “But we received a call from someone who said they recognized the man in the sketch. I wouldn’t put much faith into it just yet. It could be nothing.”
“But it could be something, couldn’t it?” Olivia asked, holding the one glimmer of hope she had left.
“Perhaps,” Agent Long agreed, returning her attention to this morning’s Boston Globe and sipping her coffee.
A million thoughts racing through her head, Olivia grabbed her cell out of her pocket and dialed Alexander, holding her breath as she listened to the call connect.
“Olivia,” he answered in hushed tones after two rings.
“Alex,” she breathed. “What’s going on? I woke up and—”
“I’m in Roxbury,” he interrupted. “One of my agents overheard a conversation at the command center about a possible lead on Maleek’s location. Moretti had no intention of telling me. Thankfully, my agent knew enough to come over and inform me about what was going on.”
“And what’s that?”
He sighed. Olivia could sense his frustration through the phone. After living with someone for so long, you could anticipate their emotions with little warning.
“I still don’t know, Olivia. A clerk at a convenience store believes the man living across the street is Maleek. Just after Melanie’s abduction, he saw him pull up with another person, then carry something heavy around back.”
Olivia gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “She’s there?”
“We haven’t been inside yet, but she’s not here. No one is.”
“How can you know she’s not there?” she asked urgently. “Why haven’t you been inside?”
“Based on what happened at the press conference, Moretti is using an overabundance of caution and wants the bomb squad to send in a robot to secure the house before anyone goes inside. In the meantime, they used a thermal cam and there were no heat signatures, although the technology isn’t exactly accurate when going through walls of a house.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, his words not registering.
“Based on the readings off the camera, they don’t believe there’s anyone inside the house, but they want to wait to enter it until they’re sure it’s not rigged in any way. If this is Maleek’s house, it stands to reason there could be explosive material here that he used to make the bomb Rayne carried into the press conference. Regardless, there’s no guarantee the man the clerk saw is actually Maleek or that Melanie was ever here. Until we can get inside, we won’t know anything for certain.”
“But the second you get inside, you’ll call and let me know what you find, right?”
“Of course.”
“Okay.” Olivia sighed, defeated. It felt like this was all one big waiting game. She didn’t know how much longer she could survive without hearing her daughter’s laugh, without feeling her small arms wrapped around her.
“The bomb squad just got on scene,” Alexander said urgently, an audible commotion in the background — shouting, trucks driving by. “They’re going to jam all the cell phones in the area to be on the safe side. I had Martin stay at the house. If you need to go anywhere, even at the FBI’s request, he’ll take you. Do you understand?”
Olivia closed her eyes, nodding. “Yes. Just be careful.”