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Mr. Howe lay groaning on the ground in front of the car. “You broke my leg.”
As the driver jumped from the vehicle, Mason and Daniel leaped as one to capture the still-stunned John Howe. Daniel slapped a pair of handcuffs on him just as Joseph arrived to stand beside them.
Part of him registered Daniel’s wife, Janice, standing with a slack jaw and taking in all the action.
Lacey popped from the passenger seat, hand covering her mouth as she took in the scene. “He just came out of nowhere. Is he all right?”
“My leg,” the man groaned.
“What are you doing here?” Mason demanded of her while rolling the man on his side. Without giving Lacey a chance to answer, he glanced at Daniel. “Call the paramedics and some backup.” Then he shot a look back at Lacey that he hoped conveyed his anger at her presence, while Daniel stared at Janice, his expression a cross between amusement and anger.
At first Lacey flushed and looked away, then swung her eyes back to his, notching her chin up and setting her jaw.
Daniel shook his head and pulled out his phone to place the calls. Joseph disappeared into the house and Mason knew he was looking for Bethany.
Mason stayed in his crouched position and looked Howe in the eye. He’d have to deal with Lacey later. To Howe, he demanded, “Where’s Bethany?”
Howe winced and turned his head away. “She broke my leg, man.”
Mason grabbed his shirt and yanked Howe toward him. “I know what’s wrong with your leg, Howe, and it’s not because you ran into the fender of that car. Now, where’s Bethany!”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about!” Howe’s lips curled and Mason wanted to punch him.
“He’s talking about my daughter,” Lacey suddenly came to life and stomped toward them. “The one you tried to kidnap the night she was involved in a wreck. The wreck where you showed up with a gun.” She pointed to his leg.
“Which is why you have a bullet wound there. Because you were trying to kidnap my child! Now where is she?”
Her last words ended on a combination of a sob and a scream, and Mason felt his heart clench at her obvious desperation.
A desperation he was beginning to share. Shoving the man in the shoulder, he said, “Look, we’ve got a witness. Someone who can place you there. You might as well tell us what we want to know.”
Howe let out a derisive laugh. “Go ahead and see if she puts me there. It won’t happen because I was never there.”
“She?” Mason gave the man a slow smile. “I never said anything about ashe.”
For the first time, uncertainty crossed Howe’s face. Then he said, “I heard about that wreck. I figured you were talking about one of those girls that was in it.”
“And there was nothing in the news about how many girls were involved.” Mason leaned forward. “Keep talking, Howe, you’re digging yourself a mighty deep hole. Plus,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms, “we’ve got blood from the scene. A simple DNA test will tell us if it belongs to you or not.”
Mason held his breath. The threat was pure bluff.
“Yeah.” Joseph stepped out of the house, looked at Mason and shook his head. Bethany wasn’t there. Crushing disappointment hit him hard as Joseph continued to tell Howe, “We’ve also got a fingerprint we need a match to. I’m sure as soon as we run yours against that, we’ll have our answer. Today. Without the DNA testing.”
All posturing suddenly left Howe and his shoulders slumped.
An ambulance wheeled in front of the house followed by two police cruisers, lights flashing.
EMTs approached and Mason waved them over, but demanded, “Tell me about Bethany.”
* * *
Lacey moved closer, desperate to hear every word this man had to say. He knew where Bethany was. He had to. Seeing that their patient wasn’t near death’s door, the paramedics moved slowly and let the cops ask their questions. They’d done this before.
Mason waited, acting like he had all the time in the world. Joseph crossed his arms and stared the man down. Daniel huddled with one of the other officers.
Howe fidgeted then blurted, “I want my lawyer.”
Lacey saw Mason’s jaw tighten. That was it then. They couldn’t get anything out of him without running the risk of him getting off on some technicality.