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“But ... Shay,” Kilkenny said. “If he was after the Alphabet Man, and only him, he wouldn’t have killed Shay.”
“She found out and he was covering his own ass.”
“Okay, I can’t believe him capable of that, but let’s say he was. That doesn’t account for the last victim,” Kilkenny said. “If Pierce had somehow finally identified Conrad, why not stage it to make himself look like a hero? None of us got much glory for the capture, not with how everyone thought it was Conrad’s mistake.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” They kept coming back to these roadblocks. She had to have faith that one of these times they’d bust through them, but they were running out of hours.
Before she could push him for more wild theories, she saw the crowd. Then the vans, then the reporters and cameras and lights. She saw the protesters, pressed up against the prison’s wired fence, most of them holding signs with anti–death penalty slogans scrawled across them. There were several people with bullhorns, standing on crates to lift them above the sea of people.
When Kilkenny rolled down his window to talk to the security guard, the noise rushed in. They were chanting something Raisa had no interest in deciphering.
She very much supported these people’s right to be here, but she wished she could somehow shield Kilkenny from them. He had to have enough conflicting feelings about what was happening. He didn’t need this extra stressor.
Raisa hadn’t needed to wonder what the protesters would do. Someone caught sight of Kilkenny, and they all turned like sharksscenting blood. They pushed toward the SUV, hands reaching out as if to beat on the windows, on the doors.
“Go, sir,” the security guard yelled, but Kilkenny couldn’t just gun it without risking clipping someone.
“Kilkenny,” Raisa said, eyeing the group, which was transforming into a mob before their eyes.
“Yup,” Kilkenny acknowledged, jaw tight. He slowly pressed on the gas, moving forward even as someone cried out.
Raisa unbuckled, lifting out of her seat to check. No one appeared hurt. “They’re fine.”
The gate closed behind them and Kilkenny breathed out. “Jesus.”
Even though she’d had a continuous clock ticking down in her head, it was almost like she’d forgotten.
It was execution day.
EXCERPT FROM THEAUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
4 DIE IN ATTEMPTED CARJACKING
May 10, 2006
A tragedy rocked the quiet neighborhood of Brentwood over the weekend when an attempted carjacking turned fatal. Haruto and Mio Tashibi were driving home from a family reunion just past midnight on Sunday with their two young daughters and two teenage nephews. Haruto Tashibi, who was driving, was forced to a stop by a car parked in the middle of the road. According to video obtained by the Austin police, three masked men confronted Haruto Tashibi. After a short discussion, they fired into the car, approximately thirty times.
Neighbors called emergency services once they heard the shots.
Haruto and Mio Tashibi and their two nephews were pronounced dead on the scene. Their two daughters survived, but both are in critical condition at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Shay
January 2014
Two months before the kidnapping
Shay didn’t tell Callum about Max.
She didn’t know why precisely. As her husband, Callum was family now. But she liked the memory of Max in her arms, both of them seeking comfort in the other. Sisters had a bond that couldn’t be rendered null, even by husbands.
Callum was tired. Shay had pretty much been thinking that since they’d met, but it had settled deep into his bones now. She finally talked him into taking a Friday off a few weeks after Max’s unexpected visit.
They woke up incredibly early and made the four-hour drive to Cannon Beach. With the sun in their eyes and the window down on the unseasonably warm day, it almost felt like Texas. Spiritually, at least.
By the time they made it to the small Oregon town, the parking spaces had pretty much filled up. They managed to find something outside a small café, and they ordered cappuccinos and drank them at the two-top folding tables on the sidewalk.