Page 87 of Her Final Hours

“No. You don’t…”

Before the abductor finished what he was saying, Noah interrupted him. “Call me back when you’re ready to listen.” Noah hung up on him this time. It was a powerful yet potentially stupid move, but at this point, he figured he couldn’t stop them from killing his daughter even if he wanted to. From all he’d gleaned from Callie’s voicemail, their empathy for human life fell far below that of a deer.

The two state troopers had lingered beyond the window, listening in on the call, so they were now brought up to speed on the recent development. Snowflakes swirled around them. They shuffled on the spot to stay warm.

“Aren’t you scared he’ll kill your daughter?” the one trooper asked.

“Terrified,” Noah replied. “But he won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I can’t, but he won’t.”

“Because you’ve dealt with things like this before?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then how can you be so calm?”

“Looks can be deceiving.”

“Why don’t we just track the phone?”

“Burner phones. He won’t be using the same one each time.”

The phone rang again, and he glanced at the trooper as he answered.

The abductor cut straight to the chase. “If you’re lying...”

“That would be foolish, right?” Noah replied.

There was a short pause. “How do you want to do this?”

And there it was; he relented.

“We meet face to face. You can see the money, and I can see my daughter is alive and unharmed.”

“Huh. I can’t promise she’ll be unharmed. She really is a sweet little thing.”

It was an act, an attempt to get under his skin because the abductor was out of control and no longer dealing the cards.

“So?” Noah asked.

The abductor laughed. “What, and let the entire law enforcement community hedge us in? Come on! Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

“We’ve come this far; you have my daughter. I can assure you there will be no police presence beside myself.”

“Sounds arousing,” he said jokingly. “Me with a gun to her head, and you bringing me what I want. Except, I smell foul.”

Noah remained silent. Sometimes it was in the silence between that suspects broke. The need to fill the void. The sense that an opportunity or deal might come to the table. “Where to meet?” the abductor asked.

“You pick the place. You can arrive first. You’ll see me arrive. I want you to be comfortable.”

“How generous of you,” he said mockingly.

Noah gripped the phone tighter.

“We’ll meet sixty feet apart. You bring the girl; I bring the money.”