Page 33 of Save Her Life (Sandra Vos #1)

THIRTY-TWO

After Sandra updated Elwood Rowe with the latest, he sent her home. It wasn’t a suggestion but a direct order, which he made abundantly clear. She only relented when he said he’d arrange for other agents to go to Dennis Eaton’s place of employment the moment they opened for the day. She let herself into her penthouse, and Eric came to the door.

“Have you heard anything?” he asked her.

She nodded and fell into his arms. He didn’t prod her to elaborate but let her be. Her dam of emotions burst, and she cried against his chest while he stroked her hair. She eventually pulled back, licking her lips. “I should get some sleep.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

He still wasn’t pushing her, even though he must have been eager to learn more. She told him, “We know who took Olivia now, and they called me.”

“ They did? There’s more than one?”

Sandra nodded and told him the men’s names.

“Okay, well, that’s a good start, right? Are they looking for a ransom?”

She appreciated why his mind went there. “This doesn’t seem to be about money. Though I don’t even know exactly what it is about.” The admission made her feel so helpless, but that might be Jennings’s intention. Had he simply called to tease her, manipulate her emotions, and make her believe there was a way to get her daughter back when her future was already written? She filled Eric in on the little she had.

Eric was quiet for a few beats. “Huh, so whatever they want from Patton is worth kidnapping a federal agent’s daughter over. But no idea what that is?”

“Not yet, but I’m going to figure it out.” Ransom… worth kidnapping… Her mind was working, and she needed time to explore the chains of thought. But before she could dig in too deep, exhaustion rolled over her.

“I’m sure you will. Want me to stay?”

“I’d like that.”

Eric kissed her forehead, and they sauntered down the hall to her bedroom where they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

For Sandra, it felt like she’d just shut her eyes when her cell phone rang on her night table. It jolted her upright, but she took a few collective breaths. If this was Lonnie Jennings, she’d best serve her purpose by being calm.

“Is it the kidnappers?” Eric had stirred awake beside her.

She looked at the screen. It wasn’t a blocked number, but it was a name that put a knot in the pit of her stomach. She shook her head at Eric, and he settled back again, and she answered, “Nolan.”

“What’s this about Olivia? Sandra, talk to me. I’m her father.”

Her ex, Nolan Copeland, laid into her the moment she picked up. His tactics clearly hadn’t changed over the years. “I would talk if you gave me a second to speak,” she bit back, and then proceeded to tell him everything.

“So you know who took her?” he asked.

She didn’t miss the implication, the personalization, as if Olivia being taken was all her fault. And maybe it was. Jennings had told her it was her penance. If she hadn’t gone to the parole hearing and spoken against Patton’s release, maybe they wouldn’t be in this position. But how could she not defend her late brother? There was no way she could have seen it coming to this. “Lonnie Jennings and Dennis Eaton. Jennings is the leader. He’s the one who called.”

“He thinks you can get Patton released. Heck, then, let’s get him out.”

Her ex was always a pie-in-the-sky dreamer, who thought anything was possible. If it didn’t come easily, he forced it. “You and I both know that’s not going to happen. And are you forgetting this man killed my brother?”

“I’m sorry, Sandra, but now he could save Olivia. And maybe we don’t really get him out, but make these assholes believe that’s the case. You could set up a meeting between the two, have it surveilled and when it’s the right time, FBI SWAT moves in.”

He really hadn’t changed in their time apart. He was still about brawn over brains. Just one way that made them such different people. “And get Olivia killed in the process?”

“Forget it, Sandra. I’m coming home. We’ll talk when I get there.”

“Where are you?” His job with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team took him all over the world.

“Istanbul. I know there’s a military transport heading back to the States later today. I’ll be on it. I should be in sometime tomorrow morning.”

“I don’t know if you need to do that. There’s nothing you can do, Nolan. I’m on it. The FBI here is on it.”

There was silence from his end. Her ex wasn’t the type to sit back and wait. He was suited for his job because he was a man of action, not words. But sinking into his perspective, she couldn’t imagine being on the other side of the world with Olivia in danger. “I understand your need to come home.”

“Thanks, because I am.” He ended the call, and she was left holding her phone and staring at it.

His words hung like a threat more than they glittered with hope. Sometimes too many hands didn’t lighten the workload but made it worse. But brooding over the conversation wasn’t going to change anything. She had to get up and get going. Elwood might not be happy as she’d just been down for a few hours, but it was all she could give him. She got ready to go into the field office, but before Eric would let her leave, he told her she should grab something to eat from the kitchen first. She made toast and ate half a piece smeared with peanut butter.

It was two minutes to nine when she got to the WFO. Agents should already be at Dennis’s place of employment, or she’d head right there.

She’d start with knocking back coffee though. Caffeine was the only hope she had if she was going to be awake when Lonnie Jennings called back. Because he would. He had to. He hadn’t made his demands clear.

Her phone rang, and she jolted like she’d been shocked. Then she took a few steadying breaths and looked at the caller’s ID. “Special Agent Vos,” she answered.

“Special Agent Hester, if we’re being formal.”

“You’re still in?”

“I wanted to see what I could find out on that number before heading home, and my work paid off. I was able to unblock it.” She rattled off the digits as Sandra hurried to scribble them on a notepad in front of her.

“That’s good news. Could you track it?”

“Unfortunately, no. It is a prepaid number serviced by Digitech. I opened a trace on it, but it’s currently inactive.”

“I don’t understand then. You tracked it but you didn’t…?”

“Jennings must be using a mobile VPN to throw off the tracking. The phone traced back to Antarctica.”

Panic rose in her chest. Had he taken Olivia there? Though for two guys without money, that was unlikely.

“Which is clearly a con,” Lakisha picked up, “because the coordinates lead to an old research station that’s only in use for five months of the year. Technically until next month, but I think we can agree he’s not there.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t have helped more.”

“You did all you could.”

“If anything changes, I’ll keep you posted.”

Sandra pinched her eyes shut for a moment. “Thanks.” But the relief only lasted until she opened her eyes, and Lakisha was off the line.

Brice came in holding a takeout tray with two coffees and laid his coat over the back of his chair.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“I had a feeling you would be. Here, this is for you.” He walked over with a coffee extended to her.

“Ah, thanks.”

“Don’t get used to it.” He winked at her. “So how are you holding up? Stupid question I’m sure, but I’d look like an insensitive prick if I didn’t at least ask.”

“I’m holding up. That’s about it.” She filled him in on the tracking results.

“For one, Lakisha is gold. Two, does this Jennings fella think he’s a comedian?”

“If he does, I’m missing the punchline.”

“Makes two of us.”

She got up with her coffee and walked over to a clear markerboard and wrote Darrell Patton denied parole . Then she tapped the capped end of the marker to her chin. “Let’s work backwards. What was the original inciting incident?”

“If we knew that…”

“I know. Then what does Patton have that Jennings and Eaton want? Is this an item or information?”

“Either way, it would seem that Patton isn’t handing it over as long as he’s in prison.”

“That we can agree on. It seems equally plausible then that whatever this is might be something Patton came into possession of not long before going away.”

She added Original inciting incident: before Darrell Patton went to prison/has something others want to the board. “And for Eaton to also be involved, it stands to reason that the three of them have a stake in whatever this is.”

“There does seem to be some sense of entitlement there.”

She stepped back and stared at the board, as if it would magically offer up some solution. But her mind was a whirling dervish. The last twenty-four hours were a blur for their intensity and fullness. Chaos. Though even thoughts of the standoff at the grocery store earlier in the week worked their way in there. That hostage taker’s claim about being a failure in life and that his family would be better off without him. There was a familiar ring to those words. She was quite sure the transcripts from Patton’s standoff included something similar. The exact words skirted around her brain. Instead of caving to frustration, she’d again focus on what she had. “Patton, Jennings, and Eaton grew up in the same neighborhood.”

“Okay, so they go way back. And Brentwood has always been a predominantly Black neighborhood. Now you’ve got three white guys. They would have stuck together. Times were different forty years or so ago.”

“You really think it was that different? Sadly, I don’t think enough has changed. There’s still racism, bigotry, and hate crimes.”

“I was just schooled and given a reality check by Vos.”

Sandra laughed, clearly desperate to relieve some tension. Though the topic itself wasn’t a laughing matter.

Brice stood next to her, holding his coffee, and taking a sip. “I’m just saying they would have bonded over that alone, but it would have made them strong. They might have even thought they could accomplish anything together.” He was clearly talking out his thoughts, and she understood the reasoning and had no plans to interrupt the process. “If Patton took something that by all rights belonged to all of them, I’d guess it has to do with something illegal they did together. We could be talking coming into product, information, or cash.”

Cash… That one word pinballed in her head. “The thing is Darrell Patton had nothing of value. He had a rough upbringing, poor. Dead-end jobs all his life, some alcohol and drug use. He had moved out of home when he got his girlfriend pregnant at eighteen. They were together for a few years, then separated for a year or two, but the girl’s mother finally pushed to get full custody when he arrived late to pick her up for her birthday, ‘hungover and stinking of cigarettes and a cheap whore’s perfume,’ as per her statement. And, before you ask, I’m quite familiar with the investigation files. And all this was only a few weeks before he took his daughter.” And killed Sam…

“Huh, because I would have pinned this down to money. It makes people crazy more than anything. Well, love does too, but…”

Love… People had different views on what that looked like. She could feel an epiphany creeping on the edge of her brain, but for now, it teased her, just out of reach, hazy without definition. It had something to do with another piece of the transcript for the incident involving Patton… Her phone rang, and it evaporated. She answered on speaker after seeing a colleague’s name on the screen. Brice moved closer to her. “Agents Vos and Sutton.”

“Agent Radcliffe. So Agent Shaffer and I just finished up at Boats N More, and had an interesting chat with Eaton’s boss and coworkers,” Gabe said. “To start, Eaton never showed up to work yesterday, but I guess Eaton has always done a lot of smack-talking about how he wasn’t going to be sticking around forever, that his ship was coming in soon.”

“Did any of them know what he meant by that?” she asked.

“I pressed them on it, but nope.”

“Were you able to get a phone number for Eaton?”

“Sure, but there’s no answer. I’ll get Digital Forensics on it to see if they can get anywhere with it.”

“But it’s in service?” She latched on to the rainbow in his comment.

“Far as I know. It just rang to voicemail like it was turned off. For what it’s worth, Sandra, I should have told you this before, but I hope we find your girl safe and sound.”

His genuine sentiment unnerved her. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. If you see Rowe, tell him we’re on the way back.”

“Will do.”

Gabe ended the call, and she looked at Brice.

“His ship was coming in?” he said, beating her to it.

“Uh-huh. Eaton spent time for assault, but what were the surrounding circumstances?”

“Let’s find out.” Brice logged on to his computer. A few keystrokes later, he said, “Looks like the assault took place during the attempted robbery of a convenience store. He hit the clerk when he tried to block the way to the register.”

That reveal made her feel a bit better about Dennis Eaton in one sense. Assault was a broad label, subject to intent and level of violence. This sounded more reactive than downright violent. “Was he armed?”

“No, but…” Brice pried his gaze from the screen. “An eyewitness said there were three men involved. Only Eaton was caught. Were the other two Patton and Jennings? After all, you’ve got three amigos, all from poor households. Did they talk each other into it, a way to change their futures?”

Change their futures… But nothing was fully clicking. It felt like her brain had stepped out, like the years she’d spent obsessing over the transcripts from the incident that killed her brother had never happened. Additional recollections from the recent grocery store came to her more easily though. Gavin McConnell had wanted to prove himself to his girlfriend by being a better father and taking care of his daughter when she was ill. Essentially providing for her… Then her thoughts clicked into focus. Darrell Patton had said something along the lines of providing for his daughter. She’d read the transcript at least a thousand times and should be able to recall this readily. Then finally it came to her. The statement was also one repeated in court. “During the standoff with Patton, he claimed he could be a better provider for his daughter than the girl’s mother. He also claimed he did what he had out of love.”

“How could he be a better provider? You just said he had no money. Even the cash from the robbery Eaton was implicated in was recovered from his person. A measly five hundred dollars.”

“That’s the thing. At the time, Patton had a dead-end job at a body shop. No one could understand how he could claim to provide for his daughter better than her mother. She held a steady corporate job with good pay and benefits, and it allowed her flexible hours to work from home. And Patton refused to answer the question when asked directly during his trial.”

“All right, so did this guy come into money somehow? Possibly by shady means?”

“And does it have anything to do with Dennis Eaton’s ship coming in?”

Brice cracked his knuckles and started typing.

“What are you doing?”

“Searching for any unsolved robberies in the area. Let’s say the three were involved with the convenience store. They could have worked other heists together.”

“Great idea. I’d focus on the time after Eaton’s release and before Patton killed my brother.”

Brice looked over his shoulder. “What would I ever do without your brilliant mind?”

She nudged his arm, and he laughed as he continued to enter parameters.

A few seconds later, Brice sat back and pointed at the screen. “The week before Patton kidnapped his daughter, Liberty Bank was hit by three armed suspects. The crew made off with nine gold bars, a value then of one-point-four million. No arrests have ever been made, and the gold bars never resurfaced. It would be worth much more today.” He pulled up an internet screen and looked at the present-day values and let out a whistle. “The bars are worth nine point eight mil now.”

“I’d say the gold was taken out of the States or melted down, except so far this seems the strongest possibility of what Jennings is after. If he, Eaton, and Patton robbed the bank maybe Patton stashed the bars someplace only he knows about. All I know for certain is he didn’t have gold bars in his car when he was arrested. He could have planned to pick them up after grabbing a bite to eat with his daughter.”

“Only he didn’t get that far. But this could explain why Jennings and Eaton want Patton out. They need Patton to take them to the gold.”

“If we’re right about this, Patton could be refusing to disclose the location until he’s out of prison. Something I can’t blame him for. How much do nine bars of gold even weigh?”

Brice googled that and read off the answer. “Two hundred and forty-seven pounds.”

Two hundred and forty-six point six, to be precise… He’d rounded up from what she saw on his screen. “They must have divvied it up to be able to carry the weight. Three guys, three bars or eighty-two-point-two pounds each.”

“Are you going to talk to Patton about this? Or I can?”

She shook her head. “He has no reason to talk to us yet. So far, we’ve only got a theory. To sway him to talk, we’d need proof and some leverage. Both of which we don’t have.”

“Any ideas how we get either?”

“I do. When Patton went to prison, he left two close relatives behind. One of them would have become responsible for his possessions. We chat with them and gain access to his things. We could find something to support our theory. Possibly the gold itself. If not, we might find that Patton confided in her.”

“You talking about the daughter now?”

“Yep.”