Page 34 of Save Her Life (Sandra Vos #1)

THIRTY-THREE

As Brice drove, Sandra felt quite confident in her suggestion they speak to Patton’s daughter. Natalie’s last name was Roth since she married seventeen years ago. If they were right about Patton being involved in the bank robbery, he was likely motivated to do so for his and his daughter’s futures. In that case, it would stand to reason if he was going to confide in anyone it would be her. He’d said in the parole hearing he hadn’t spoken to his daughter, but that could have been a blatant lie to protect the gold’s whereabouts.

Sandra and Brice stood at Roth’s front door, and she knocked. A small, yappy dog started barking and jumping at the window. In the background, a woman was yelling for the animal to shut up. As she headed toward the door, Sandra could feel the vibration on the floorboards of the porch.

It cracked open, and a boy about ten ran behind his mother with a toy gun, calling out, “Pew! Pew!”

“Ryan, stop that right now!” The woman spun and held up a sternly pointed finger at the child. “Go, get your things together.”

The boy ran out of the room, still yelling, “Pew! Pew!”

“Yes?” The woman turned to them with raised eyebrows.

Sandra stepped back. She looked so much like her father, it was eerie. From the shape and spacing between the eyes, the slight hook of the nose, and the dimpled chin. To think she was looking at his flesh and blood while he’d taken hers, stabbed like a knife. And there was no way in hell she was losing two people she loved because of the same man!

“Natalie Roth?” Brice said, stepping in when Sandra remained silent.

“Yeah…” She dipped her gaze back and forth between them.

“We’re FBI, here to discuss your father.” Brice held up his credentials, and Sandra followed his lead though she felt out of body.

“You’re mistaken. I don’t have a father. Good day.” She started to shut the door as a teenage girl walked up behind Natalie. She had long brown hair like Olivia.

“Mom, Ryan’s hid my gloves,” the girl said.

“You kids are going to be the death of me.” Natalie pushed on the door, giving them one more look.

“Please, Mrs. Roth,” Sandra said, stepping in. “It’s important and…” She lowered her voice before adding, “A teenage girl’s life is at stake.”

That had Natalie stopping all movement. It might have been a low blow to play, but Sandra wasn’t apologetic. The woman locked eyes with Sandra, and it was like they saw into each other’s souls. Mother to mother. Time slowed down.

“I’ve got five minutes, but that’s all. Jodi has a hockey game out of town today, and I’ve got to get us on the road.”

Jodi must be the teenager. And no wonder why the household was so chaotic midmorning on a Saturday. “We just need a few minutes, so all good.”

Natalie stepped back to let them inside, and Sandra and Brice wiped their boots on the mat in the entry. The woman stood there like she was prepared to have the conversation on the spot.

“It might be best if we could talk sitting down.” Sandra was thinking of Natalie here just as much as she was her weary bones. Brice had to be running on fumes and coffee too.

“Sure, but like I said, I don’t have long.” Natalie took them to a kitchen table. The neighboring countertops looked like a hurricane had passed through. From initial count, there were only two kids in the home, but there might as well have been ten from a quick assessment of the damage. There were dirty plates and bowls, frying pans and dried egg on the stovetop. A piece of toast was up in the toaster, abandoned or forgotten.

“Mom!” The teenager popped into the room.

“Ryan, give your sister her gloves back,” Natalie yelled out.

The boy’s cackling traveled from another part of the house.

“Do you have kids?” she asked and didn’t wait for an answer. “They’re why I’m sprouting gray hairs early.”

Sandra wondered where her husband was given all the excitement in the home and why he wasn’t pitching in, but she wasn’t here to dissect their domestic life. “How well do you know your father?”

“You said a teenage girl could be in trouble? But you want to discuss my dad?” She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure how they’re related. Besides, he’s in prison where he’s been most of my life.”

“Please, tell us whatever you know about him.”

“I mostly only know what my mother told me. She’s gone now though. Breast cancer took her a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” It was an automatic response but also genuine.

“Thanks. She meant the world to me. She was always reliable.”

The children seemed to have calmed down, and the resulting silence made Sandra’s ears ring.

“Mom made me promise on her deathbed that I’d never speak to Dad. She’d told me all my life that he was trouble. If he wasn’t looking for it, it was finding him.”

Maybe Patton was telling the truth at the hearing and hadn’t been in touch with his daughter. “Is that why you weren’t at his parole hearing?”

“I’d have nothing to offer. He endangered my life that day, best intentions on his behalf or not.”

For her to tag on the latter bit, a part of her must have thought Darrell had her interest at heart, even if his way of showing that was misguided. Whatever the case, Natalie’s conflicted feelings toward her father kept her from testifying for him at the hearing, and that might have been a good thing. If she had, Lonnie Jennings and Dennis Eaton may have taken her. Though maybe they didn’t think she had anything to offer. Maybe coming here was a waste of time. “You think he took you from your mother because he had good intentions?”

“My mother said that, but I think it was to make me feel better for the risk he placed me in.”

Sandra nodded. “Your mother also said your father was trouble. Did she ever say what kind?”

Natalie licked her lips and didn’t meet Sandra’s eye when she responded. “I gathered it was the illegal kind.”

“A bank robbery possibly?” Brice put out there and earned Natalie’s gaze. She blinked slowly a few times and crossed her arms.

“Honestly? I think Mom suspected something like that. She never came out and said it, but there were subtle hints she dropped throughout the years. They usually came when money was tighter.”

“Did he send money to your mother for you?” They could be wrong to think the gold was just hiding somewhere untouched.

“Don’t think so.”

“What sort of comments then? I’m not sure I understand,” Brice said.

“Just that she wished she could rob a bank and get away with it like Dad.”

Sandra glanced at Brice, then back to Natalie. “Nothing really subtle in that.”

“Is it true? Is that also why you’re here? You mentioned a girl being in trouble though.”

“We’re just gathering information right now, but we have our suspicions. But he never mentioned any of this to you? Tried reaching out over the years?” From Natalie’s standpoint if she knew about the gold’s location, she’d do her best to keep it to herself. Sandra studied the woman’s reaction to the question. A slow shake of the head, steady eye contact.

“I swear to you I don’t know anything about it. As I said, I’ve never talked to him, and I don’t have any interest in doing so now. I’ve gotten by just fine without him in my life. But, yes, he has reached out over the years. I’ve always rejected his collect calls and put any letters he sent in the trash.”

Patton may have been trying to tell Natalie about the gold. The letters may have even contained some clue as to its location. But Sandra could appreciate that Natalie had sided with her mother and moved forward in her life, even if that didn’t help find Olivia. “Were these letters sent more recently?”

Natalie shook her head. “It was before I got married, so over seventeen years ago. He wouldn’t know where to find me now unless his mother somehow knows.”

“I see,” Sandra said. They were left with one other play here. Patton’s possessions. “Where are his things, do you know?”

“As far as I know his mother has his stuff locked up in a storage unit. Where, you’d have to talk to her about. I’m not exactly in contact with her either. But I’m still a bit lost on how your questions about the robbery and my father pertain to that teenage girl you mentioned.” She narrowed her eyes and studied Sandra.

“We’re just gathering information,” Sandra reiterated in a soft tone. “Do you know a Lonnie Jennings and Dennis Eaton?”

“Ah, kind of… well, I very vaguely remember having an Uncle Lonnie.”

“Have you been in touch with him?” Brice asked.

Natalie shook her head, and her forehead bunched in confusion. “No. As I said I vaguely remember a Lonnie. I was just a kid when he was around.”

It would seem when Patton went away, Natalie’s mother made sure to shield her from the man’s friends too. Sandra’s earlier thought gained more credit. Jennings and Eaton wouldn’t have reason to think Natalie would be helpful in recovering the gold. “I appreciate these questions must be coming out of left field for you,” Sandra said, showing empathy, “but the men I just mentioned are suspects in an FBI investigation pertaining to the abduction of a teenage girl. We believe they were friends of your father’s and that the three of them were involved in a bank robbery thirty-three years ago.”

Natalie paled and wet her lips. “I… I don’t know what to say. I wish I could help more, but as I said, my dad and I aren’t in contact. At all.”

“We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us,” Sandra said, getting up. “I realize you have a lot on the go today.”

“Oh, shoot. Kids!” Natalie bopped up. “We’ve got to leave!”

Sandra and Brice saw themselves out.

“I’d say she’s telling the truth,” Brice said as he slipped behind the wheel.

“I agree, but why do you think that?”

“It’s in her name. Nat -a-lie.” He smiled at her.

“Very funny.” She smiled back, despite herself.

“But in seriousness, she seemed genuine to me. If she had something to share that could help us find Olivia, she would have told us.”

“I think so too. I’d still like to check Patton’s visitor records from the prison just to make sure.”

“We could also check her phone records.”

Sandra shook her head. “I don’t think that would fly at this point, but at least it wasn’t a waste of time coming here. Our theory about the threesome doing the bank robbery gained more traction.”

“We also know who to talk to next. The grandmother. I assume now that Patton’s mother was the other living relative you were referring to?”

“Yep.”

“Well, she might even be able to give us more than access to that storage locker. She might be familiar with the haunts Patton had as a kid. There’s nothing saying he didn’t return there as an adult to hide the gold bars.”

“It’s worth a try, but from what I recall as part of Patton’s sob story, the woman loved the bottle back then. It’s hard to know what she might remember, if she was even paying attention to her son at all.” Her phone rang, and she rushed to pull it out. The screen showed Blocked Number . “Jennings.” She took a deep breath, answered on speaker, and said nothing. By doing so, she was making a move for control, but it was taking all her willpower to pull it off.

“How much does your daughter mean to you?” Lonnie’s voice came across the line, but Olivia’s muffled cries could be heard in the background. There was a garbled word that sounded like Mom. He must have her gagged.

The mother in her wanted to react and dole out threats, but the fed part knew she wouldn’t get anywhere with that tactic. Responding strongly would have the opposite of the desired result and weaken her position. She sidestepped his question with, “I told you that I’m willing to do what you want. Tell me what that is.”

“You’re a negotiator. Use those skills to get the verdict overturned.”

He had a lot of unfounded faith in her abilities. Even if she wanted to, this request was beyond her scope. But she didn’t need to come right out and tell him that. “I can work with that if you tell me what it is you want from him. We all want this to end peacefully, and there’s no reason why that can’t be the case. What are you after?” It was best that she played dumb because it would give Jennings the illusion of control.

“Just get him out of prison.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that. Just tell me what you’re after.”

Silence for a few beats, then, “Let’s just say that Patton owes me. But you do talk for a living, don’t you? Some hotshot negotiator with the FBI. If you can’t get him out, just get him to talk.”

“I can do that.” She impressed herself with the confidence she conveyed. Even putting her skills to work might not have any effect on Patton. She tamped down the anxiety that rose about facing him again. “What do you want to know?”

“There’s money he’s been holding on to. Half of it belongs to me.”

Hard to split nine bars evenly… She shared a look with Brice. There had been no mention of Dennis or his share. “Half of it belongs to you?” she parroted.

“That’s right. Darrell will know what I’m talking about. Gold bars, and he owes me half. Actually, never mind that, I want all of them. Tell him it’s interest for waiting so long.”

If it came down to talking with Patton, she’d be sure to hold that back. “And he knows where the gold bars are?”

The more he spoke, the more he implicated himself in the robbery. “Yes,” he hissed. “But I don’t think any of this is a surprise to you. So just get me the location of the gold, and you’ll get your daughter back.”

“I’ll get my daughter back if I just hand over the location of the gold?”

“As easy as that.” His smugness traveled the line, and she had to swallow down the rage it ignited. “That’s if you’re as good as your reputation makes out. But don’t be fooled. I’m not actually a patient person, but I’m also not completely unreasonable. I’ll give you until tomorrow at noon. When I call then, you better have the location of the money.”

Tomorrow at noon… Though it wasn’t the deadline playing on her mind. It was the fact that Olivia would remain with that madman for another twenty-four-plus hours. “I’ll do this, but in the meantime, promise me you will not touch one hair on her head.”

“Too late for that.”

Click. The line went dead.

She’d throw her phone if there was somewhere to toss it, but it was also her only link to Olivia. Her hands were quaking, and Brice put his hand on her forearm.

“Don’t let him into your head,” he said gently.

“Too late for that.” She inadvertently recycled Jennings’s words. He’d said them with such menace. He’d better not have hurt Olivia, and if he’d touched her sexually, she’d… Well, her thoughts skittered into the darkness, dredging up all that she’d known man to do to another. Being a career FBI agent, she had a catalog of heinous crimes to pull from.

“Kick him out then,” Brice said with force, popping her into the light again. “You let him set up in there, it won’t do you or Olivia any good.”

“I know that, but this is my daughter.”

“Sure, but you’ve been down this road before. For other people’s daughters, sure, but the stakes have been high. Lives at risk. You show up and get the job done. That’s the Vos I know anyhow.”

She looked at him, not realizing before how much respect he held for her. “And now I’ve got a clock over my head.” The time on her phone said it was eleven thirty. She had until tomorrow at noon. That’s what Jennings had said. She’d justified putting off a conversation with Patton, but now she wished she’d seen the future and had the visit already set in motion.

“Hate to point this out, though I don’t think you missed it. Jennings is escalating. The way you looked at me I think you picked it up too. Is Dennis Eaton even in the picture anymore?”

“Jennings sure didn’t make it sound like it. He talked about Darrell owing him half . There were three suspects in the robbery. At minimum that makes for a three-way split. And presumably that third person was Dennis Eaton.”

“I also hate to say this, but if he did kill Eaton, a friend since childhood…”

“You don’t need to finish that sentence.” Killing Olivia would be easier… She could feel herself spiraling despite all the training and years of experience. All the keep it calm and cool demeanor that she put on like a suit didn’t fit right now.

“Deep breaths, all right. We don’t need to go there yet.”

“Don’t need to, but it’s hard not to. This is my Olivia, not a stranger.”

“I get that, and it’s also why I have complete faith that you’ll get her back. The stakes are higher than ever before.”

“I’m going to do everything I can, that’s for damn sure. I need to get on the approved visitor list ASAP and in to talk with Darrell Patton. There’s no more putting it off.”

“Here’s the flaw in that though. You really think he’s going to want to talk to a fed about a bank robbery he did? He comes clean to you and that’s him admitting to it. You’ve already proven that you’re against him with the parole hearing. Why wouldn’t you find a way to make the armed robbery charges stick?”

Her colleague had a point. Darrell would fear being tried and sentenced for the bank heist next. Which he deserves to be… “He hid that gold and is probably counting on it as a payday when he gets out of prison. He may even have plans to share some with his daughter, Natalie, to win her back. I’ll have him see me as a threat to that happening.”

“But is he going to buy that a fed will let him ride off into the sunset with the money?” Brice smirked at his turn of phrase.

“I’m going to have to talk to him on his level. He took his daughter thirty-three years ago because he thought he was showing love for her. I’ll appeal to that emotion, while I also share the stakes involved for me.” The recent standoff in Woodbridge also taught her this. Gavin had held people in the grocery store because he was desperate to prove himself a good father and provider. She had the recent reminder that a parent’s love knew no bounds. She was also living it.

“You plan to tell him Jennings has Olivia?”

“I see that as my strongest play here. Parent to parent.”

“You’re going to have to put on one hell of a performance.”

“For someone just singing my praises a minute ago, have you changed your mind?”

“This just hits so close to home. Are you really okay with revealing Olivia’s situation?”

On reflection, it wasn’t ideal as Patton could see her desperation as a weakness to exploit, but she didn’t see a way of working around that. “It’s better than offering up some deal to the man who killed my brother.” She hated feeling wedged between justice for her brother and her daughter’s future. “I just can’t do that. Not if you’re suggesting I work something out for early parole.”

“Not at all. I was just thinking immunity against robbery charges.”

Her conscience might allow that. Surely there had to be another way… Then she had it. “There may be a different angle I can work.”

“I’m listening…”

“I could make Patton think his daughter was taken. It works on the same premise, that Natalie is of utmost importance to him. Lying is part of the negotiation toolkit.”

“That could work.”

“I hope so. Because I’m going to hate every millisecond that I need to sit across a table from that man. On the upside, if I make this work, there might not even be a need to set up an immunity deal.”

Brice smiled. “You just make him believe his daughter’s in danger, he gives up the gold, he gets charged with the bank robbery, gets more years tacked onto his sentence…”

“He’ll chalk it up to parental sacrifice. As far as I’m concerned, by the time all is said and done, he’ll be happy if he ever sniffs freedom again.”

“I love it, except it’s likely that Patton will need to approve your request to see him.”

“That’s why I’m taking this to Elwood.” She called her boss.

“What the latest?” Elwood answered.

“We’re getting some momentum, but I need your help.” She ran through where things were, and that she needed clearance to speak with Darrell Patton, and her thoughts on offering up immunity.

“Leave it with me. I’ll get it cleared past the prison warden. It’s Saturday, though, so it might take a bit to track him down.”

“Time isn’t on our side.”

“I realize that and will get on it the second I get off the phone with you. I’ll call once it’s a done deal.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” With that, the assistant director was gone.

Sandra turned to Brice. “That’s in the works, but it could take hours. I’m not just going to sit on my hands and wait.”

“It might be a good time to catch some more sleep.”

She looked at him, his statement striking her as serious, but found he was smiling. “Just get us to Darrell’s mother’s house.”

“For that I need to know where to find her…” Brice punched into the onboard computer system. A moment later he confirmed, “Regina Patton’s living in Woodbridge these days. Buckle up.”

Sandra did, but the phrase took on so much more meaning. So much uncertainty lay ahead with nothing to be taken for granted. There was no guarantee of safety or a happy outcome. They were venturing into the unknown. All she had on her side was hope and a prayer. And solid instinct. Yes, she had that.