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“Pierson tell you we identified the killer? Christopher Driscoll.”
Qui
“Where’re the victim’s parents?”
“Her mother is single, a widow. She works out in the county, and a-” Qui
Qui
“Use the conference room. I need to check in with my chief and I’ll get you when the witness comes in. Call me Zack.”
Qui
He put his hand in the small of Olivia’s back as he steered her toward the conference room, shutting the door behind them.
“What the hell have you been doing?” Qui
“I can explain.”
“You’d better start talking. When I came here this morning and found out that Agent St. Martin had been a vital part of this investigation, I couldn’t imagine it was you. ‘Olivia St. Martin?’ I asked. Chief Pierson sang your praises and told me you were in Redwood City interviewing Brian Hall!”
“I didn’t-I told Zack about Missy. I told him I couldn’t be in the room with Hall, he probably wouldn’t take my presence very well, and I didn’t want to jeopardize the case.”
“Jeopardize the case! Hell, Olivia, you’re not an agent! You’ve already jeopardized the case.”
“Like hell I have!” Olivia swallowed, surprised at her outburst. “Qui
“You’ve always had a choice. You could have called me. You know I would bend over backward to help you. Anytime, anyplace.”
She took a deep breath, her heart tight. “I know. I know you would have. But don’t you understand? My testimony put an i
“You don’t know Hall wasn’t involved.”
“No, I don’t know, but I believe he wasn’t. Zack and I talked it through and neither of us thinks Driscoll has a partner. The attacks are too personal, too intimate.” She paused. “And Hall is too stupid.”
“Olivia-”
“Hear me out. I had to do something. I had to get the information about Driscoll’s killing spree in the right hands. I had to talk to someone on the case, walk them through the evidence. They wouldn’t have listened to me; I’m a lab scientist!”
“This is serious, Olivia. You could get fired.”
“Don’t you think I know it’s serious? Do you think I care about getting fired?” Olivia clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking. “I put an i
“He has control most of the time,” she continued. “He preys on the i
“Liv, it’s not your fault. You were five years old when Missy died,” Qui
“It’s not just about Missy. It’s about all the other children. It’s about Chris Driscoll and the families he has destroyed. I don’t care if I get fired as long as we catch him. You think my job is that important to me?” She shook her head.
“Dammit, Olivia.” Qui
“No one. No one here. Greg knows.”
“Greg,” he repeated, shaking his head.
“Qui
The door opened and Zack Travis filled the opening. “Abby Vail is here with her parents. Ready?”
Olivia looked at Qui
“Let’s go,” Qui
She breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.
For now, she was okay.
Thank you, Qui
Olivia, Qui
What was going to happen to Abby if Nina died? Would she feel guilty for the rest of her life? That she didn’t, couldn’t, do anything to stop the bad man from taking her friend? Would the memory of Nina being abducted haunt her forever?
Abby Vail was small for a ten-year-old, ski
“Did you find Nina?” she asked as soon as they walked through the door.
“Everyone is looking for her,” Zack said. He nodded to the parents. “Thank you for bringing Abby down. I’m Detective Travis, this is Special Agent Qui
The mother, a larger version of Abby, nodded, her eyes red and swollen. “Anything we can do. It-it could have been-” she didn’t finish her thought, but glanced at her husband over Abby’s head, her chin quivering. Her husband reached around Abby’s back and squeezed his wife’s shoulder, while his free hand grasped Abby’s.
Zack began. “Abby, I know you talked to the police officer who came to your house, but if it’s okay with you, I’d like you to start at the begi
Abby nodded and took a deep breath. “Nina lives down the street from me and I was waiting for her to get home.” She paused.
“Were you going to get together and play?” Zack prompted.
Abby looked sheepish. “Not exactly. We had an argument yesterday and we were both still mad. Well, I wasn’t really mad anymore, but I didn’t want to say sorry first. I thought that maybe if I went outside when she was coming home, we could just sort of, I don’t know, forget about the fight.”
Olivia didn’t know she was nodding until Abby looked at her and shrugged. “It sounds stupid, but it always works,” Abby said. “So I was looking for her and saw her come around the corner on her bike. I went outside.”
Qui
“Looking out the kitchen window.”
“Did you see the white truck?”
Abby scrunched up her nose. “I didn’t notice it. I didn’t notice it until that man put Nina in it.”
“I did!” Mrs. Vail started sobbing. “It’s my fault. I saw the truck, but didn’t think anything of it.”