While Betty was packing, he came up from behind her, pushed her down. Heard a bone break and she cried out. As he grabbed a pillow from her bed, she began to crawl away.
“Brian, please don’t do this.”
Please, don’t
Please don’t do this
He held the pillow on the back of her head and fired two bullets into her brain before he could change his mind. He destroyed all the records he found and left.
That’s how Betty ended up dead and Brian ended up with a guilty conscience. He couldn’t stop picturing Betty on the ground, scared, crawling away from him. Why couldn’t she have been like the others?
He told Ned, “I’m parking around the corner. You go sit at the bus stop across the street, got it? Let me know immediately if anyone goes inside.”
“I still think we should burn it down,” Ned said.
“Because that worked so well for us last time?” Brian wanted to throttle him. “Do what I tell you.”
He must have looked more serious than usual because Ned said nothing.
He let Ned get settled at the bench before he left the car and walked around the block. There was no alleyway, which would have made it easier, but there was a four-story apartment building that backed up to the school.
The apartment building’s security was minimal, and he entered easily. He headed up the stairs to the roof. The door had a busted lock—people probably came up here to smoke or get fresh air. God knew he couldn’t live like this. The longer he was in DC, the more he wanted to return to the islands. Frankly,
any
island.
He didn’t care about the other girls, not anymore. Poison Ivy was the only one who knew anything, she was the only one he was going to kill. Then he was leaving Ned on that damn bus bench, driving to the train station, and saying adios to DC for good.
His duty to his family was over.
From the roof, he was blocked from the cops’ view by the surrounding buildings. That gave Brian the opportunity to use the fire escape. He looked at the metal—didn’t look like it would hold him. He didn’t trust these rickety pieces of crap city fire escapes. More than the weight of one person and it looked like the bolts would tear away from the building.
Carefully, he put his weight on the first landing. Surprisingly, it held him. As quietly as possible, he lowered the ladders to get to the second floor. The ladders didn’t cooperate. They made such a racket that a woman popped her head out of a window two over and yelled at him. He glared at her, and she went back inside.
On the second-floor landing, he inspected the cinder-block fence that surrounded the church. Barbed wire was embedded along the top of the fence, but if he jumped over it and landed with a roll, he should avoid the sharp barbs. It was only twelve feet.
He jumped before anyone else popped a head out of a window and made enough noise to alert the feds. He landed on his feet and immediately fell into a roll. But he rolled over a sprinkler head and felt the sharp edges cut into his back.
The pain made him angry.
Dammit, that he should have to go through this shit just to find one little whore who tried to play with the big girls. Maybe he would just kill them all before he left, just on general principle. He jumped up, trying to shake off the pain.
The back of the church was completely shielded from the front. Half the building had no windows, the other half had high windows. He went to the nearest door, turned the knob.
Locked.
He searched for an easier entrance, but there was none—the only other door in the back was also locked. But the second door was better concealed, so he had more time to break in. It took him several minutes. He became frustrated, especially since he could feel his shirt sticking to the blood on his back. Finally the lock popped.
When he stepped in, the first thing he heard were children singing.
Children.
He was not going to kill children.
This day could not have gotten worse.
He pulled out his gun and stepped into the room. Six pairs of pint-sized eyes stared at him. The teacher, a tall black woman, jumped up.
“Hold it,” Brian said. “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but I will if I have to. I want Ivy, I want her now. Or I will start shooting.”
He looked the teacher in the eye, could practically see her little mind running through all her options. “Don’t,” he warned, adrenaline combating his fatigue. “I’ve had a real shitty couple days and frankly, I’m not in the mood for heroes.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Lucy had always admired her sister-in-law, but she’d never seen Kate in action. The only time she’d watched her at work was in her home office. In the field, Kate was all business.
Kate approached the four agents who were their backup.
“Monitor exits and entrances, you know who we’re looking for and why. But also be careful—someone is stalking her, we have no idea what he looks like, so keep your eyes and ears open.”
Lucy remembered Ivy’s comment about “Dumb and Dumber.” She said, “There may be two male suspects, working together or separately.”
“They already killed six people,” Kate said. “And one of them shot a cop. We want them alive, if possible, but preservation of innocent life is our number-one goal.” She motioned for Lucy to follow her into the church. “Ready?”
Lucy nodded. She was calm and focused, her eyesight sharp and vivid.
St. Anne’s was a small, gothic church with dark pews and tall, elaborate stained-glass windows. An organ that appeared to be far too big for the church dominated one corner. Several parishioners were dotted around the room, kneeling in prayer.
Lucy followed Kate to the front of the church. The sacristy was behind the altar. Father Harris was coming out as they approached, startled when he saw them.
“May I help you?”
“We’re looking for Ivy Harris,” Kate said after identifying herself.
“Why?”
“She used you as a reference on her rental application. She said you were her father.”
“You mean her priest.”
“No, her flesh-and-blood daddy.”
“I’m sure there’s a mistake.”
“Do you know her?”
“I’m not sure.” Father Harris looked at his watch. “I have an appointment, then I can look at my records—”
“Father,” Lucy said, “Ivy is in grave danger. We know about her sister, Sara, and we know about their father. We want to give them both a chance to tell the truth and find peace. But someone has killed six people this week, and he is looking for Ivy. We have agents outside, but if she’s not here, we need to put them out looking for her.”
She could tell the priest was undecided about whether to speak.
“Please, Father, we need your help,” Lucy implored.
“I can contact her. Wait here.”
Kate stepped forward. “I can’t do that. I can’t give you the opportunity to help her disappear.”
“I give you my word.”
“Sorry. You make the call, but I want to talk to her.”
“Very well. There’s a phone in the rectory.”
The rectory was across a small courtyard adjacent to the church. As they walked across, Lucy saw movement along the back wall, to her left.
“There,” she said, gesturing to a small toolshed. Someone was trying to climb the fence.
Ivy.
Kate ran over and grabbed her, pulling her down and pushing her prone to the ground. She searched her and came up with a gun. She was about to cuff her when Father Harris ran over. “Please, don’t treat her as a criminal. She’s been through so much.”
“It’s protocol, Father,” Lucy said.
Ivy shook her head and pleaded, “You have to let me go. I’m going to be late.”
“Late for what?” Lucy asked.
“He’s going to kill Mina.”
“Who?” Kate asked, handcuffs dangling.
“I don’t know his name! Wendy called them Dumb and Dumber.”
“There are two?”
“They’re brothers. I saw one of them when he ran us off the road. I’m sorry I left, I had no choice. Please. Mina needs me. He’s going to kill her.”
“Where is he?”
“If he sees any of you, he’s going to kill everyone.”
Kate repeated, “Where is he?”
Father Harris squatted beside the distraught Ivy. “Child, you need to let them help.”
Ivy’s cell phone rang and she stifled a scream.
“Is that him?” Kate asked.
She nodded.
“Answer it. I’m going to listen in.”
Ivy answered the phone. “I told you I’m coming!”
“Tick tock, Poison Ivy. Your ten minutes is now eight minutes.”
“Don’t touch her, you bastard!”
He cut off the call before she finished her sentence.
“How do you know she’s alive?” Lucy asked. “Have you talked to her?”
“He called right when you walked into the church. Gave me ten minutes. He let Mina tell me she was alive. There are kids inside!”
“Children?” Lucy blanched. “Is he at His Grace?”
“Yes. I tried Marti, but no one’s answering. Oh, God, why is this happening?” She looked at her watch.
Kate got on her phone. “Hostage situation, His Grace Church, Thirty-first Street—”
“No!” Ivy screamed and lunged for Kate’s phone. Kate got her into an arm lock so quickly Lucy almost missed it. “If he sees the police, he’ll kill them. Don’t you people listen?”
Kate looked at her sternly. “Sit down or I’ll cuff you.” Into her phone she said, “Code S, I repeat, Code Silent.”
“He’ll still know!”
“FBI SWAT is good. He won’t know,” Lucy said.
Ivy started crying. “I have to save her. She trusted me to protect her and I’ve let her down every time.”
Kate said to Lucy, “Get her in the car. We’ll drive there and figure out where this guy is holed up.” She looked at her phone. “Slater,” she answered. “Kate Donovan here, we got a hot call.”
They walked Ivy out of the church and to the car.
While making an illegal U-turn, Kate said to Slater, “We have a hostage situation, unknown suspect, extremely volatile, children are involved. He said he’ll start shooting the kids if he sees a uniform.” She turned to Ivy. “How many?”
“Um, I don’t know, I haven’t been there in a long time.”
“Guess.”
“No more than twelve. And it’s early, maybe only a couple.”
“Adults?”
“Just Marti and Remus, the custodian.”
“Church secretary?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Kate told Slater, “Up to twelve minors, preschool; up to three adults. One teenage hostage who’s the target.”
Kate made a wide turn, far out of sight of the church, and parked. “What’s your ETA, Slater?” Then to Lucy, she said, “Ten minutes.”
“That’s too late,” Ivy cried.
“Call him.”
“I can’t.”
“Will he call you?”
“To taunt me.”
“We’ll buy time.” Kate assessed the area, put the SWAT leader on speaker so she could pull out a map. “Slater, you still there?”
“Yes, we’re on our way. Do you have more intel?”
“No. I’m assessing possible breach points where the suspect can’t see us. Come around parallel to Thirty-first, park at the V. No line of sight from any part of the church property.”
“Roger that. Stay hot, but I need to switch channels.”
Lucy sat in the backseat with Ivy. “We spoke to Kerry this morning.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes. She and her sister are with Amy in Richmond.”
Ivy stared at Lucy then closed her eyes, smiling widely. “Thank God. Thank God. They’re safe.”
“Ivy,” Lucy said, “you need to trust us. We’re here to help you and your sister, Sara.”
Ivy stifled a cry. “I’m not telling you where she is.”
“Kerry told us about your father. We’re not turning Sara over to him.”
“You’re right, because she’s safe, and she’s going to stay that way.”
“Your father has accused you of kidnapping. Without Sara’s statement, we can’t arrest him.”
“You won’t arrest him anyway! He’s too powerful.”
“I don’t care if he’s the president of the United States, if he raped a fourteen-year-old girl, he will be prosecuted,” Lucy said.
“I’d love to believe it, but I know how the system works. My father has hundreds of people who think he walks on water. I did go to someone after he r-raped me.” Her voice cracked for the first time. “I was so stupid. Growing up, I’d been told over and over that if there was any trouble at
all
, that the police would help. That I could trust them. So I went to the police chief. I knew him, he went to my father’s church. He was so nice … and then he brought me home and told my father what I’d said. Then do you know what my father did? Took me to a doctor, told him I was showing the same signs of mental illness as my mother. They put me on drugs. I was so out of it for months. And then I realized that’s how my older sister coped all these years. She has no emotions left, they’ve been drugged out of her.”
Kate said, “I’m going to check this building. I have an idea. Stay put.” She got out and ran across the street.
“I’m really sorry about yesterday,” Ivy said. “Is that detective going to be okay?”
“Yes. She was shot in the arm, had surgery, gets released tomorrow morning. Genie’s a tough woman.” Lucy hesitated, then said, “The next few days are going to be difficult, but it’ll be worth it.”
“I just want Mina safe.” She looked at her watch. “Less than two minutes.” She implored, “Please let me go.”
“He wants you dead, Ivy. You understand that?
He wants to kill you.
There’s no reason for him to leave Mina alive. Or any of them. As soon as you show up, he’ll kill you. And then what will happen to your sister?”
“I’ve made arrangements.”
But she was worried, because she wouldn’t look Lucy in the eye.
“We’ve pieced together some things, which you can help confirm, but we don’t why Wendy was killed.”
“I don’t know either. Except—” She hesitated, then said, “I think it was because of me.”
“You? Why?”
“I’m the one who took the pictures of Wendy and that congressman.”
“You gave it to the press?”
“I sold it. I needed the money to rescue Sara.”
“Who did you sell it to?”
“I never knew his name.”