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Hez’s phone rang as he was nearly asleep. He looked over and saw Savannah’s face smiling at him from the screen. Why was she calling?
He hesitated for a moment before answering. She’d seemed upset when he mentioned the divorce earlier in the evening. Was she having second thoughts about ending their marriage? Or was she just avoiding thinking about something painful even though she knew it was necessary? What would he do if she hinted that reconciliation might be possible?
He sighed and shook his head. No, she’d made her wishes clear ever since he set foot on campus. He shouldn’t overthink the situation. She was probably just calling about Jess’s case or something.
“Hi, Savannah. What’s up?”
“They kidnapped Simon!”
He bolted upright in his bed. “What? Who kidnapped him?”
She described her conversation with Beckett. “Should we call the police?”
He tried to force his brain to function. His mind went back to the time he called 911 to report a burglar in Jess’s house—and the man got a warning call a few seconds later. “The last time I called them, someone tipped off Beckett immediately. If that happens now, he might kill Simon.”
“Wh-what should we do? He’s expecting me any minute.”
“You can’t go over there alone.”
“I don’t have any choice! If I don’t go, he’ll kill Simon.”
The desperation and fear in her voice tore at him. He stared into the darkness outside, thinking furiously. He couldn’t mess this up. He needed to make exactly the right move here. “Okay, but you’re not going alone. Stay on the phone with me. If you have it on speaker, I’ll be able to hear everything—and I’ll record it. If you can get him to admit something incriminating—even just that he knows where Simon is—that will be enough to get the MCU or the FBI involved tonight. And once you have that admission, get away from him as soon as you can. You can say you need to use the bathroom and then go through a window—whatever it takes to get out of his house. I’ll be parked around the corner as backup if anything goes wrong.”
“Thank you! Are you ready to go?”
“Almost. There’s one thing I need to do first.” He went over to the closet and opened a small safe he kept there. He took out his Glock 22 and bullets. He prayed he wouldn’t need them.
* * *
Though it was nearly one, lights blazed from the windows of Beckett’s house. Savannah parked in his driveway and glanced into the shadows before she slid out and shut her car door. Her heart thudded against her ribs. She switched her call with Hez to FaceTime and kept the phone in her hand. The hooting of an owl drowned out the faint sound of her sneakers on the walk to the porch, but Beckett must have seen her headlights because he opened the door and stood waiting for her.
She went up the steps and stopped a few feet from him. “Where’s my nephew?” The dark yard left her uneasy, and she edged slightly closer to the porch light’s illumination.
Dressed in joggers, he reached toward her, then dropped his hand when she crossed her arms over her chest. “I know Hez has trash-talked me and you’ve believed him, Savannah. That’s clear by the way you’ve both cut me out of the investigation. But the university is my life, and I’ve been investigating on my own. You won’t believe the information I found. I was about to call you when my security camera alerted me to an intruder in the yard. I spotted the kid right off. He was skulking around in the shrubs at the front of the house.”
That sounded like Simon. She gave a slight nod for him to continue.
“I think he was followed here. I noticed a panel van parked at the curb, and at first I thought maybe he stole it and drove it himself until I realized how small he was. I opened the door to call to him, and two guys charged out of the van and grabbed him. One of them pulled a gun and marched him inside my house.”
So plausible. So truthful sounding. If she didn’t know Beckett better, she might have been taken in by his story. “Did you recognize either of them?”
He shook his head. “They wore ski masks. The evidence I’d gathered was spread out on the kitchen table, and one of them gathered it all up. They took everything I had and took it to the van along with Simon.” He stepped out of the way. “They tossed my house. See for yourself.”
She went past him into the entry and spotted the disarray in the living room. Someone had pulled everything out of the storage spaces under the end tables and left it on the floor.
Beckett followed her. “They’ll exchange him in return for any evidence you and Hez have collected. If you don’t, they’ll kill Simon. You also have to hand over your phone so they can search it. And they want you both to quit the investigation.”
She moved farther into the living room and gave a furtive glance around. Maybe Simon was in here somewhere. “You think Jess is guilty, don’t you, Beckett?”
He shrugged. “You have never seen your sister clearly, Savannah. She’s got an ego the size of the Gulf. All she cares about is herself.”
“That’s not true!” She breathed in and out to calm herself. “Jess is no murderer.”
“These guys mean business. Let’s start by taking your phone to them.” He reached toward the hand clutching her iPhone.
She took a step back and jerked her hand away. “Where did they take him? How are you supposed to contact them to give them any evidence?”
“They gave me a number to call. I’m sure it’s a burner phone. Are you trying to get Simon killed? They’ve already had him an hour. If he annoys them, they may shoot him.”
