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The call came in during a lull.

"My husband went to check on a property we own in Dorchester. He called me twenty minutes ago and said he's stuck on the second floor. The stairway collapsed or something, I don't know, he said he can't get down. His phone cut out after that and I can't reach him."

"Can you give me the address?"

She gave it. I logged the location and pulled the caller's number. It matched one of the silent calls I'd been logging since September. I'd thought the mystery of the pocket dialer was resolved when we identified Linda Abbott.

"Is your husband injured?"

"I don't think so. He just said he can't get out. He sounded scared."

"We're sending a crew to him right now. What's your husband's name?"

She hesitated. "Can you just send someone? Please?"

"Ma'am—"

The line went dead.

I looked at the screen. She'd hung up. Most callers stay on the line until help arrives. She couldn't get off the phone fast enough. I flagged the call for follow-up and dispatched Engine 19. Rescue call, person trapped, second floor.

"Engine 19 responding." Alex's voice. Steady on the radio. "Copy the address. ETA six minutes."

"Copy, Engine 19."

I tracked them the way I always did. His crew checked in on arrival. Alex called the size-up from the street. Three-story walk-up, no smoke, no visible distress, no one outside. It looked quiet.

"Engine 19, entering the structure. Searching the second floor for the reported trapped individual."

"Copy, Engine 19."

I listened to the search. Alex directed his crew floor by floor, room by room. Amos and Julio took the first floor. Sawyer took point up the stairs to the second. Alex followed him up.

"Second floor is clear. No victim, no hazard. Dispatch, there's nobody here."

"Copy, Engine 19. No victim found."

Then a sound I couldn't place. A heavy thud through Alex's open channel, like a door slamming or something large falling into place. Alex's voice cut off mid-breath.

"Alex?"

Silence. Three seconds. Five. The channel was open but no one was talking. I could hear breathing and the faint sound of footsteps on a hard floor, and then a voice that did not belong to anyone on Engine 19's crew.

"Hello, Janine."

Declan.

My whole body went cold. He was in the building. He was in the building with Alex and I had sent them there.

Sawyer's voice broke through on a second transmission. "Emergency traffic, emergency traffic. Engine 19 to dispatch. Armed individual in the structure, second floor. All personnel are withdrawing. Captain Holloway is being held by the armed subject. Subject has identified himself as Declan Gallagher. Requesting immediate police tactical response."

He's going to kill him. The thought arrived whole and I couldn't get around it.

My supervisor was already behind me.

"Curtis. Hand off the channel."

"I took the original call. I dispatched the crew. I have the full picture."