Then she read them to Kell. “I’m sorry. He was pulling away. That’s the best we could do.”
“You did good, sweetheart. We’ll see what a mix and match turns up. Hang on a sec—” More shuffling sounds, cabinets banging, footsteps pounding, keys jangling, muffled voices in the background, until Kell came back. “You still there?”
“I’m here.” She leaned her elbows on the counter, one hand holding the cordless phone, the other rubbing the bands of stress squeezing her forehead. She felt like a tomato ready to pop in a spray of red flesh and seeds.
“Okay. Troopers are on the way. No more than fifteen minutes. You stay in lockdown until they get there. Make sure all doors are secured. No one comes in or goes out.”
She turned around, met the worried gazes of Roni and Honoria, who’d joined them, knew Mrs. Hernandez and her four-year-old-son would be right behind. “We’ve got patients here—”
“They can wait. No one, Jamie, you hear me? That door opens for no one unless they have a gun and a badge.”
15
ON HIS RETURN TRIP to Weldon, Kell broke all land-speed records and abandoned every bit of common sense while behind the wheel. He’d been in his office at the ranger station when he took Jamie’s call. His heart had yet to return to its normal rhythm. After the shock it had taken, he was surprised it was beating at all.
He’d kept her on the line until the first two troopers had arrived at Weldon Pediatrics. It had been a hell of an agonizing wait, working to keep his calm while insisting she do the same. A wait made worse by his being torn between doing the right thing as a ranger, and doing the right thing as a man whose woman’s life was at risk.He knew there was a DPS unit that regularly patrolled Texas 17 between Weldon and Balmorhea. Knew, too, they were his best hope for tracking down the suspect. If the Sonora Nites Diner killer was in the car Jamie had seen, he hadn’t had time to get far.
It had been a gut-wrenching decision to make, but Kell had given those officers Jamie’s description of the two-door sedan, the possible combinations of tag numbers, the location and look of the driver’s tattoo. The unit that worked the stretch of highway between Weldon and Alpine was the one he’d sent to see to Jamie at work.
He’d been three hours out when she’d called. Three hours he’d cut to almost two by running with his grille lights flashing. He’d waited until hearing that the troopers were at the clinic before he’d let Jamie go and called Dr. Kate.
When he pulled up in front of Weldon Pediatrics, a sheen of sweat dampening his skin, his heart still pumping high-octane fuel, he found Jamie’s mother waiting for him in her Suburban just like he’d asked. He pulled his SUV alongside hers and got out, staying her from doing the same with the wave of his hand.
She rolled down her window instead, and beneath the brim of the ball cap she’d pulled low to shield her eyes from the sun, her frown furrowed with fury. “What the hell is going on with my daughter?”
He’d told Jamie not to call her mother, or let the others in the office call family members or friends until the troopers assessed the situation. He wanted to avoid a flood of concerned loved ones descending and raising a battle cry.
This wasn’t the scene of a crime. It was unlikely there was evidence to disturb outside; gravel dust didn’t hold tire tracks. Fingerprints, shoe prints, strands of hair left inside were a different matter. But keeping a lid on things until he knew what they were facing would keep speculation from blowing like seeds on the wind.
“She’s fine. Did you pack her things and enough food for a week?” Kell asked, thumbing his hat up his forehead. Whatever the investigation brought to light, he was not leaving Jamie here. And he was not bringing her back until the bastard was behind bars.
“I did, but I’m not handing them over until I get an answer,” Kate said, her hand gripping the strap of the duffel bag in her passenger seat. Two boxes and an extra-large cooler took up most of the back. “When you called me from Midland? Right after the hypnosis session? You told me she didn’t remember anything you could use.”
Kell wanted to get to Jamie, but her mother deserved consideration. She was the one who’d brought Jamie safely this far. He propped a forearm on the roof of the Suburban, staring into the distance at the Davis Mountains rolling like waves in the haze.
“I told you she remembered the tattoo on the killer’s wrist.”
“Right. And?”
“And, she just saw it again.”
“What? Where? Here?” Kate looked around frantically. “I want to see her. Now.”
He held the door handle, preventing her from climbing down from her seat. “Wait. Hear me out. The man is gone. Jamie is fine. She and her coworkers are inside, and the troopers have secured the building. We can’t let anyone else go in until we get the place dusted for prints, and see what other trace evidence he might’ve left behind.”
Kate didn’t like hearing what he had to say, but she didn’t fight him for the door. “But you’re bringing her out?”
He nodded. “And then I’m taking her someplace safe. I know she’ll argue, so having you on my side would go a long way to helping convince her.”
With a huff, Kate sat back, crossed her arms over her leopard-print scrubs and glared. “I’m not so sure she’ll be safe with you. He found her just days after you brought her home? Hardly a coincidence. I’d say your office needs to be checked for leaks. And I don’t mean just some careless talk,” she added, her tone brutally condemning. “What if someone there has known the killer’s identity all these years? And not turned him in for that horrific crime? What kind of person could do something that unconscionable?”
Kell had imagined the same worst-case scenario seconds into Jamie’s call, and had asked himself the same questions, though he was still weighing the possibilities. “He could’ve been here all this time, keeping an eye on her to see if her memory returned.”
He could tell from the shake of her head that Kate wasn’t buying it. “Or the story in the paper last week could have brought him here.” Though this conversation was one he should be having with the authorities on the scene instead of with Kate, sounding it out with Jamie’s mother couldn’t hurt as a first step.
“Yeah, he could’ve come because of the article, to see if his face rang any bells,” Kell said again. “But if he knew about the hypnosis…That was when Jamie remembered that he was Hispanic and tattooed. Either he knew that and wanted to see her reaction to his ink, or he didn’t know, and was looking for any reaction, any refreshed memories at all.”
“Six of one, half dozen of the other,” Kate said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He came here to find out if she could ID him.”
“And assuming she didn’t give anything away—”
“I hope you’re not basing your investigation on assumptions,” she interrupted him to say. “We’ve assumed all this time she was safe here. We’ve assumed he had no plans to risk exposure by coming after her. I’m done with assumptions.”
“No, ma’am. No assumptions. From here on, we work with solid evidence and facts.”
“Sergeant Harding!”
Kell took a step in reverse and glanced over the hood of his SUV toward the officer flagging him down from outside the clinic’s door. He waved that he was on his way, then told Jamie’s mother, “I’ll bring her out. Can you throw her pack and the supplies in the backseat with my things?
Kate opened her door, turning on her seat to face him. “Only if you promise me you’ll bring her home in one piece, and only when it’s safe.”
“Yes, ma’am. I promise.” He slapped the hood of his vehicle then jogged toward the clinic. Enough of a crowd had gathered that two of the officers were positioning their cruisers to form a barricade.
He wanted to get Jamie out of here, but he first had to speak to the officers on scene and the civilians still inside. Doing so would go down a lot easier without any distractions—which meant sending her with a trooper to wait with Kate. He pulled Deputy Aronson aside and asked him to take care of that while Kell did what he needed to do.
Though it took an hour to finish his questioning, Kell learned nothing from Jamie’s female coworkers, or from the doctor, or from the patients who’d been in the clinic when the man with the snake tattooed on his wrist had come in. Jamie had been the only one to see him.
Kell was interrupted twice during his interviews, hearing first from the troopers who’d gone after the car. No luck yet with them, or with the technician at the ranger station running the tag numbers on her end. Hitting dead end after dead end did not sit well with Kell.
This case had gone unsolved too long already. He’d be damned if he let this first solid lead they’d had in years go cold. Once he finished his initial investigation and made sure the officers knew he’d be in touch, he headed for his SUV, Jamie and Kate.
The two women were standing between the two vehicles, heads together, Kate’s arm around her daughter’s shoulders, Jamie holding on to her mother’s free hand. Aviator sunglasses covering his eyes, Deputy Aronson stood next to the rear of Kell’s SUV, arms crossed, stance wide, blocking the only entrance to the triangle of space where the Danby family stood.