Vanished(56)

Mason eyed the growing pool of blood on Kent’s left.

“We’re in the back!” Mason yelled out to the SERT team. “He’s down!”

“No!” Kent whispered. “Keep them away.”

Mason reached to take the gun from Kent’s hand on his chest. “Let me take this.”

Kent shook his head, whipped the gun into his mouth, and fired.



Mason tried not to vomit as three members of the SERT team attempted to revive Kent Jopek.

Why didn’t I grab the gun sooner?

Mason had fallen backward in shock as Kent swiftly shot himself, spraying blood on the wall behind him. He’d scooted away from the body, a split second before SERT swept into the back room. Now Mason sat on the floor, his back against a stack of pallets. One heavily armored officer asked if he was injured, and Mason shook his head.

He couldn’t speak. Shock locked his voice.

Mason hadn’t seen Kent’s suicide coming. There hadn’t been time to assess any signs.

The officers shouted commands and acted like they’d practiced the resuscitation a hundred times. Mason stared as Kent’s feet jerked with the officer’s movements, knowing their attempts were futile. No one could survive that damage to the brain.

Jake sprinted from the far end of the cooler, two SERT members hot on his heels shouting for him to stop. “Dad!” he shrieked when he saw Mason on the ground.

Mason lifted a hand as Jake ran closer. “I’m not hurt.”

“I heard a shot!” Jake fell to his knees, panting.

Mason pointed at the officers frantically working on Kent. “He shot himself.”

Jake looked and jumped back to his feet. “Stop it!” he shouted at the officers. “Don’t help him!” He lunged at an officer, but was grabbed around the waist by one who’d tailed him through the back room.

“Jake!” Mason leaped up, snatching his son away from the officer. “What are you doing?”

“Leave him alone! Stop them!”

Mason shook the boy, making Jake look him in the eye. “They’re doing their job!”

“Don’t let them save him,” Jake pleaded as tears streaked down his face. “He’ll come back and do this to us again!”

Mason pulled his son to his chest. “It’s over,” he said quietly in the boy’s ear. “He’s already gone. They can’t save him. He won’t come back.”

Jake let out a shuddering sob and collapsed into his father.





27

Someone knocked at the hospital door and then pushed it open. Mason hopped up and tugged at the wrinkled shirt he’d worn all night, trying to sleep in the uncomfortable hospital chair.

ASAC Duncan peeked around the door and met Mason’s gaze. “All right if I come in?”

Ava’s boss was more than welcome because Mason wanted some answers. The agent practically tiptoed into the room, eyeing Ava sleeping in the bed. “How is she?”

“Good. They got her out of surgery at about midnight. She was awake in recovery for a while, but she slept all night long. No telling how doped up she is.”

“Her surgery went fine?” Duncan asked.

Mason suspected he’d already had a full report from the surgeon himself. “Yes, her upper arm will be setting off metal detectors for the rest of her life, but she should recover nearly all range of use.” Over time. And after lots of therapy.

“That’s good.” The two men stood in silence, watching the sleeping agent.

“We went through Kent Jopek’s apartment overnight,” Duncan stated.

Mason’s listening skills shot to optimum. “And?”

Duncan shook his head. “He practically had a shrine to you.”

“What?” Mason tasted bile in the back of his mouth. He eyed the plastic bowl on the table next to Ava’s bed.

“He had a binder with every newspaper article you’ve ever been mentioned in. Printouts from the Internet and all his legal documents from his civil case and the inquiry into the shooting.”

Dizziness swamped Mason. He sat down and rubbed his face.

“He had Jake’s school schedule, and we found receipts for his plane tickets to North Carolina. A memory card full of pictures of Jake on campus, Henley at her bus stop, your home, and you on the job in various places. He also had a homemade kit for transferring fingerprints. I assume the ones we found in the kit will be yours. I don’t think you’ll be on leave much longer.”

Holy shit. “He told me he killed Josie.”

Duncan went on. “The stolen minivan was in his garage, and his Chevy sedan was in the Safeway parking lot.”

“I can’t believe this,” Mason muttered.

“Besides you and Jake, he also had a ton of photos of Wyatt everywhere in the house. There was even a bedroom done up for a young boy. Kent lived in this place for three years, so Wyatt obviously never slept there. I’m wondering if it’s a replica of his old room. It looks like Henley was kept in a small locked room down in his basement. We found some food, water, and bedding. Even some books.”

Mason blew out a thankful breath. He’d imagined the girl had been kept in a much worse location.

“Sanford was there when Henley and her parents were reunited at the emergency room. He said there wasn’t a dry eye in the hospital. All the nurses and cops included. Henley was just dehydrated from her ordeal. They didn’t even keep her overnight.” Duncan’s expression turned grim. “And she wasn’t sexually abused or abused at all. Everything checked out fine with her.”

“Thank God. That could have gone so many different ways.”

Duncan nodded. “Amen to that. Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you that the woman from Search and Rescue took your dog to her home until you can pick it up.”

“Bingo,” said Mason, remembering Henley’s name for the dog. “I don’t know if it’s really my dog. I think it belongs with Henley,” he said slowly, realizing he’d become quite attached to the furry black mutt.

“I don’t think that’s an option,” Duncan said. “Sanford told me that Henley’s mom started sneezing up a fit at the emergency room because the girl was covered in dog hair. The nurses were about to inject her with an antihistamine,” he said with a smile. “Looks like you’ll have your dog back.”

Mason bit back a smile. Bingo had earned a place of honor in his home. He’d even buy him the expensive dog food.

“Jake says there’s still law enforcement at the Fairbankses’.” Mason had been at the Safeway store for several hours after the shooting and then had gone straight to the hospital to sit in the waiting room while Ava had surgery. Now it was nearly 8 A.M.

“Yes, we still have a team in the house, and they’ll stay there until all the chaos settles down. Probably a day or two.”

Jake had texted him a few times last night, asking for Ava updates. Mason hadn’t liked how impersonal the texts felt. He planned to get a phone that could do that video-calling thing. That way when he wanted to see his son, he could. And Mason would always know who was on the other end of the line.

“We also discovered that Kent had closed out his bank accounts. He also left a couple of farewell letters to his exes.”

The man had been suicidal.

“I think we got real lucky that he didn’t take anyone else down with him,” said Duncan. “I believe that was his original plan. He was either going to take you or Jake out and then take his own life.”

“He said he wanted to see his son,” Mason stated. His brain whirled. How close had he and Jake come to death yesterday?

“Ava did a good job talking him down.” Duncan looked at the woman sleeping in the bed.

“Yeah, and then I came in and pissed him off.”

“It ended well.”

“That depends on your definition of ‘well,’” Mason argued.

“Henley’s home safe and sound. So are Jake and you. Ava will be soon. I call that a damned good ending.” Duncan stole another look at Ava. “I’m headed home to shower and then back to the office. Let me know later how she’s doing.” He strode to the door and opened it, stopping to smile back at Mason. “Merry Christmas.”

Mason blinked. It was Christmas. “Same to you,” he replied automatically.

Duncan vanished.

Mason pulled his chair up to the side of Ava’s bed and clasped her good hand as he sat down. “Merry Christmas,” he said softly.

The first of many to come, he decided. He wasn’t letting Ava McLane walk out of his life any time soon. She’d pushed her way under his heart, and he intended to keep her there. Her eyes opened, and she looked directly at him, giving a small smile.

“Is he gone?” she whispered.

“Were you awake?”

“I woke up while he was talking. I didn’t want to deal with bureau business,” she said.

Mason chuckled. “You fooled both of us. I doubt he would have grilled you this morning.”

“You don’t know Ben Duncan very well. Being unconscious is the only way to avoid his questions.” She yawned and flinched as the movement stretched her bandaged shoulder. “Am I in one piece?”

“Yes, thanks to the grace of God and Kent’s poor aim. Now you’re part cyborg. The surgeon seemed very pleased with himself, so I think you’ll be in good shape.”