Chương 4
“Sometimes the Wayfarer shelter. Sometimes my car.”
“Where’s the car?”
“Impounded.”
“For what?”
“Expired registration.”
“When?”
“Eleven days ago.”
Ortiz wrote it down without comment.
“Tell me how you found Lucia Vale.”
Maya looked through the curtain. Denise was adjusting the flow of oxygen beneath Lucia’s nose. Adrian stood on the other side of the bed.
“Yesterday afternoon, I was behind the old Greyhound depot on Calder. There’s a loading lot people cut through to get to the river road. A gray van was parked behind the electrical building.”
“What time?”
“Maybe four-thirty.”
“Why were you there?”
Maya rubbed her thumb over a frayed seam in the jacket.
“The shelter has a three-night limit if they’re full. I was looking for somewhere dry before dark.”
Ortiz’s face did not change.
“What happened at the van?”
“I heard a child coughing. Then someone said, ‘Shut her up.’”
“Male or female?”
“Male.”
“What did you do?”
“I walked closer.”
“Why?”
Maya looked at her.
Ortiz waited.
“I thought maybe I was wrong.”
“You walked closer because you hoped you hadn’t heard what you heard?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“The side door opened. A man got out. Brown jacket, shaved head, gray beard. He saw me. Asked what I wanted.”
“What did you say?”
“That I was looking for my dog.”
“Do you have a dog?”
“No.”
Ortiz wrote that too.
“He told me to leave. I started to. Then the child hit the inside of the door. Once. Not hard. He turned around, and I saw her through the gap.”
“What condition was she in?”
“Her wrists were tied. She had tape over her mouth. She was lying on the floor.”
Adrian’s head lifted on the other side of the curtain.
Maya continued before he could interrupt.
“The man shut the door. I walked away. He watched me for maybe twenty yards. There was another man in the driver’s seat.”
“And then?”
“I went behind the electrical building. There was a broken cinder block near the fence. I picked it up and came back.”
Rourke’s eyebrows rose.
Ortiz said, “You attacked them with a cinder block?”
“I hit the passenger window.”
“Why?”
“To make them get out.”
“That is not usually what people do when facing suspected kidnappers.”
“I didn’t have a working phone.”
“You could have found one.”
“I could hear her choking.”
The room went quiet except for the soft hiss of oxygen.
Ortiz tapped her pen once against the notebook.
“What happened when the men got out?”
“The driver chased me. I threw the block at him. Missed. The other man opened the side door because the girl had started kicking. I doubled back and pulled her out.”
“You outran two adult men while carrying a six-year-old?”
“Not for long.”
Maya lifted the sleeve of her sweater. A purple bruise covered the inside of her forearm.
“The bearded man caught me. I bit him.”
Rourke looked away, perhaps imagining it.
“There was a delivery truck coming through the lot,” Maya said. “The driver leaned on his horn. The men thought he’d seen too much. They got back in the van.”
“Did the delivery driver stop?”
“No.”
“Did you get the company name?”
“Red bird on the trailer. Maybe Cardinal. Maybe something else.”
“Then where did you go?”
“Across the river road, through the rail yard, into the old metalworks property. They came back twice. I heard the van. Later another car.”
“You spent fourteen hours moving through industrial property with a sick child and never found a phone?”
“I found one in an office. No power. Another in a guard shack, but the line was dead. Mine got wet three days ago and only turns on when it feels spiritual.”
Ortiz’s mouth twitched.
“Did Lucia tell you who took her?”
“Not at first.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That they said her father sent them.”
Adrian went completely still.
Ortiz looked through the curtain. “Mr. Vale?”
“I sent no one.”
“Did she name the men?”
“She said one was called Denny. The other one never gave a name. She heard someone on the phone called Vince.”
Rourke turned toward Adrian.
The movement was fast and small.
Maya saw it.
So did Ortiz.
“Vince who?” the detective asked.
Adrian’s voice remained controlled. “I know more than one Vincent.”
Rourke said nothing.
“Did Lucia describe the call?” Ortiz asked Maya.
“She was drifting in and out. She said the man told Vince, ‘We have the package, but she’s burning up.’ Then Vince said they should wait for instructions.”
“You heard that from Lucia?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Maya looked down at the denim jacket.
“There’s a phone in the inside pocket.”
Every head in the room turned.
“What phone?” Ortiz asked.
“One of theirs.”
Adrian stepped toward the curtain.
Ortiz raised a hand. “Stay where you are.”
Maya reached into the jacket and felt along the lining. Her fingers found the hard rectangle beneath a torn inner seam.
She had taken it without thinking after biting the bearded man. It had fallen near the van. She shoved it into her jacket while running, then forgot about it as Lucia worsened.
Maya pulled out a black prepaid phone with a cracked corner.
Ortiz did not take it immediately.
“Who has handled this since you picked it up?”
“Me. Maybe Lucia through the jacket. Hospital staff touched the jacket.”
“Anyone search it?”
“No.”
Ortiz called for an evidence bag.
Adrian stared at the phone.
“What?” Maya asked.
He looked at her. “Nothing.”
“That isn’t nothing.”
Rourke shifted near the door.
Ortiz noticed. “Mr. Vale, I suggest you let your attorney arrive before contributing.”
“My attorney is outside.”
“Of course he is.”
The phone went into a clear bag.
A nurse came through the curtain and whispered to Denise. The doctor returned with preliminary results.
May you like
Lucia had pneumonia, dehydration, and traces of a sedative consistent with a common prescription medication. Her oxygen level had improved, but she would be admitted to pediatric intensive care for monitoring.
Adrian’s attention left the evidence phone instantly.
