Deadly Lies (Deadly #3)(33)

Frank shook his head. “They said they’d send him to me. One hour after the drop, they said they’d send him.”

Didn’t he get it? “And then they’ll take someone else. And maybe they’ll cut him. Maybe they’ll let him live. Or maybe they’ll toss his body on his parents’ driveway like they did with Jeremy Briar.”

She took another deep breath, aware that her voice had started to rise. “Tell me the drop point.” They needed this. The SSD had to break up the kidnapping ring.

“Wyham Park.”

Big, public. So many entrances. So many trees. All those places to hide. A person could vanish in thirty seconds if he wanted to. Great.

“Noon,” Frank said.

The busiest time of the day. The lunch break.

Smart.

Her fingers raced over the touchpad screen on her phone as a soft knock tapped at the door.

“Beth.” Max exhaled her name on a sigh. “She told us about the call.” He strode to the door and twisted the knob as he opened the door.

Beth stood on the threshold, her eyes big, her face pale. “I-is he…?”

“They want to make an exchange,” Frank said. “Bastards want ten million now or they’re going to kill him.”

“Frank…” Beth whispered his name as she hurried across the room to his side. “I’m so sorry.” She reached for him.

His hand flew up. “Not now, Beth.” He knocked her hand away and then marched toward the bar. Frank poured a tall glass of whiskey. “Not now.”

Sam saw the other woman’s flinch. Interesting.

Very interesting.

Sam remembered the e-mails that she’d read on Quinlan’s laptop last night. She couldn’t help but wonder if Frank knew his younger lover was also sleeping with his son. Sometimes it was so easy to hide an affair, especially with one lover dead to the world every night. So easy.

Sam shoved her phone back into her bag. Beth turned around and headed for the door. But Sam had caught a glimpse of Beth’s eyes before she’d whirled away. Tears hadn’t been filling that blue gaze. Rage had burned in Beth’s stare.

Sam typed one more note. Want background checks ASAP. That would have been routine, of course. As soon as the SSD learned of the disappearance, they would have started working every angle.

She’d been doing her own checks while she was in the house. When she’d used Quinlan’s laptop, she’d gotten access to his complete social networking system. She’d backtracked through his wall to follow his activity for the last few weeks, and she’d sent his list of “friends” to the SSD office so that they could cross-reference those with the other kidnap victims.

She’d also entered Donnelley’s system. The good doctor apparently liked his porn, and he’d been trying to hook up online at a dating site. None of his e-mails had raised a red flag with her, but she still planned to search his financial records the instant that she had access to the SSD’s computer system.

When she’d tapped into Frank’s online accounts, she’d seen that he had far more than a healthy balance in the bank. As with the previous kidnap victims, their perps had picked a target that could easily pay them.

But she wanted more information than what she was retrieving through the house network. After the drop tomorrow, she’d have full access again. Then she’d take an hour on her equipment at the office, and she’d be able to find out every secret the Malones possessed.


“I want Jon on point in the park tomorrow.” Luke gave the order to his team and knew it would come as no surprise. An ex-sniper, Jon was by far the best when it came to observing from a distance. “Keep a weapon on them, Jon. This thing…” His shoulders rolled. “I don’t want it blowing up in our faces.”

“No,” Hyde’s deep voice cut from the doorway. “We sure as hell don’t.”

Luke inclined his head. “Sir, this is our best chance. Sam is serving this case to us on a platter.” The pieces still didn’t fit for him, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If they could break this case… take down these killers…

“We need to talk with Kathleen Briar,” Monica said, nodding her head. “I want to know exactly what her husband said about the ransom drop demands.” A soft sigh escaped her lips. “As far as I know, two people have never been asked to come to the drop site. Either they’re changing their MO now or they changed up the plan with Briar…”

“It would be easier to find out if she hadn’t blown the guy’s head off,” Kim murmured, tapping her pencil against the edge of the table. “Then we could’ve just asked him directly. So much easier.”

“If you wanted easy,” Hyde drawled, “you wouldn’t be in the Bureau.”

“Guess not.” Kim flashed a wide smile, one that faded quickly when she said, “There’s something you all should know.” Kim flipped open the file in front of her and pushed some pages toward them. “The fingerprint check on the box turned up a hit on an ex-con. A woman named Kailey Elizabeth Gentry, a prostitute from Boston.”

Shit, this might be it. The break they needed. The one—

“I pulled up a picture of Kailey.” Her lips twisted into a humorless grin. “Funny thing. She looks just like Beth Dunlap, only about ten years younger.”