The Speed of Sound (Speed of Sound Thrillers #1)(50)
Skylar jumped in. “They were only acting, Eddie.”
“Acting is pretending, and pretending is lying, and lying is not something paramedics should do because they are like doctors and doctors shouldn’t lie.”
“I’m a doctor, and sometimes I lie.”
Eddie seemed genuinely shocked. “You do?”
“Everybody has to lie sometimes.”
“I don’t.”
“If you spend enough time outside Harmony House, you will, trust me.”
Butler could feel his colleagues’ frustration rising. “Dr. Drummond, we need to get your patient out of here before one of my guys kills him.”
She and Eddie followed the detective out the door. “Skylar, have you ever lied to me?”
“No, Eddie, I haven’t. And I hope I never have to.”
“Why would you have to?”
“Because things get complicated.”
“Why?”
“They just do.”
Crossing the street toward Butler’s Chevy Tahoe, Eddie remained extremely cautious. He looked both ways, then took a step. Then looked both ways again. He was doing everything he could to avoid another near miss.
Butler turned to Eddie in disbelief. “You mind speeding it up a little?”
Eddie continued moving along with incredible caution. “I don’t like it here at all.”
The detective was quickly reaching his threshold, Skylar recognized. “Eddie, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can hear your mother’s voice.”
Eddie jumped into the back seat of Butler’s SUV. Skylar buckled him in and got in the front passenger’s seat. Butler punched the gas, SCREECHING out of the parking space. Eddie covered his ears. “This car hurts my ears.”
Skylar turned to Butler. “Where are we going?”
“My precinct. I want my lieutenant to hear what—”
Eddie interrupted. “Skylar, I’m hungry. Is it time for afternoon snack yet?”
She checked her watch: 1:07 p.m. Afternoon snack at Harmony House had been served seven minutes ago. “Yes, it is, Eddie. We’ll get you something at the police station.”
“Saturday-afternoon snack is graham crackers and milk.”
Skylar knew the answer to the question she was about to ask the detective, but went ahead anyway. “They wouldn’t happen to have graham crackers and milk at your station, would they?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Eddie imitated him. “You’re kidding, right?”
Butler managed to contain himself. “No, there aren’t any graham crackers and milk.”
Skylar tried to be helpful. “There must be some kind of snack.”
“Only what’s in the vending machines. Candy bars, and whatnot.”
“Candy bars are high in sugar, high in calories, and low in nutritional value. They are not an appropriate snack, Detective McHenry.”
Skylar intervened. “Is there somewhere we can stop on the way?”
He eyeballed her incredulously. “You’re not serious.”
“Any deviation from his regular routine is a genuine hardship for him.”
“Whoever those guys are coming after you, they’re out here looking for you. Right now. You get that, right?”
“I do.” Realizing she was never going to reach him with compassion, she took a more practical approach. “It’ll only take a minute, and you’ll find him a lot less annoying.”
Butler couldn’t help but shake his head, eyeing the road ahead for the nearest convenience store. The New York Police Department had finally caught a break in their investigation of the subway gas attack, the headline story of every national paper for the last three days, and the lead detective on the case was about to stop and buy graham crackers and milk.
CHAPTER 39
Harmony House, Woodbury, New Jersey, May 27, 1:11 p.m.
Barnes watched the pursuit from his office. Hirsch and Lutz’s car was quickly closing in on Skylar and Eddie.
Inside the pursuit car, Lutz finally got close enough to catch a glimpse of the driver. It was not Skylar. “Son of a bitch.” He slowed down quickly and cranked a U-turn, heading back to the bar.
Barnes called within eight seconds. Hirsch answered, “It was a decoy. We’re heading back to the bar.”
“Don’t waste your time. They’re already gone.” Barnes’s tone was ice. He glanced at his computer screen, where an array of personal information about Detective Butler McHenry appeared. Former US Army Ranger, 1998–2004. Member of the NYPD since 2005. Decorated twice. Suspended once. The more Barnes read, the more he didn’t like it. McHenry had both training and experience. Barnes needed to find Skylar and Eddie now, before this situation escalated any further. “If cops are driving her car, McHenry is now driving them. Keep your eyes out for a blue Chevy Tahoe, New York plate George-David-Romeo-six-seven-zero-three. I’m sending you directions to his residence.”
“You really think he’s that dumb?”
“He’s a cop, isn’t he?”
CHAPTER 40
Jorge’s Quick Stop, Queens, New York City, May 27, 1:17 p.m.
Eddie followed behind Skylar and Detective McHenry as they walked quickly up and down the narrow aisles inside Jorge’s Quick Stop, looking for graham crackers. They were still in Queens. The bare fluorescent tubes above them flickered intermittently. Eddie was the only one of the three who didn’t seem to be in a hurry. “Where are the graham crackers, Skylar?”