While Justice Sleeps(118)
“If I hadn’t taken down the kidnapper, who the hell knows what would have happened?”
Rita shuddered in Avery’s arms, and Avery shot Agent Lee a quelling look. “We screwed up, I get it. But now we’ve got proof.”
“Proof? You mean the busted-to-hell computers Phillips pumped lead into before he died?” He didn’t mention that he already had teams working on reconstruction. “He could have had grenades in there. Anything.”
The fresh shudder from Rita had Avery bundling her to her feet. She half carried her to the door. “Agent Lee, is there a quieter room where my mother can lie down while you relive her trauma?”
Agent Lee rubbed at his face in chagrin, then approached Rita with hesitant steps. “Well, crap. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Keene.” He shoved his fists into his pockets and barely fought off the impulse to scuff his heel against the carpet. He knew better than to subject a kidnapping victim to the harsh sound of anger. Swallowing remorse, he jerked open the door. “Agent Madison!”
The field agent who’d tended to Rita on-site appeared in his doorway. “Sir?”
“Please take Mrs. Keene down to your office, if she still refuses to go to the hospital.” At Rita’s spastic nod, he relented. “Your office for now. Make her comfortable and see if she needs anything.”
Avery turned to hand her off to the woman, but Rita clung, nails biting into skin. “No, no. I’m okay. I want to stay here. With you.” The piteous voice pleaded, “Don’t make me go.”
Tucking her mother’s head into the curve of her shoulder, she rocked her lightly, whispering, “I’ll walk down there with you, Momma. Then I’ll be just down the hall, for a few minutes. I promise.”
With Agent Madison behind her, she helped Rita to the agent’s cubbyhole of a space. She settled her into the lone chair and wrapped the police blanket more securely beneath her chin. Crouching low, she stroked the fading streak of a bruise that mottled the gaunt cheek. “Are you hungry? Do you want anything? Coffee? Water?”
Rita darted a look up at the agent and leaned in to Avery. “I need—I need—”
Avery braced for the request, her stomach plummeting. “What is it, Rita?”
“Can I have a candy bar? Something sweet? I need a chocolate bar.” The tremulous smile she gave her daughter accompanied a soft pat to her cheek. “Chocolate will take the edge off.”
“You’ve come to the right place.” Agent Madison circled her desk and rummaged through the drawers. “I keep a secret stash in here. Snickers. Hershey’s. I’ve even got a Zero in here, I think.” Candy bars piled on the cluttered desktop and spilled over into an untidy selection. “I’ll get you a Coke or some water to wash it down.”
The agent went to retrieve the drinks, leaving them alone for the first time. Rita curled her fingers against Avery’s shoulder. “In that last place you put me, they told us that sugar and caffeine have the same effect as, well, you know. Almost.”
The gallows humor twisted at her heart, and Avery broke. “Momma, I’m so sorry. So sorry they did this to you.” Her head hung low, eyes shut in misery. “I should have brought you home with me.”
“Why? So I could rob you and still get taken?” Rita tilted her chin up, gave a husky laugh. “I don’t blame you, baby. Cheapest rehab yet. Maybe this time, they scared me straight.”
Avery flinched. “Don’t joke.”
Pushing aside the panic that spurted still, Rita traced a line along her daughter’s chin. The stubborn jut she’d gotten from her father. Through her shock, she’d heard enough of the FBI’s yelling to understand that Avery had done something stupid and courageous. Something for her. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Momma, I was so scared for you.”
“He banged me up some, but nothing that won’t heal.” Then, because it had to be said, she added, “I’m the same woman I was last week, Avery. You did the right thing sending me away, and this isn’t your fault.”
“If he’d shot you—” She cut herself off, the guilt a vicious bite.
“If you hadn’t found me,” Rita countered, “I’d be dead. So you go down to that angry man’s office and finish whatever this is you’ve got going. Oh, and make sure they keep men watching your building. One of the men said they planned to torch your apartment. Make it look like I set it on fire with a crack pipe or something.”
“They won’t have a chance to do anything else, Momma. It’s almost over, I promise.”
“I believe you.” She pressed a kiss to Avery’s forehead, inhaled the scent of her only child. “You go on now. I’ll be good down here.”
“You sure?”
Rita smiled. “I’ve got a stack of candy bars to hold me. Go on.”
Aware of the timing of the next part, Avery let herself be urged out. She rose, bending to hug her mother tight. “Ten minutes tops, then I’ll be back down here, and we’ll get you home.”
“Ten minutes,” Rita dutifully repeated. She squeezed Avery once more. “I’m okay.”
Avery slowly left the room and headed down the hall to Agent Lee’s office. A long, cold shudder racked through her, and she stumbled. Breath backed up in lungs too tight to expand, and Avery crouched low, gasping. Her hand flexed against a wall of cabinets lining the hallway.