Dark Horse

42

Weiss came out of the hospital first, running for his car. As he drove past me, I could see he was on his cell phone. Something was going down.

Ten minutes later, Armedgian finally arrived and went into the hospital, then came back out a minute later with Dugan. They stood on the sidewalk, Armedgian angry and animated. Their voices rose and fell, the gist of the conversation drifting my way as I sat in my car with the windows down. Armedgian felt he'd been left out, should have been notified immediately, blah, blah, blah. Dugan was short with him. Not the FBI's secretary, get over it, all on the same page now, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

They went to their individual vehicles and drove away, dash lights flashing.

I got out of my car and went back into the ER, going down the hall toward the examination room Erin had been in. Landry came out of the room with a large brown paper evidence bag in hand: Erin's clothes, which would go to the lab to be examined for DNA evidence.

"What's going on?" I asked, changing direction and hustling to keep up with him.

"Erin says Jade was one of the kidnappers."

"Positive ID?" I asked, not believing it. "She saw him?"

"She says they wore masks, but she thinks it was him."

"How? Why does she think it was him? His voice? A tattoo? What?"

"I don't have time for this, Elena," he said impatiently. "Weiss and some uniforms are on their way to pick him up. I've got to get back to the station."

"Did she say anything about Van Zandt?"

"No."

"Who else then?"

"She didn't say. We don't have the whole story yet. But we're grabbing Jade before he can split. If he knows she's gotten away, he knows he's gotta get out of Dodge. If we can snag him now, we'll get him to roll on his partner."

The doors swooshed open and we went outside, headed for Landry's car. I wanted everything to stop, for time to stop right then so I could think before anything more happened. The plot had taken a hard left turn, and I was having a difficult time making the corner. Landry, however, had no intention of slowing down.

"Where did they have her?" I asked. "How did she get away?"

"Later," Landry said, getting into his car.

"But-"

He fired the engine and I had to jump back as he pulled out of the parking space and drove away.

I stood there like an idiot, watching him go, trying to digest what had just happened. It just didn't make sense to me that Jade would take the risk of kidnapping someone-or that he had the temperament for it. I couldn't see Jade as a team player in a thing like this.

Landry had developed Jade as a suspect, had circumstantial evidence against Jade. He had a vested interest in Jade being the perpetrator.

I wanted to know what Erin had said. I wanted to hear her story from her lips. I wanted to ask the questions and interpret her answers from my own perspective, with my own knowledge of the case and the people involved.

An ambulance came screaming toward the hospital, screeching to a halt in the bay as hospital staff ran out to meet it. A huge woman screaming blue murder came out of the vehicle on the gurney, calling for Jesus as arterial blood sprayed in a geyser from what looked like a compound fracture of her left leg. Someone shouted something about a victim from the second car coming in.

I slipped back into the hospital behind the mob as they rushed the woman toward a trauma room. Staff were running everywhere in the chaos of the moment. I went directly to the room where Erin had been and slipped inside.

The bed was empty. Erin had already been taken to a regular room. The exam room had not yet otherwise been cleared. A steel tray sat with suture equipment and bloody cotton balls. A speculum lay in the small sink, discarded after the rape exam.

I felt like the party was over and no one had invited me in the first place. Landry had Erin's clothes and the rape kit. There was nothing here for me to find.

I sighed and stepped back from the table, my absent gaze dropping to the floor. A small silver bracelet lay half-hidden under the table. I bent to pick it up. Made of silver, the links were fashioned in the shape of stirrups, one interlocking with the next. A couple of tiny charms hung from it-one a horse's head, one the letter E for Erin.

Just the thing for a horse-crazy teenager. I wondered if it had been a gift. I wondered if the gift-giver was a man, and if that man had betrayed her in the most terrible way.

The door swung open and I turned around to face a deputy.

"Where did they take my niece?" I asked. "Erin Seabright?"

"Fourth floor, ma'am."

"Will she have a guard?" I asked. "I mean, what if one of the men who took her comes here-"

"We've posted someone outside her room. You won't have to worry, ma'am. She's safe now."

"What a relief," I said without enthusiasm. "Thank you."

He held the door for me as I left the room. I walked away, disappointed. I couldn't get to Erin. I couldn't get to Jade. I didn't know where Van Zandt was lurking. It was three in the morning and I was locked out of the case again.

I slipped the bracelet in my pocket and headed home to sleep.

The calm before the storm.