15 Seconds

shook her head. “He was always keen on that place. It all kind of fell apart for my father when we lost it. It was his pride and joy. Bank owns it now; it’s at the end of a long road and no one ever bought it, as far as I know. There’s nothing around it but wetlands and woods, so there’s no one-I don’t think anyone even knows it’s there. And there’s this locked closet, attached, where he would keep supplies…”

My heart thumping, I pushed Rick’s card back through the glass along with a pen from the counter. “Can you write down the address?”

Amanda shrugged. She started to write-a slow, block cursive, almost like someone who hadn’t gone past the sixth grade.

3936 Cayne Road

Acropolis

When she was done, she looked back up at me, her eyes shining now, with what looked like innocence. “His heart is in that place. I can’t think of nowhere else he would go.”

“Thank you,” I said. My chest was expansive. I remained there a moment just staring at her, as she pushed a wisp of hair out of her eyes and gave me a hopeful smile.

And with it, I knew we were both thinking the same thought. What if it had all been different? What if she had grown up with someone else, someone like me? And with a sister like Hallie. Would anything have changed?

“I like horses,” Amanda said. “There was a time he used to say to me, ‘You scamper just like a racehorse, Peachy.’ Peachy, that was his name for me. ’Cause of my light hair.”

Then the pallor of disappointment crawled back into her eyes. “I hope you get him, Dr. Steadman. And when you do, you make sure you do what it is you have to do to get your girl free. You don’t hold back for me. That man… He wants to hold those to task who are accountable. You make sure you start with him. You make him accountable. You do that to him… for me!”

I nodded. Then I stood up. “I’m gonna come back and see you again, Amanda. Maybe if this all works out, we’ll both come. Hallie and me.”

“Maybe,” she said, shrugging, and she got up. “Guard! In the meantime, you just go do what you have to do to get her back.”

Chapter Sixty-Six

I basically ran out of the prison, my body alive with the possibility that I knew where Hofer was.

I knew I should alert the police. Not the local police, in Acropolis. Not with my name out there as a fugitive and my daughter’s life on the line. But maybe Carrie’s brother. The FBI. Of course, there was always the chance Hofer wasn’t actually in Acropolis at all, and then I’d have nothing. And everything would be blown.

The bastard had made it clear with that photo of Hallie. Whatever he had planned for her was happening very soon. I realized then that there was no doubt in me-none at all-that I was going to go get her myself.

I turned on the car and plugged “Acropolis, Georgia” into the Buick’s GPS. I knew it was north and east from the prison, near the South Carolina border. The route came up. It read, two and a half hours. I could drive there first and figure out my options once I arrived. I already felt close to her. Hallie, I’m coming! You just hang on, baby.

I felt a power I had never felt in my life take hold of me and it wouldn’t let me go.

I got ready to go, but first I found my cell phone and made two calls. The police could come and get me now for all I cared. They could track me down, follow me-I would lead them right to my daughter.

The first call was to Liz. She picked up on the second ring. “Henry…”

“Liz, I said that I’d get back to you, and I just want you to know, I’m going to get our daughter.”

The second was to Carrie.

My blood was pumping as I punched in her cell number. I didn’t care who was monitoring. I didn’t care if the fucking FBI was sitting at the table playing mah-jongg with her.

“My God, Henry!” Carrie answered, clearly elated to hear my voice. “I was so worried. I didn’t know if you had-”

I cut her off. “Carrie!” I knew what she was feeling as she realized that I was alive, because reconnecting with her, I was feeling the same way. “Where are you?”

“Driving back home. The chief wants a meeting with me. I’m halfway through Georgia.”

“Turn around.”

“Turn around?” She hesitated. “Why?”

“Because I think I found him, Carrie! I know where Hofer is!”

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Two detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office had driven up earlier that morning, and Carrie had pretty much laid it all out for them: Hofer; the bogus gun purchase; his daughter’s accident; his relationship with Martinez from years before; and the tapes she had of his Mazda at each of the two crime scenes. As well as his call to Henry yesterday. How could she not tell them, whatever promise she had made to Henry?

And she also told them about Hallie.

Dubious as they were, they listened intently, writing it all down. Every piece of it pretty much exonerated Henry.

And she got their promise not to release anything until Hallie was found.

Now she was making her way back down I-95, back home, to a meeting with Bill Akers and the chief, where they might well take her report, commend her for finding the truth, then tell her on the spot that she could pack her things and leave…

When Henry’s call came in. “I know where Hofer is!”

“How?” she asked, slowing, shifting to the right lane.

“I went to see his daughter. In prison. It’s a long story, Carrie, and you actually helped make it happen. I’ll tell you about it when I can. But she told me Hofer has this shed behind his old house in Acropolis. The one he lost after his wife died. Now the bank owns it. No one’s living there. She says the place is kind of a sanctuary to him. It’s deep in the woods, and has some kind of locked storage compartment attached. That has to be where he is. And where he’s got Hallie. I’m heading there now!”

“Wait!” Carrie tried to think it through. If Henry went there alone, he’d likely get them all killed. He was the one Hofer wanted. And calling the local cops to get there ahead, who knew what they would believe or how they would handle it? They might well bungle it. They didn’t know the truth yet. This was Jack’s terrain. There was also the possibility that Hofer wasn’t even there. Then they’d be alerting the police; everything would be out in the open. “Henry, listen, you can’t go there on your own. You can’t.”

“I am going, Carrie. Just like you’d be going. If it was Raef.”

A tremor of apprehension and dread started to quiver inside Carrie.

She had been expressly ordered to stay out of this now. The JSO had a lot of damage control to do. Chief Hall was expecting her in his office. Her cell phone was probably being monitored as well, so in minutes they might know Henry had called. This is crazy! She’d be putting everything on the line. Her reputation. Her career… the thimbleful that was left of it.

She saw a sign for an exit coming up in a mile. Hell, she was probably going to get fired anyway…

“Where is it?” Carrie asked, pulling into the right lane. “If you’re going there, I’m coming too.”

Henry hesitated at first. And she knew exactly why. It was because he knew she would come! It was because