forward and unleashed two quick jabs. The first connected just below Sullivan’s right orbital socket. The second punch tracked the position of Sullivan’s head as he rolled away from the initial blow. That punch caught Sullivan in the jaw, strong enough to push the heavy man up off of his feet. Sullivan went sprawling backward. His body fell into an open carton of swordfish steaks that were frozen hard as bricks. The steaks cracked against Sullivan’s skull as they fell.
Sullivan lay at the back of the cooler, groaning and massaging his tender face. A large red swath coated much of Sullivan’s injured throat like a rash.
“If I find out you were involved in Marvin’s death,” Tom said to him, “consider this the warm-up act. Speaking of warm-up, make sure to cover your head with something. That’s where you’ll lose most of your body heat.”
Tom closed the door and waited. Sullivan was probably banging against the insulation and was probably screaming for help, too. Good thing the thick walls blocked out all sound from within.
He left through the back door, with Sullivan’s car keys dangling in his hand. Tom found the Equinox parked where Sullivan said it would be. Maybe Sullivan would be found in twenty minutes. Maybe sooner. Probably longer. Either way, he’d ditch the car long before the police knew to look for it.
Tom drove unnoticed past several police cars on his way to the meeting spot. The location he’d picked was a development under construction. No residents. And at this hour, no workers, either.
Tom pulled up to the first house on the right. He could see Jill’s bike parked in what would eventually become the garage. He honked the car horn. Jill didn’t come out of hiding. He honked again. Still no Jill.
Tom got out of the car and walked over to the bike. He looked at the ground. He saw Jill’s cell phone.
Tom picked up the phone. He looked at the text message someone had earlier composed. His stomach sank the moment he read it. The two-word instruction made Tom’s whole body go weak.
Turn around.
Tom turned and looked behind. Roland Boyd was standing there. Roland held a gun leveled at Tom’s chest. It was a Smith & Wesson 22LR, not the best handgun, but at this range the best didn’t much matter.
“Hi, Tom,” Roland said.
“Where’s Jill? What have you done with her, Roland?”
“I’ve got to search you. Don’t get cute.”
Roland searched but didn’t find any weapons. He checked Tom’s backpack, too. He found the kitchen knife Tom had packed.
“My car is parked at the end of the street,” Roland said afterward. “Walk with me.”
“And you’ll shoot me if I don’t?”
“No, Tom,” said Roland. “But somebody will shoot your daughter.”
“What do you want?”
“Simple,” Roland said. “I want to know where you hid ten million dollars’ worth of my heroin.”
Chapter 78
Rainy couldn’t wait to have her little chat with Mitchell Boyd. Depending on his reaction to her questions, she’d decide the next best move. The federal magistrate might already have enough probable cause to issue an arrest with the watermark evidence alone, but Rainy didn’t want to burn through the opportunity. She’d present Mitchell with her findings, ask for another consent search, and fully expected him to become much less cooperative. That little turnaround should be more than enough to guarantee Mitchell’s federal arrest warrant on child pornography charges.
Rainy rang the front door bell and waited. Seconds passed. She rang the bell again. Mitchell opened the door, but only a crack. Rainy flashed him her badge.
“Hi, Mitchell,” she said. “Mind if I come in and have a word with you?”
“Why?”
“Are your parents at home?”
“My mom’s here.”
“Good. Can we come in and talk?”
Mitchell pulled the door open wider. Rainy and Carter stepped into the high-ceilinged foyer of the Boyds’ grand residence, with the majestic corkscrew staircase at its center. Rainy looked up to see Adriana descending the stairs.
“Who’s the daytime soap star?” Carter whispered into Rainy’s ear.
“That’s Mama,” said Rainy.
“Mamma mia!” Carter whispered back.
“Hello. Can I help you?” Adriana asked the agents as soon as she reached the landing.
Rainy and Carter inadvertently synchronized the flashing of their badges.
“We met at Cathleen Wells’s house a few weeks ago,” Rainy said. “My name is Special Agent Loraine Miles, and this is Special Agent Carter Dumas. We’re with the FBI’s Innocent Images National Initiative. We’d like to have a few words with your son, if that’s all right with you.”
“What’s this all about?” Adriana asked, her face long with worry.
“We’d like him to explain something we’ve discovered as part of an ongoing investigation.”
From within a manila envelope, Carter extracted a color printout of the once hidden digital watermark. He handed the glossy paper, ink still fresh, over to Adriana. The three huddled close.
“What is this?” Adriana asked.
“It’s a watermark,” Rainy said. “We believe the creator of this watermark is also a distributor of illegal images. We also think the same distributor automatically applied Internet addresses to these watermarked images to keep track of who was downloading the content and from where.”
“And you think Mitchell had something to do with this, because the watermark matches his tattoo?”
“We’d sure like to ask him a few questions.”
“Mitchell, do you have anything to say about this?” Adriana asked in a harsh tone, turning around to address her son.
To Rainy’s surprise, Mitchell didn’t answer her back. Alarmed, she realized why.
Mitchell Boyd wasn’t with them in the foyer anymore.
Chapter 79
Tom told Roland where he’d hidden the drugs. Roland, in response, communicated his threat to Tom quite clearly. Jill would be shot if they didn’t arrive at that destination by a certain time. Tom didn’t know who was holding Jill. So he let Roland drive and he kept silent.
He held Jill’s cell phone, praying that she’d call him. Each second the phone didn’t ring was agony to him. He decided to keep pressing Roland for more information.
“How did you know where Jill would be?” Tom asked.
“I didn’t,” said Roland. “But I knew I could follow her. And I knew she wasn’t going to be with you.”
“How’d you know that?”
“I’m the one who told Tanner to call you,” said Roland. “I scripted him on exactly what to say. I knew you’d believe it and try and run. I knew Jill would slow you down when you did. You SEALs are consistent with your training, if anything. Your only option was to separate.”
“Did you kill Lindsey!” Tom shouted.
“Easy, Tom,” Roland said. “I told you, I don’t hurt people.”
“No. You have people do that for you. I forgot.”
Roland turned his head, with a smile on his face that made Tom’s insides shiver.
“Is Frank Dee one of your cronies?”
“Maybe.”
