“Wait,” the voice said and Carson heard the phone being placed down on something.
The silence went on for many minutes and Carson wondered how long this phone would last. He was using a powerbank to keep it working as he hadn’t been able to charge it up yet and he had no idea how much time it would give him. In truth, he didn’t think this call was going to have lasted so long.
The eternity ended with the scraping of the receiver and the man said,
“There is an agreement. You will have to work out of State of course but we will arrange all of that. Are you still in Baltimore?”
“No,” Carson said, “but I’m not too far away.”
“Can you get to Ellicott City tonight?” the man asked. Carson thought for a moment, some of his apprehension and fear leaving him as a way out began to shine through the clouds of his doubts.
“I think so,” he answered, “Where?”
“There is a diner called Fitzpatrick’s, just off Interstate Seventy.”
“I’ll find it,” Carson said, “What time?”
“Whenever you get there,” the man answered. “Go in and ask at the counter for Jimmy.”
“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Can you thank them for me? They won’t regret this.”
“You better make sure they don’t,” the man said menacingly and then hung up.
As soon as the call was over, Carson’s euphoria sank as the real world swept him once again. What the hell had he been thinking? He disconnected his power bank, rubbed down the phone with his shirt and then tossed it in a garbage can by the bus stop.
There was no way he was going to meet the mob at an off road diner on the outskirts of Ellicott City. What else would they do but kill him? It was ridiculous to think anything else. At least he hadn’t told them where he was, but it was possible they could trace the phone somehow. Dejected and feeling as stupid as ever in his life, Carson headed back for the motel.
Chapter 10
SARAH MADE SURE TO be at her desk good and early the following morning. She had an idea Malick would try to sneak in early so no one could make a fuss about his return until he was a little settled and she was right. Though she came in at 6am, Sarah was only at her desk five minutes when Malick came into the room.
“You here from last night?” he asked with a quizzical expression.
“Do you think I’d look this good if I’d been here all night?” she asked grinning and looking herself up and down.
“You think you look good?” he said turning his nose up and they both started laughing. Sarah walked over and they hugged,
“It’s good to have you back,” she said.
“Good to be back,” he replied. “Though leaving Tara this morning wasn’t much fun,” he added.
“She was never going to take it well, Malick,” Sarah said as they stepped away from one another.
“No, I suppose not. It’s the right decision though,” he said, “I know that much.”
“Did she threaten to leave you if you came back?”
“Not in so many words but there’s no missing the undertone.” Sarah recalled talking to Malick’s wife Tara in the hospital when they still didn’t know if Malick was going to survive his injuries or not. Tara had been so sure and so adamant that he would not be coming back to the FBI, and at the time Sarah could understand every word and impulse of Tara’s.
Malick was looking down at his desk, his hands rubbing the back of his chair as he stood over it.
“Bobrick wants me to baby you,” Sarah said.
“I’m good to go,” Malick said, looking at her as though he felt there was a question of his fitness to return in what she’d said.
“I figured you would be,” she said, “That’s why I’m glad you came in early. We can get on the road to Baltimore before Bobrick or Daniels come in to stop us.”
“The manhunt?” he asked with a look of surprise on his face.
“Unless you want to be sitting at your desk all day having people welcome you back!” She grinned at him.
“Let’s go!” he said, clearly delighted to avoid such a fate as Sarah had described.
In the car, Malick looked over the case file and Sarah filled him on the search. She was worried about getting in trouble for taking Malick out on the road right away, but this was pushed to the back of her mind when Malick raised concerns about whether Lemond could have been the killer in this case.
“I don’t think so either,” Sarah agreed, “But he knows something we don’t and for that reason alone we need to find him.”
“So there’s still no leads on who the real killer might be?” he asked.
“Not until we talk to Lemond.”
“You seem sure he knows something.” Sarah nodded at this,
“I think he was there either when the murder occurred or right after it. He has to know something.”
Malick was quiet for a time as he also looked over the farmer murders files. Sarah glanced over at him from time to time, looking at the points on his body where the bullets that almost killed him had gone in. Suddenly she wondered if she was doing the right thing taking him out of the office like this.
“You’ll let me know if things are getting on top of you, won’t you?” she asked. Malick looked at her and sighed; she could feel his anger and his trying to control it.
“I wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t think I was ready,” he said, “I appreciate the concern but I’m fine, okay?”
“Okay,” Sarah replied, keeping her own annoyance under wraps.
The day was not the joyful one Sarah had expected of Malick’s return. He didn’t like her telling him to stay at the Command Centre in Baltimore, and then she had to listen to first Daniels and then Bobrick chew her
