“Well, she saw him leave. She saw a car pick him up.”
“A car? What kind of a car?”
“I don’t know. She was with her parents. They were shushing her and telling her she couldn’t be sure of what she saw. She’s only about five or six. The parents are terrified, thinking they could make themselves targets.”
“Can you point her out to me?” Katie asked.
Mabel pointed. It wasn’t easy to see, there were so many people milling about. But finally, behind them all, in front of a single-story shotgun house, she saw the family. It looked as if the young parents were watching the scene worriedly from the sanctity of their yard.
They both held a hand of their child, a little girl with red ringlets and a cherubic but serious face.
Katie pushed silently away from the car and made her way through gawking bystanders, saying “Excuse me,” over and over again. Glancing back, she saw she had managed to get away without the officer who was watching her even aware that she had left. But he wasn’t supposed to have been worried about her taking off, he was just supposed to make sure no one approached her and hurt her. But nothing was going to happen in a crowd that size.
She reached the family standing on their lawn and quickly introduced herself. She didn’t say she was a tour guide and carriage driver; she said she was working with the FBI. In a way, though she hadn’t been hired officially as a consultant, she figured it was true.
“We’re hoping someone saw the attacker as he was arriving or leaving. Any help, any idea, an inkling of anything might be useful,” she said. She knelt by the little girl and offered her a gentle smile. “You have beautiful hair,” she said.
“Thank you,” the little cherub said. “You have it, too,” she continued, smiling. “Like mine, it’s red!”
“Yes, I have red hair, too. Mine is a little darker, but we have the same hair!” Katie said.
“Miss... Agent... I’m sorry,” her father said. “We...we were just getting ready for the day, you know. Getting Margot here ready for school. Me, needing to head off to work, you know, and my wife was at the coffee machine—”
“I was at the window!” little Margot said. “He was a big black thing, like a giant bat, and he was heading down the street and he was picked up by a sleigh!”
“A sleigh?” Katie asked.
“A fancy, red sleigh, but with no reindeer,” Margot said.
“She’s just a child,” Margot’s mother said. “Please, this is all terribly upsetting! Margot needs to go now. Jubal, you need to take Margot and go—”
“Ooh. Like a flashy sports car?” Katie asked.
“Oh, yeah, maybe!”
“Red and sleek... Did you see who was driving it?” Katie asked.
Margot shook her head.
“Margot, we have to go!” her dad said to the child, and to Katie, “Please! We don’t mean to be unhelpful, but...please! She’s just a child!” he begged.
“Yes, get Margot to school and...um, lock your doors. Be careful!” she warned. “Day and night now,” she added.
Katie turned back to the Dean house, pulling out her phone.
In the middle of the crowd, she found that Axel was coming after her.
“Katie! Oh, my God, what—”
“I know who another of their number is, Axel. The Axeman was a picked up by a sleigh, or a fancy sports car. I was just in such a car, Axel. It belongs to Carly Britton, the casting agent on the movie George was just working. Axel, you’ve got to bring her in! She put on an act you wouldn’t believe, but she’s with him. She just aided and abetted the attacker, the big man, the head of this murder ring!”
Axel frowned and said, “Katie, how... Why—”
“Mabel. Mabel overheard the child talking and came to me.”
“And you ran off, when you’re supposed to be under protection?”
“Axel! We need to get Carly Britton!”
“Yes, right. Come on. Andre is getting the car. I’ll let Ryder know. We’ll grab Dan on the way. He just called after he reached the hospital.” He looked at her exasperated and then smiled. “Well, Dan would take an axe to me if something happened to you. But good work!”
She smiled weakly. “Let’s get her,” she said.
She turned her head away; she didn’t want him to see her shiver.
She had just driven in that car with Carly Britton...to keep Carly safe!
Andre pulled Axel’s Bureau car carefully through the crowd, and they slipped in while Axel put a call through to Ryder to let him know where they were going and to have him put out an APB on the woman.
A few minutes later, they picked Dan up on the street and then headed for Carly Britton’s office. Ryder was going to get backup and head to her home.
As Dan climbed into the car, he looked at Katie as if quickly assuring himself she was alive and well. Then he turned to Axel. “Was there anything on the computer?”
“The computer?” Katie asked.
“Andy Dean had his computer open. He was about to log in to a remote meeting, and his camera was on. We have people analyzing the data,” Axel said.
“I bet all we’ll see is a big man in black,” Dan said wearily. “We have nothing on the face yet, we just know that it’s a big man in black. Ashley Dean was able to talk. She saw him, but that’s what she says, too. A big man in black. Slouch hat, floor-length trench coat... But who found out about Carly Britton? Are we sure?”
“A little girl saw the Axeman get picked up on the street,” Axel explained, glancing at Katie. “He had a getaway driver.”
“She said a sleigh at first, a flashy red sleigh,” Katie said.
“You talked to her?” Dan asked Katie.
“Mabel clued me in,” Katie told him.
“But you—”
She smiled. “Axel was right behind me,” she assured him.
Thankfully, Axel didn’t correct her. He glanced back at them. “There’s one more thing.”
“And that is?” Dan asked.
“The scene investigators
