Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO KEPT LOOKING
“DOWN!”
Ruiz drew her weapon.
Officers ran toward the garden.
Daniel pulled Noah beneath the desk.
Hannah crawled behind a marble column.
Another shot never came.
Ruiz shouted into her radio.
“Shooter east side! Lock the property down!”
Noah shook violently.
Daniel held him.
“I’ve got you.”
“Are they going to put me back?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
“On my life.”
Five minutes later, officers found the firing position.
No shooter.
Only a rifle abandoned beside the trees.
A warning.
Ruiz returned.
“That wasn’t meant to kill all of us.”
Daniel looked at the bullet hole.
“It missed Hannah by two inches.”
“Exactly.”
Hannah understood first.
“They’re telling me to stop talking.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“Then start.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“There was one more thing I saw at St. Catherine’s.”
Ruiz pulled out a chair.
“Tell us.”
“The ambulance Noah was taken in had a company logo.”
“What company?”
“Vale Pediatric Transport.”
Noah sat up.
“Mrs. Vale.”
Hannah nodded.
“I think the woman who watched Noah owned it.”
Ruiz searched the database.
Thirty seconds.
Then she stopped.
“Margaret Vale. Former pediatric nurse. License revoked eight years ago.”
“For what?” Daniel asked.
“Improper administration of controlled sedatives.”
Daniel’s face darkened.
“Address?”
Ruiz looked at him.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I mean you are not coming with us.”
“That woman kept my child drugged.”
“And if she’s alive, I need her alive long enough to talk.”
Daniel leaned across the desk.
“You don’t tell a father to sit quietly after finding his kidnapped son behind a wall.”
“No. I tell a billionaire who thinks rules don’t apply to him that charging into a suspect’s property can destroy an investigation.”
Daniel stared at her.
Ruiz didn’t blink.
Noah whispered, “I know where she lives.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“She has a blue house.”
Ruiz crouched.
“Where?”
“Near water.”
“River? Ocean? Lake?”
“A lake.”
“What else?”
Noah concentrated.
“There’s a broken red boat.”
Daniel pulled up satellite maps.
Hannah remembered seeing a Vale Transport invoice years earlier with a New York county address.
Within twenty minutes, Ruiz narrowed it to three properties.
One had a lake.
One had a blue house.
And behind it, visible from satellite imagery, sat an old red boat.
Ruiz looked at Daniel.
“You stay here.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Daniel.”
“Fine.”
She left with six officers.
Ten minutes later, Daniel picked up his coat.
Hannah stood in the doorway.
“You lied.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You’re going after her.”
“My son spent years with that woman.”
Noah appeared behind Hannah.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Dad—”
“Absolutely not.”
Noah’s eyes hardened.
“If you don’t know the way inside, she’ll hear you.”
Daniel stopped.
Noah looked at him.
“I know where she hides the key.”
Hannah shook her head.
“Daniel, this is crazy.”
He agreed.
Then Noah said one more thing.
May you like
“Mrs. Vale also has a room full of pictures of Mom.”
And Daniel knew there was no chance he was staying home.
