Mariah Stewart - Acts of Mercy

“It was dark red. Or maroon.”

“I don’t see a red tie.”

“He knows I know, Luke,” Sam told him.

“You sure?”

Sam nodded. “But he acted like he knew I wasn’t going to move inside the church.”

“So he must have bolted as soon as he got outside. Why don’t I just follow the wife to the car and see if we can nab him there?” Before Sam could respond, Luke said, “By we I mean me and my fellow federal officers. That we did not include thee.”

“Spoilsport.”

“If you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll give you a few minutes alone with the guy.”

The crowd began to thin as the hearse and the cars carrying the family pulled away from the curb. Sam watched as the other mourners got into their cars and fell in line with the procession. He did not find Steve Molino in any of them.

“Luke, do you see Fiona?” Sam asked.

Luke made a 360 degree turn. “No. She’s not here.”

Sam glanced over the diminished crowd. “Steve’s not here either, and I didn’t see him get into a car.” He took his phone from his pocket and turned it back on, then dialed Fiona’s cell. There was no answer. “This is not good.”

“There’s a lot out back,” Sam recalled. “And I think a park. She was seated on that side of the church. Maybe she went out that door and decided to look out back.”

They hurried down the walk that separated the church from the rectory, and walked through the cars on the lot.

“This is weird,” Sam told Luke as they went toward the playground. “I don’t like this.”

He speed-dialed her number again. They were almost to the end of the lot when he heard what sounded like her ring tone. Sam stopped and looked around. The sound was coming from behind a Volkswagen Rabbit that was parked next to the fence. He stepped around the car and saw the phone on the ground. He knelt down, picked it up and scanned through the numbers.

“This is her phone. Here, the last call is from me.” He looked up at Luke. “I called her right before I went into the church.”

Luke glanced around anxiously.

“If he hurts her, I will tear him apart,” Sam said.

“No problem, man,” Luke told him. “I’ll hold him down. But first we have to find him.”

Sam fought back the anger and tried to keep his focus on where Steve would have taken Fiona, and how to get her back without getting her killed.

“He’s going to make me come to him,” Sam said.

“We don’t know for certain that he’s taken her, though it appears likely. We don’t know for sure that he isn’t at the cemetery and that Fiona is with one of the other guys.”

“She wouldn’t have tossed her phone away. Give me your car keys.” Sam held out his hand. “Catch up with the others and see if she’s with them. Let me know if she is. If not, get to the cemetery and see if you can locate Molino. If he isn’t there, get his cell phone number from his wife and have it tracked ASAP.”

“What are you going to do?” Luke hesitated, as if reluctant to hand over the keys.

“I think I know where he’s taken her.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

Ignoring the question, Sam took the keys and broke into a run. He couldn’t explain to Luke how he knew. It would simply take too long. “Where’s your car?”

“It’s out front. But Sam, I don’t think-”

“Call me from the cemetery, let me know if he’s there. I could be wrong… but I don’t think I am.”

Sam trotted off to find the car, and Luke followed.

“Sam, at least tell me where you’re going.”

They got to the car and Sam unlocked it. “I’ll draw you a map from the cemetery. What do you have to write with in here?”

He leaned into the car and came out holding a bag from a fast food restaurant, then searched his pockets for a pen.

Luke handed him one, and Sam quickly sketched a map. “It’s easy enough to find.”

He handed over the bag and got into the car.

“You think he took her to this lake?”

Sam nodded. “If he isn’t at the cemetery, this is where he’s most likely to be. This way, we have both places covered. But if he isn’t at either, Fiona’s a dead woman.”

He sped from the lot and took the back roads where he could make up the most time. His heart pounding wildly, he knew that today would be the day when one of them-either he or Steve-would deliver retribution for the sins committed by the other.

A mile from the lake, his cell phone rang.

“We’re at the cemetery but Molino isn’t here,” Luke told him. “The office is already working on tracking his cell, but you know that’s going to take a while.”

“Follow the map I gave you, but come up to the lake very quietly through the woods. I will try to take him myself, but I’ll feel a whole lot better knowing that backup is coming.”

“We’re on our way now, Sam.”

Sam turned onto the dirt road.

“Luke, listen, if when you get here… if we’re both down…” Up ahead, a gray sedan was parked under a tree, but neither Steve nor Fiona was in sight. “If he gets us both…”

“If either of you are down, I can promise you that this son of a bitch won’t make it out of the woods in one piece.”

Through a clearing, the lake lay straight ahead, the afternoon sun sparkling bright on the water.

“It’s lovely, isn’t it?” Steve noted. “At least, in summer, with the sun shining down, when the water’s warm, it’s nice. In the winter, when it’s frozen over, it’s a different story.”

Fiona walked in front of him, trying to go as slowly as possible without getting another jab to her kidneys. The last one had hurt. Of course, a sore back was the least of her problems at the moment.

As soon as she saw the lake, she knew who he was, and why he’d brought her to that place. He’d want a showdown with Sam there. She knew, too, that Sam would figure it out, and he’d come for her. She just had to stall for enough time for him to get there.

“You know I was kidding about the coffin, right? I wouldn’t bury you alive. At least, I hadn’t planned on it. After all, the last act is bury the dead , not the living.”

“I guess that makes me one lucky girl.”

He laughed. “Do you swim, Fiona?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll bet you’re a strong swimmer.”

“I get the job done.”

“I’ll just bet you do.”

They reached the edge of the lake and he looked around.

“Perfect. There are no boaters, no one fishing or swimming today. You know why, Fiona?” Without waiting for her response, he said, “Because everyone in the county is mourning Drew Novak. Everyone’s at the cemetery to give him a big send-off. Because, you know, Drew was one hell of a guy, everyone loved him, and all that.”

“Was Drew here that night?” she asked. “The night your sister drowned?”

“Ah, you know about that, do you? What did Sam tell you?” His face hardened, and for a moment she thought she’d made a mistake in bringing it up. “Did he tell you how he bravely saved his own sister, and let mine die?”

“He told me that your sister was under the ice, that he couldn’t get to her. He said that-”

“Bullshit. He pulled out Eileen first, then Cara Novak. But my sister, he let her drown under there. He could have gone in for her, could have saved her.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked, and turned to watch his reaction.

“What?” He stopped on the trail and jerked her by one arm. “What did you say?”

“Why didn’t you save her? Why didn’t you try to get her out? Why didn’t you dive in to try to pull her to safety?”

“Sam was there, he was first in line. He pulled out the other two. He put himself first, it was the job of the first in line-”