Rick Mofina - Whirlwind

“So now it’s a triple homicide tied to the baby’s case? I gotta go.” Kate began making a call on her phone, but before she could complete it Grogan covered her phone with his hand, stopping her.

“Hey!” Kate said.

“You’re not calling anybody.”

“Excuse me! Please get your hand off of my phone!”

“You’re a witness in a crime scene.”

“I’m calling my daughter to let her know I’m not hurt.”

“We’d prefer you didn’t do that now, Ms. Page, and request you accompany us.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I know my rights. I’ve cooperated. I’ve told you all I know and I’ve answered your questions. I will come to your office later.”

“Kate.” Grogan’s face was taut. “We advise you to come with us.”

“Or what? Are you going to arrest me? Threaten to call me a suspect? I cover crime, Agent Grogan. I know how this works.”

“Do you? Then you know your car’s been seized to be processed as part of the crime scene.”

A tense moment passed.

“I’m going to call my daughter.” Kate turned from the agents then pressed the number for Heather. Grogan and Quinn left her alone. As the line rang, Kate considered the time, knowing that Grace would be in school.

“Hello?”

“Heather, it’s Kate.”

“Hey there, how’s it going?”

“A little rough right now. Listen, I don’t have much time. I just came across a bad murder scene-”

“Oh my God!”

“When I found it, someone came up behind me and tied me up-”

“What? Tied you up? You’re scaring me!”

“No, I’m okay. I’m fine. But because I might be in some of the news pictures, it’s Grace I’m worried about. She might hear about it, or things might get confused. I want her to know that I’m okay, that her mother’s not hurt. I’m with police… I’m okay.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Could you call her school? They have my cell number. Could you get them to call me when Grace’s next class ends? Just say her mom wants to talk to her. Ask them to put Grace on so she can hear my voice and know I’m fine?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, thank you. I have to go.”

“Please, Kate, be careful.”

Kate hung up, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and briefly imagined Heather calling Grace’s school. Kate pictured the message being dispatched to Grace’s teacher. Kate then saw Grace walking down the hall to the office and…at that moment, standing alone amid the double homicide, Kate nearly lost it as she ached to be home in Ohio holding her daughter.

At the far end of the property across the street, Kate saw a white SUV parked alongside the growing number of vehicles that had converged on the address. Jenna Cooper rushed from it along with her husband. They went to the nearest deputy.

No one among the press pack had noticed them so far.

Using police vehicles to shield her, Kate hurried over to the area. Catching Jenna’s attention, Kate led her and Blake out of view behind some shrubbery.

“What happened?” Jenna’s eyes bulged with fear. “They won’t tell us!”

“I followed a tip, and it looks like they were here with Caleb.”

“The news said homicides. Was Caleb-was he-” Jenna’s hands were cupped to her face.

Kate shook her head. “No. We think they took him and fled to the Lubbock area.”

“Let’s go now!” Blake grabbed Kate’s arm and with Jenna trotting beside them started for the SUV. “You’re going to tell us where to go.”

Kate pulled her arm free, stopped and stood her ground. “I’ve gotta think about this.”

She shot a look back at Grogan and the FBI agents, who needed her to stay in Dallas. She glanced at her phone, replaying Chuck’s orders to return to the bureau. Then she looked at Jenna and Blake, waiting for her to make a decision.

What’s the right thing to do? Who needs me most right now?

She found the answer in the anguish that filled Jenna’s and Blake’s eyes.

“Okay,” Kate said. “Let’s go. I’ll help you.”

They got into the SUV.

Blake climbed behind the wheel and the engine roared.

As they pulled away Kate glanced behind her.

She saw Mandy Lee walking in their direction but getting smaller in the rising cloud of dust.

Near Abilene, Texas

Somewhere near Abilene, Remy searched the horizon.

Now we’re killers on the run. But it was self-defense-it was .

More than two hours had passed since Remy and Mason had taken the baby and fled Dallas. Remy’s heart was still hammering and her head was still throbbing as she grappled with the onset of a spell. They’d come within an inch of being murdered by those two assholes in Fate.

It was either them or us.

Remy took deep breaths and kept counting backward from one hundred. It helped. They were still a long way from sanctuary near Lubbock. Watching the hills and mesas rolling by, Remy knew it would all be over soon. She looked at the baby, asleep in his car seat, then at Mason. She was torn up about Mason, hating him for what he’d put them through but amazed at how he’d saved their lives.

He’d recounted it all for her about a hundred miles ago.

“When we first got to the house, Remy, and I saw Arlen, I knew that Lamont betrayed me.” Mason was still keyed up, adjusting and readjusting his hold on the wheel. “Arlen was trouble, so when I went back to the truck for money, I strapped on my ankle holster with my Smith & Wesson and never took it off, even slept with it. So when they did what they did, I was ready.”

Mason had made his move when Brice had put his gun down to bind him with tape. Mason smashed his elbow into Arlen’s head, kicked Brice in the face, then in one smooth motion drew his holstered gun and shot them both three or four times, the- pop-popping so loud Remy thought it could be heard for miles.

Mason then freed Remy, who comforted the baby. They were packing quickly when someone knocked at the door, which was unlocked. A woman had entered and started snooping when Mason tackled her from behind and taped her up before they fled.

Who was she?

As they drove from the Metroplex, Mason stuck to the speed limit and while Remy checked online for news, he monitored the radio for updates on the shootings.

Remy’s anxiety dogged her mile after mile as she contended with her conflicting emotions about Mason. Could she trust him with her future? Or was being with him too great a risk?

Now, after checking the time, Mason turned up the volume on the radio, tuned to one of the big Dallas stations. It was reporting that the FBI was looking for the suspects in the murders of two men in Fate.

“It was them or us!” Mason shouted at the radio. “But no cop’s gonna believe that.” Mason was rubbing his lips, signaling his need for dope. The report went on by quoting unnamed sources saying that the man who owned the house in Fate where the murders took place was also murdered in another location. The Dallas police and FBI were investigating a link. The body of Lamont Harley Faulk was found in Ray’s Right Fix Auto Repair, a garage where he’d worked.

“Did you hear that?” Mason shook his head, staring at the highway ahead. “What the hell’s going on? I don’t know who did it and I don’t know why, but I guess Lamont got what he deserved. That perv had his nose in everyone’s business.”

Mason saw fear deepening in Remy’s face.

“Don’t worry. This could help us,” he said.

“How, Mason? How does this help us?”

“It’ll complicate things for the cops, two different crime scenes, two different suspects.” He rubbed his lips.

“But who was that woman who came to the house?”