Page 17 of Nowhere to Hide
No, no, no!This was all falling apart, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d lose it altogether.Because you’re a loser who can’t handle this!
His gaze drifted across the room to the bar cart and the amber liquid in the crystal decanter. It called out to him, beckoned him to take just a sip or two, let the alcohol warm and comfort him like it had in the past.
The phone rang, cutting through his thoughts.
“No one move an inch.” He swept the gun around the room, prepared to pull the trigger and kill all of them if it came down to it.Just give me a reason… I’ll prove I can handle this!
He lifted the receiver to his ear, the letter crinkling as he used the same hand. He answered without saying a word.
“I just wanted to assure you again that the detective is working hard on your mother’s case, Ryan.”
Repetitive information except for his name. It was obvious the point of this call was for her to get across that she’d figured out his identity. Not a surprise. The top negotiator for the Founders Hospital standoff had shown intelligence and emotional control. When others might rush in, guns blazing, he saw this negotiator as the one who held them off. “So you know who I am.”
“Susan Crawford’s son. You want answers about her death. Losing a loved one?—”
“You know nothing. It’s time the rest of the world found out.” He closed the distance between himself and Edward and dropped the letter in his lap. “Pick it up.”
There was silence on Sandra’s end.
“Get us out of here!” the teenage girl yelled.
“Quiet!” he snapped, and she shrunk farther into her mother’s embrace.
“Read it, Edward! The first paragraph. Now.” Ryan pushed the gun into the back of his skull.
Edward hissed but picked up the piece of paper.
“First paragraph,” Ryan repeated.
“No, I’m not reading this.”
“Oh, you will. And since you don’t seem to value your life, I’ll shoot your wife if you don’t. Is that what you want, Edward?” Ryan moved along the couch to where the woman was seated with the children. He leveled the gun on her head now while the boy continued to heave for breath.
Edward started reading. “‘Timothy Hanson is all about Timothy Hanson. He doesn’t care who he hurts, and he’s a?—’”
“Keep going, or I swear I’ll?—”
“Edward, please,” his wife begged of him.
“‘—a very dangerous man,’” Edward finished.
Ryan returned to Edward and snatched the page back. “Agent Vos, I hope you’re taking all of this seriously. But you heard what Edward just said. More than that, his father was a killer.”
ELEVEN
12:23 PM
“Do you think that Timothy Hanson killed someone, Ryan?” Sandra wanted to draw him out, get some context to his accusation. She ignored all the eyes and ears on this conversation. Kreiger, especially, who was back in the vehicle.
“You’ll know soon enough for yourself what I think. You say you reopened the investigation into my mother’s death. That will tell you everything. It’s time my mother gets the justice she deserves.”
Is he trying to tell me Timothy Hanson was involved in his mother’s accident?“Do you think Timothy killed her?”
“You tell me.”
“You told us that Timothy was a killer, but if your problem is with him, why target Edward and his family, Ryan? What have they done to you?”
“They are covering up the sins of the… father.” The latter bit came out seconds behind the rest of the sentence, as if his line of thought had been broken.
