Chapter 13 - The Arrest Warrant
Federal arrest warrants were prepared that night.
Derek Lawson.
Charles Vane.
Captain Richard Hale.
Peter Mills was already in custody.
Thomas Nolan was still missing.
Harper waited inside another protected location with Noah.
Gabriel was not allowed to stay.
Neither was Marcus.
Only federal personnel knew the address.
At 4:12 in the morning, Harper woke to Agent Price knocking.
She opened the bedroom door.
His expression told her something had gone wrong.
“What?”
“Hale was arrested.”
“And Vane?”
“Arrested at his home.”
“Derek?”
Price hesitated.
Harper’s stomach dropped.
“He’s gone.”
She closed her eyes.
“How?”
“His assigned surveillance unit lost him.”
“Lost him?”
Price looked furious.
“Someone tipped him off.”
Harper immediately checked Noah’s bed.
Empty.
Her heart stopped.
“Noah?”
She ran into the hallway.
“Noah!”
Price followed.
Another agent pointed toward the kitchen.
“He’s in there.”
Harper almost collapsed.
Noah sat at the table eating cereal.
He looked confused.
“What?”
Harper wrapped both arms around him.
“I thought you were gone.”
“I was hungry.”
She laughed and cried at the same time.
Agent Price received a call.
He listened.
Then looked toward Harper.
“We found Derek’s car.”
“Where?”
“Near the Massachusetts border.”
“Is he running?”
“Maybe.”
The answer came two hours later.
Derek had not run north.
The abandoned car was a distraction.
A traffic camera captured him entering Boston in another vehicle.
Marcus identified it.
“That belongs to Nolan.”
Gabriel stood beside him on a secure video call.
Harper stared at the screen.
“So Nolan is helping Derek.”
“Or Derek has Nolan’s car.”
Price leaned closer.
“We are searching properties connected to both men.”
Gabriel suddenly frowned.
“What?”
Harper asked.
“Nolan owns a warehouse.”
Price looked at him.
“Where?”
“Not officially.”
Gabriel gave the address.
“It used to belong to my father.”
Price’s eyes narrowed.
“How does Nolan control it?”
“He shouldn’t.”
Gabriel looked angry with himself.
“I sold the property through an intermediary eight years ago.”
Marcus typed rapidly.
“The purchasing corporation links to Hale.”
Price stood.
Federal teams moved.
Harper remained behind.
For three hours, nobody called.
Then Rebecca arrived.
“They found something.”
Harper stood.
“Derek?”
“No.”
“Nolan?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“What?”
Rebecca looked at Noah.
“Maybe we should talk privately.”
Harper’s stomach turned.
She followed Rebecca into another room.
“What did they find?”
“Personal belongings.”
“Whose?”
“Several women.”
Harper gripped the back of a chair.
Rebecca continued carefully.
“Emily Ross’s driver’s license was there.”
Harper closed her eyes.
“Anything from Isabella?”
“A bracelet.”
Gabriel’s sister.
Harper sat down.
There was no longer any question about what had happened to the women.
Only who had done it.
And where Derek was.
Rebecca crouched.
“There’s something else.”
Harper opened her eyes.
“They found photographs.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
Her blood turned cold.
Rebecca placed a clear bag on the table.
Inside were printed photographs.
Harper leaving work.
Harper buying groceries.
Harper walking Noah to school.
One photo was nearly four years old.
Before she married Derek.
Harper stared.
“He watched me before we were together.”
Rebecca nodded.
Harper felt physically sick.
Derek had always told the story of how they met by chance at a coffee shop.
She had believed him.
Apparently, chance had nothing to do with it.
Under the photographs was a handwritten note.
Rebecca hesitated before showing it.
Harper read the words.
QUEEN GIRL KNOWS NOTHING.
KEEP HER CLOSE.
Harper looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
But Harper suddenly remembered her mother.
The night before she died.
A hospital room.
A weak hand squeezing Harper’s fingers.
Her mother had whispered something strange.
Never trust a man who asks about your father.
May you like
Harper had assumed the medication made her confused.
Now she was not so sure.
