Page 55 of All He Takes
She paused on a photo of a brunette woman--who looked eerily similar to the girls Harrison had been taking. His mother, maybe? Her gut twisted with disgust.
Eventually, Grace came back on: "I've pinned his location down to a community called Pleasantview. It's small, barely even a town, but they have a popular bar there that brings in patrons from other towns, a little upscale. Very rich area. The bar closes at three a.m."
That was Harrison's M.O. He liked rich, pretty, young girls, and he was on the hunt for another one.
"Send me the address," Nicky said.
"Already in your email."
"Thanks." Nicky hung up, and then she turned to Ken. "We've got an address." She hesitated. "Are you coming?"
"Of course, I am," Ken said. "You're going to need someone with an extra gun."
She nodded and headed for the door. As they were leaving the house, the officers were running in. Nicky didn't have time to explain it all, but she stopped one officer and said, "We need forensics in there now."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Nicky and Ken hurried over to Nicky's car. But just as Nicky was about to get in--her phone rang.
She pulled it out, standing under the clear night sky.
It was Chief Schmitt.
"Chief?" Nicky asked. What would he be calling her for?
"Lyons, we have a situation."
Nicky faced Ken across the hood of the car. He couldn't hear her call from this distance, but she was sure her expression told him something was not good.
"What's going on, Chief?"
"It's the Smith man, Harold--the guy you two brought in, then released... we just got a call about him..."
Nicky's chest sank and her blood ran cold. "What happened?"
"His nanny just called 911. Apparently, he's holding his child and his wife hostage in their garage, threatening to kill them with a knife." Chief Schmitt paused. "The nanny's trying to talk him down and stall for time, but he's demanding to talk to you and Agent Walker."
"Fuck," Nicky said. "I can't be there,
"Lyons, we have a woman and infant's life on the line here--"
"I know," Nicky cut in.
But damn. She had to go get Harrison Smith. She couldn't go back to Harold's house and deal with this, not when there was a killer on the loose. The weight of the decision made Nicky's head spin. What was she supposed to do? Nicky and Ken couldn't be in two places at once. There was only one option:
"I'll send Walker alone," she said. "Maybe he can talk Smith down by himself."
"You better hope he can, Lyons."
The chief hung up, and Nicky took a breath as she looked up at Ken.
"That sounded bad," he said.
Nicky sighed. This night--this whole damn day--could not get any worse. "I need you to go back to Harold Smith's house; he's holding his wife and kid hostage."
"What?" Ken asked, his face falling. "You can't be serious. I don't wanna leave you--"
"I’m ok," Nicky said. "Please, Ken. Go back there, talk to them, and save them. I'll go get Harrison--and then we'll meet back up later. We can handle this."
