Fatal Exchange (15 page)

E
mily walked up the paved sidewalk toward the single-story house in one of the city’s quieter neighborhoods and tried to wrap her mind around everything Mason had just told her. She studied the mixed brick and siding on the exterior of the house, but all she could see was Rafael being carried out of the school in a body bag.

And none of it had been real.

“How do you think Rafael is?” she asked.

“Scared. Confused. Here you’ve got this quiet, straight-A student suddenly thrown into a situation he doesn’t know how to handle with some pretty serious consequences.”

She tightened her grip on her bag. “I’m happy he’s alive, but also so angry at whoever tried to manipulate him.”

“I’d say being angry is right on par. I know I’m angry.”

“Especially knowing all of this happened over the love of money.” Emily stopped to face him along the sidewalk, winter chill slicing through her coat as she tugged at the top button. “And beyond what happened today, there will be emotional scars that linger long after all of this is over.”

“It’s one of the things I’ve had to deal with head-on over the past few months.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve come to believe that God hears our prayers and wants what is best for us, but I’ve seen enough to know that man’s choices often go against God. He doesn’t always stop people from making stupid choices that affect those around them.”

Like Rafael. Like Tess.

Mason stopped at the front door. “You know I can’t make any promises about the outcome, but I can promise you this: We’re going to do everything we can to find Tess. We’re going to take this one step at a time. And step one is talking with Rafael.”

Emily drew in a deep breath, then nodded and walked into the entryway of the house in front of Mason. The room smelled musty, as if no one had been living here recently.

“Emily, this is Agent Bradley and Agent Pierce, with the FBI. They’ve been brought in to help.”

Emily nodded at the officers and wondered who’d assigned them to the case. Knowing who to trust wasn’t going to be easy. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“We’ve gone through some preliminary debriefing with Rafael,” Agent Pierce said, “but waited for you to get here, as the captain requested, for the official interview.”

“Thank you, Agent Pierce.”

Emily followed Mason into the living room and saw Rafael standing in the middle of the room, the normal smile on his face gone, his eyes vacant. Today had changed him forever. She threw aside any teacher-student protocol, crossed the room, and gave him a hug. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”

“I’m sorry . . . so sorry,” he began. “I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just . . . I didn’t know what to do.”

“I’m just glad to see you’re alive.”

“I am too.” Mason shot him a smile.

Rafael turned to Mason. “I told you about the threats to kill my brother this morning, but then they called and told me that they had my mother as well. They said I was taking too
much time and they were convinced they weren’t going to get their money.”

“I know. She’s safe now.”

“And my brother?”

“The doctors still aren’t sure if he’s going to make it. The bullet did a lot of damage.”

“When can I see them?”

“I promise we’ll arrange something soon. At least for you to see your mother.”

Rafael leaned against the back of an overstuffed armchair and dropped his gaze. “Where were they keeping Eduardo?”

“Emily’s sister and her team found him in a funeral home not far from here. That’s where he was shot.”

“Has he been able to talk to someone? Explained that all of this was a mistake? He’s not involved in the cartel and selling drugs.”

“Not yet.” Mason motioned for Rafael to sit down in the chair while he took the couch beside Emily. “But our police dogs found drugs in your house hidden under the carpet in your room.”

“No.” Rafael shook his head. “That’s not possible.”

“And there was also a large amount of cash.”

“I don’t believe that.” Rafael’s voice rose a notch. “He had to have been set up somehow.”

“I know you care a lot about your brother, but you have to know that not only do we believe he was involved in selling, more than likely it was on a big scale.”

“No . . . not Eduardo.” Rafael chewed on his thumbnail. “I’ve worked hard to keep my family together. To make sure that my brother stayed off the streets . . . stayed off drugs.”

“No one’s blaming you, Rafael.”

“But they should.” Rafael pressed his fingers against his temples. “I keep thinking of all the things I said while I was in the classroom. I was so scared and didn’t know what to do. He kept
telling me what to say. Telling me that they were going to kill Eduardo and my mother if I didn’t do what they wanted. And the whole time I heard my mother crying in the background.”

“I promise you’ll be able to see her, but in the meantime we need your help. Tess is missing.”

“Tess? I don’t understand.”

“We believe there’s a connection to what happened this morning with whoever is behind Tess’s disappearance. Someone didn’t get the ransom money, so they’re hoping for another way to collect.”

“So they took Tess?”

“Yes. Now I know you’ve already given your statement,” Mason continued, “but I want to walk through this morning’s timeline again and see if we’re missing something. Hopefully, we’ll find a clue that will help us find Tess.”

Rafael nodded. “You know I’ll do anything.”

Mason pulled a notebook from his pocket. “Some of these questions I’ve already asked you, but start with yesterday morning when they took Eduardo.”

“I was up late studying for a calculus test when they barged in through the front door. It all happened so fast.”

“Did you get a good look at the men who took him?”

“No. There were three of them, but they wore black masks.”

“Did you tell anyone about his abduction?”

“Only you.” Rafael shook his head. “They threatened to kill him if I said anything.”

“What happened this morning?”

“I couldn’t stop thinking about Eduardo. I searched our home and didn’t find anything. Maybe I only wanted to believe he was innocent, but Eduardo is smart and stays out of trouble. I thought everything was okay.”

Mason scribbled down a few notes before asking his next question. “Where did you go after you spoke to me this morning?”

“I took my mother to work. I drive her there every morning before school because we only have one car. Today I told her she should stay home. She was exhausted from not sleeping and worried about Eduardo, but she told me if she missed work she would lose her job, so I went ahead and took her. After that, I got the phone call that they had her too.”

“Did you talk to anyone else after that?”

“No.”

“Tell me about the phone call.”

“It was a blocked call, no number, and one of those . . . those garbled voices. They told me that they had my mother too. That plans had changed. That they no longer were interested in just two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. If I wanted my family to live, I had to do what they said.” His eyes filled with tears as he looked away. “I didn’t want to do it. You have to believe me. I didn’t know what to do. It was . . . is . . . like some awful nightmare.”

“I know.” Mason leaned forward. “Tell me what they told you to do.”

“They told me to go to the park across from our apartment building. There would be a blue backpack in the southeast trash with an ear bug, a hat, and a gun. I was to take what was inside and leave the bag in the trash.”

“Any markings on the bag, any identification?” He’d make sure officers searched the area, but more than likely it would just be another dead end.

Rafael shook his head. “No. Nothing.”

“Did you see anyone at the park? Maybe a car following you, or someone acting strange?”

“I don’t remember.” Rafael’s foot tapped against the carpet. “I was so scared. I knew I should call you back, but they told me they would be watching my every move, and if I didn’t do what they said they would kill my mother. I didn’t know what
else to do. And shooting Philip . . . it was an accident. You gotta believe me. He came at me, grabbed the gun, and it went off.”

“No one is blaming you for what happened, Rafael.” The compassion in Emily’s voice was evident. “I’m not sure I would have made a different choice, given the same circumstances.”

“They kept putting my mother on the line. She was crying. They swore they were going to kill her if I didn’t say what they told me to say.”

Rafael’s love for his mother and brother struck a chord with Mason. Whether or not the boy had made the right decision to walk into a school with a weapon was a question a judge would have to answer at some point, but even with the extenuating circumstances, one fact remained clear: Rafael had been willing to sacrifice everything to ensure his family’s safety.

He couldn’t say that about his relationship with his own father.

“So while you were in the classroom, someone watched what you were seeing via the video camera in the hat, and talked to you through the ear bug.”

“Yes sir.”

“Did he ever use a name? Anything to identify who the other person might be?”

“No. He would just tell me how to respond, and if I didn’t do it right, he’d threaten my mother’s life.”

Mason leaned against the back of the couch. He’d prayed that Rafael could give them their next lead, but so far nothing he’d told them was particularly helpful. Before he finished, he did have one more question.

“You did well, Rafael. Mentioning the scholarship to Penn State was a clever move that convinced Miss Hunt you weren’t behind this.”

Mason’s phone rang. He checked the caller ID. It was his brother. He glanced at Rafael and Emily, wondering if it were
possible that his day could get any more complicated. He should be here helping Rafael. He should be helping Emily find Tess. He should be halfway across the country with his brothers and father.

He excused himself and moved across the room to take the call. “Craig? Hey. How’s Dad?”

“Mason . . . Listen, I know you have a lot going on, but Dad’s going downhill fast. He’s running out of time.”

He’d checked the flights. The last one out tonight left for Denver at six forty. He’d never make it.

“There’s a five forty-five flight out in the morning,” Mason offered. “I’ll try to be on it.”

“And if that’s too late?”

He hated the guilt. Hated the bitterness that stood in the way of forgiving. “I’m doing the best I can.”

He didn’t want to be the one who put job before family, but that’s exactly what he was doing.

E
mily watched as Mason pushed the button to end the call, clearly upset. He excused himself, then walked into the adjoining kitchen. Something was wrong.
God
,
if
something
’
s
happened
to
Tess
,
I
’
m
going
to
need
you
now
more
than
ever
,
and
Avery
 . . .

Whatever it was, waiting was only going to prolong the inevitable. She had to know the truth. Mason stood in the kitchen, hands braced against the tiled countertop.

Jaw tensed, Emily felt her heart pounding. “Mason . . . what happened? Did they find Tess?”

He turned to her and shook his head. “No. It’s something . . . something personal.”

“Something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

She shouldn’t push, but whatever had happened was clearly something. “I might still be in a state of shock over everything that has happened today, but your ‘it’s nothing’ doesn’t sound like nothing to me.”

She watched his expression change as if he were trying to decide whether or not to tell her. He grabbed a mug from the counter and poured steamy hot liquid from the coffeepot.

“I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No. It’s okay. I’m just having a hard time separating work and my personal life.”

“And you’re surprised it doesn’t always work?” She raised her brow and shot him a grin. “They’re both a part of who you are. There’s hardly a day when I don’t come home worrying about one of my students. I worry about my mom while I’m at school . . . sometimes putting either side behind is impossible.”

“It’s my father.” He traced the rim of the cup with his finger, paused, then reached for a packet of sugar. “I just got a call from my brother. My father’s dying. He’s at his home in Denver. Hospice has come in. They don’t expect him to make it much longer.”

“Wow. I’m sorry.” She reached up to brush her fingers against his arm, then pulled back. Not enough had passed between them for her to feel familiar. Not enough to feel as if she’d known him forever and somehow understood the pain of what he was feeling, and yet that was how she felt. “I don’t remember your talking about your father.”

Unlike her large extended family that celebrated yearly family reunions with first and second cousins, she didn’t remember Mason ever speaking about family beyond his brothers and his aunt.

“My father’s been out of the picture for a dozen or so years, until my brother called me this past weekend. Told me my father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer six months ago and only has a short time left to live.”

“Why just tell you now?”

“Like I said, there really hasn’t been any contact for years. I guess things change when you’re on your deathbed. You want to suddenly make up for things you’ve neglected over the years.”

“That makes sense. But it still hurts, I’m sure.”

“Yeah.” He looked up at her, the pain evident in his eyes. “I
didn’t expect to feel anything, which I know sounds cold, but he isn’t a part of my life anymore.”

“I’d say your response is normal.”

“Normal, maybe, but conflicting as well. Have you ever had something you thought you dealt with? Thought it was behind you and then, wham . . . you get hit up the back side of your head.”

“Every once in a while I have those feelings about Michael’s death. I don’t have anyone to blame, which sometimes makes it even harder.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“What about your father? Are you planning to go see him?”

“I was scheduled to fly to Denver this morning. It was one of his deathbed wishes, to have his three boys together again. But when Rafael came to me this morning, I knew I couldn’t just walk away from him. And then . . . well . . . you know the rest of my day.”

“So you’ve been having to choose between two crises all day today.”

“Yeah.”

“How long has it been since all of you were together?”

“I see my brothers as often as I can, but with our work schedules it only works out to be once or twice a year. We talk on the phone and Skype, but it’s not as much as I’d like.”

“And your father?”

“He walked out of our lives a long time ago. Remarried. Twice. Moved away. It was a relationship that over the years I learned to accept I would never have.”

“Do you want to see him again?”

“I don’t know. In some ways it was easier when I was seven and didn’t have a choice as to who walked in and out. The choice was never up to me. But now . . . to be honest, I don’t know what I want.”

“What happens if you go?’’ She’d always been one to analyze the problem. Fix it if she could. To try to let it go if she couldn’t. Not that life always fell into that simple of a package, but it was a place to start.

“If I go? I see my brothers and my father. I find out why it was so important that I show up. And then . . . and then I guess it’ll be over.”

“What happens if you don’t go?”

“If I don’t go?” He paused. “Not going and dealing with my father would be the easy way out, but . . .”

She waited for him to continue.

“Honestly, if I don’t go, I know I’ll regret it. Regret not being there for my brothers. Maybe one day regret that I didn’t give my father one last chance.”

“Maybe you have your answer then.”

He chuckled. “You make it seem so simple.”

“It’s not simple, it’s just important to look at things both ways. To try to temporarily look past the emotion of the moment that can blind us. My father always made me do that when I had a choice to make. Some situations really were simple. And others . . . like yours . . . not so much.”

Her gaze flicked past Mason to the window overlooking the backyard, where another inch of snow had fallen in the past hour. She’d had to ask herself the same questions before calling off her wedding with Charlie, and had discovered that the price to marry him was far greater than she was willing to pay. Life’s choices were rarely completely black and white, and it wasn’t always easy to follow through once a decision was made.

“Did your father teach you how to forgive as well?” he asked.

“That’s another issue I struggle with at times.”

“I think my not being able to—or wanting to—forgive my dad is the real barrier to my going. It’s something I’ve had to face since giving my life to Christ. I know I’ve been forgiven, but
learning to forgive someone who spent his entire life ignoring me . . . that’s tough.”

“What kind of memories do you have of him?”

“Most are better off forgotten. The last good memory I have is of him taking me and my brothers to a baseball game when I was seven. I was so excited. He’d just gotten a good-paying job—jobs were few and far between—so he bought hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy . . . anything we wanted.”

“That’s why saving Rafael was so important to you.”

His eyes narrowed. “Yeah. Rafael grew up a lot like I did. Single parent, few options to get ahead.”

He was giving her a chance to understand him on a deeper level. Allowing her to see a side of him she’d missed all these years. “What happened today wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could to stop it.”

“But what about the next Rafael? Sons need their fathers. They need that relationship with them.”

Emily mulled over his question. There simply weren’t any easy answers. “I’m not the cop here, but I know with my own job it didn’t take me long to figure out that I can’t save them all. No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, there are going to be some who walk away and leave me feeling as if I’ve failed to make the impact I wanted to make.”

“Maybe that’s why I was always a bit envious of Michael’s relationship with your father.”

“Trust me, our family is far from perfect, but I hope I never take for granted what I have, because I know it’s becoming more and more of a rare thing.”

“To come from a two-parent family was almost unheard of when I was growing up. You grew up fast. Learned to make it on your own.” He leaned back against the kitchen counter, hands in his jacket pockets. “I’m not sure I can forgive him.”

“I think you underestimate yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not having a father has allowed you to minister to boys like Rafael. You know what it’s like to lose a father, to grow up in a single-parent home, to have to grow up fast, take the responsibility of a family before you’re really ready. And in the end, not forgiving only hurts yourself.”

“You sound like your father now.”

“Usually any advice I hand out is advice I need to hear as well.”

“So what is your advice this time, Counselor?”

His smile brought with it that unexpected flutter in her stomach. “I have a feeling you’ve already made your decision.”

“The next flight I can catch is in the morning.”

His phone rang, reminding her once again why they were there.

“Did they find her?” she asked as soon as he’d hung up.

“Not yet, but that was the captain. He needs me to go to the station. Ben Jacobs, the man who broke into both your sister’s house and Rafael’s apartment, has apparently had a change of heart. He’s ready to talk.”