Gold Hill (43 page)

The man looked at Rodney
and Yvonne watched as a kind of love passed between the
men.

“
Rodney was there,” the
Reverend said. “If he hadn’t been there, really been present with
me when the Lord spoke and I broke down, well, I don’t know what
would have happened. My whole life changed in that one moment. I
haven’t been the same since.”

A younger man walked up to
the Reverend. He glanced at the younger man and smiled at
Yvonne.

“
I have prayed every day
that you would be able to make it home,” the Reverend said. “Praise
be to God.”

Unwilling to move from her
protective place, Yvonne gave the crazy man a mild smile. The
Reverend turned his attention to Rodney.

“
I heard on the radio they
pulled you in,” the Reverend said. “My son is a defense lawyer now.
We came down to help if we can.”

“
Daniel White, sir,” the
young man said. “I cleared my schedule when my father called. If I
can be of any assistance, I’m here for you.”

“
He may not want your
help,” Samantha Hargreaves waddled over to them. “But I
do.”

She smiled at the Homeland
Security agent and he nodded. Yvonne smiled to herself. She knew
what passed between a man and a woman when she carried his baby.
Catching her smile, the Homeland Security agent raised his eyebrows
in a kind of nod.

“
They are going to
separate you,” Samantha plowed on.

“
But . . . ” Rodney started.

“
I know it’s not what you
wanted, but it’s what we’re going to have to do,” Samantha said.
“There’s a host of people who need to watch these interviews, your
interviews. Many of them have flown in from around the country and
the world.”

Yvonne shifted back until
she felt Rodney’s hard body behind her. Everything seemed so
overwhelming, so terrifying. When he slipped his big hands over
hers, she knew she could handle it all.

“
Mr. White,” Samantha said
to the young lawyer.

“
Yes ma’am,” he
said.

“
If it’s all right with
you, I’m going to ask that you help Mr. Smith,” Samantha said to
the lawyer. “Do not agree to anything. Make them direct their
questions to you.”

She leaned in close to the
young man, but Yvonne could still hear her.

“
Don’t give them an inch,”
Samantha said. “This is a railroad job that none of the alphabet
soup wants any part of. We’re playing our parts so that they can
hone in on the men behind this. It’s up to us to make sure Yvonne
and Rodney aren’t collateral damage in this train
wreck.”

“
I always liked the idea
of being a train robber, ma’am,” the young lawyer
smiled.

Samantha gave him a tight
smile.

“
Is that all right with
you, Mr. Smith?” Samantha asked.

“
Yes ma’am, but I’m not
leaving here without Yvonne,” Rodney said.

“
I’m not leaving here
without both of you,” Reverend White said. “If they even think
about keeping you here, I’ll raise a stink so loud they’ll think
Joshua himself was standing out here.”

The man crossed his arms
across his chest and gave a firm nod.

“
Good. But if the walls
don’t crumble . . . ” She nodded to the
Homeland Security agent. He held out a note with a list of phone
numbers on it. “Call these numbers.”

“
Will do,” Reverend White
said. “In an hour?”

“
We’ll be lucky if we’ve
gotten through the introductions in an hour,” Samantha smiled. “If
it’s six o’clock and you haven’t seen us, get on the
phone.”

“
I’ll do it,” he
said.

A police detective came to
the counter and gestured toward Rodney. The young lawyer went to
the counter to speak to the detective. He turned around to
them.

“
They’re ready for us,”
the lawyer said.

Yvonne turned to hold him.
For a moment, he rested his head in the crook of her neck. When he
looked up, his big right hand cradled her head.

“
I’m not going anywhere,”
he said.

She smiled. His lips
brushed hers and he followed his young lawyer and the tall blonde
Homeland Security agent back into the office.

“
Are you ready?” Samantha
asked.

“
I guess so,” Yvonne
said.

The older Denver Police
detective Yvonne had met and drawn a picture of last night was
waiting for them near the door. As they approached a tall man in an
expensive suit stepped into the doorway.

“
Ah shit,” Samantha said
under her breath. “The Federal Prosecutor is here.”

“
Why Jeremy,” Yvonne
smiled at the man. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

The Federal Prosecutor
cleared his throat.

“
Of course, I don’t have
to attend to your . . . needs today,” Yvonne smiled
at him. “I’m a free woman.”

Yvonne looked up into the
Federal Prosecutor’s face. His face drained of color. For a second,
he looked like he was going to faint.

“
Excuse us,” Samantha said
as she passed.

The Federal Prosecutor
lunged at Yvonne and hit the Homeland Security Agent they called
Raz instead. Powerfully built, the Homeland Security Agent picked
up the Prosecutor by the shoulders and set him down in front of the
uniformed Denver Police officers.

“
Will you take out this
trash?” he asked.

“
Be glad to.” The
uniformed police officer took out his handcuffs to place on the
prosecutor.

“
Ma’am,” the Homeland
Security Agent offered her his arm.

Her heart beating like a
drum, she took his arm and forced herself to walk past the
prosecutor. They were near the back when she sagged. The tall Agent
leaned down to her.

“
Don’t let them break you
now,” the agent said. “There are a lot of people, women, even
children, who need you to be strong for them today. You can do
this.”

She looked up into his
handsome face.

“
You’re in the home
stretch.”

He nodded and she copied
his gesture. They walked into the interview room
together.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Fourteen
Bullet Proof

Friday morning — 9:45
a.m.

Uncomfortable, Rodney stood
in the doorway of the interrogation room. His eyes flicked from
corner to corner of the room. The color on the walls was different
from the small room where he’d lost his entire life, but his
nostrils picked up the same smell of desperation mixed with
industrial cleaner. A bead of sweat dripped down his back. He took
a breath and stepped into the room. He felt the tall blonde man
step in behind him. As if to say he felt the same way about the
room, the Agent touched his back.

Rodney glanced at the young
man. The agent took off his dark glasses. In the Homeland Security
Agent’s blue eyes, he saw the shadow of deep suffering. He nodded
to acknowledge what he saw in the man.

“
Let’s sit down,” Daniel
White, the Reverend’s son, said.

The agent glanced at the
lawyer.

“
I’d prefer to stand,”
Rodney said.

“
Then we stand,” the agent
said. “Colin Hargreaves, sir. General Hargreaves sends his best
regards for a speedy resolution to this matter.”

Colin’s eyes flicked to the
mirrored window. He’d said the words evenly, as if he was
comforting Rodney. The movement of his eyes indicated the threat.
General, once Senator, Hargreaves must have orchestrated the
agent’s presence. For the first time since hearing that Alvin
wanted to take Yvonne, Rodney felt like there might be a slight
chance she wouldn’t have to go.

Rodney pulled out a chair
and sat down. His lawyer did the same. Colin put on his dark
glasses and moved to the corner of the room.

They settled in to
wait.

~~~~~~~~

Friday morning — 9:45
a.m.

Yvonne followed her short,
pregnant lawyer into the depths of the Denver Police Department.
They twisted this way and that way until they came to a small
conference room. Two impossibly young women and an equally young
man dressed in street clothing were sitting around the conference
table. Reading copies of her journals, their heads were
down.

“
She’s here,” the
uniformed police officer said when they entered the conference
room.

The young people stood from
their chairs. One at a time, they introduced themselves. But the
bigger they smiled, the more uncomfortable Yvonne felt. Her caramel
colored Homeland Security agent shifted toward her. She, her
lawyer, and the Agent stood in the doorway.

They’d been
duped.

These young people had
neither the experience nor the rank to do anything about the crimes
reported in her journals. The Denver Police weren’t planning on
doing anything with the information in her journals.

“
Not a damn thing,” Yvonne
said under her breath.

Samantha grabbed Yvonne’s
forearm.

“
It’s nice to meet you,”
Samantha said. “We’ll be leaving.”

They turned in place to see
the door close.

The lock
clicked.

They were
trapped.

When they turned back, the
young man had a handgun pointed at them.

“
Your weapon, Agent
Rasmussen,” the young man said.

Yvonne watched the fight
work its way across the agent’s face. When he looked down to take a
gun from his side holster, his eyes flicked to her.

He’d known this was going
to happen.

He set a gun on the
table.

“
Your telephone,” the
young woman closest to them said. “Ms. Hargreaves, we need yours
too.”

“
You will open this door
immediately or I promise you, you will suffer the consequences,”
Samantha said.

There was something about
the depth of power of her lawyer’s voice that made Yvonne look at
her. Samantha hadn’t known this was going to happen, but she’d
expected it anyway. Her lawyer might be pregnant. She might be
small. But she was clearly tough as hell.

“
We’re terrified,” the
other woman said. “Telephone?”

The first woman grabbed
Samantha’s briefcase and the second woman took her purse. The women
rifled through her briefcase. They gave her telephone and laptop to
the young man. One at a time, he took out the batteries to
disconnect the GPS and stomped on the phones.

“
Now what?” the Agent
asked.

“
We wait,” the young man
said.

The lights flickered. It
was almost imperceptible. In fact, Yvonne didn’t think Samantha
noticed. Since her brain injury, Yvonne was very sensitive to
changes in light. She knew the lights had flickered. Out of the
corner of her eye, she noticed the Agent’s eyes shift to look at
the clock. He knew the lights had flickered as well.

They might not have their
phones and gun, but they were not alone.

“
May we sit down?” the
agent said. “Ms. Hargreaves is pregnant and Mrs. Smith has had a
difficult few days.”

“
Have a seat,” the young
man smiled. “It’s going to be a while. I’m sure he’d want you
rested.”

The young people looked up
at someone beyond the glass wall of the conference room. The young
man held up a thumb. Samantha turned in her seat to
look.

“
Police Chief,” she said
under her breath.

“
Interim.” The Agent
dragged a chair out from the table to cover his voice. “Mrs.
Smith?”

Yvonne sat in the chair. He
helped her lawyer into a chair next to her.

“
I’ll stand,” he
said.

“
Suit yourself, you stupid
fucker,” the young man laughed. The women chuckled.

“
It’s going to be a
while,” the woman closest to them said.

The Agent nodded in
acquiescence.

“
We don’t mind waiting,”
Samantha said.

The young people’s
attention turned to her. She gave them a bright smile. Yvonne
looked from her lawyer’s smug smile to the young people’s confused
faces. She glanced at the agent. He was staring straight ahead as
if he was watching something outside the window. Yvonne swallowed
hard.

“
Anyone mind if I
crochet?” She asked in her sweetest, most nonthreatening
voice.

The young man gave her a
“stupid woman” look. The young woman snorted a laugh and sat down
across from her. The other woman gestured for her to go
ahead.

Yvonne smiled. She took a
ball of yarn and a crochet hook from the back pocket of her
borrowed jeans. Humming a tuneless song, she joined her lawyer and
the agent in their pretense.

She only hoped they knew
what they were doing.

~~~~~~~~

Friday mid-day — 12:05
p.m.