Deadly Stillwater

Mac stepped inside the building and stopped, letting the refreshing blast of the air conditioning wash over him. He found Riley, Rock, and Lich drinking coffee and waiting, and they all slipped into an interview room and closed the door.

“Anything from down at the firm?” Mac asked.

“Nothing helpful yet,” Riles answered, and then smiled. “But Hagen has them all working their asses off.”

“And,” Lich added, “Whatever he’s doing works, I think. He’s got this program running, and whenever a name matches between the chief’s list and Lyman’s clients, it lets you know. At this point, what its finding is common last names like Johnson, Anderson, Peterson or Swanson. Now, a lot of them are eliminated because first names don’t ultimately match, or maybe a middle name eliminates them. In a couple of cases where there has been some sort of match, we’ve taken a look and eliminated them quickly. They weren’t even worth a phone call or interview. It was obvious there was nothing there.”

“So,” Mac said, “if there’s a connection to be found…”

“This program Hagen has running should find it.”

Peters knocked on the door and then entered. “Anything?”

“Not yet,” they replied in unison.

“Well, come with me. Burton’s about ready to start the show.”

They all started to file out, but Mac stopped them. “Scan the room,” he said quietly. “If we’re right, and somebody is working this from the inside, that person is likely in the room. I don’t know what to look for, but look.”

Everyone nodded and they walked down the hall and into the overflowing meeting room. Burton saw them walk in and immediately approached.

“Have you been back on the safe house?” he asked, looking at Mac and then to the others.

“Yup,” Mac answered neutrally. “They haven’t come back yet, obviously, but we think it’s still worth watching.”

Burton looked to the others, who nodded.

“All right then. Stay on it, at least for this afternoon. However, if they don’t come back to the house, we will need you guys when the ransom call comes in.”

The group agreed. Burton headed up to the front of the room. Mac and the others found space along a side wall and stood as Burton began to speak. Conspicuously seated at the front of the room, the chief and Lyman watched as Burton called the room to order. The chief in particular looked to Mac, giving a small nod that Mac returned.

Burton began with a recap of where the investigation stood, which was really nowhere, other than the safe house, which was looking deader by the minute.

“We have a crew sitting on the house right now. I’ve spoken with Detectives Riley and McRyan, and they are of the opinion that the house should remain under surveillance. I concur, and so we will continue to monitor that situation.”

“Has anything come of the video release?” a voice asked.

“No,” Burton replied. “I’m a little surprised frankly. It’s been played every half-hour since yesterday, and we’ve gotten nothing.”

“How about anything from the video itself? Anything to help us?”

“Again, we’ve found nothing,” Burton replied. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to pull anything off it that is useful.” Burton transitioned to the ransom. “As you know, the ransom demand is for five million.” Burton explained the details of the demand.

“Do we know when the ransom call is coming?” another cop asked.

“Six o’clock PM,” Burton replied. “We expect that we’ll receive drop instructions at that time. We’ll need to move quickly.”

“How’s the drop going to be completed?” Double Frank asked.

“We don’t know,” Burton answered honestly. “We’re getting a call at 6:00, and it’ll be the kidnappers’ show at that point.”

“So what are we doing?” Mac asked. He wanted to be free for the afternoon, but at the same time, wanted to assess the preparedness of Burton and the bureau.

“Good question,” Riles said in his ear.

“Let there be no doubt, we’ll be ready,” Burton said. “We don’t know what they’re going to do, that’s true, but we will have massive resources at our disposal when it comes time to pay the ransom. They’ve demanded five million in cash. That’s a lot of money, and it doesn’t come in a small package. It’s sizable. It will fill two large duffel bags. In other words, we should be able to track it. We have plenty of bodies. We’ll have birds in the air. We’ll put a tracker in the money bag. As you’ve noted a couple of times, Detective McRyan, the kidnappers are sharp, well prepared, and precise in their planning. That suggests to me that we’re looking at a money drop. They will have to expose themselves to get the money, and that’s when we’ll have our chance to pounce.”

“Just like that, huh?” Double Frank snorted skeptically.

“It’s never just like that,” Burton replied evenly. “All I’m saying is that if something doesn’t break between now and then, our best chance to get them is when they go for the money. That’s when they’ll come out of hiding. They have to.”