“And the single mother who bought it still has it,” Wiley told her. “Hick checked on that this morning.”
The other agent confirmed that with a nod.
“Your brother has a different set of wheels,” Wiley continued. “We don’t know what kind, because no one spotted him driving away from that storage outfit. But he’s no longer so confident of his escape.” He paused to take a breath. “He called me this morning a little before dawn.”
Having had to absorb the shocking news about Shaw, Jordie now suffered another jolt. She listened without comment as Joe Wiley recounted his most recent conversation with Josh.
“He sounded different from when I talked to him night before last,” Wiley said. “He got really spooked when I told him that I had talked to Billy Panella last night.”
Jordie flinched. “What?” The shocks just kept coming.
“I used Bolden’s phone. Same as Kinnard did. Just hit Redial.”
“Panella answered?”
“He expected it to be Kinnard demanding payment for services rendered. I identified myself and told him that his hired gun had been apprehended and that you were alive and well. Plan foiled.”
“What did he say?”
“Garbled some obscenities, then hung up. Now that he knows we have Bolden’s phone, the one he answered is probably in pieces.”
Jordie murmured agreement to that. She was aware of Greg Hickam standing with his back to the wall, watching her intently and gauging her reactions to everything Wiley was telling her. Keeping her expression schooled, she said, “My brother is my main concern. Any indication of where he is, how he is?”
“If I knew where, he’d already be in custody. But I don’t think he’ll keep running much longer. He sounded strung out, jumpy, on the brink of falling apart. He was crying when he hung up.”
“I’m sure he’s scared.”
“I think so, too,” Wiley said. “Told him he should be. But what, in particular, do you think has him scared enough to bawl like a baby?”
“You don’t have to
answer,” Adrian Dover said.
Jordie disregarded her. “He’s scared of being recaptured because he knows the punishment he’ll face.”
“Years in prison.”
“Yes, and that will be torture.”
“It isn’t meant to be fun, Ms. Bennett.”
“Of course not. But for Josh, the lack of privacy is his worst nightmare.”
“You’re referring to his scars,” Wiley said quietly.
She nodded and lowered her head sorrowfully. “They’re unsightly, and Josh sees them as being even worse than they are. He’s extremely self-conscious of them. Pathologically so.”
No one said anything for the next several moments, then Jordie raised her head. “I can’t bear the idea of imprisonment for my brother and his being subjected to, well, everything that it entails, but I’ll do the right thing, Agent Wiley. I’ll answer truthfully any questions you put to me.”
Adrian Dover said, “Unless she exercises her constitutional right not to.”
Wiley began, and for approximately an hour they reviewed everything Jordie had already told them about her abduction. She found it almost impossible to speak Shaw’s name without her throat seizing up.
Various aspects of the time he’d held her captive were covered repeatedly, until she said in a cracking voice, “Must we go over this again and again? There’s nothing more I can tell you.”
Then from Hickam, “All right, then tell us about your trip to Costa Rica with Billy Panella.”
The switch in topics was so abrupt it took her aback.