“Reel!” began Robie.
She shot him a scathing look. “What part of ‘shut up’ don’t you get? Now let’s go!”
She marched out.
Bender and Robie glared at each other and then followed her out.
* * *
At the sheriff’s station Reel faced off with both of them.
“Holly Malloy and her boyfriend, Luke, are dead. Dolph had Luke killed and he shot Holly in front of us.” She glanced at Robie. “And Valerie knew.”
Bender grabbed the side of the desk to steady himself. “Wh-what?”
“They’re dead. Murdered.”
“But you said you were there. With Dolph!”
“He kidnapped us. He was going to kill us. But we escaped. But before we did, he murdered Holly.”
Bender’s face flushed crimson. “Then why the hell didn’t you go back there and arrest his ass! You’re fucking Feds.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” said Reel. “Besides we had no proof other than our word. And we’re here on assignment. We can’t get mixed up in that.”
Now Bender turned his fury on her. “Mixed up? People were murdered!”
Reel said, “And they’re going to pay for what they did, Bender. I promise you that.”
“How? How the hell can I believe you?”
“We’re not walking away from this. He tried to kill us, too. If you knew what we really are, you’d understand that nobody does that to us and gets away with it.”
“Wait a minute, you said, what we are. What does that mean?”
“It means we go into a situation and we make it right. And if bad guys get in the way, it never ends well for them. We’ve already taken out a slew of Dolph’s guys. I mean taken out in a way that means they are no longer breathing. And I’m not just talking about the guys last night.”
Bender looked over at Robie, who nodded and said, “That was the reason he came after us. We were helping Holly and Luke to get out of here, and we killed a bunch of his men.”
Reel added, “So we’re going to finish the job, Bender. I promise. But what we told you about Holly and Luke you can’t tell anyone else.”
“I’m a cop! You just told me about two murders.”
“And if you tell anyone else it could very well mean that Dolph and his people will never be punished for what they did.”
Bender sat back on the desk and slowly took all this in. “There has to be another way. All my cop instincts are telling me to go get this asshole right now.”
“So are mine, but sometimes your instincts are wrong,” said Robie. “We’ve thought this through every way you can. And this is the only way, Bender. Otherwise, Dolph wins.”
Bender gave a resigned sigh. “Okay, okay,” he finally said. “So what do we do right now?”
Robie said, “I have to think that Valerie was taken by Dolph and others who are working with him. One of Dolph’s guys said that he was at the bunker. We think maybe these prisoners might be there too. And Parry, Lamarre, and Walton.”
“But why at the bunker?” asked Bender. “What does that have to do with prisoners and missing people?”
“I don’t know. But if you were going to stash people somewhere, that would be a good place to do it.”
“But didn’t Roark Lambert take you on a tour of the place?”
Reel said, “He just showed us a slice. That place is so big, there could be a lot of people in there and we’d never know it.”
“But I know some of the guards out there. They’re good guys. They’d never be party to shit like that. And they’d have to know, wouldn’t they?”
“Not necessarily, at least not all of them,” replied Robie.
“But why?” asked Bender. “It’s a survival bunker for rich people. Why would they take people prisoner? I remember Lambert telling me at my mom’s dinner that there was barely enough room and food in there for the people who pay millions for the space.”
Reel said, “That may be true, but it might be that these prisoners won’t be there when doomsday comes. But they might be there now for a completely different reason.”
“Like what?” asked Bender.
“Right now I have no idea,” admitted Reel. “But if we don’t figure it out fast, we might never see any of the missing people again.” She stared at Robie. “Including Roger Walton.” She looked at Bender. “And Valerie Malloy.”
Chapter
59
“I’M NOT USED to this, Robie.”
It was the next day and Reel was by the window of her hotel room looking out while Robie sat in a chair staring at the floor.
“Not used to what?”
She turned to him as he looked up. “Being helpless. I hate it.”
He shrugged. “I’m not too fond of it myself, so I took a snapshot of the map and sent it to the Agency. They might be able to get us something on that.”
Someone knocked on the door. Reel crossed the room and looked through the peephole.
She opened the door to reveal Claire Bender standing there.
She was dressed casually in jeans and a light blue sweater. Her long silver hair was tied back.
“I heard about Valerie,” she said, stepping into the room.
Reel shut the door behind her as Robie rose from his chair.
“Has there been any word?” Claire asked.
“Nothing so far. There were signs of a struggle at the station and some blood.”
Claire turned a bit pale, and Robie helped her sit down in the chair.
She gasped. “I can’t believe what’s happening here. A little over a week ago everything was as right as rain. And now?”
“Have you spoken to your son?” asked Reel.
She nodded. “Derrick was the one who told me about Valerie. He’s very worried. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this.”
“Was that all he told you?” asked Robie, his gaze fixed on her.
She looked up at him. “Isn’t that enough?”
“I suppose it is,” agreed Robie, who shot a quick glance at Reel.
“But while we’re discussing communications, I have to admit that I didn’t tell you everything,” Claire said slowly. “It’s the reason I came by.”
Both Robie and Reel tensed. “Meaning what?” asked Robie.
“Meaning that Roger and I were a bit closer than I led you to believe.”
Reel said, “You were engaged to be married. That’s pretty close.”
Claire pulled a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “Roger came back here after he finished graduate school. We were both still in our twenties, with our lives ahead of us. He wanted to make a go of it again, I mean with us as a couple. He wanted me to move with him to Washington. I loved Roger, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.” She paused, and glanced at each of them in turn. “But we parted on a very amicable note.”
“How so?” asked Reel, studying the woman’s features.
Claire let out a breath. “I’ve never really talked about this before, but what the hell. I ended up pregnant.”
“Are you saying that Patti—” began Robie.
Claire nodded. “She’s Roger’s daughter, yes.”
“Does he know?” asked Reel.
Claire shook her head. “The next time Roger came back here I was married. I got walked down the aisle about six months after Roger left that last time. Patti was four years old but he didn’t know her exact age. So he had no way of knowing that Patti was not the product of my first marriage. And I never told him. I…I just didn’t see the point.”
“How many times have you been married?” asked Robie.
“Three. Roy Bender was my first. Derrick is Roy’s son. And Roy always treated Patti as his own, even though he knew he wasn’t the father. And he never knew that Roger was Patti’s dad. After Roy died I got hitched twice after that, but only because I was bored. And lonely. Neither lasted all that long.”
“And Walton?”
“Roger continued to come b
ack here. But there was no more talk of us getting together. That time had passed, I guess. And there was no more, well, sex.” She sighed. “It was stupid, I know. Roger had a right to know about his child.”
“You may be the reason he kept coming back here,” pointed out Robie.
“You might be right about that. I used to just think it was because it was his home. But it wasn’t like he was particularly happy here, especially after his parents died. But still, who knows how much time we have left. Maybe I should have told him how I really feel when he was here this time.”
“I hope you get a chance to tell him,” said Reel earnestly. “And you might be surprised at what he has to say to you.”