call in the Marines to save him, because he’s a hostage, and you need to see him as such.”
Megan and Steven stepped out and Lucy put her head on the table. She was exhausted and scared.
Felicity said, “You did fine. Megan’s going to reinforce everything you said, make sure that Steven knows who Sean is and why he’s at risk. Okay?”
“I just want him safe,” Lucy said. “It’s been nearly three hours. They could be anywhere. I can’t stay here and do nothing.”
“Let others take up the slack. You have a lot of friends and family helping.”
“We’re missing something. Whatever is going on with Jimmy Hunt and this escape, he’s planned this for a long time. Mona Hill’s murder, his transfer to Houston, testifying against the hit man, everything led to this escape. That takes money, time, resources. People.”
“Megan knows that.”
Patrick walked in. “Lucy, you need to eat.”
She stared at him, confused. “Food? I don’t want food!”
“Come on. You ate two bites of toast and drank a gallon of coffee.”
Felicity said, “Lucy, go with your brother, take care of yourself. My colleague just texted me. Kate Donovan has arrived, I need to talk to her, talk to Houston PD and Agent Pierce, then I’m meeting with the AUSA about Michael Thompson, the hitman Hunt testified against. Okay?”
The last thing that Lucy wanted to do was eat, but she needed to get out of this room. “Okay. Fine.”
“I’ll call you the minute I hear anything,” Felicity said.
Lucy followed Patrick outside. “I don’t want to go anywhere.”
“Shh.”
She glanced at her brother. “What’s going on?”
“Just follow me.”
Patrick was definitely acting weird. But she followed him. They left the building and walked down the block. He’d parked on the street two blocks from the jail. “Get in.”
“I don’t want—”
“Trust me.”
She did, so she climbed in. He tossed her a paper bag, then drove away.
She looked inside. A deli sandwich and her favorite jalapeño chips. “I can’t—”
“Eat,” he said. “I already ate mine. I have a lead.”
“On Sean?”
“No. We can’t get anywhere near that—you have to trust Megan and Kate to find him. I have a lead to pursue on the Mona Hill investigation.”
It took Lucy a moment to switch gears. She took out the sandwich and unwrapped one half. Turkey, cheese, and jalapeños, her favorite.
“How does that help find Sean?”
“This whole thing started because Mona Hill was killed.”
It took her a second to get on Patrick’s wavelength. “Yes, so? That’s kind of irrelevant now.”
“The police think Sean is guilty, so it’s not irrelevant. We prove he was framed and it goes a long way into proving that Hunt orchestrated the escape.”
“It’s an elaborate plan just to kidnap someone.”
“But Hunt was in prison. He wanted out. Testifying against a hit man—probably a guy he hired himself—was brilliant. Once he knew when he was testifying and when he’d be in Houston, he had Elise frame Sean.”
“There was no guarantee that it would work.”
“Which tells me that Houston PD had Sean’s name almost from the beginning. But they’re not going to share any of that with the defense. But thanks to your friend Ryan—”
“Ryan Quiroz?”
“Yeah. Jack talked to him yesterday, gave him my number. He was a cop here, has friends here, and he got a copy of the original police report. Wouldn’t give it to me, but he read it over the phone. Banner hasn’t even talked to the pizza delivery guy. But the responding officer did, to confirm the bodyguard’s statement.”
“And?”
“We’re going to talk to him.”
“You have his name.”
“I know his name, address, workplace, school, and the fact that he has no record.”
“How does that help us?”
“The important thing is that the detectives haven’t interviewed him. I want to know what he knows—they’ll follow up eventually, but the fact that they didn’t tells me they took his original statement on its face. I would have had follow-up questions.”
“Like?”
“For started, did he see anyone outside Mona’s apartment or in the lobby, go from there. But here’s the thing—he arrived at eight thirty P.M. The only security cameras are in the elevator and in the lobby. There is only one public entrance into the building, which is locked at ten P.M. and you need a key. That much I got from the report. I want to see the place, figure out how the killer got in and out without being seen on camera. So we’re heading there first. Ned Williams—the pizza guy—is a college student and works nights, but I checked his social media accounts and he