“They wore masks, but was there anything about them familiar to you, Ms. Manvers?”
She shook her head, then she gave him a grin. “Agent Savich, you saved my life. Please call me Rebekah. Let me say it again, you were awesome. Thank you.”
Savich liked the sound of that. “You never gave up, you kept fighting. Well done.”
An older gent appeared at Savich’s elbow, a cane in one hand, a long leash attached to a bulldog in the other. The bulldog didn’t bark, merely stared up at Savich, his tongue lolling.
“Name’s Luther Frye. I was watching Mongo piddle against that maple tree when those goons roared to a stop, jumped out of that SUV, and grabbed this pretty little girl. Bad business, but what you did, boy, it was a job well done. And you,” he said to Rebekah, grinning to show a mouth sporting a full complement of shining false teeth, “you’ve got an excellent set of lungs for sure. Nice and loud, sort of like my late wife.”
Savich introduced himself to Mr. Frye, who dropped Mongo’s leash and shook his hand.
“Figures you’re a lawman. You shot that rear tire right out. You want me to stick around, talk to the police? I hear them coming.”
Savich settled for the old man’s phone number, typed it into his cell.
Mr. Frye saluted him and walked slowly away, Mongo trotting beside him, carrying his leash in his mouth.
Rebekah realized she’d started shaking. She tried to calm herself, swallowed to get spit in her mouth. “I don’t understand any of this. Why me? Who were they?”
“We’ll figure it out. Come sit in my car, and we’ll both get ourselves together. I hear the sirens getting closer.”
His car was a gorgeous fire-engine-red Porsche.
A woman’s voice called out from down the street, “Rebekah, is that you? Charles came out after we all heard gunshots to see what was going on, and he said he recognized you. What happened?”
Rebekah drew in a deep breath and said to Savich, “That’s my daughter-in-law, Celeste. Believe me, we do not need her here. I had a lunch date at her house, just up the block.” She said with a sigh, “Charles is her butler and a very nice man.” She called out, “Celeste, I’m all right. Someone tried to kidnap me, but it’s all over and I’m fine. I don’t suppose I’m up for having lunch with you now, though. I’ll call you later, fill you in. Please, don’t bother Rich. I’ll talk to him myself. And Celeste, give your guests my apologies.”
Celeste stopped in her tracks, still half a block away. She looked uncertain. “If you’re sure, darling. But someone tried to kidnap you? That’s crazy. I mean who would do something like that in this neighborhood? I don’t understand.”
“It’s all right, Celeste. Please go back to your luncheon.”
She wondered for a moment what exactly Celeste would tell everyone. She watched her daughter-in-law slowly turn and retrace her steps, a half dozen people coming from the house to meet her. She sent one last furtive look back at Rebekah. She looked excited. Rebekah couldn’t imagine anyone would be bored at the luncheon now, not with this delicious news. She said to Savich, “Sorry, but what happened will be all over Washington within an hour.”
A Metro cop car pulled up, and two officers, one of whom Savich knew, asked them questions until Ben pulled his new silver Chevy Malibu in behind Savich’s Porsche. Detective Ben Raven ushered both Savich and Rebekah to his car, and they went over everything once again.
Ben Raven said finally, “Seems obvious to me it must have to do with your being Congressman Manvers’s wife. Your husband’s also quite rich, right?”
Rebekah was feeling the aftermath, recognized it for what it was—her adrenaline taking a nosedive. Fatigue rolled over her like a tsunami. She felt scared, too, more than she had during the attack. She was thinking about it now, not only reacting. She knew the man in the hoodie would have injected her with whatever was in the syringe. Probably not to kill her, but they’d have taken her. Where? What would they have done to her? Ransomed her? She didn’t want to talk anymore, didn’t want to think about it. It was too scary. All she wanted to do was curl up into the fetal position and keep Agent Savich very close.
Savich took her shoulders in his hands and shook her. “You’ve made it through this, Rebekah. Everything’s all right now, you’re all right. Back