Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

Ford’s face.’
    ‘I’m okay now, Mom,’ Ford said thickly. ‘Please don’t cry anymore.’
    ‘How’d you get in the room?’ Joseph asked her.
    ‘The officer broke the window with a fire extinguisher and reached through to move the chair. We pushed open the door and rushed in. The man grabbed me and put a knife to my throat. Tried to drag me out with him. I fought him and he grabbed my hair.’ She smoothed a hand over her curls self-consciously. ‘When it came off in his hand . . .’ Her chuckle was watery. ‘It surprised him. He yelled and threw it. That’s how I got away. If my hair hadn’t . . . you know, come off, then he would have gotten me across the throat. Bye-bye me.’
    Joseph’s blood chilled. When he’d entered the room, he’d been so focused on the chaos that he hadn’t noticed the wig was gone. He hadn’t realised how close he’d come to losing her, yet again. ‘Then what happened?’ he asked hoarsely.
    ‘He was fast for an old guy. He threw me down, stabbed the officer and threw him into Hector. He ran like hell and Hector chased him. I screamed for you.’
    ‘Did you know him, Daphne?’
    Her eyes flickered uncertainly. ‘I didn’t see his face. He was either bent over putting the pillow on Ford’s face or he had my back pulled against his chest. But it wasn’t Doug. He was too tall and too old.’
    ‘That’s okay,’ Joseph soothed. ‘Hector got a good look at him and Novak’s looking at security videos. Between them we can get an ID.’
    ‘I’m back,’ Deacon said from behind him. ‘We got his face. I made a still and faxed it to the local PD and to the Pittsburgh field office. They’re putting up road blocks. They said McManus called in a white pickup.’
    Crouching next to Daphne, Joseph looked over at Ford. The boy was still out of it, but some clarity had returned. ‘It was a white Chevy pickup, son.’
    Ford’s mouth fell open. ‘He . . .’ He closed his eyes, then opened them, his effort to focus admirable. ‘Can I see his photo, please?’
    Deacon crossed the room. ‘I’m Special Agent Novak, FBI. It’s good to meet you, Ford.’ He showed the photo to Ford and the boy flinched.
    ‘Yeah, that’s one of them.’
    ‘There was more than one?’ Joseph asked, sharing a glance with Deacon.
    ‘Yes. There were two. One was this old man. He had the cabin and the truck was his. Heather. Last name, last name.’ He closed his eyes, murmuring to himself. ‘Ice tea.’ His eyes opened. ‘Lipton. Heather Lipton. I found her purse under the seat of his truck. I didn’t see her in his cabin, but I got free and pretty much got out of there. I took all of his knives and all his clothes and put them in the truck. Stripped him naked and took his shoes. Tied him and left him in the cabin. Figured that even if he got loose from the twine I used, he wouldn’t get far buck naked in the snow.’
    ‘Smart,’ Joseph murmured.
    Daphne sat like a statue, her eyes on the paper in Ford’s hands. She could see the face, upside down. She knows him , Joseph thought, his heart beginning to race.
    ‘I drove about thirty miles, I think,’ Ford said, ‘then the piece of shit ran out of gas.’
    ‘So you walked?’ Deacon asked.
    ‘For miles. Oh, wait.’ Again he closed his eyes. Then rattled off a license plate number, the same one Hector had noted earlier. Kid’s got an amazing memory . ‘That’s the white truck. I think I remember it right.’
    ‘You remembered it perfectly,’ Joseph said. ‘We spotted it driving away.’
    ‘Good. I rolled his fingerprints across the blade of one of his knives before I left the cabin. I didn’t want to drag him with me, but I thought you could run his prints.’
    ‘Very smart and incredibly practical,’ Joseph said, impressed. No wonder my dad thinks this kid’s a genius . ‘I don’t know that I would have thought of that.’
    Ford leaned forward, touched his mother’s knee. ‘Mom? I’m okay.’
    She nodded. ‘I know, honey. It’s just . . . I’m emotional.’
    ‘Do you remember which way you walked?’ Joseph asked.
    ‘For a long time I stayed on a road, but then the road ended and there was nothing but woods. At one point there was a fishing area with picnic tables. I sat there for a while. Looked like it was only accessible by boat. It was really snowing hard by then. I couldn’t see a thing. I followed the waterline inch by inch and finally I found a road and stayed on it until . . .’