Vanish: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

everything you can remember. Every word she spoke, every twitch.”
    “I was alone with her for such a short time. Only a few minutes.”
    “Did you two talk?”
    “I tried to.”
    “What did you say to her?”
    Maura felt her palms go slick again as she remembered that ride in the elevator. How the woman’s hand had trembled as she gripped the weapon. “I tried to calm her down, tried to reason with her. I told her I only wanted to help.”
    “How did she respond?”
    “She didn’t say anything. She was completely silent. That was the most frightening part.” She looked at Stillman. “Her absolute silence.”
    He frowned. “Did she react to your words in any way? Are you sure she could hear you?”
    “She’s not deaf. She reacted to sounds. I know she heard the police sirens.”
    “Yet she didn’t say a single word?” He shook his head. “This is bizarre. Are we dealing with a language barrier? This will make it tough to negotiate.”
    “She didn’t strike me as the negotiating type anyway.”
    “Start from the beginning, Dr. Isles. Everything she did, everything you did.”
    “I’ve gone over all this with Captain Hayder. Asking me the same questions again and again isn’t going to get you any more answers.”
    “I know you’re repeating yourself. But something you remember could be the vital detail. The one thing I can use.”
    “She was pointing a gun at my head. It was hard to focus on anything else but staying alive.”
    “You were with her. You know her most recent state of mind. Do you have any idea why she took these actions? Whether she’s likely to harm any hostages she’s holding?”
    “She’s already killed one man. Shouldn’t that tell you something?”
    “But we’ve heard no gunshots since then, so we’ve gotten past the critical first thirty minutes, which is the most dangerous period. The time when the shooter’s still scared and most likely to kill a captive. It’s been almost an hour now, and she’s made no other moves. Hurt no one else, as far as we know.”
    “Then what is she doing in there?”
    “We have no idea. We’re still scrambling for background information. The homicide unit is checking into how she ended up at the morgue, and we’ve lifted what we think are her fingerprints from the hospital room. As long as no one’s getting hurt, time is our friend. The longer this goes on, the more information we’ll have on her. And the more likely we’ll settle it without bloodshed, without heroics.” He glanced toward the hospital. “See those cops over there? They’re probably champing at the bit to rush the building. If it comes to that, then I’ve failed. My rule of thumb for hostage incidents is simple: Slow things down. We’ve got her contained in a wing with no windows, no exits, so she can’t escape. She can’t go mobile. So we let her sit and think about her situation. And she’ll realize that she’s got no other choice but to surrender.”
    “If she’s rational enough to understand that.”
    He regarded her for a moment. A look that gently probed the significance of what she just said. “Do you think she’s rational?”
    “I think she’s terrified,” Maura said. “When we were alone in that elevator, I saw the look in her eyes. The panic.”
    “Is that why she fired the gun?”
    “She must have felt threatened. There were three of us crowding around her bed, trying to restrain her.”
    “Three of you? The nurse I spoke to said that when she stepped into the room, she saw only you and the guard.”
    “There was a doctor as well. A young man, blond.”
    “The nurse didn’t see him.”
    “Oh, he ran. After that gun went off, he was out of there like a rabbit.” She paused, still bitter about the abandonment. “I was the one trapped in the room.”
    “Why do you think the patient shot only the guard? If there were three of you standing around the bed?”
    “He was bending toward her. He was closest.”
    “Or was it his uniform?”
    She frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “Think about it. A uniform is a symbol of authority. She could have thought he was a policeman. It makes me wonder if she has a criminal record.”
    “A lot of people are afraid of the police. You don’t have to be a criminal.”
    “Why didn’t she shoot the doctor?”
    “I told you, he ran. He was out of there.”
    “She didn’t shoot you, either.”
    “Because she needed a hostage. I was the closest warm body.”
    “Do you think she would