14 - J. T. Ellison [114]
“And the hits just keep on coming. Lincoln found the name of one of my father’s old friends in Jane Macias’s computer. She was trying to prove links between him and Delglisi. The name is Anthony Malik. Baldwin, he’s one of the men in my memory.”
Forty-Three
Nashville, Tennessee
Tuesday, December 23
1:00 p.m.
They arrived in Nashville in clear, freezing, blue skies. They deplaned on the tarmac, a stiff breeze accosting them. Baldwin tossed Taylor his cashmere blazer to keep warm. Though he’d brought her all the necessities, he’d forgotten to pack a coat. She had balked at buying one in New York. She had plenty at home, and didn’t see the need to wear one while she traveled by cab to the airport. It wasn’t terribly cold in New York. That wasn’t the case in Nashville. In one of those strange atmospheric inversions, it was much cooler than its northern neighbor, below twenty degrees. She shrugged into Baldwin’s blazer, thankful for its warmth.
They climbed a short metal staircase that led to the terminal building. As they exited the door into the warm interior of the terminal, a small grouping of media started yelling, trying to get their attention. The closer they got to the group, the more the reporters sounded like a hive of bees.
“Lieutenant, can you tell us where you’ve been?”
“Is it true you were kidnapped by the Mob?”
Taylor spied Fitz and Sam standing a few feet away and went to them, ignoring the throng of gathered reporters. Fitz grabbed her in a bear hug, the snap of cameras and the whir of video making background noise almost loud enough to dance to.
“It’s damn good to see you, girl. You had me a little worried there.”
She just hugged him back, then turned to Sam. There were tears in her best friend’s eyes. They’d talked the day before, and it wasn’t words they needed now. Sam embraced Taylor, and they both held on for dear life. She had a moment of sickening clarity. If Sam had ridden to the church in the limo with Taylor as planned, it was quite likely that she would be dead now. Taylor squeezed a little harder and offered up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was watching over both of them that day.
Baldwin moved toward the media group. Taylor heard him talking, telling them they would have a statement later on. She and Sam broke their hug, and each took one of Fitz’s arms. They made their escape down the hallway that led to the outer terminal. Fitz started teasing her immediately.
“I can’t believe you ruined all our plans. We were going to put a goat in your honeymoon suite.”
“Oh, shut up, you were not.”
Fitz nodded, and Sam giggled. “Seriously, we were. You remember Alfred Turner, Taylor? Retired a couple of years back, opened that farm and petting zoo down in Williamson County? He was going to loan us one of his babies.”
“So do I want to know what we were supposed to with it, or am I just better off not knowing?”
Fitz shook his head, caught Sam’s eye for a moment. His eyes twinkled with merriment. “Naw, you don’t wanna know.”
“I’ll see what I can do to rearrange things so you can play your jokes.” Taylor cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.
They reached the doors and stepped out into the frigid air. There were four news vans lined up at the curb. Fitz gestured toward them.
“You’re gonna have to talk to the news at some point.”
“I’ll talk later, once I have a handle on what’s been happening here.”
Sam squeezed her arm. “I’ve got to head back to the office. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. You go on.”
Sam nodded at her, then scooted across the walkway and disappeared into the parking lot.
They got into the unmarked Caprice and Fitz turned the heat on high. Taylor shrugged out of Baldwin’s jacket. Within moments, Baldwin clambered into the backseat and they headed toward downtown.
They went directly to the Criminal Justice Center, Fitz talking more of nothing than anything of consequence. Ballistics on Richardson and Gonzalez, Jane Macias, there was nothing new on any of those fronts. When pressed, he told her of the intensity of the rescue