Lifeguard - James Patterson [26]
I turned to my mom. “Guess it’s fair to say I won’t be around for dinner anytime soon.” I winked a good-bye. “Love you, Mom.”
Then we backed out the door, my arm locked on Agent Shurtleff’s. I took her down the steps. The FBI guys were already at the windows, one of them pulling out his phone. I opened the door to the 4Runner and pushed her in. “I’m just praying the keys are there.” I actually smiled. “Usually, they are.”
They were, thank God! I backed out the driveway. A few seconds later we were careening down Perkins, across the tracks, onto Main.
No lights yet. No sirens. There were a few ways out of town, and I figured the best way was north on Route 24.
I glanced behind and breathed a sigh of relief.
Nice work. You’ve just added kidnapping a federal agent to your résumé.
Chapter 30
“YOU SCARED?” this thug Ned Kelly turned and asked her, gunning the 4Runner north on Route 24. He held the gun loosely in his lap, pointed her way.
Scared? Ellie hesitated. The guy is wanted for questioning in a quadruple homicide!
Her mind ran through the hostage scenarios. There was probably some textbook thing she should say. Stay calm. Start a dialogue. She was sure there was an APB out on the car already. Every cop within fifty miles of Boston would be on the lookout. Finally, she just went with what she felt.
“Yeah, I’m scared,” Ellie said with a nod.
“Good,” he said, nodding back, “’cause I’m scared, too. Never done anything like this before. But you can relax. Honest. I’m not going to hurt you. I just needed to get out of there. I’ll even unlock the car. You can jump out the next time we stop. . . . I’m not kidding. Good as my word.”
To Ellie’s amazement, she heard the automatic locks lift. There was an exit approaching, and he slowed at the upcoming ramp.
“Or”—he looked sort of helpless—“you can stick around for a while longer. Help me figure out how I’m going to get out of this mess.”
Kelly brought the car to a stop and waited for her to move.
“Go on. I figure I’ve got, what, about three minutes before every exit on this highway is covered with cops?”
Ellie looked at him, a little stunned. She placed her hand on the door latch. You’re being handed a gift, said a voice inside her. Take it! She’d been to the house in Lake Worth. She’d seen the blood and the slaughtered bodies. This guy was connected to the victims. He’d fled.
But something held her back. The guy had this scared, fatalistic smile.
“I wasn’t lying, what I said back there. I’m no killer. I had nothing to do with whatever went on down in Florida.”
“Taking a federal agent hostage doesn’t exactly strengthen your case,” Ellie said.
“They were my friends, my family. I’ve known all of them my whole life. I didn’t steal any paintings and I didn’t kill anyone. All I did was set off some alarms. Look”—he waved the gun—“I don’t even know how to use this fucking thing.”
It did look that way, Ellie thought. And she did recall a series of house alarms being triggered at mansions around town just prior to the theft. They assumed it was a diversion.
“Go on, get out.” Kelly took a look back. “I’m expecting company.”
But Ellie didn’t get out. She just sort of held there, looking at him. He didn’t seem so crazy all of a sudden. Just confused, scared. In way, way over his head. And somehow she didn’t feel so threatened. Cops were on their way. Maybe she could talk him in. Jesus, Ellie . . . This is a long way from the Rare Prints Department at Sotheby’s!
“Two,” Ellie looked at him, slowly releasing the door handle. “You’ve got about two minutes. Before every cop car south of Boston is here.”
Ned Kelly’s face seemed to brighten. “Okay,” he said.
“You tell me everything that happened down there,” Ellie said. “Maybe I can do something. Names, contacts. Everything you know about the robbery. You want to get out of this mess? That’s the only way.”
A halting smile crossed Ned