Chapter 16 - The Water Tower
The old railway water tower outside Benton had been painted bright red for as long as I could remember.
From the highway, it looked like a giant thermos.
Nia called it that when she was five.
Red thermos.
She had told me where she was.
Police moved fast.
No sirens.
No lights.
The abandoned rail yard covered thirty acres, with rusted warehouses, empty maintenance sheds, and weeds taller than a person.
Ortiz wanted me in command.
I wanted a weapon.
She gave me neither.
“We need you on the phone if he calls.”
“He has my daughter.”
“And if you run in there, he may shoot both of you.”
I hated that she was right.
At 5:42 p.m., Martin called.
“You’re early.”
My skin crawled.
“You can see me?”
“I can see everything I need to.”
I stood beside an unmarked van holding the microSD card inside a plastic evidence sleeve.
“Let me speak to Nia.”
“Soon.”
“Now.”
A pause.
Then Nia came on.
“Mom.”
“You good?”
“I’m cold.”
That meant something too.
When she was little, “cold” meant alone.
No adult close enough to hear.
I asked, “Can you see the moon?”
Ortiz looked at me, confused.
Nia understood.
“No. Just the red thermos and three broken windows.”
Three broken windows.
Ortiz wrote it down.
Officers checked aerial photos.
Only one building near the tower had three broken upper windows.
Maintenance Shed C.
Police shifted teams.
Martin returned to the line.
“Enough games.”
“You started them.”
He laughed.
“I knew I liked you.”
“You killed Andre.”
“No. Owen killed Andre.”
“You paid him.”
“Business is full of unfortunate incentives.”
My hands shook.
“Why poison Nia?”
“To create leverage.”
“She could have died.”
“She was not supposed to. Not yet.”
Not yet.
My vision went red.
Then a gunshot cracked in the distance.
Ortiz grabbed me and pulled me behind the van.
Radio traffic exploded.
“Officer down!”
“Movement at Shed C!”
I heard Nia scream through the phone.
Then Martin cursed.
The line stayed open.
I could hear running.
Metal banging.
A door slamming.
Ortiz shouted, “He’s moving her!”
I looked across the rail yard and saw a black SUV burst from behind the maintenance shed.
It turned toward the service road.
May you like
Toward us.
And through the windshield, I saw Nia in the passenger seat.
