Chapter 9 - The Doctor at the Door
Nobody moved.
Dr. Gable's gun was pointed at the floor.
Marco's men appeared behind him a second later with their weapons raised.
"Drop it," Marco ordered.
Gable did.
"I didn't take her."
Sophie clung to my neck.
"Then why are you standing here with a gun?" I asked.
"Because I followed the man who did."
Marco kicked the weapon away.
Gable held both hands up. "Someone called me from the house line and said one of the babies was seizing. When I arrived, the front gate was open. I saw a man carrying Sophie toward the greenhouse. I followed him. He dropped her and ran toward the service road."
Sophie looked at him carefully.
"He helped me."
That mattered.
"What did the kidnapper look like?" Marco asked.
Gable shook his head. "Black rain jacket. Baseball cap. Average build."
"Convenient," Luca said.
Gable glared at him. "You think I came here to kidnap a four-year-old and then politely waited with her?"
I stood with Sophie in my arms.
"Where did you get the gun?"
"The kidnapper dropped it when she bit him."
Sophie raised her chin proudly.
Marco bagged the weapon.
One of his men checked the serial number.
Five minutes later we had our next problem.
The gun belonged to our own security inventory.
Issued two months earlier to a guard named Evan Price.
"Where is Price?" I asked.
Marco's jaw hardened. "Night rotation. West gate."
The west gate guard station was empty.
Evan Price's uniform jacket hung on a chair. His phone sat beside a half-finished cup of coffee.
His personal car was still parked outside.
It looked like he had vanished while on shift.
Then Sophie tugged my collar.
"Mr. Moretti?"
"Yes?"
"The grab man had a hurt hand."
"From you biting him?"
She shook her head. "Before. He had a white wrap here."
She pointed to the base of her thumb.
Marco went still.
That morning, Evan Price had reported a cut from broken glass during training. His right hand was bandaged.
We searched the property.
At 4:02 a.m., they found him in the old carriage house.
Alive.
Tied to a chair.
His right hand was not bandaged.
"That's not Price's blood on the wrap," Marco said.
Someone had copied his injury.
Someone had stolen his gun.
Someone had worn enough of his uniform to move through the house without drawing attention.
And when we checked the recovered security footage frame by frame, we saw the disguised man leave the carriage house.
At 12:51 a.m., he passed one camera before the loop started.
His face was hidden.
But on his left wrist was a watch.
Black leather band.
May you like
Square gold case.
I had given that exact watch to Graham Bennett for his sixtieth birthday.
