Second Honeymoon

Chapter 28

“FOLLOW ME! LET’S go, let’s go!”

Sarah yelled it to every cop she raced past, from the hallway of the operations department down the stairs to the baggage claim area and out the double doors into the stifling heat. Not even police chief Trout knew where she was going.

But he was following just the same, weaving his way through the crowd, composed mostly of tourists, as fast as his former-Florida-State-linebacker frame would allow.

Nine, maybe ten cops had fallen in behind Sarah as they crossed the taxi and limo pickup lane outside the terminal.

Cars skidded to a halt, the drivers pounding on their horns. People nearby were either staring or scattering to get out of the way.

“Holy shit,” mouthed the guy working on the Avis lot, who barely looked old enough to drive. His booth was being invaded. Leading the way was a pretty woman who, well, looked like she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“The trunks!” said Sarah, flashing her badge. “Open every car trunk on the lot!”

“What?” the guy said. He was more stunned than anything else. “I can’t do that.”

Sarah pushed right past him and grabbed a large bulletin board off the wall, which held all the rental car keys. With a flip and a few shakes, they all went spilling onto the floor in front of the counter.

Trout was right in step now.

“You two, stay here!” he barked, pointing at two of his officers. “Check every trunk. The rest of you, come with me!”

Sarah had already moved on to the Hertz lot. She grabbed some keys herself and started popping trunks all around her.

“What are we looking for?” one of the attendants asked.

She didn’t stick around to answer. It was the classic “You’ll know it when you see it.” A girl trapped in the trunk, probably bound and gagged.

God, will she still be alive? Sarah wondered. Please let her be alive.

Immediately, she tried to erase the image of the girl from her mind. Never get attached to the victim, she’d been taught. Messes with your focus.

It was a hard lesson to learn, and even after seven years on the job she wasn’t fully there.

Pop! Pop-pop-pop!

Right down the line, from Thrifty to Enterprise, Budget to National, the trunks began to open. Economy, midsize, premium, even the SUVs.

The cops were spread out, the staff from every rental company was racing around with key fobs in hand, their thumbs pressing furiously.

Pop! Pop-pop!

Sarah ran from car to car, looking and looking and looking. Up one row and down another. Empty…empty…empty…

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”

Everyone was in on the act now, all the cops and attendants, even the renters themselves. A businessman, sweating all the way through the jacket of his tan suit, was dashing from trunk to trunk.

It was chaos, but the good kind. All the pieces working together.

“Every car! We check every car!” yelled Sarah, moving on to the next lot, which belonged to one of the local companies, Sunshine Rentals.

That’s when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

There was one piece of this puzzle that didn’t fit.