Hostage

15

Retro’s shift was almost over. He could have filed his written reports for the day, and he could have relayed any pertinent information about Vaughan’s abduction to the oncoming patrol officer, and then he could have gone on home.

But that wasn’t what he wanted to do.

He wanted to find Vaughan.

Not that he thought he could do it singlehandedly. He had to be back on the job at seven the next morning, and he couldn’t work around the clock, but he wanted to see what Mira came up with for the sketch artist before he called it a day.

He took a sip of his coffee, glanced over and saw her walk back out from behind the partition holding a brown paper bag in one hand and a denim jacket in the other.

“Here’s your sandwich,” she said, placing the bag on the table beside Retro’s coffee mug.

“Thanks,” Retro said. “Ready to go?”

“Yes. I have to be home by nine, though. My babysitter has school tomorrow.”

Retro nodded. He slid out of the booth, grabbed the brown paper bag. It was warm, and some grease had soaked through to the bottom. He wondered if it would make it to the parking lot without falling apart.

Mira shrugged into her jacket and started walking toward the exit.

Retro followed.

“I’ll be out in just a minute,” he said, stopping at the front counter.

“Okay.”

Mira walked on outside. Retro got the attention of another waitress and asked for a plastic bag for his sandwich.

“We’re out of the small ones,” she said.

“That’s all right. Whatever you have.”

She brought him a big white thing with handles that could have held dinner for ten. He thanked her and dropped the greasy paper bag into the huge plastic bag, shouldered his way through the door and walked around the side of the building to the parking area.

Mira was standing beside the cruiser, on the passenger’s side, looking at the identifier painted on the front fender.

Unit Two.

“Is this the car you’ve been driving all day?” she said.

“It’s the car I’ve been driving all year.”

Mira walked around the engine compartment and looked at the fender on the other side.

“But I thought you were in Unit One this morning,” she said.

“I wasn’t. Unit One is Officer Vaughan’s car.”

“Oh. Well, I’m pretty sure I saw it going that way,” she said, pointing west.

“When?”

“Probably about fifteen minutes after Officer Vaughan walked out of the restaurant this morning.”

That changed everything. Retro opened the passenger’s door for Mira, and then he ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in and started the car and sped toward the station.