The Girl With No Name

Chapter Sixty-One

The meet with Rowland was a logistical nightmare. Noah took every opportunity to remind her of this fact as they drove the route back and forth from the county jail to Denton Memorial Hospital. It had only taken one brief phone call to Rowland to set it up. Josie told him the only way she could move Kim was if she was sick—sick enough to have to be taken to the hospital. Josie assured him that she had already spoken with Kim, and that Kim believed she was coming down with something. Josie would transfer her from the county jail to the hospital within the next twenty-four hours. In his infuriatingly vague way, Rowland alluded to the fact that they might cross paths once Josie was on the way to Denton Memorial with Kim. He refused to agree to any specific meeting place. He poked around a bit more, wanting to make it clear that he expected Josie to come alone. “Well,” she had told him, “with so many people searching for Victor Derossi and Trooper Creighton, I really don’t have the personnel to have someone accompany me. I think I can handle getting one prisoner to the hospital by myself.”

Rowland hung up happy. Josie had the worst case of butterflies in her stomach that she could ever remember.

“We have no idea where he’s going to intercept you,” Noah said, frustration hardening his tone.

“That’s why we’re doing a dry run,” Josie said. “We’ll pick the most likely spots and set up there. I’ve already asked the sheriff and the state police to assist so we’ve got bodies.”

“And you don’t think this guy is going to notice all these police personnel running around?”

“Once we mark the meeting sites, the crews will set up ahead of time, and a crew will go around making sure that nothing is too noticeable,” Josie explained. “Noah, we have to do this. It’s my only chance to get Luke and Victor back and hold Rowland accountable for what he’s done.”

“What if he doesn’t admit to anything? You said yourself he wouldn’t speak directly.”

“He killed those people,” Josie said with conviction. “I know he did, and he’ll tell me what I want to know because I don’t think he has any intention of letting me and Kim go. I think he intends for us to have an accident, just like his donor kids.”

She felt Noah’s eyes burning a hole in the side of her face. “Boss, I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I,” she said. “But it’s our best chance of stopping him and finding the baby and Luke.”

“He won’t bring them,” Noah said. “If he wants Kim—for whatever reason—and he wants you dead, he’s not going to bring them.”

“I thought of that. If he doesn’t bring them, maybe I can get him to tell us where they are. If we get him in custody, the DA is already willing to cut a deal with him if he gives up their location.”

“He also wants to shut Trinity up,” Noah pointed out. “Did you warn her?”

“I called her this morning. The sheriff is putting someone on her until we get Rowland in custody.”

“If we get him in custody,” Noah said.

Josie pulled off the road and onto a wide, gravel lookout area. It was on top of one of the mountains that separated Bellewood from Denton. Red Hawk Lookout, a sign announced. She parked the car and they got out, walking to the edge of the lookout where a thigh-high aluminum barrier stood between them and the sharp drop-off to a tree-lined valley hundreds of feet below. Leaning over the barrier and looking into the vast canyon, Josie felt slightly dizzy.

“This is it,” she said. “This is where he’ll be.”