Manhunt. Lisa Phillips

      Eric made a gagging noise and picked up the phone. “Two pizzas it is.”

      Half an hour later the door buzzed and the rest of the team swept in. Jonah wiped his mouth with a napkin and broke off to Turner’s office. Two of the others had pizza boxes from the place he’d ordered them from. He should never have paid over the phone.

      They tossed the boxes on the side of Eric’s desk. A detective from Portland who’d been transferred to their team grinned. “Thanks for dinner.”

      Eric flipped the lid of the top box open. A single strand of cheese remained. He pushed up the other. The entire ham-and-pineapple pizza was untouched.

      “Charles!”

      Eric looked over. Jonah shook hands with the mayor, but it was more businesslike than personal. He couldn’t tell if Jonah liked or disliked the mayor. Eric wasn’t sure if that said more about Charles or about Jonah.

      Marshal Turner hauled his girth out of his chair and slapped Charles on the back. All three men broke into a round of manly chuckles, though Jonah’s laugh sounded more polite than anything else.

      Eric sighed. The WITSEC office he’d worked in had been much smaller. Navigating the politics of a large fugitive apprehension team was proving to be a lot harder. It was going to take him a while to figure out each member of the team, and to ascertain how he fit into the group.

      Eric slid out Hailey’s pizza box and handed it to her.

      She frowned. “You don’t want any?”

      “I’m not hungry.”

      Hailey’s phone rang and she snapped it up. “Shelder.” She listened. “Thank you.”

      She replaced the phone and looked at him. “Blood test has been done. They’re emailing over the results.”

      She hopped up and strode to Turner’s door, knocked and stuck her head in. Seconds later Jonah strode out. Eric got up and met their huddle around Hailey’s desk, while she opened the email and scanned the test results.

      “The blood found at the airport was degraded too much by rain and jet fuel. They weren’t able to pull together a pure enough sample to run through the system.”

      Jonah’s eyes were dark. “So we’ve got nothing?” He glanced at Eric for a second, and then back at Hailey. “Both of you fire a shot, one of you hits someone with enough accuracy to make them bleed, and it turns up nothing?”

      Eric folded his arms. The bad weather wasn’t their fault.

      Hailey sat back in her chair. “We need another lead.”

      “We need to find Deirdre.”

      Hailey glanced at Eric and nodded. She’d done well earlier, coming up with the result they’d gained at Deirdre’s house. Anything was better than nothing.

      Jonah glanced at the window, where rain was pounding against the glass and gray clouds hung low in the sky. “Get back out there. Get me something on Farrell.”

      Eric nodded.

      Hailey stood. “I have to pick up Kerry.”

      Jonah said, “Okay. Do what you gotta do and then get back to work.” He turned to Eric. “We need to know who helped Farrell.”

      Eric sat back down at his desk and watched Hailey pull on her jacket while Jonah strode back over to Turner’s office and let himself in. None of them had expected the blood test results to turn up absolutely nothing.

      His phone rang. The display said Aaron.

      Eric sighed, not at all in the mood to speak with his twin brother. No matter how many times he was going to call.

       FIVE

      Hailey sat in the car looking up and down the sidewalk for Kerry and her neon backpack. Eric’s disappointment in her refusing his offer of a partnership stung. Still, something kept Hailey on the ledge instead of jumping off and trusting Eric completely. She just didn’t want to admit to herself that it had everything to do with Charles.

      Eventually the team was going to see her for the asset she was. Eric was a decent partner, but he didn’t get what she was trying to do. He had no need to prove himself to anyone, but Hailey had to keep the doubts at bay. She couldn’t let herself be ruled by what the people in this town had thought of her for so long.

      Kerry needed to grow up knowing her mom fought for what she wanted. She needed to know what strength was and be able to call on it herself. Kids learned by example, and Hailey intended her life to show how far she could still go, in spite of the bad choices she’d made in her teen and college years. It was that or curl up and cry, and weakness was no good.

      She called Charles.

      “Yes?”

      Did he have to say it like that? “Kerry isn’t here. Beth-Ann didn’t get her after all, did she?”

      “I told you she has an appointment. Kerry isn’t in the cul-de-sac?”

      “What cul-de-sac? I’m at the bus stop.” She shifted in her seat and peered out the windshield. There was a street a ways up—was that what he was talking about? And why couldn’t he have told her that in the first place?

      He sighed. “Kerry waits to be picked up in the cul-de-sac.”

      And if she didn’t know Hailey was the one picking her up, Kerry was probably waiting there. “North of the bus stop?” She got out and started walking, squinting to read the road sign. “Almera?”

      “Yes.” He hung up.

      Hailey shoved her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. She rounded the corner and saw a dark-colored muscle car stopped in the middle of the street at an angle. The driver’s door was open, and the dome light was on.

      Farrell had a grip on Kerry’s arm, and was pulling her toward the car. Kerry was kicking at his legs, tugging on him and valiantly trying to dislodge his hold on her. That’s my girl.

      “Hey!” Hailey drew her weapon as she ran. “Let her go, Farrell.”

      Kerry’s whole body jerked and she looked over. “Mom!”

      Hailey aimed her weapon at the escapee, her pounding pace bringing her closer to them. “Hands on your head, Farrell.”

      His eyes narrowed when he saw how close she was. Had he been so focused on taking Hailey’s daughter he hadn’t registered her approach?

      He let Kerry go and ran for the car door. Kerry yelped and hit the ground, landing in a sprawl on top of her backpack, which was still on her back.

      Farrell pulled away, swinging the car around. The door slammed as he drove away.

      Hailey knelt by Kerry. “Are you okay?”

      “Yeah, Mom.” She smiled, but Hailey saw her lip quiver. “Thanks for not being late.”

      Hailey hauled her daughter to her feet and wrapped her arms around her. She gave Kerry a quick squeeze before she leaned back, pulling out her phone. “One second, okay?”

      Kerry saw the cell phone and nodded, burrowing into Hailey’s coat.

      Hailey looked down at her while the phone rang. “Where’s your jacket? You’re soaked.”

      Kerry shrugged. “I was too hot.”

      On the other end of the line, Jonah picked up. “Rivers.”

      “Farrell just tried to abduct Kerry.”

      It took ten minutes for them to reach the cul-de-sac, at which point Hailey and Kerry were both soaked, though she’d made Kerry get out the jacket from her backpack and actually put it on.

      Jonah’s