Karen Vail 01 - Velocity Read Online Free PDF Page A

into tears. That’s when Vail saw the young boy behind his mother, holding on to her leg. Merilynn reached out—her face had lost al color—and Dixon grabbed her, helping her gently to the floor.
    “What’s wrong, Mommy?” the boy asked. The dog started barking again.
    Merilynn pul ed her son close. “Mommy’s not feeling too good.” She took a deep breath. “But I’l —I’l be okay. You want to go let Bart into the backyard?” She nodded at him and forced a smile. “Go on, Mario.”
    When the boy walked out, Merilynn turned back to Vail. Tears streamed down her face. “How,” she final y asked. “How did it happen?”
    Vail sat on the floor beside Merilynn. “A gunshot wound,” Vail said. “We’d captured a serial kil er the task force was after. We think it was the guy who kidnapped you and Mario—”
    “You—you caught him?”
    Vail regarded Merilynn’s face before answering. “We did. And Ray . . . Ray was a big part of that. But while I was interrogating the suspect, Ray . . . Ray came into the room and shot him. One of the rounds ricocheted and hit Ray in the neck. We tried to save him. We rushed him to the hospital, but . . . ” Vail stole a look at Dixon.
    “He asked that we make sure to look out for you and your son.”

    Merilynn swiped a hand across her wet cheeks, bal ed up her night-gown and used it to blot the tears. Vail and Dixon waited, Vail keeping a hand on Merilynn’s shoulder to support her.
    “Ray told us about what happened. With the kidnapping—”
    “Is he stil alive?” Merilynn asked. “Did the bastard die?”
    Dixon and Vail shared a glance. Dixon said, “Al we know is that he’s out of surgery.”
    Merilynn straightened up. “Then I need to get out of here.”
    “‘Get out,’” Dixon said. “What do you mean?”
    “He’s going to come after us. He wil .”
    “Why?” Vail asked.
    “We need protection,” Merilynn said. “Or we need to leave.”
    “We’l make sure you’re taken care of. Don’t worry about that. But tel us what happened. When you got kidnapped, what—”
    “I think you need to leave us alone right now,” Merilynn said. She clumsily pushed herself up from the floor.
    Vail and Dixon rose as wel .
    “Look,” Vail said, “I know this is a tough time. But we’ve got a lot of unanswered questions, and someone else’s life might depend on those answers.”
    “I can’t help you. Sorry.” The dog began barking again.
    “A disc,” Vail pressed. “Ray mentioned something about a disc. Do you know what he was talking about?”
    Merilynn swung her head toward the yard. The barking continued. “No.” She faced Vail. “I don’t know anything about a disc.”
    “But—”
    “He’s going to wake the neighbors,” Merilynn said as she hurried out of the room.
    “Please let yourself out. And lock the door behind you.”
    WALKING TOWARD THEIR CAR, Vail said, “Something’s not right. We need to come back. After the initial shock fades. Tomorrow. We have to find out what the hel ’s going on. What she knows.”
    “Meantime, I’l have the Sheriff’s Department post a deputy. Until we know what the deal is. For al we know, Mayfield had an accomplice.”
    Vail stopped. Her head swung hard to Dixon. “I hadn’t thought of that. I should have, but I didn’t.”
    “None of us considered that possibility. We’ve been going almost 24/7 for days.
    Who had the time to step back and think things through?”
    Vail rested her head on the Ford’s doorframe. She was exhausted emotional y and physical y drained. Her life the past two months had been bordering on disaster, and she needed a vacation. Badly.

    But with Robby missing, she knew a respite to recharge was not going to be coming soon.

    6
    A fter the sheriff’s deputy arrived to baby-sit the Lugo household, Dixon headed toward Highway 29, the main drag that worked its way through the various business districts of the Napa Val ey. She turned to Vail, who had gone silent.