Chapter Seventeen #2
“Beyond that, I must confess that in the course of surveilling you and keeping me on top of your every move, I found myself smitten by you and wanted to get as much info on how you led your life as possible…” He took an uneven breath.
“If everything had worked out, I might have tried to worm my way into your life, romantically speaking. But your involvement with FBI Special Agent Cooper Reid seemed to put that fantasy out of reach. Along with Fonseca and Saldana getting themselves in hot water by being arrested. Too bad. So sad,” Gilbert uttered.
Lexi frowned at the thought of his maniacal obsession with her. Especially given his aberrant behavior that led to two deaths of people in her lane as an architectural consultant. And now holding a gun on her and forcing her to drive to parts unknown.
“So why kidnap me now?” she almost hesitated to ask. “You must know the walls are closing in on you…why make things any worse than they already are?”
Gilbert peered at her and responded sarcastically, “Because I have no interest in spending the rest of my life in prison, okay? You’re going to be my insurance policy in getting out of town.
I suspect that Saldana and Fonseca have already ratted me out to save their own skin, including the fact that I paid them to keep tabs on you.
Once I’m free and clear of Maricopa County, I’ll let you go. You have my word.”
Yeah, right, Lexi thought, dismissing this out of hand. She was smart enough to know that he had no intention of letting her go—alive. Any more than Horace or Neal, who could testify against him. Gilbert fully intended to kill her, once her usefulness was up.
Her only chance to thwart this—aside from Cooper or other law enforcement finding her before it was too late—was to fight to survive on her own. Or would she just be fighting a losing battle?
WHEN COOPER REACHED Lexi’s studio, he immediately spotted Gilbert Jacquin’s Lincoln Nautilus in the parking lot.
Getting out of his vehicle, Cooper removed his firearm from its holster and examined the suspect’s SUV. No sign of Jacquin.
Was he inside the building, accosting Lexi? Or had he already killed her?
Sucking in a steadying breath, Cooper cautiously headed into the studio. Before he could go much farther, his eyes rested on the broken cell phone on the floor. It was Lexi’s.
Cooper called out to her, his pulse quickening at what he might find. She gave no response. “Are you here, Lexi?” he repeated, to no avail.
A quick walk-through of the place turned up empty. Lexi was nowhere to be found. Where was she? Where had Jacquin taken her—and how?
Cooper raced back outside. Only then did he realize that Lexi’s red Infiniti was missing.
Jacquin must have abducted Lexi in her own vehicle, Cooper told himself. He got on his cell phone to issue a BOLO alert for the Infiniti QX50 before getting back into his SUV in search of Lexi.
ARMED WITH A search warrant, Hallie and Robyn, accompanied by uniformed officers and a K-9 unit, forced their way into Gilbert Jacquin’s two-story modern prairie-style home on East Earll Drive.
Though Hallie suspected that the wanted special projects administrator was on the run—hoping to escape the fate of his paid minions in answering for the murders of carjacking victims Horace Eckhart and Neal Zapponi—she was sure that he wouldn’t get very far.
Now that they knew that Jacquin had abducted Lexi and forced her to drive them from her studio, it was only a matter of time before they tracked them down.
I just hope Lexi can emerge from this unharmed, Hallie told herself as they went through the suspect’s contemporary furnished house—looking for any evidence that could be used against him in a court of law in making the case against Jacquin for conspiracy to commit murder, two carjacking-related homicides and armed robberies, and public corruption.
Robyn emerged from a downstairs room, holding with nitrile gloves a laptop.
“I’m guessing that we’ll find a treasure trove of information in here that can give us some insight into just how Jacquin has been engaging in criminal activity in his alter ego while betraying the public trust in a massive way. ”
Hallie nodded. “I agree. Jacquin likely kept records of his bribery schemes—along with the names of anyone who may have been swept up in it—for his benefit and as an insurance policy.” She stated, “He’s going down, one way or the other.
” She spotted an open box of ammunition on the hardwood floor of the great room, suspecting that Jacquin had used it to load the firearm he likely had in his possession to confront Lexi and abduct her in a desperate effort to extricate himself from a disturbing mess of his own making.
Unless they could stop him and save Lexi.
“WHY WOULD YOU risk everything by bribing someone—or more than one person—to get ahead or whatever?” Lexi posed to her abductor, as she continued to try to buy time, but was curious as well in questioning the special projects administrator.
Gilbert, still keeping the gun pointed at her, bristled as he responded, “Why does anyone do anything these days—money and power. You see, I wasn’t just out for myself, per se.
Greedy investors were more than willing to pony up in order to be on the front end of some lucrative real estate projects.
That’s where I came in—using my position with the City of Phoenix to invest in the right developments and developers, so everyone who counted was happy with the results.
Enriching myself in the process was an added bonus, along with maintaining my role as a facilitator. ”
Lexi glared at him. “Add to that a murderer and kidnapper,” she snorted. “Sounds like you’ve really thought this through, Gilbert.” Real smart—actually very dumb and doomed to fail, she told herself.
Gilbert grunted. “Believe me, I have thought it through, Lexi,” he stated in an undertone.
“Practically every step along the way.” He sighed.
“Truthfully, I may not have imagined that we’d be at this point—you and I—where I’m forced to take countermeasures to deal with a problem.
But if nothing else, I’ve always been good at improvising when the circumstances call for it. ”
I don’t like the sound of that, Lexi told herself, while weighing her options when dealing with a clearly desperate opponent. “If you say so,” she voiced, realizing that she wouldn’t be able to charm her way out of this.
“Pull in here,” Gilbert directed, as they drove down Sonoran Desert Drive and approached a housing development under construction.
Lexi recognized the area, not far from the Sonoran Preserve, located in North Phoenix.
It had nearly ten thousand acres and multiple trails.
Keely Pointe would include more than a thousand single-family homes with a number of floor plans that were adjustable.
Lexi was one of several architects who had worked with multiple developers on the project, led by Wolftyn Senmoore Developments and the Kenniston Group.
Driving into the half-finished construction site, Lexi gazed at her captor and asked, ill at ease, “Why are we here?”
Gilbert licked his lips and replied evasively, “Just need to tie up some loose ends. Get out of the car.”
Her eyes widened with alarm, sensing what he had in mind. “You intend to what—shoot me here—then steal my car?”