Chapter Eighteen
Lily did not sleep two days, but she did stay in bed for ten hours before Special Agent Shipman rang her doorbell until she was forced to answer it. This time he held up his identification. “We need to interview you about what happened with you and Jackson,” he said.
A woman with a long, narrow dark face and carefully braided hair stepped out from behind him. “I’m Special Agent Green,” she said. She held up a cardboard to-go cup. “I have coffee.”
Shelby peered out from around Lily’s legs and growled. Preston frowned at the dog. “That dog doesn’t like me much,” he said.
That makes two of us, Lily thought. “She’s very protective,” she said.
She held the door open wider. “Don’t make any sudden moves and you’ll be fine.
” She really didn’t believe Shelby would attack him unprovoked, but she enjoyed the uneasy look on his face after she said the words.
“Let me get dressed, and I’ll talk to you.
” She didn’t give him time to respond, merely left the room, Shelby close after her.
By the time she had dressed, combed her hair and brushed her teeth, she was feeling more human.
“Thanks for the coffee,” she said to Agent Green, and sipped from the cup.
It was still fairly hot, and tasted wonderful, full of cream and caramel syrup.
Far superior to the weak black brew they had drunk in the woods.
“We need your statement about everything that happened, starting when you found Jackson,” Preston said.
“First, tell me what’s going on with Mike,” she asked. “Was he behind Jackson’s kidnapping?”
The two agents exchanged looks. “I can’t reveal details of our case,” Shipman said.
She set down the coffee and leaned toward him. “The man tried to kill me. He held a gun to my head. He kidnapped a little boy I care about very much. You can at least tell me something—or I won’t tell you anything.”
“We can have the court compel you to provide evidence,” Shipman said.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Go ahead. Or you could tell me what Mike was up to and I’ll tell you everything right now.”
“We believe Michael Swanson had made a deal with the Chinese government to sell them the details for technology Endicott Industries developed for the US military,” Agent Green said.
She ignored Preston’s scowl. “Agent Shipman was embedded in the company to look for evidence to refute or support these suspicions.”
“Did Denny Endicott know about this?” Lily asked. She held her breath, waiting for the answer. She didn’t want to think her friend could be involved in such a scheme.
“We don’t believe so, no,” Green said. “But at some point in the past few months, he did become suspicious that someone was leaking confidential information. He tightened security. This made it impossible for Swanson to help himself to the information he needed.”
“We believe the Chinese put pressure on him to deliver more information,” Shipman took up the story. “At first, Swanson arranged for a couple of guys to rough up Endicott and threaten him if he didn’t hand over the information they wanted.”
“That was the night I was babysitting,” Lily said. “The night you came to the house and threatened me when I wouldn’t let you in. What was that all about?”
Shipman scowled. “I was looking for evidence of Endicott’s involvement.”
“You were out of line, treating me that way.”
“I was focused on doing my job,” Shipman said. “It doesn’t matter anyway, since you wouldn’t let me in.”
“We’ve never found evidence that Mr. Endicott was involved,” Agent Green said.
“Denny said he refused to cooperate with the people who threatened him that night,” Lily said.
Shipman nodded. “The threats didn’t work, so the next phase was to kidnap Jackson.
The idea was that Mike would volunteer to intercede with the kidnappers on Endicott’s behalf.
He would turn over the classified information they wanted and return with Jackson.
He’d be a hero, Endicott would trust him even more, and the kidnappers would disappear back to China—until the next time Mike had secrets to sell. ”
“Why would Mike betray his friend that way?” Lily asked.
“He says he didn’t have a choice,” Green said. “That the Chinese threatened to kill him if he didn’t do what they wanted.”
“People like this always have an excuse,” Shipman said. “They offered him a million dollars in an offshore account. That’s plenty of motivation for a lot of people.”
“Who was the man who actually took Jackson from the ski resort?” Lily asked.
“His name was Donald Johanson,” Green said.
“He was married to a Chinese national and lived in the country for twenty years before he returned to the States to do dirty work for his handlers. He took charge of the boy as a way of having more leverage over Mike. When the avalanche killed him, Mike was frantic. He ended up kidnapping Endicott himself. But without his son, Endicott would reveal nothing.”
“But Denny was in the first helicopter that arrived,” she said. “How did he escape?”
“The sheriff’s department became suspicious when they couldn’t contact Endicott and went to his plant. They found him tied up in a vacant conference room and freed him. He told them about Mike.”
“Endicott thought Mike and Preston were working together,” Agent Green said. Her face was expressionless, but Lily thought she detected a gleam in the agent’s eye.
“We cleared that up soon enough,” Preston said. “Though I wasn’t there at the time. I was trying to track you down.”
“Who shot at Scott at the top of the ridge?” Lily asked.
“That was another of the kidnappers,” Preston said. “They were supposed to rendezvous with him once Mike handed over the information from Endicott. They planned to leave Jackson somewhere and communicate his whereabouts once they were safely out of the country.”
“At least, that’s according to the one man who agreed to talk to us,” Agent Green said.
“Do you have everyone involved in custody now?” Lily asked.
“Not everyone.” Preston’s face was as expressionless as a mannequin. “We believe some of the group have left the country.”
“We would appreciate it if you’d give us your statement now,” Agent Green said.
“All right.” She drank the last of the coffee, took a deep breath and told them everything, beginning with the day Jackson disappeared until the helicopters touched down in the valley.
By the time she was done, she felt drained emotionally and physically.
She wanted to crawl back under the covers and stay there.
Agent Green switched off the recorder that had sat between them. “Thank you,” she said. “We may have more questions later, but that should do for now.”
“Did you interview Jackson?” Lily asked. “And Scott?”
“We’re going to talk to Jackson later today,” Green said. “With his father and the family attorney present.”
“We talked to your boyfriend,” Preston said. “His story matches up with yours.”
She started to tell him Scott wasn’t her boyfriend, but held her tongue. She didn’t know what he was, but clearly he was more to her now than a boss. And more than a friend. At least, she wanted him to be more.
“He wouldn’t talk to us until we returned his gun,” Green said. “And he asked about you. If you were all right.”
Warmth bloomed in her chest at the words. Surely that meant he cared.
The agents left and she went back to bed, and back to sleep.
She slept fitfully, and was disoriented and out of sorts when she awoke.
She checked her phone and found messages from Nina and Connor, asking how she was doing.
But nothing from Scott. She didn’t like how much this silence from him stung, but told herself he was probably still sleeping.
By the next morning, she was feeling more like herself.
She was on the calendar to work that day, so she dressed, harnessed Shelby and took the shuttle to the ski resort.
Most of the rest of the crew was there, and they greeted her with hugs and pats on the back, asked how she was doing, and praised and patted Shelby.
Word had spread that the dog had been a hero, and there were jokes about how she should have been a police dog.
“All right, everybody, we’d better get started.”
The words were the ones Scott always used, but the person who said them was Connor.
He stood while the rest of them sat or leaned against the walls of the patrol shack.
“As most of you have probably heard by now, Scott turned in his resignation, effective immediately. I’m filling in as interim while corporate decides what they want to do about the job. ”
“What!” Lily’s cry of alarm made everyone turn to look at her. “Scott resigned? When?”
Connor looked down at the clipboard in his hand. “Yesterday morning. I thought you knew.”
No, she had not known. “Did he say why? Is he all right?”
“I was as surprised as you are,” Connor said. “So I stopped by his place to see him. He was fine. Just said he had another opportunity he wanted to pursue. He seemed happy about it.”
He had told Connor all of this, but not her. The knowledge hurt. She sat back. “Okay. Sorry I interrupted.”
He read down the list of patrol assignments and tasks that needed to be seen to. She half listened, still dazed at this turn of events. When Connor stopped talking and everyone prepared to leave, she pulled on her jacket, then stood still, realizing she had no idea what she was supposed to do.
“You’re with me this morning,” Nina said. “We’re patrolling the Glades.”
Nina waited until they were on the lift before she spoke. “Real shocker about Scott, huh?”
“Yeah,” Lily agreed. “He created the avy dog program. Why would he quit?”
“Did something happen while you were out there, looking for Jackson?” Nina asked. “Something to change his mind?”
So much had happened. Scott had been shot, but hadn’t died. They had been cold and hungry and lost and desperate. They had shared a sleeping bag, and she had never felt closer to another person.