‘Erin is out of surgery,’ Rafe told Molina wearily. He looked like he’d aged twenty years in the past four hours. ‘She should make a full recovery in time. Sasha only needed stitches – it was just a graze. She and my mother are with Erin now. They’ll stay with her until she can be released, and they’ll all go back to my parents’ house.’
‘That’s good,’ Molina said. She looked over at Gideon. ‘And you? You’re all right, too?’
Gideon was glaring at Mercy – really, he hadn’t stopped glaring since the bullets had stopped flying – but now turned to his boss with a sigh. ‘Physically, yes.’ His hand had taken one of Ephraim’s first shots, but there would be no lasting damage and for that, Mercy was grateful. His bruised ribs seemed to be giving him more pain at the moment. Thankfully the Kevlar had stopped the bullets, but the impact wasn’t insignificant. ‘I won’t be boxing anytime soon, but I suppose that’s a small price to pay.’
Daisy’s lips twitched. ‘You didn’t box before, Gideon.’
He smiled down at her, a true smile. ‘That’s why it’s a small price to pay.’
Molina shook her head, maybe even fondly, Mercy thought.
‘Captain Holmes?’ Molina leaned forward to look at André and Farrah, who sat at the end of the row. ‘Dr Romero? You are also all right?’
‘I’ll be fine,’ André said, his deep voice a soft rumble. ‘Farrah is shaken up, but we’ll both be okay.’
Farrah only nodded her agreement, her lips pressed firmly together. But she squeezed Mercy’s hand encouragingly, which was exactly what Mercy needed at the moment.
‘Glad to hear it.’ Molina crossed her arms. ‘Tell me what happened.’
They’d been put in a private waiting area at Molina’s request, having informed the hospital that the shooter was still out there, his behavior unpredictable. A federal agent out of the Reno office had positioned himself outside the door to the waiting room as soon as they’d been shown in.
Mercy wondered if it was to keep Ephraim and the press out, or to keep the six of them in. Because now that the pleasantries were over, Molina looked pissed off.
Mercy cleared her throat. ‘This is my responsibility. I wanted to check out a store where an Eden quilt had been purchased.’
Molina nodded. ‘Agent Hunter told me that Gideon had mentioned the quilts. What happened then?’
‘We drove to Snowbush and found the jewelry box in the general store.’ It had also been taken into evidence, and Mercy had almost cried at the loss. ‘It was made by my stepfather, in Eden. I recognized his handiwork.’ She went on to explain what had happened in the store, that the young woman behind the counter had remembered DJ Belmont. ‘We didn’t know Ephraim was tracking us.’
‘I found a tracker hidden behind Detective Rhee’s hubcap,’ Gideon said. ‘I gave it to the agents who took over the crime scene. Burton had been following Erin.’
‘When would he have had the opportunity to plant the tracker?’ Molina asked.
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ Rafe said. ‘There was only a short window when her vehicle would have been completely unattended, and that was when we’d all first arrived at my house last night and Erin was clearing each room. That would have been around nine thirty, maybe nine forty-five. Gideon and Daisy had already left, and the rest of us were either in the garage or in the house. After that, she was either sitting in her own vehicle or her backup was on watch outside. She was still there when we left this morning.’
‘Detective Schumacher was assigned to night watch,’ Molina said. ‘I handpicked her for the job. I know she’s trustworthy. At least we’ve established the time frame. And none of you left the house until morning?’
‘Sasha and Erin went for a run, but Mercy and I didn’t leave.’
‘And my friend Farrah and her fiancé were there for an hour or so after we left,’ Mercy added.
Molina’s brow went up. ‘I know. Dr Romero called me after she’d read the email you left her saying where you’d gone.’
Mercy glanced at Farrah, who glared back at her. ‘You scared me,’ Farrah said, her vulnerable tone at odds with her glare. ‘I don’t apologize for snitching on you.’
Mercy squeezed her hand. ‘I’m sorry I scared you.’
Farrah sniffed. ‘Don’t do it again. And thank you, Special Agent Molina, for acting so quickly to get us help.’
Molina acknowledged her thanks with a nod. ‘As soon as you told me, I sent Agent Hunter after you.’ Tom Hunter had arrived at the clearing as the local emergency personnel had been caring for Erin. He had been extremely unhappy with all of them.
Molina turned back to Gideon. ‘That call you made to my office is going to save your bacon, Agent Reynolds. It’s going to allow me to protect you from repercussions.’
Repercussions. Shit. ‘Has your team found anything at the scene?’ Mercy asked tentatively, because this clusterfuck really was her responsibility and had left her with very mixed feelings.
She was terribly sorry that Erin, Sasha, André, and Gideon had been hurt. She was sorry that Farrah had been terrorized. But she wasn’t sorry that she’d gone to Snowbush herself, and she wasn’t sorry she’d found the prior Eden compound.
And she still was definitely not sorry that she’d made herself a target to Ephraim Burton. That she’d caused her friends and family a moment of fear, yes. That she’d faced Ephraim, knocking him off guard long enough to be shot by Rafe? Not a single sorry for that.
‘The scene is secured,’ Molina said briskly. ‘We’ve arranged for a team with ground-penetrating radar to scan the grounds around the graveyard at first light. If the Comstock family is buried there and you believe that they were likely killed because of Eileen’s escape, we need to find their bodies.’
‘And Burton?’ Rafe asked.
‘Still missing,’ Molina said. ‘We found a Cadillac parked off the county road, about a half mile from where you turned off.’ She hesitated. ‘It belonged to Sean MacGuire.’
Rafe’s mouth fell open. ‘He lives behind my parents.’
Not another death, Mercy thought. Please. ‘Did Ephraim kill him?’
‘No, but his prognosis isn’t good. His daughter had already informed the local police that the car was stolen. She’d found her father bound to a chair in his home and gagged. He’s a diabetic with a constant glucose monitoring system, which transmits his sugar levels to an app on his daughter’s phone. When her phone informed her that his levels were dropping, she rushed over and found him. That was late this morning. The Cadillac had GPS, but it had been disabled.’