The paramedics were unloading a gurney when I got outside.
I didn’t want them to hassle me. So I was thankful I was still wearing my leather jacket and that the blood from my shoulder hadn’t seeped through too much. “There’s a woman inside,” I told them. “She didn’t make it. The suspect’s jaw is broken. Don’t give him anything for pain.”
Calvin was standing beside my car. He gasped when he saw me, and gestured toward my leg. “My dear boy, you’ve been shot!”
I looked where he was pointing. “Stabbed, actually.” I didn’t mention my shoulder.
“That must hurt, terribly.”
Yes, it does.
“I’m okay.” On my way to the car I was able to grab a pressure bandage from a paramedic and tighten it around my thigh. At the last minute I went ahead and threw one around my shoulder too, then opened the driver’s door.
“You can’t be serious, my boy,” Calvin said. “I’ll drive.”
For just a moment I actually thought about letting him. It would’ve given me a chance to put pressure on the gunshot wound and quiet the bleeding. Besides, using my injured leg to work the gas and the brake was not something I was looking forward to, but letting him drive was too far outside of protocol even for me. “I’m good.”
I thanked him for helping me find the slaughterhouse, got directions from dispatch, and took off for First Capital Bank in Wales.
Radar had done as Tod’s kidnapper had demanded.
Once he was inside the bank, once he had the three bank employees and two customers restrained, he’d called the cable news stations and instructed them to send their news crews immediately, to have their cameras ready, because they would need to catch what was going to happen at 4:25.
And now, already, the news crews and law enforcement were starting to arrive. SWAT was setting up a perimeter around the parking lot.
The phone rang. Earlier Tod’s kidnapper had told him to expect a call and Radar picked up.
The man let him speak to his son, who was terrified, crying, then he warned Radar again not to let him down. “You would not want to see what Tod’s going to look like if you don’t do what I said. I’ll be watching.”
Then before hanging up, he told Radar what had happened beneath the barn.
Convinced the man was telling the truth, Radar lowered the receiver and tried to steel himself to actually do what would be necessary to save his son’s life.
Ralph stepped out of his car.
Sheriff’s deputies, local police, and a SWAT team had taken position around the bank. News crews from four different cable stations were setting up remotes just beyond the police tape. More news vans were on their way.
He looked around, then asked a lieutenant who appeared to be calling the shots, “Who was in charge here?”
“I’m in charge,” the man answered sharply. “Who are you?”
“Were.”
“Were?”
“You were in charge.” Ralph flipped out his creds. “Hand me that megaphone.”