Joe took in the news. "Did Mills actually lose control, or did he have a little device put in his car?"
"Unknown," the Gray Man replied.
"Did you find his body?" Frank asked.
The Gray Man shook his head. "Not yet, but with how deep Puget Sound is, it's not strange that we haven't found a body."
"How do you know he's dead?" Joe asked skeptically.
"Based on the testimony of the waitstaff, he was in no condition to swim out of the car. Also, Puget Sound was about 45 degrees last night. He would have undergone cold shock response immediately. Even if he survived that, he would have lost muscle control in about ten minutes, and that's not even mentioning the fact he possibly died in the crash. The vehicle suffered serious damage."
"So that's it?" Joe folded his arms. "One suspect dead, the other missing?"
The Gray Man ignored Joe. "Fenton, I'd like you to come with me to see if we can locate McCall."
"Of course." Fenton and the Gray Man stood and walked to the exit. Fenton pivoted. "Boys, you need to stay here at make sure nothing happens to Callie and Vanessa. If I need you, I'll let you know."
Frank and Joe knew better than to protest. As soon as Fenton left, they looked at each other.
"We both know there's no way that's happening," Frank muttered.
Joe smiled. "Brother, it's good to have you back."
"For the last time, I have no idea where Brian is!" Callie threw up her hands in frustration.
"We're calling him McCall now," Joe pointed out.
Callie wrinkled her nose at him.
"We can't just sit around here doing nothing," Frank complained. "Just think a little harder, what were-"
"Frank," Vanessa interjected. "Enough. She said she doesn't know." Frank obediently quieted down. "Now, what's going to happen is we are going to take a little break to calm down. Callie, would you like to go get some coffee with me?"
Callie grabbed her wallet while shooting daggers at Frank with her eyes. "That sounds great."
Joe turned to Frank after the girls left. "What's wrong with you?"
"What do you mean," Frank said defensively.
"You're not normally that rude to Callie. You were really condescending to her for not knowing where a guy she caught a glimpse of one time is hiding out."
"Condescending? When did you add four syllable words to your vocabulary?"
Joe flipped Frank the bird.
"Since when did you become so protective of Callie anyway?" Frank asked.
"I'm not protecting Callie, I'm judging you," Joe shot back. "She can take care of herself, but when my brother is acting like a jackass, I'm going to call him out."
"I'm a jackass now? Takes one to know one."
"When did you add third-grade comebacks to your vocabulary?"
Frank stormed out of the girls' hotel room. Joe threw a pillow at him on his way out.
"Was I overreacting or was Frank being a total jackass?" Callie asked Vanessa as they sipped lattes in the hotel coffee shop.
"He was out-of-line," Vanessa said. "But it wasn't because he doesn't care about you. You know how they are. They're like a dog with a bone when they get on a case. They can't think about anything else."
Callie paused for a moment before completely changing the subject. "Do you think Frank is cute?"
Vanessa choked on her coffee. When she recovered from the coughing fit, she looked up to see Callie staring off into space.
"What do you mean?" Vanessa responded.
"Do you think he's attractive?"
"Uh, I mean, I-I guess," Vanessa stammered. "I think most people would say he's objectively good-looking."
"I don't mean in general," Callie said. "I mean you specifically. Do you think he's hot?"
Vanessa opened her mouth to respond but didn't know what to say.
"I know," Callie said. "It's weird when it's your boyfriend's brother. It's like saying whether your cousin is good-looking."
Callie dropped the subject and stared aimlessly into the air behind Vanessa. The silence was broken when a worker from the coffee shop walked up to their table.
"Miss, you left this on the counter," the cashier said, handing Callie her credit card.
"Thanks," Callie responded, "I'm always leaving that someplace." She went to put her card back in her wallet and frowned. "What is this?" she muttered, pulling out a strip of paper. She looked at Vanessa. "We need to go back upstairs."
"It's Mills' handwriting," Callie explained. Frank reached for the scrap of paper. Callie handed it to Joe.
"He had terrible handwriting," Joe commented as he examined the paper. "Was he having a stroke when he wrote this?"
Frank snatched it and grimaced. "Wow, this is terrible."
"I told you," Joe said smugly. "We should find his elementary teacher and write her an angry letter."
Callie grabbed the paper back. "It's not that hard to read," she said huffily. "It's an address. He must have slipped it into my wallet at the restaurant."
"Should we tell Mr. Hardy?" Vanessa asked.
"Well," Joe began.
"We don't want to waste his time if it turns out to be nothing," Frank finished.
Joe nodded. "Frank's right. The Gray Man's time is too valuable. Frank and I will check it out and if it turns out to be something, then we'll let him know."
Callie stood up. "You're leaving us here over our dead bodies."
Vanessa stood and crossed her arms in agreement.
Joe parked Fenton's rental car in a side parking lot at Paine Field, an airport 30 minutes north of downtown Seattle. The address had led them to a complex of private aircraft hangars about three-quarters of a mile from the main terminal.
"Stay here while Frank and I check it out," Joe said.
"What did I say about our dead bodies?" Callie shot back.
"That's exactly what we're trying to avoid," Frank replied calmly. "We need someone behind the wheel so we can make a quick getaway if we need to. We also need you two to keep an eye out to make sure no one sneaks up on us from behind."
"Our phones are on silent," Joe added, "but we'll be checking them."
Callie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine."
Vanessa wrapped herself in the hotel blanket she had brought. "It looks cold out there. Don't get shot."
"Wow," Frank muttered under his breath to Joe as they peeked around a stack of pallets. "That's a G700."
"You know I have no idea what that means," Joe whispered back as they gazed at the shiny private jet.
"It's the newest Gulfstream. That's at least 80 million dollars right there."
Joe went to whistle but stopped.
"What's with all the activity?" Joe asked. "Are they getting ready to fly out?" A group of men flowed in and around the aircraft performing inspections and loading boxes.
Frank nodded. "Brian may be trying to make his getaway. We need to find out where this plane is going."
"Let's split up."
"Okay, but we need to be careful. Those workers could be dangerous."
Frank headed for an area of the hangar that contained business offices while Joe tried to get closer to the plane to see if Brian was inside. Joe heard a rustling noise and ducked behind a nearby Cessna. Two workers walked by holding a toolbox.
"I'm so sick of these rich guys," one grumbled. "They do everything last minute and expect us to be at their beck and call."
Joe watched the two men exit the hangar and started moving again. He noticed the work had ceased and the workers were gone.
"Now's my time," he thought as he slinked toward the Gulfstream.
"Not so fast, Mr. Hardy!"
Joe froze and turned toward the source of the noise. Brian, flanked by three men, had just entered the hangar and was walking toward Joe. He held Callie by the arm with a gun to her temple.