CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
She abandons her impatient wait for the elevator in favor of sprinting up the stairwell.
"Did we finally get him?" she pants, as she slows to a stop by Korsak's desk.
Hands on her hips, she sucks air in and rides out the painful stitch in her side with a grimace. That's what she gets nowadays for not warming up, and for feeling constantly beaten up by her phantom doorway travels.
Korsak lowers a manilla folder and his glasses to the desktop. "Charlie Mills' DNA on Rebecca Mills' body," he says. And that's it. So, Maura wasn't kidding about the partial part.
She spins around to Frost. Sends a beaming smile across his desk. "Well, partner, let's go pick him up!"
But there's no smile in return as he stands. "Jane -"
"He's being picked up," Korsak cuts in and she spins around again. "But not by you."
She gawps, disbelieving, as he slips his trusty notepad into his inside pocket. "What?"
"I have a team going to pick him up now,"he states. Barks his final order as he leaves. "But you -Stay."
She turns to Frost, eyebrows almost to her hairline, asthe door closes with an emphatic slam behind her. "Are you shittin' me?!"
Frosts sighs, clearly frustrated, and plants his hands on his hips. "I tried, Jane. I argued every reason I could think of why you had to stay on this case, but he wouldn't listen. The old man's as stubborn as you!"
"Well, that's too bad," she snips, folds her arms across her chest and cocks her hips. "Because he's wasting his time."
Frost frowns hard. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… Charlie Mills isn't home."
"Well, whenever he comes back they'll bring him in -"
With the repeated shake of her head, he doesn't bother to finish. She leans forward, enunciates clearly for emphasis and cannot help the gradual rise in her voice. "He's not coming back, Frost. He's. Gone! And unless you can find me his parents' old address, or some other place he might be hiding, he's going to skip town with the kid!"
"We checked his parents' address. Already ruled it out."
"What? Why?"
"It was vacant for a decade -"
"So?! He could be -"
"And they bulldozed it last month."
She paces. Trudges back and forth in the space between Korsak's desk and theirs. Pinches the bridge of her nose as she thinks desperately of ways to rescue Kelsey Mills.
On her final pass, she points to Frost's monitor, where the old Mills family farm information is now displayed. "Are there any other buildings on that plot? Outbuildings, a shed, anything that's still standing?"
As he sits, Frost shakes his head. "Nothing on the plans."
"So they had a house and nothing else… on what used to be a working farm? Doesn't that seem odd to you?"
A head tilt is his only concession as he starts tapping keys once more."I'll run some checks…"
It takes mere minutes, and when he exclaims in excitement,she can't help but wonder what a formidable team he and Nina would make together.
He enlarges an aerial photo on the screen. "There! It's hard to see because of the tree cover, but that's definitely a building there."
"Great!" she exclaims, more impatient than pleased as her eyes lock onto his."Now I have to ask you again; do you trust me?"
"Of course," he snorts, as if it's the most ridiculous question he's ever heard. And she almost crosses her fingers behind her back as she continues to fly recklessly by the seat of her pants.
"Good," she chirps with a smile, points an index finger first at his chest then at the exit."Get your coat. We have a case to close."
They hurry through the foyer. Dodging uniformed officers and civilians alike in their haste to exit.
But then Jane stops dead suddenly and Frost bumps into her from behind.
"Oof, shit!"
"Sorry, sorry," she rushes as she spins around, palms out. She circles around him and he mirrors, like a clumsy, impromptu waltz among a sea of people. "Do me a favor," she says, dragging keys from her jacket pocket and tossingthem to him as she backs away toward the Division One café. "Start the car! I'll be there in one minute."
As Frost disappears out onto the street, she does an about turn and makes a beeline for the head of dark hair and uniform she'd spotted on the way past.
"Frankie!" she calls, lifting his eyes from the chocolate ring donut halfway to his lips.
"Hi, Jane!" he grins, before taking a bite and mumbling, "How'd it go with Korsak?"
"I'm not his favorite person right now, but it's a long story," she sighs as she reaches his table. Waves away his curious frown because she doesn't have time to waste. "Listen, I could really use your help on a case."
His eyebrows lift. "Now?"
"Right now," she nods, as serious and urgent as a heart attack. "Where's your car?"
"Out front," he says, hustling another big bite and wiping off his fingers.
"Great! We'll need that, too. Come on," she instructs, leading the way back out to the foyer with long strides as Frankie shuffles behind. "We have a killer to catch!"
As they approach the turn towards their suspect's possible location, she picks up the radio and tells Frankie to kill the lights and sirens on his patrol car.
But it's too late,and they're taken by surprise.
A blinding cloud of dust billows out across the highway, thick and brown from the dried mud of the dirt track ahead. The piercing squeal of tires and brakes pricks her ears as Frankie and then Frost swerves to miss the vehicle that comes at them through the fog. A wave of gravel pelts the car. A barrage of tiny, lightning fast missiles that sound like machine gun fire against the bodywork.
She catches sight of a familiar tailgate just before lights disappear, and curses as Charlie's pickup truck peals away at high speed.
"Don't lose him!" she barks, radio still in hand, as Frost maneuvers through traffic and Frankie's lights and sirens come to life again.
Frost slams on the accelerator, throws her back in her seat. "I'm on him!"
They race neck and neck with Frankie's patrol car, trying to catch the pickup. Constantly swerving, weaving through traffic, and evading Charlie's desperate attempts to throw them off his tail as she calls it in and requests immediate backup.
When Charlie blasts through an intersection on red, brakes squeal again and they have no choice but to back off. "This is getting dangerous," Frost growls, and she swallows hard because they're so close, they can't quit now.
She watches as Frankie guns his car in pursuit, pulls quickly away even as she picks up the radio again. "Keep on him but give him some room -"
"Traffic looks lighter up ahead. We might have a chance to box him in."
"We don't need him doing anything stupid…"
But they're already speeding faster than before, Frost tense and double fisting the steering wheel as they try to keep up.
"I'm gonna move alongside," Frankie's voice crackles urgently and Frost pushes them onward, gets them closer to Charlie's tailgate in support.
"Moving in now," he adds, pushes his car along Charlie's driver's side.
"Frankie, wait!" Jane yells, instinctively lurches forward in her seat. But he's already steering toward the pick up as Charlie's brake lights flash, lighting up her vision like a crimson omen.
Frost slams on the brakes, shouts, "Hold on!" and she grips the door handle with white knuckles, but they're going too fast to not hit the truck and what follows seems to happen in a single heartbeat.
The force of the impact sends them veering into the guardrail. The car lurches as it hits metal and the side of her head hits the window as they screech to a breath-stealing halt. Wincing, she watches in horror as Charlie careens away,smashing into the side of Frankie's patrol car.
Both vehicles turn toward the rail a hundred yards ahead, metal crunching and glass breaking under Charlie's murderous intent. Then they crash… and a desperate squeal escapes her… as the guardrail explodes from the force and a tangle of metal and rubber and screaming sirens disappears off the side of the road.