A Grant County Collection by Karin Slaughter Read Free Book Online Page B

pretty much boxed the shooters inside.' He pointed behind the front counter, where Maria always sat. 'From what we can tell, the second shooter is standing here behind the counter guarding the front door while the other one keeps the hostages in line.'
    Lena looked back into the street. The windows to the station were tinted, but not as dark as the cleaners'. There were white blast marks and spider-webs where the buckshot hadn't been able to break the glass. She guessed the splotches from the inside were Matt's blood. There was a darker, solid mass at the bottom; a headless image from the back. The door was being held partially open by the weight of Matt's body.
    She made herself turn away, asking, 'Have you found their car?'
    'We're checking right now,' Nick told her. 'They probably parked on campus and walked to the station.'
    'Which would mean they've been here before,' Lena surmised. She asked Frank and Pat, 'Did y'all recognize either one of them?'
    They both shook their heads.
    She looked at the map again. 'Jesus.'
    'The first guy has at least three weapons. He used the sawed-off on Matt, probably a Wingmaster.' Nick paused respectfully. 'The second shooter has the assault rifle.'
    'It'll pierce the glass with the right cartridges,' Lena said, thinking the gunmen had done more than a casual reconnaissance of the station.
    'Right,' Nick confirmed. 'He hasn't used it on anyone in the street.'
    Frank added, 'Yet.'
    'We're trying to establish contact, but they won't pick up the phone.' Nick indicated one of his guys standing with the phone to his ear. 'Meanwhile, we've got the negotiator on the way from Atlanta. Helicopter should have a team here in under an hour.'
    Lena studied the street, wondering how the hell all of this had started. Heartsdale was supposed to be a small, sleepy town. People came here to get away from this kind of violence. Jeffrey had told her a long time ago that the reason he had moved here from Birmingham was because he couldn't take the big-city horrors anymore. From what Lena could see, it had followed him.
    She felt a shudder, like somebody had walked over her grave. There was a red X in the center of the map with two initials beside it. Lena's eyes blurred and she could not read it. When she looked back up, everyone was staring at her. She shook her head, smiling like this was all a really bad joke. 'No,' she said, seeing the initials stamped on her retinas, reading them clearly now even though she was no longer looking at the map. 'No.'
    Frank turned his back to her, coughing into his handkerchief.
    Lena grabbed the black marker. 'You made a mistake,' she said, yanking off the top. 'He should be in black.' She started to draw over the red, but her hand was shaking too much.
    Nick took the marker from her hand. 'He's dead, Lena.' He put his hand on her shoulder. 'Jeffrey's dead.'

THREE
    1991
Sunday
    Tessa flounced back on the bed, her feet flopping into the air. 'I can't believe you're going to Florida without me.'
    Sara responded with an absent 'Hm' as she folded a T-shirt.
    'When's the last time you went on a vacation?'
    'Don't remember,' she said, but she did. The summer Sara graduated from high school, Eddie Linton had dragged his wife and two reluctant daughters on their last family vacation to Sea World. Sara had spent every summer since then either in classes or working in the hospital lab for credits so she could graduate early. Except for an occasional long weekend spent at her parents' house, she had not gone on an actual vacation in what seemed like forever.
    'But this is a real vacation,' Tessa said. 'With a man.''
    'Hm,' Sara repeated, folding a pair of shorts.
    'I hear he's pretty hot.'
    'Who said that?'
    'Jill-June at the Shop-o-rama.'
    'She's still working there?'
    'She's the manager now.' Tessa snickered. 'She's dyed her hair this awful yellow.'
    'On purpose?'
    'Well, you wouldn't think so, but it's not like she doesn't have access to two damn aisles of hair-care