Darren made it onto the sidewalk, but his foot caught on something and he tripped, falling to the ground. Nicky stormed up to him, shouting, "Darren McMillan, stop! You're under arrest!”
Fumbling to his feet, he reached into his pants--and pulled out a knife. "Oh, hell no! I'll kill you, bitch!"
Nicky stopped where she was. On instinct, her hand went for her gun—but something stopped her. Flashbacks from Frank, the man who’d took Masie, flashed through her mind. Nicky didn’t want another repeat, but Darren was facing off against her, knife gleaming in the street lights.
“Stay back!” he yelled, his arm shaking. “Come any closer and I’ll—”
Suddenly, Darren froze.
There were footsteps behind them. Startled, Nicky looked over her shoulder to see Ken hurrying over with his gun out, pointed right at Darren. Darren’s hands flew up, and he dropped the knife.
Relief flowed through her. They could apprehend him without gunshots being involved—thank God for that. Nicky pulled her cuffs out and walked over to a now trembling Darren. As Ken kept the gun on him, Nicky grabbed Darren's wrists and slapped cuffs on him.
He was caught, and no one had to die for it.
CHAPTER NINE
Nicky stared Darren McMillan dead in the eyes in the interrogation room at the local police station. It was a cramped, windowless purgatory with a metal table and a dirty mirror on the wall, and it was cold and dingier than what Nicky was used to, but it would have to do.
Across from her and Ken, Darren McMillan was cuffed and sitting on a chair, but he looked like a rabid dog.
He wanted out. He wanted revenge against Nicky. He was going to kill her.
"I want a law—”
He was definitely about to say “lawyer,” but Nicky cut him off before he could finish. "I want to know about Meghan Salinger," Nicky said. Ken shot Nicky a look.
"Who do you think you are, huh?” Darren rambled. “You're nothing! You can’t keep me here; you’ve got nothing on me.”
Ken rested his hands on the table. "McMillan, you need to calm down and answer our questions. You drew a knife on a federal agent. That itself is a serious offense.”
Darren was seething. He wanted to rip their heads off, Nicky could tell.
"Fuck that bitch Meghan," he said. "I'm over her."
"Is that what you said when you kidnapped her?" Nicky quipped.
Darren scowled. "I had nothin' to do with that!"
Nicky scoffed. "You expect us to believe that?" She slammed her fist on the table. "You were stalking her, Darren. And then you ran away from the cops."
"I didn't run away!" he shouted. "I already talked to the cops, damn it. Don't you people have access to all that stuff?”
Nicky and Ken exchanged an uneasy look. Nowhere in Darren's file had it said that the cops had found him, at all. If he was telling the truth--that meant the FBI somehow did not receive the report from the police.
Or the police never filed it.
"Look, I told that other cop," Darren rambled, "I had nothing to do with Meghan disappearing. She probably took off on her own, okay? Besides, it's like I told him--I have an alibi for the other chick, so I'm innocent."
Nicky paused. "What 'other chick?’" This case was getting more confusing by the second.
"The other chick who went missing! That cop I talked to--I forget his name. Rawlings? Rawley? Ryley? I dunno, but there was another chick he said went missing under the exact same situation as Meghan and I could prove I didn't do that one, so I was cleared, okay?"
Nicky's head reeled. There was a chance Darren was making all of this up.
"Did that cop give you a name on that other victim?" Nicky pressed.
"I don't remember," Darren spat.