Chapter 44

Jack’s phone conversation with Yasmin ended abruptly. He laid his cell phone on the bar top.

He was at the Area 31 restaurant on the sixteenth floor of the Epic Hotel in downtown Miami, seated at the bar with Dr. Vestry.

The annual gala for the Miami Children’s Hospital was in the hotel’s grand ballroom, and the doctor had agreed to break away

and meet Jack in the lounge. He was underdressed for the Saturday-evening crowd, but Dr. Vestry more than made up for his

fashion shortcomings. Her sequined gown, Judith Leiber handbag, and diamond earrings glittered more than the panoramic view

of Biscayne Bay at twilight.

“Planet Jupiter?” said Dr. Vestry. “Children have quite the imagination, but that’s rich.”

It was at the doctor’s urging that Jack had dialed Zahra’s cell one more time. The theme for the hospital’s fundraising gala

was “Vegas Night,” and evidently, she was feeling lucky. Jack hadn’t expected anyone to answer, much less Yasmin.

“She could have meant the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County,” said Jack. “Or a little farther north there’s Jupiter Island.

Both are straight up I-95.”

“You should call again.”

“Give it a minute,” said Jack. “Yasmin said her mommy was at the door.”

“Zahra is not going to call you, Jack.”

“Let’s see.”

“Jack, who is the psychiatrist here? I’m telling you, in my professional opinion, there is no way Zahra is going to—”

Jack’s cell vibrated. The caller ID was not a number he recognized, which probably meant that the warranty on his car was

about to expire. Or...

Jack answered, and the voice on the line was Zahra’s.

“It’s me,” she said.

“Zahra, where are you calling from?”

“A landline.”

“No, I mean where are you?”

“I’m with Yasmin, and we’re safe.”

Jack stepped away from the noisy bar area and found a quieter place outside on the terrace, away from the crowd. He was standing

at the rail, cell phone in hand, overlooking the Miami River below and the parade of yachts and sailboats coming in from the

bay.

“As your lawyer, my advice is to turn yourself in.”

“As Yasmin’s mother, I say your advice stinks.”

There was no smooth segue to the drawings—the reason for his meeting with Dr. Vestry in the first place—so Jack just said

it. “I went to your town house. I saw Yasmin’s practice drawings in the wastebasket. And your drawing as well.”

There was silence on the line.

“You coached her, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“Dr. Vestry told you that Judge Carlson might invite Yasmin into his chambers and ask her to draw pictures of her family,

and you coached her.”

“I didn’t tell her what to draw.”

“It sure looked that way to me.”

“No. You’re wrong. I showed Yasmin how to draw it, Jack. Her memories are her memories. There was no one telling her what to draw.”

Jack understood the distinction. It was valid—but only if it was true.

“This won’t end well, Zahra. Going on the run never does.”

“And the alternative is what? Give up on Yasmin? Is that what you’re asking me to do?”

“Not give up on Yasmin. Give up on this plan . A voluntary surrender at least leaves you in a position to fight another day.”

“We lost, Jack. Fight how?”

“The courts don’t always have the last word. Maybe we can still work something out.”

“Work what out, Jack?”

Jack feared that if he brought up his conversation with Farid— Ava always wanted Yasmin to live in the West —she might hang up on him.

“Let’s take this one step at a time. The most important thing I can do for you right now is help you avoid criminal charges

for child abduction and keep you out of jail. I don’t know exactly where we go from there, but I’m certain I can come up with

a better plan than turning you into a fleeing felon.”

She paused, seeming to consider it.

“If I do this...”

Jack waited for more, but she was clearly struggling.

“Yes?” he asked, encouraging her.

“If I do as you ask, I don’t want Yasmin to see me handcuffed and hauled away by the police in a squad car.”

“I understand.”

“I want you here when it happens. I need my lawyer with me.”

The last time he’d heard those words, he was speaking to a man on death row. Zahra’s plea affected him even more deeply. There

was an innocent child involved.

“Of course. Just tell me where you are.”

“But if you betray me,” she said, her voice quaking. “If you just take what I’m about to tell you and hand the address over

to the police—”

“I would never do that,” Jack said. “Never.”

Her deep sigh crackled over the landline. “Okay.”

“Just tell me the address,” said Jack.

There was a moment of hesitation, and then she told him.

Jack entered the address into his navigational app. The mystery of Yasmin’s planetary reference was solved.

“I’m on my way,” he said.

Jack hurried back into the lounge, said good night to Dr. Vestry on his way past the bar, and caught the hotel elevator to the ground floor. He was cutting through the lobby when his phone rang again. It wasn’t Zahra.

“Andie, what’s up?”

“You know what’s up. Our tech agents have been monitoring Zahra’s cell phone. They picked up a call from your number to hers.”

“Please don’t tell me the FBI is monitoring my phone.”

“Did you not hear me the first time? I just said they got it from Zahra’s phone.”

Jack wanted to believe his own wife simply because she was his wife. But the fact that she made no mention of the call from

Zahra on the landline was welcome corroboration. She would have known about the second call if the FBI was monitoring his phone, too.

“Did your techies calculate the location of Zahra’s phone?”

“No. Your call didn’t last long enough. Triangulation takes time.”

Jack had cross-examined enough tech witnesses to know that cell tower triangulation worked only if the cell phone signal was

picked up by at least three cell towers, which allowed law enforcement to calculate the point of intersection of the three

signals and, thus, the coordinates of the cell phone. Remote places like Jupiter Island didn’t always interface with three

towers.

“So, you don’t know where she is?”

“No. But you told me that if you spoke to Zahra, you would do your best to get her to give up her location.”

“Right. And that I would try to convince her to surrender. Which I did.”

“Great. Where is she?”

Jack continued out of the hotel lobby to the valet stand at the motor court. “You’ll know soon enough,” he said into his phone.

“Do you know where she is?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t play games, Jack. You need to tell me.”

“If I do, the FBI will send in SWAT before I get there. That’s the worst thing that could possibly happen.”

“There will be no SWAT. I promise you.”

“I wish—”

Jack stopped himself, but they both knew he was about to say, I wish I could believe you . It gave them both a moment to reflect on the state of their marriage, but this wasn’t the time to discuss it.

“Yasmin has been through enough trauma,” said Jack. “I’ll call you when I get there, and we can have a quiet and peaceful

surrender.”

“Jack, your client is a child abductor. You can’t help her.”

“My other client is a seven-year-old girl,” said Jack. “I intend to do everything I possibly can to help her .”

“Jack, you’re putting me in a terrible spot. Again .”

“It’s not on you. It’s on me. Tell your ASAC I got involved in this case to protect Yasmin from grave danger of physical and

psychological harm. I’m not going to be the one who inflicts it. Or let anyone else inflict it.”

He heard Andie’s sigh over the line.

“Please be careful,” she said.

“I will.”

He ended the call before Andie had a chance to change her mind—and his.

The valet attendant approached. “Can I have your ticket, sir?”

Jack reached into his pocket, then stopped. He didn’t want the police riding his bumper all the way to Jupiter Island.

“Actually, I need a taxi.”