“Galveston PD has a dozen officers available to help us, part of a squad who stayed behind to ride out the hurricane, to prevent looting,” the captain said when David and I returned to my office. The reports on the radio still pegged Juanita as a category four, with winds nearing 150 miles per hour. It was nearly noon, and the hurricane stalked the island and Houston, ten hours from shore.
“This is crazy,” I argued. “Even if David is right about Benoit taking the boy to Galveston, what are the odds that you’ll find him? You don’t know where to look. He could be anywhere. The West End, the Strand, on the Seawall. You don’t even know what kind of car he’s driving.”
“We’ll figure it out on the way or when we get there,” David insisted. “We’ve only got another hour or two to get over the causeway. The winds are picking up and it’s already growing dangerous. Once the water rises, we’ll be out of luck.”
The idea of driving into Galveston, where the storm would come ashore, felt crazy. Juanita would be at full bore, loaded for destruction. “We don’t know. We don’t know that Benoit has Joey there. This is all conjecture, a guess. But if you’re both going, then I should go, too,” I said. “We’ll take separate cars, spread out. My coming gives you another set of eyes.”
“No,” the captain said. “Absolutely not.”
“Yes,” I countered. I thought about Maggie, wondered how she’d fare without me through the storm. But there was a little boy’s life at stake, an innocent child I had no doubt Peter Benoit intended to murder. Maggie had Mom, Bobby, and Frieda to comfort her through the storm. Joey Warner was in the hands of a madman. “I’ll go. I insist. I won’t take no for an answer.”
The captain’s glare didn’t bode well. “You will take no for an answer, because this time, Sarah, it’s not a suggestion, it’s an outright order,” he bellowed, glowering down at me from the advantage of his extra foot in height. “And this is one order you won’t ignore, Lieutenant. I won’t have it. You’re not going.”
“Captain, let’s talk about this. I should be there.”
With that, David moved forward and took my hands. “Listen, Sarah,” he said, softer. “This isn’t negotiable. The captain is right. First, we don’t need you. Second, Maggie does. She’s already upset about Buckshot. You can’t do that to the kid, not on a hunch, not when we have no real evidence Benoit has taken the boy to the island, that we’ll even be able to find them if they are in Galveston.”
“But this is all we’ve got, our only lead. Nothing solid, just suspicion, I know, but it’s something,” I argued. “And if we don’t find Joey, he’ll die. We’ve got to stop Benoit. We have to bring him back to pay for Buckshot’s murder. Why else would Benoit take the boy except to drown him the way he intended to murder the little girl? To watch Joey die the way he wanted to watch his father die? Why else?”
“Okay, it’s a bad situation. The captain and I get that,” David said, appearing increasingly angry about my insistence. “But this time, this one time, you’re going to sit this one out. You need to trust us that we’re going to do our best to save Joey Warner. You’re needed at home. This one time you’re going to ignore the fact that you’re a Texas Ranger and remember that you’re a mom. There’s a hurricane coming, and you need to put Maggie first.”
“That’s not fair,” I said. I knew what they were doing, playing the woman card, expecting me to go home. There were times I kind of played it myself, I had to admit, when being one of the only two women rangers in the entire state got me what I wanted. But this time, that wasn’t what I had in mind. Sure I was scared. No one wants to drive into the eye of the storm. And I was worried about Maggie. I wanted nothing more than to be with her, to help her through Buckshot’s death and assure her that I was safe, to watch over her. But there was a missing boy, a little kid in danger. “I have as much right to continue on in this investigation as you do. And I have never expected either of you to cover for me, ever.”
“We know,” the captain said. “That’s not what’s going on here.”
“But the truth is that you don’t have standing in this case. You were never invited in. You asked to work the case,” David said, his eyes intent on mine. “This is my case, and, Lieutenant Armstrong, I don’t need you.”
The captain glanced uncomfortably down at his desk, then back up at me and shook his head, impatient. “We’re wasting time. With the storm coming, we can’t fly in. We need to get out of here now and get across the causeway before it closes. We’re leaving, and you’re staying behind, Lieutenant. And this conversation is over.”
With that, the captain turned to leave, and I gave it one more try. “You need me there,” I shouted. “Captain, you need me there.”
“No, Lieutenant.” About to rush through the door, he turned back to confront me. “We need you at home with your daughter until the hurricane blows over. God knows we shouldn’t be driving into that monster storm, either, but someone has to. If there were another way, none of us would go, but there isn’t, and we are, and you, Lieutenant? You’re going home. That’s an order.”
With nothing left to argue, I grabbed David as he rushed out. “Call me. Let me know,” I insisted.
“As soon as there’s anything to tell,” he said. “As long as the phones are working.”
“And stay safe, both of you,” I shouted. But by then, they were gone.