Option to Kill (Nathan McBride 3) by Andrew Peterson

the sedan. The other possibility — an inside source — didn’t sit well with him. Lauren said she didn’t trust the police, maybe for good reason.
    But if her abductor had no law enforcement credentials, it seemed crazy for him to remain in the area with all the cops converging. Maybe if the guy was twisted enough, he’d risk hanging around to recapture Lauren — but with a life-threatening gunshot wound? Nathan had purposely avoided shooting the man’s femoral artery, but his destroyed quadriceps muscles had to be crippling. Yet the man persisted. Why was capturing or killing Lauren so important?
    The border murders. She’d seen the dead girl. But if her kidnapper was behind the murders, he could’ve killed her in seclusion when he came to her house. Did she know something he wanted? Did he plan to use her as leverage? Against whom? Her mom? Too many questions with no answers.
    When Lauren put the bottle of apple juice into the basket, he got a good look at her ring. It was really quite beautiful, with a heavy gold setting. It didn’t look like cosmetic jewelry, but hadn’t the stone been red inside Nordstrom? Now that he thought about it, he was certain it had shone bright red.
    “Lauren, wasn’t your ring red inside Nordstrom?”
    “It changes color.”
    “It changes from red to green?”
    “Yeah, it’s really cool. In the daytime it’s green, but sometimes it’s green inside, like now, but mostly it’s red, like in my room.”
    “May I see it?”
    “My mom said I’m never supposed to take it off, but I guess it’s okay.”
    She handed it to him, and he took a closer look. It was an oval cut and looked to be about three carats in size. Nice quality. The setting was almost certainly fourteen-karat gold. “Follow me. We need to find an incandescent light.”
    “What kind of light?”
    “A regular light bulb.” He led her to the rear of the store and found the restrooms. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed no one was watching. Nathan nodded to the women’s restroom. “See if anyone’s in there and tell me what kind of lighting it is. Are there long fluorescent tubes, like out here, or regular light bulbs, like in your bedroom? Here, take your ring and tell me if it turns red in there.”
    She gave him a look.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here. You can hold the door open if you like.”
    She disappeared inside. A few seconds later, she came back out.
    “No one’s in there. It turned red.”
    “I want to see it.”
    “You’re going in the girls’ bathroom?”
    “Yeah, I do it all the time.” He held his hand out.
    She rolled her eyes and gave him the ring.
    “Be right back.”
    At the threshold of the women’s restroom, Nathan watched an amazing phenomenon occur: the ring seemed to sparkle with two different colors. Once inside, he examined it under the bulb over the sink. If this thing’s real, it’s worth a small fortune. This was one of the rarest gemstones in the world. Alexandrite. Green by day, red by night. Nathan was no expert but knew something of them. Last year, Harv had bought his wife alexandrite earrings, and they displayed nice color change — from bluish green to light purple — but they didn’t come close to the quality or pure spectral transition of this stone. This little beauty went from emerald green to bright pinkish red. Nathan didn’t know what it was worth, but he knew how to find out. No wonder Lauren’s mom didn’t want her taking it off.
    He left the restroom and gave her the ring. “It’s an alexandrite. If it’s real, it could cost as much as your stepdad’s Porsche.”
    “Seriously?”
    “Don’t lose it — you can cash it in for a college education someday.”
    “The man you shot tried to take it.”
    “Is that why he grabbed your wrist?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “It could be synthetic, but something tells me it’s real.” He looked at his watch. “We’d better get back to our cab.”
    Nathan paid for their items and led Lauren