be good old-fashioned kidnapping.”
“What about the blood?” I-asked.
“Yeah, the blood. The techs say O positive. That
tell you anything?”
“l think I remember from the chart,” said Beverly,
“that Woody and both of the parents are O.
I’m not sure about the Rh factor.”
“So much for that. It’s not a hell of a lot anyway,
not what you’d expect if someone got shot or cut–”
He saw the look on her face and stopped himself.
“Milo,” I said, “the boy’s got cancer. He’s not
terminally ill–or wasn’t as of yesterday. But his
disease is unpredictable. It could spread and invade
a major blood vessel, or convert to leukemia.
And if either of those occui, he could suddenly
hemorrhage.”
“Jesus,” said the big detective, looking pained.
“Poor little guy.”
“Isn’t there something you cando?” demanded
Beverly.
“We’ll do our best to find them but to be honest
it won’t be easy. They could be just about anywhere
by now.”
“Don’t you put out A.P.B.’s or something like
that?” she insisted.
“That’s alread3
t got in touch with the law in Lfi Vista–it’s a
one-man show run by a sheriff named Houten. He
hasn’t seen them but he promised to keep a lookout.
He also gave me a good physical description of the
family and I put it over the wire. Highway patrols
got it, as well as L.A. and San Diego P.D.s and all
the decent-sized departments in between. But we’ve
got no vehicle to look for, no plates. Anything you’d
like to suggest in addition to all of that?”
It was a sincere request for ideas, devoid of sarcasm,
and it threw her off guard.
“Uh, no,” she admitted, “I can’t think of anything.
I just hope you find him.”
“I hope so, too–can I call you Beverly ?”
“Oh, sure.”
“I don’t have any brilliant theories about this,
Beverly, but I promise to give it a lot of thought.
.And, if you think of anything, call me.” He gave her
a card. “Anything at all, okay ? Now, can I have One
of the men give you a lift home?”
“Alex could–”
He flashed her a wide, loose-lipped smile. “I’m
going to be needing to talk to Alex for a while. I’ll
get you a ride.” He went out to the six patrolmen,
selected the best-looking of the bunch, a trim six-footer
with curly black hair and shiny teeth, and
brought him back to the office.
“Ms. Lucas, this is Officer Fierro.”
“Where to, ma’am?” Fierro tipped his hat. She
gave him an address in Westwood and he guided
her to his squad car.
Just as she was getting in, Milo rummaged in his
shirt pocket and called out, “Hey, Brian, hold on.”
90 Jonathan Kellennan
– Fierro stopped and Milo bounded over to the car
I jogged along with him.
“This mean anything to you, Beverly?” He handed
her & matchbook.
She examined it. “Adam and Eve Messenger Service?
Yeah. One of the nurses told me Nona Swope
had gotten a job as a messenger. I remember thinking
it was strange–why would she get a job when
they were only in town temporarily ?” She looked
at the matchbook more closely. “What is this, a
hooker service or something like that?”
“Something like that.”
“I knew she was a wild one.” she said angrily,
and gave him back the matchbook. “Is th’at all?”
“Uh huh.”
“Then I’d like to go home.”
Milo gave the signal and Fierro got behind the
wheel and started up the engine.
“Uptight lady,” said Milo after they drove away.
“She used to be a sweet young thing,” I said.
“Too much time on the cancer ward can do things
to you.”
He frowned.
“Quite a mess in there,” he said.
“Looks bad, doesn’t it?”
“You want me to speculate? Maybe, maybe not.
The room was tossed by someone who was angry.
But couldn’t it have been one of the parents, furious
at having a sick kid, all scared and confused
about pulling him out? You worked with people in
that situation. Ever see anyone freak like that?”
I reeled back a few years.
“There was always anger,” I told him. “Most of