Child, Lee – Without Fail

her name. I hardly know Nendick, either. He’s just some techni

cal guy I sometimes see around.’

The room went quiet.

‘FBI has got to be told as well,’ Neagley said. his isn’t

just about Armstrong now. There’s a kidnap victim dead or in

serious danger. That’s the Bureau’s jurisdiction, no question.

Plus the interstate homicide. That’s their bag too.’

The room stayed very quiet. Stuyvesant sighed and looked

round at each of the others, slowly and carefully, one at a time.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I agree. It’s gone too far. They need to know.

God knows I don’t want to, but I’ll tell them. I’ll let us take the

hit. I’ll hand everything over to them.’

There was silence. Nobody spoke. There was nothing to say.

It was exactly the right thing to do, in the circumstances.

Approval would have seemed sarcastic, and commiseration

wasn’t appropriate. For the Nendick couple and two unrelated

families called Armstrong, maybe, but not for Stuyvesant.

‘Meanwhile we’ll focus on Armstrong,’ he said. Fhat’s all we

can do.’

Tomorrow is North Dakota again,’ Froelich said. ‘More open

air fun and games. Same place as before. Not very secure. We

leave at ten.’

‘And Thursday?’

Fhursday is Thanksgiving Day. He’s serving turkey dinners

in a homeless shelter here in D.C. He’ll be very exposed.’

There was a long moment of silence. Stuyvesant sighed

again, heavily, and placed his hands palms down on the long

wooden table.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Be back in here at seven o’clock tomorrow

morning. I’m sure the Bureau will be delighted to send over a

liaison guy.’

194

Then he levered himself upright and left the room to head

back to his office, where he would make the calls that would put

a permanent asterisk next to his career.

‘I feel helpless,’ Froelich said. ‘I want to be more proactive.’

‘Don’t like playing defence?’ he asked.

They were in her bed, in her room. It was larger than the

guest room. Prettier. And quieter, because it was at the back of

the house. The ceiling was smoother. Although it would take

angled sunlight to really test it. Which would happen at sunset

instead of in the morning, because the window faced the other

way. The bed was warm. The house was warm. It was like a

cocoon of warmth in the cold grey city night.

‘Defence is OK,’ she said. ‘But attack is defence, isn’t it? In a

situation like this? But we always let things come to us. Then

we just run away from them. We’re too operational. We’re not

investigative enough.’

‘You have investigators,’ he said. ‘Like the guy who watches

the movies.’

She nodded against his shoulder. ¢I’he Office of Protection

Research. It’s a strange role. Kind of academic, rather than

specific. Strategic, rather than tactical.’

‘So do it yourself. Try a few things.’

‘Like what?’

‘We’re back to the original evidence, with Nendick crapping

out. So we have to start over. Yo, u should concentrate on the

thumbprint.’

‘It’s not on file.’

‘Files have glitches. Files get updated. Prints get added. You

should try again, every few days. And you should widen the

search. Try other countries. Try Interpol.’

‘I doubt if these guys are foreign.’

‘But maybe they’re Americans who travelled. Maybe they got

in trouble in Canada or Europe. Or Mexico or South America.’

‘Maybe,’ she said.

‘And you should check the thumbprint thing- as an MO. You

know, search the databases to see if anybody ever signed

threatening letters with their thumb before. How far back do

the archives go?’

195

q’o the dawn of time.’

‘So put a twenty-year limit on it. I guess way back at the dawn

of time plenty of people signed things with their thumbs.’

She smiled, sleepily. He could feel it against his shoulder.

‘Before they learned to write,’ he said.

She didn’t reply. She was fast asleep, breathing slow,

snuggled against his shoulder. He eased his position and felt a

shallow dip on his side of the mattress. He wondered if Joe had

made it. He lay quiet for a spell and then craned his arm up and

switched out the light.

Seemed like about a minute and a half later they were up again

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