He was politely stonewalled. I listened to the others converse while I tried to calm down. I knew I’d never get the full story from the police about what had transpired at the junkie’s house, what they had found there. Pete might tell me eventually, if Rachel and I leaned on him hard enough. Frank was in danger — I couldn’t wait for “eventually.”
I grew antsy. I needed to act, to do something. The house started to feel too small, too crowded. If I sat around, I’d go crazy.
“Well, I need to get going,” Bredloe was saying.
“It was very kind of the three of you to come by,” I said.
“Oh, I’m the only one who’s going. I’d like to leave Cassidy and Freeman here. Detective Cassidy has a few other things to talk to you about.”
I felt a growing sense of panic but didn’t say anything. When Bredloe stood I grabbed my jacket and said, “I’ll walk you out to your car.”
“I’ll walk out with you, too,” Jack said, making me want to kick him. “I need to get something from my house.”
Outside, Jack said a quick good-bye to Bredloe and went next door. I reached in my jacket pocket and felt the comforting weight of my car keys.
“I want to thank you,” I said to the captain. “Your faith in Frank means a lot to me.”
“Frank earned that faith,” he said. “I came out here tonight to reassure you that I’ll stay personally involved in seeing that he comes home to you safe and sound.”
“Thank you.”
“This is not going to be easy on any of us, Irene. We have to respond to what has happened in a number of ways, looking at a variety of possibilities.”
“ ‘Variety of possibilities.’ By that you mean Frank may be dead, he may be hurt, he may be—”
“I am going to remain hopeful,” he interrupted, “and assume that Frank is a hostage and that whoever has him has nothing to gain by harming him. If so, sooner or later, someone will make an offer.” He paused, then added, “Hostage negotiations are tricky. You know that from your own days on the crime beat. Cassidy is good at what he does, but we’ll need your trust and cooperation.”
I thought of the many times I had witnessed Bredloe’s intervention on Frank’s behalf. More than once I had seen his personal concern for the people who worked for him. I didn’t want to lie to him, so I said, “I trust you. I’ll try to cooperate whenever I’m given any reasonable request.”
He smiled. “You phrase that so cautiously. Well, right now, you need to be cautious.” He opened his car door and started to get in.
“Captain Bredloe—”
He waited.
“I
“You can’t think about this in those terms—”
“I’m trusting you, remember? The truth.”
He drew in a deep breath and sighed. “No.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“Irene, Cassidy has a very high rate of success—”
“None of the hostages were cops, were they? The guy has saved bank tellers, right? I mean, that’s great, that’s important. But he hasn’t ever been in this situation, right?”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Right.”
“And you can’t give in at all in this case, because you can’t run the risk that every twisted son of a bitch who watches the nightly news will get the idea that kidnapping cops is a rewarding occupation, right?”
He didn’t answer.
“Damn it to hell,” I said, and turned away.
Jack returned just as Bredloe was starting his car.
“When you get back into the house,” I said in a whisper, “take Rachel aside and tell her I’m going down to the paper.”
“What?”
“I can’t stay here, doing nothing. I’ve got friends at the
“Irene—”
“Please, Jack! I need someone to be here in case Frank calls — someone he can trust. Rachel may have to leave, and besides, I don’t want to put her in the position of getting Pete in trouble. This way, she can honestly say she had no idea I was going to leave.”
“I don’t like this,” he said. “Call me as soon as you get to the paper, let me know you got there safely.”
I got into my car. “Thanks, Jack. Sack out in the guest room if you get tired.”
“How long are you going to be gone?” he asked.
