tomorrow or the day after. They're ready,' he added. 'And they'll run it for prints, but I doubt he left any.'
'I don't suppose they found any prints on the cassette, did they?'
'Actually, there was one, but it wasn't our man's. The kid who checked him out at Super Sid's Warehouse had a record, so his prints were on file. It was easy to track him to the warehouse,' he explained. 'His probation officer helped him get the job.'
'Did he remember who bought the tape?'
'Unfortunately, he didn't,' he answered. 'Have you ever been to one of those stores? The traffic going through there is unbelievable, and it was a cash-only counter, so there wasn't any credit card receipt or check to trace.'
'What about the confessional? Did they find any prints there?'
'Yeah, hundreds.'
'But you don’t think any of them are his?'
'No, I don’t,' he replied.
'He’s very smart, isn’t he?'
'They’re never as smart as they think they are. Besides…'
'What?'
'We’re going to be smarter.'
Chapter 6
Nick radiated confidence, and it suddenly dawned on Laurant that he probably had been trained to present a calm demeanor so that witnesses and victims wouldn’t panic.
'Does anything ever rile you?' she asked.
'Oh, yes.'
'You’re sure the man on the tape is serious, aren’t you?'
'Laurant, no matter how many times you ask me the question, the answer’s going to be the same. Yes, I think he’s serious,' he patiently repeated. 'He’s gone to a lot of trouble researching you and Tommy and me. Like I said before, his intent was to scare your brother, and he sure as hell succeeded. Tommy’s convinced this guy’s crazy, but I’ve got this feeling that most of what he said was carefully rehearsed. Now we have to figure out his real agenda.'
She could feel her control slipping and clinched her hands. 'I can’t believe this is happening,' she whispered, her voice cracking. 'Did you hear what he did to that woman? How he tortured her? Did you…'
He took hold of her hand and squeezed. 'Laurant, take a deep breath. All right?'
She did as he suggested, but it didn’t help. The impact of what she had heard was finally hitting her full force. Chilled to the bone she pulled her hand away and began to rub her arms.
She was covered with goose bumps and was visibly shivering. Nick grabbed his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. 'Better?'
'Yes, thank you.'
He had the sudden urge to put his arm around her and comfort her just like he would one of his own sisters if she were scared, but he didn’t know how Laurant would react, and so he stayed where he was and waited for her to give him some sort of signal.
She pulled the jacket tight around her with a death grip on the lapels.
'How long have you been here?'
'About an hour.'
Both of them fell silent, and for several minutes the only sounds were the ticking of the clock above the kitchen sink and Tommy’s muffled voice from the living room. Nick noticed she hadn’t touched her tea. Then Laurant looked up at him, and he saw the tears in her eyes.
'Are you feeling overwhelmed?' he asked.
She brushed a tear away and answered, 'I was thinking about that woman… Millie… and what he did to her…'
The tea was cold, and she decided to make another cup. Then she decided to fix a cup for Nick too. The chore kept her busy and gave her a moment to try to get a grip on her emotions.
Nick watched her work and thanked her when she put the unwanted tea in front of him. Waiting until she sat down again, he said, 'I was wondering how you’re going to hold up.'
'You’re hoping I’m tougher than I look?'
'Something like that.'
'Exactly what is it you do for the FBI?'
'I work for the lost-and-found department.'
'What is it you find?'
'When I’m lucky?'
'Yes, when you’re lucky.'
He leaned over to hit the rewind button and then glanced back at her. 'Kids. I find kids.'
His eyes were the most intense shade of blue, and when he looked at her directly, she felt as though he were trying to see inside her mind. She wondered if he were analyzing her every move as though she were a chess piece. Was he trying to find her vulnerability?
'It’s specialized work,' he commented, hoping that would put an end to the discussion about his job.
'I’m sorry we had to meet this way… under these circumstances.'
'Yeah, well…'
'Look how I’m shaking,' she said as she put her hand out for him to see. 'I’m so angry I want to scream.'
'Then do it.'
The suggestion brought her up short. 'What?'
'Scream,' he said.
She actually smiled, so silly was the notion. 'Monsignor would have heart failure, and so would my brother.'
'Look, just take a few minutes and try to chill out.'
'How do you propose I do that?'
'Let’s talk about something else, just for a little while… until Tommy comes back.'
'I can’t think about anything else right now.'
'Sure you can,' he advised. 'Try, Laurant. It might help calm you down.'
She reluctantly agreed. 'What should we talk about?'
'You,' he decided.
She shook her head, but he ignored it and continued on, 'It’s odd, don’t you think, that we’ve never met before today?'
'Yes, it is odd,' she agreed. 'You’ve been my brother’s closest friend since you were little boys, and he lived with your family all those years, yet I don’t know much about you at all. Tommy came home for summer vacation, and you were always invited to come too, but you never did. Something always came up.'
'My parents went over once,' he said.
'Yes, they did. Your mother brought family photos with her, and there is one of you… actually it’s the entire family… and Tommy… standing in front of a fireplace at Christmas. Would you like to see it?'
'You’ve got it with you?'
She didn’t have any idea how telling it was that she carried the photo with her. He watched her dig her billfold out of her purse. She’d put the picture in one of the plastic covers that came with all the billfolds, and when she handed it to him, he noticed her hand wasn’t trembling anymore.
He looked at the photo of the eight Buchanan kids clustered around their proud parents. Tommy was there too, squeezed in between Nick’s brothers Alec and Mike. His brother Dylan was sporting a black eye. Nick figured he’d probably given it to him during one of their family football games.
