eyes stayed so steadfastly fixed in the distance that Becker turned to look. A squirrel climbed halfway up the trunk of a tree, then appeared to notice the humans for the first time and skittered around to the other side. Becker studied the squirrel’s antics for a moment, giving Karen time to recover herself. He wondered how many times this day she had gone through the same crisis, battling with all of her inner resources to fight off the powerful surge of despair.
“You are a very experienced agent,” she said at last, her words measured too precisely. “For the record, I am asking if, in your opinion, I am justified in calling the state police into the case on suspicion of kidnapping. This is an official question. I would appreciate an official answer.”
“What are you worried about, charges of abuse of power? Just go ahead and do it; if anyone questions you later, to hell with them. It’s Jack we‘re talking about.”
“I am aware who we’re talking about,” she hissed.
“Sorry. But don’t worry about it, everyone will understand.”
For the first time she looked directly at him, her eyes burning with anger. “I don’t give a fuck what they understand! I’m asking you a simple question. Stop being such a contentious bastard and just say yes.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Becker said. “You are fully justified in calling in the state police on suspicion of kidnapping. That makes it a federal case for the Bureau as well.”
“Thank you,” she said. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? What did you have to be such a prick about it for?”
“You’re just upset…” he said.
“No shit.”
He reached for her shoulders, but she pulled away and started toward the others.
“Do you want me to make one of the calls?” he asked.
“I called them both ten minutes ago,” she said. “Now we have to decide what to do when they get here.” Blocker and Reese looked on as Karen spread maps of Massachusetts and the adjoining area of New York on the hood of one of their squad cars.
“At least it’s less populated here than in New Jersey,” Karen said. “That should help some.” Her minor explosion at Becker had been contained. She was now the working professional again.
She turned to the two cops, who were watching her with curiosity. “The state police should be here in a few minutes,” she said. “Now you know how they are, they’ll want to take over.”
“Pretty much assholes,” Blocker said. Reese nodded confirmation.
“Well, exactly,” Karen agreed. “They’ll want to push you guys right out of the case even though it’s your case, your territory, your right to be involved.”
Reese kept right on nodding agreement.
“Well, I hate that,” she said. “I want to keep you involved, for my own benefit. You know the area better than anybody, you’ve been in on the case since the beginning. I want you on my team and I don’t want any state cop pushing you aside.”
Becker watched Karen’s manipulations work their effect on the cops. He knew she would later apply much the same kind of flattery to the state people. It was good policy to keep everyone happy, but in the case of the local cops, he knew she had a further motive. It may have been true that they knew the area better, but it was also true that they were much easier to bend to her will than the state police. Karen was oiling them up now so that later she could twist them into whatever shape she needed. And coming from an attractive woman, this kind of blandishment was even easier to believe. Both cops harbored a secret hope that she really wanted them around because of her ardent desire to tear their clothes off. They were not fools enough to do anything about it, hoping as they did that this sort of passion would blossom spontaneously without any particular nurture on their part, but Karen was aware of their fantasies, perhaps more objectively than they were, and if she made a point of smiling at each of them as she appealed for their help, it seemed to Becker just good police work.
“So I think it’s a good thing if we can get you actively working before they get here, don’t you?” She continued without waiting for their response. “What we’ll need is a list of all the motels or houses for rent within a thirty-minute drive. Any place a transient could get a room and have some degree of privacy. A boardinghouse with a separate entrance even. Any place this guy might have taken a child to hole up if he wasn’t a local resident.”
“Thirty-minute drive?”
“It’s not that far. It takes a good fifteen minutes just to wind down off this mountain, and there’s a lot of empty territory around here. If thirty minutes isn’t enough, we’ll go farther out, but let’s start with that.”
Blocker said. “It’s going to take us a little time to think about that.”
“Well, yes. That’s why I think you want to get started before the state guys show up.”
“We can do more.” Becker said when the cops had moved off to start their list.
“Tell me.”
“I think we got lucky this time… I mean because of where Lamont-or Ashford; I still think of him as Lamont, I’ve been calling him that so long-because of where he chose to go. There aren’t nearly as many places to hide in the first place and not many to run to.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve spent a day walking through these woods. How many rabbits did you see?”
“Rabbits? None.”
“And how many do you think live in there? Dozens? Hundreds? More? The reason we didn’t see them is because they were just sitting still, hidden. But how many do you think we’d see if we went through there beating the bushes and getting them to run?”
“Go on.”
“Lamont has made it to his hiding place. All he has to do is stay very still, and we won’t find him unless we step directly on him. He’s had practice at this; he chose his own spot, he’s got the advantage. But if we can make him run, the advantage is ours. And this is the kind of country where we can do it. There aren’t that many places to run to once he’s flushed out of cover.”
Karen studied the map, her mind racing.
“How do we get him to run?”
“We’ve got to scare him, make him think we’re coming right at him. That’s the only thing that will make him break from his hiding place. Announce on the local radio and television that we’re starting a house-to-house search, that we’re concentrating on transient housing. Maybe he’ll run.”
“Maybe. But we couldn’t possibly get the manpower to do a house-to-house unless we knew where he was.”
“He doesn’t know that. If he hears it on the radio he’ll believe it. Why shouldn’t he? Can he afford to take the chance?”
“So he runs. He’s not a rabbit; he’ll be in a car, he can go anywhere.”
“We’ll funnel him. Say the search starts along a line from here to here…” Becker jabbed at two dots on the map. “He’ll run this way. Once he’s running we can funnel him even further. Look, there aren’t that many roads through the mountains. Put a cop car at this intersection, another one here, and you force anyone trying to avoid the cops to Route 21. Put a roadblock”-he studied the map for a second more, his forefinger hovering over it like a bee above a blossom-“here. A real one, full search of every car that goes through it. We can get enough men for that.”
“There are ways to avoid it,” Karen said.
“Yes, there are,” Becker agreed. “If he’s smart enough, if he knows the country, if he suspects a trap.”
“Or he could be on the other side of the search line to begin with. He could ignore the bluff and stay where he is. He could turn north and head to Canada.”
“In which case we’re no worse off than we were. Look, Karen, it’s not a great plan, but it is something positive, something we can do immediately. We have no time to lose.”
Karen was silent, still staring at the map.
“Bobby Reynolds lasted only three weeks,” Becker said. Karen winced. “Lamont is getting faster and faster. Jack may have…”
“I know.”
“Of course,” he said. He put his hand on her back, but she stepped away from him.
