“Hard to say. She might want some distance from the guy who put the body in her trunk. Maybe this will help her deal with it. Maybe it just seems like the right political move. Who knows.”
“In any case,” Ralph continued, “she mentioned that earlier this afternoon Brent interviewed Grolin’s girlfriend, a nurse named”-he consulted his notepad-“Vanessa Mueller. Brent said she was acting suspicious, really jumpy. Vanessa said she has no idea where Grolin is, but Brent’s been following her all afternoon just in case.”
“So that’s where he’s been all day,” I said.
“Yeah. So here’s what I’m thinking. Tomorrow we can work with Margaret and see where this whole Jonestown angle takes us, but if there’s any chance we can bring Grolin in now, I think that’s where we should focus our efforts.”
“Agreed,” I said. “He’s the immediate threat, especially if he’s going to go after the woman with the red hair.”
“That reminds me,” said Lien-hua, “I talked to Brent earlier. They’re still working on those prints. We should have them in sometime tomorrow.”
“That might not be soon enough,” said Ralph. “Since we don’t know who the next victim is yet, I think we should stake out the girlfriend’s place tonight. See if Grolin shows up.”
“Good call,” I said.
Ralph scratched at the late-day stubble on his chin. “Only problem is, Wallace’s men are stretched thin- there’s a music festival just outside of town tonight, and the Network of Concerned Evangelicals doesn’t like the bands. They’ve announced they’re going to protest and-”
“I could do it,” said Agent Lien-hua.
“Huh?”
“The stakeout.”
“You’re not here to sit around on stakeouts.”
“Um, I could work the stakeout with Agent Jiang,” I said.
He looked at me quizzically. “Neither are you.”
“No, it’s all right,” I said. “It’ll give me a quiet place to think things through. Besides, I had a nap this afternoon. I’ll be fine.”
He still looked hesitant, but then he yawned. He’d been going nonstop all day. Just the mention of a stakeout seemed to make him more tired. “Well, I guess that’ll work.”
“Good,” I said.
“All right. Take nine to midnight-that way you can still get a little sleep later on. I’ll get Wallace to find someone for the late shift. After all, you are driving to Charlotte tomorrow morning.”
I nodded.
“Coordinate it all with Tucker,” he said. “You want mic patches?” Ralph was always trying out the military’s new toys. The high-tech mic patches came from some of his friends in the army. Special ops. Each patch is nearly transparent and the size of a plastic strip bandage. You wear it just beneath your ear; it works as both a transmitter and a receiver. It also emits a long-range homing beacon. Very sleek, high-end stuff. Problem is, the digital router automatically records everything you say. And I wasn’t sure I wanted that on this particular stakeout.
“Naw, twentieth-century walkie-talkies,” I said, “if that’s OK by you?”
He shrugged. “Fine with me.” Yawned again. “I need some sleep.”
“Go play some video games,” I said.
His eyes lit up. “Yeah. I could do that.” He nodded. “All right. So Tucker can run point from here, and we’ll notify the police department to have a couple cars on standby in case anything goes down.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll see you two tomorrow,” he muttered and walked off.
We had just under an hour before we needed to be at the stakeout. Lien-hua went to change and clean up. I called Tessa and left a message that I’d see her in the morning. Then I did a little more work analyzing the abduction locations, and before I knew it Lien-hua had returned and I was climbing into her car to head to Vanessa Mueller’s house.
54
Lien-hua pulled over to the curb, flipped off the headlights, and eased the car to a stop, leaving the keys in the ignition just in case we needed to get out of there fast. She had changed into a tailored green silk blouse. I told myself I shouldn’t be taking note of things like that, but I couldn’t help noticing that she was looking good.
Vanessa Mueller lived in a quaint two-story house with black trim and a wide porch. The house looked like a pale yellow dream in the moonlight. We sat staring at it for a few minutes. The light in the living room was on, and I could see Vanessa sitting on the couch watching television. Thankfully her home was an older design and had only a front door, making it easier to stake out-no rear exit to cover.
I heard the keys jangle as Lien-hua bumped them reaching for her coffee. She cleared her throat slightly. “So, you have a daughter.”
I was momentarily confused. I couldn’t remember telling her that I had a daughter… oh yeah, Ralph had asked why I wasn’t picking her up at the airport. “Stepdaughter, actually. Yeah. She’s seventeen. Her name is Tessa.”
“What’s she like?”
“Well, she’s smart, street-smart. A survivor. She’s tough.”
“Tough? Anything else?”
“Um… she likes to wear black.”
“Well, what does she like to do?”
I shifted in my seat. “I don’t know. Listen to music. Hang out with her friends.” Where are you going with this?
Lien-hua didn’t say anything for a few moments. Finally she added, “So you’re not too close then?”
I took in a long, slow breath. Man, Pat, she can read you like a book. “No. Not really.”
A short silence and then, “How did she handle her mother’s death?”
I began to fidget with my pen. “OK, I guess. We don’t talk about it much. So do you think Grolin’s going to show up?”
“Do you talk about it at all?”
I was beginning to regret volunteering for this stakeout. “Christie’s death was hard on both of us. Truth is, Tessa and I have never been all that close, and after her mom died, it just got worse-”
Suddenly I felt Lien-hua’s hand press gently against my left arm. It unnerved me and somehow comforted me, brought me back to the moment.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to… We don’t have to talk about-”
“No. It’s OK,” I said, but I wasn’t sure that it was.
She pulled her hand back, laid it on her thigh.
I took a slow breath. “One in every eight women in North America is diagnosed with breast cancer. Did you know that?”
“No. I didn’t.”
“Neither did I. A year ago.” I could feel the familiar tightening in my chest, the desperate helpless feeling you get when you look back over your shoulder at something painful from your past; something that haunts you but is also a part of you. You try to run from it, but it’s always right there, breathing down your neck. It’s not true what they say. Time doesn’t heal all wounds. Sometimes it just throws salt on them and laughs as you squirm.
“What about Tessa’s father?”
I shook my head. “She never met him. Christie was in college when she got pregnant. He took off when she told him the news. Never saw the guy again.”
I heard Lien-hua mumble a few words about him that I was surprised she knew.
“Yeah. My sentiments exactly.” I sipped at my coffee. “What about you?”
