or horses, and he felt vulnerable and alone in the open. The pine trees, when he could stay in their dense growth, were like having a shield. He stumbled out onto a road, close to a bridge on the river. He had no idea where he was and he kept glancing over his shoulder.
He saw a teenage boy in a yellow slicker then, trudging up from the swollen riverbanks.
‘Hi,’ the boy said. ‘Which search team were you with?’
‘Oh,’ Luke said. ‘I got separated from my search team. I’m a friend of the Olmsteads, staying at their place on the river for a few days.’ He tried not to talk too fast or let his nervousness seep into his words. ‘Just thought I’d help. But I’m useless, I don’t know the country around here.’
‘Well, I can give you a lift back to the search base.’
‘Thank you.’
He followed the kid along the thin stretch of paved road, thinking if this kid’s been involved in the search for the trucker, then maybe he hasn’t seen the rest of the news with my face on it. He couldn’t dwell over-much on the trucker. If he did the guilt would overwhelm him and he’d make a mistake and be caught or dead. He could not bring the trucker back to life if he hadn’t made it out of the river. But he could be sure that Mouser and Snow paid for what they did.
A red truck sat at the edge of the road. The kid offered his hand and said, ‘My name’s Dumont.’
‘Hi, Dumont, I’m Warren,’ Luke lied. Using his dad’s name felt easy and right. He shook the kid’s hand. They got into the truck.
‘I feel bad for this gentleman’s family. Wondering when we’re going to find him.’ Dumont wheeled the truck south – away from the house where Luke had hidden. He tried not to sag against the door in relief.
‘You look exhausted, man,’ Dumont said.
‘Didn’t sleep well. The storm kept me up.’ He stared out the window. Mouser was out of play for maybe just a few minutes, unless Luke had hurt him worse than he thought, but where was Snow? And how on earth was he going to find Eric?
They turned onto a main road that headed toward the town of Braintree and a Mercedes shot by them. He could see snow-white hair at the wheel and thought she might notice if he ducked suddenly. So he stayed put and rubbed his face with his hand.
‘You sure you okay?’ Dumont asked. He sounded as though he were doubting his decision to offer this odd stranger a ride.
In the rearview he watched the Mercedes vanish over a rise in the road. No glow of brake lights, no indication she’d spotted him. ‘Yes, I’m fine. Just tired.’ He had to get out of this area now. He needed to know where Eric and Aubrey had gone. There had to be a clue in something Eric and Aubrey had said or done. Something he’d seen. He began to blink past his exhaustion and tried to replay every nuance when Eric spoke from the beginning.
The truck pulled into a parking lot of a small motel, filled with police cars.
Police. His face had been all over the news, and there was probably an APB out on him.
To one side stood a news crew associated with a Houston station – a single reporter, a cameraman – interviewing rescuers. The media was more of a threat – they for sure would have seen his face on broadcasts.
‘Thanks, Dumont,’ Luke said. ‘I appreciate the lift.’ He opened Dumont’s truck door and stepped out into the rain.
The reporter, forty feet away, wiped rain from her face and raised a hand. ‘Hey! Y’all just get back in from the search?’
Oh, God, Luke thought. He turned and walked away, toward a tent set up for the search parties.
How the hell was he supposed to get out of here? Steal a car? He had no idea how to, and while breaking into a cottage for warmth and food after being starved for a day and surviving a cold river seemed forgivable, grand theft auto did not.
‘Warren, hey man!’
He glanced over his shoulder and saw Dumont standing with the reporter, gesturing at him to join them.
Luke forced a smile, mimed a shiver and drinking coffee. He waved and kept his hand up by his face. Then he turned, pulling the jacket’s hood halfway over his face. He ducked into the tent.
Coffee, bottled water, breakfast tacos and doughnuts were being served on a short table. He snagged a cup of coffee, steaming and black, and collected his thoughts.
Nowhere to go and no way to get there. He watched a police officer speaking into a walkie-talkie. Just turn yourself in, he thought, with a sudden and deep ache of resignation, of surrender.
Find Eric. Find the answers. Don’t you dare give up.
Braintree wasn’t a big town and he walked down to the main street. He had no money, no way out of town. He checked his watch, a Rolex that his mother had given him when he graduated from college. That would be a source of cash, but he’d rather pawn it in a town where he wouldn’t be remembered so easily. And he hated to give up a gift she had given him, but these were desperate times.
The library was open; it was just past ten in the morning. He walked inside, wandered the maze of the stacks. The smell and sight of books gave him a sudden comfort. They had been his friends after his father’s death, after his mother’s accident, and a library was a place he knew how to use. He went to an array of public computers, nodding at a tall blonde woman who was working at the main desk.
He opened a web browser and jumped to the Houston Chronicle web page.
The chlorine bombing in Ripley still dominated the headlines. The rains had removed the immediate threat, and the ruptured tanks had been sealed. Forty confirmed dead. Chemical plants around the country were on a massively increased state of alert.
The homeless man’s murder was a second-tier story; but the report offered no picture of the victim, and no name. Except that the homeless in the area didn’t seem to know much about the man. Several said he was a stranger.
That wasn’t a mystery he could solve here. He had to find Eric and Aubrey.
Luke Googled Aubrey kidnapped. He found references to a soap opera character snatched as part of a storyline, a Chilean activist who’d been missing since the Pinochet terrors, the sad detailing of a girl stolen in Oregon by her father five years ago. But nothing recent.
Maybe Aubrey hadn’t been reported as kidnapped, either. Eric had gotten her home before anyone realized she was missing.
But missing wasn’t the same as kidnapped. He searched on Aubrey missing.
Three results down he found it. A personal blog called Grace-amatic, written by a young freelance designer named Grace in Chicago: My friend Aubrey (I designed the logo for her export-import business) is missing. She’s not returning phone calls, she’s not at home, she’s not at her office, she’s not updating her social networking pages, and no one has seen her. I called the police and they were useless, they said I have to wait twenty-four hours to file a missing persons report. That’s insane. Her boyfriend, well, they just broke up a couple of weeks ago, but he said he doesn’t know where she is. I don’t know what to do omg I’m a little freaked out that the cops really do make you wait twenty-four hours.
Then two entries later: Update on my missing friend: Aubrey is no longer missing and apparently wasn’t. She called me this morning to say she took a few days to deal with some personal issues and she’s fine, thank God, and to please not blog about her life and I feel like fricking Chicken Little for panicking. The cops were right.
Chicago.
He went to Grace’s portfolio and found the one logo she’d done for an export-import company. Perrault Imports, specializing in ‘artistic’ imports from South America, Europe and Asia – modest pottery and wall hangings, sold in turn to retail outlets. The contact name was Aubrey Perrault.
Who then was Eric?
He risked signing onto the social networking site – he had an account there as well, as did most of his generation – and found a profile linked to Aubrey’s. Ah, sweet, hello Eric, one of her top friends. Eric Lindoe. He jumped to Eric’s profile. Thirty-five. Working at a private bank called Gold Maroft in Chicago. He Googled Eric Lindoe, found a few news stories, mostly tied to press releases from his employer about promotions. He had gone to the University of Illinois on full scholarship. He had started in bank operations and moved rapidly up into overseas banking: for construction projects in Saudi Arabia, Britain, Switzerland, Dubai and Qatar.
A man with so much to lose, committing kidnapping and murder – there had to be a reason.
