found these in the Dumpster behind the bathrooms.”
Duke turned and saw a deputy carrying two cages.
Duncan exclaimed, “Those are from the lab!”
The sheriff of Nevada County, Donaldson, approached. “Tag them as evidence, Boyle.”
“Will do.”
“Agent English,” Donaldson said, “I think we should sweep the public restrooms. Don’t know that we’ll find anything-they’re not the cleanest of facilities-but we might get lucky. Is your lab handling the evidence? This is getting to be a jurisdictional problem, but we don’t have a big lab here. We send most of our big cases to Sacramento or the state lab.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Nora said, her voice restrained.
“Great. I’ll get it packaged up and off to your people. Wish this wasn’t so damn depressing. When my kids see the news footage, I’m not going to hear the end of it.”
Nora jerked her head toward the sheriff and snapped in a surprisingly harsh tone that sounded nothing like the Nora English Duke knew. “When criminals break into high-security labs and steal what doesn’t belong to them, bad shit happens.”
Her stance shifted, she tightened her jaw, making her cheekbones appear sharper.
“It’s a tragedy,” Duncan said. “Didn’t they think through what they were doing? A man died last night because they wanted to free a dozen research animals-and one hundred fifty-seven ducks are dead because of their reckless act.”
“Who’s talking to the press?” the sheriff asked the assembled group.
“The CDC,” Nora said.
“I’ll give him the stats,” Barry said. “He’s going to need some spin on it.”
“They’ll keep the lake closed for a few days, until we find that last duck,” Dr. Thomsen said. “We need to look-every minute we waste …”
He didn’t have to finish his thought. The group dispersed and Duke stood alone with Nora.
“Nora?” he said, gently but firmly putting his hands on her shoulders. He pulled off her sunglasses. Her eyes were dry, so dry they were red. She grabbed her glasses and put them back on, though the sun was setting and she no longer needed them.
“Why don’t I take you home?” he said. “Your partner can take the car back, right?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
She was anything but fine.
She stepped forward and a loud snap had her jumping as if she’d seen a ghost. She looked down and saw she’d stepped on a tree branch.
“Dammit,” she whispered. “It’s just a damn branch.”
Duke said, “I am taking you home, Nora.”
She didn’t object. She turned back to face him, her chin quivering, and said, “Thank you.”
Nora was grateful she didn’t have to drive back with Pete and listen to details about the case. It was after seven, and she’d been moving nonstop for sixteen hours. The sun was sinking, and so was she.
“Agent English!” a news reporter called out.
She jerked her head up. Everything was dark, but she didn’t take off her glasses. Not until she had her emotions completely under control.
“No comment,” she called, but no one heard her as a group of bystanders started shouting at her.
“Murderer!”
“The ducks didn’t do anything to you!”
“Killer!”
“Bitch!”
She noticed the flying object a second too late to avoid being hit in the chest by an open, partially filled soda can. The dark, fizzy liquid splattered across her chest like dark, watery blood.
She faced the crowd. They had no idea what was going on and why those poor animals had to die.
She saw Duke make a beeline toward the twenty-something girl who had thrown the can, a defiant look on her face. She wasn’t scared-or if she was, she hid it well.
“Rogan!” Nora called. He hesitated. The anger in his face was palpable. It gave her the strength she needed to shake out her memories, to put her mother behind her for the rest of the night. “It’s okay.”
She walked back to the reporter and said, “I have a brief statement.”
She was going to get reamed by her boss for this, but she wasn’t going to let the truth be shoved under the rug by the CDC, who would give no real information, other than that the public was safe. Everyone would believe that the government had overreacted and killed animals without good cause.
The news reporter rushed over, followed by the cameraman. Nora said, “I’m only saying this once.”
“Can I ask-”
“No,” she said emphatically.
“Okay. Okay, fine. I need your name-”
Nora reached into her pocket and handed him a card. She cleared her throat, saw that the camera was rolling, and began.
“The tragic killing of one hundred fifty-seven ducks today-specifically, five different species of ducks and two species of geese-is solely the result of a small group of criminals who broke into a private laboratory and released twelve quarantined ducks. The thieves believed that they were helping the birds by releasing them into the wild. On the contrary, they are responsible for all the dead animals you saw today.” She paused a moment, and when the reporter looked like he was opening his mouth, she added, “But even worse, they set the laboratory on fire and a human being died as a result.”
She wasn’t going into details regarding Jonah Payne’s death. She had some ideas about how to draw out one or more of the arsonists, and she didn’t want to give information that they might decide to keep in-house for the time being.
“Rest assured,” she continued, “the FBI, the domestic terrorism joint task force, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office will do everything we legally can to find and arrest those responsible for this tragedy.”
She paused a second, then said, “Cut.”
“Can I-”
“No.”
She turned and briskly walked away. Amazingly she felt better. She’d been so scared earlier that she was going to completely fall apart-her compartmentalization technique hadn’t been working. Every snap, every duck, reminded her …
She shook her head, needing to put it aside, and stumbled.
A strong arm wrapped around her waist. She hadn’t realized she was on the verge of falling until Duke pulled her up and held her against his side for a moment of time that was several beats too long for the chivalry of the act. And she liked it. A lot. His broad chest a perfect resting place for her heavy head; his warm, muscular arm holding her close. Just for a moment, just for a glimpse of what it would be like to have someone to call her own, someone who cared … but she’d given all that up long ago.
“You did good,” Duke Rogan whispered in her ear.
“I’m sorry for-earlier.”
“No apologies.”
Nora took off her glasses and put them in her pocket, then reluctantly took a step away from Duke. “Thank you for being here.”
Duke touched her cheek lightly. “I think I have a shirt in my trunk.”
She’d almost forgotten about the girl who’d pelted her with the open soda can. She glanced over her shoulder, but Duke said, “She’s gone.”
“Just an unhappy bystander,” she said. “I’ll live.”
