'You got something to hide?' Green said.
'Just his fondness for cyber pornography,' Win said. Then: 'Oops.'
Kimberly Green stood and blocked Myron's path. 'We think we know about the missing college student,' she said, her eyes locked hard on his. 'Do you want to know how we found out about it?'
Myron kept still.
'Through her father. He got a call from the kidnapper. I don't know what was said. He hasn't said a word since. He's catatonic. Whatever that psycho said to that girl's father put him in a padded room.'
Myron felt the room shrink, the walls closing in.
'We haven't found any bodies yet, but we're pretty sure he kills them,' she went on. 'He kidnaps them, does Lord knows what, and makes the families suffer interminably. And you know he won't stop.'
Myron kept his eyes steady. 'What's your point?'
'This isn't funny.'
'No,' he said. 'It's not. So stop playing stupid games.'
She said nothing.
'I want to hear it from your mouth,' Myron said. 'Do you think I'm involved in this, yes or no?'
Eric Ford took this one. 'No.'
Kimberly Green slid back into her chair, her eyes never leaving Myron's. Eric Ford made a big hand gesture. 'Please sit down.'
Myron and Win moved back to their original positions.
Eric Ford said, 'The novel exists. So do the passages Stan Gibbs plagiarized. The book was sent to our office anonymously — more specifically, to Special Agent Green here. We admit that we found that issue confusing at first. On the one hand, Gibbs knows about the kidnappings. On the other hand, he doesn't know everything and he clearly copied excerpts from an old, out-of-print mystery novel.'
'There's an explanation,' Myron said. 'The kidnapper might have read the book. He might have identified with the character, become a copycat of sorts.'
'We considered that possibility,' Eric Ford said, 'but we don't believe that's the case here.'
'Why not?'
'It's complicated.'
'Does it involve trigonometry?'
'You still think this is a joking manner?'
'You still think it's smart to play games?'
Ford closed his eyes. Green looked on edge. Peck continued scribbling notes. When Ford opened his eyes, he said, 'We don't believe Stan Gibbs made up the crimes,' he said. 'We believe he perpetrated them.'
Myron felt a pow. He looked up at Win. Nothing.
'You have some background in the criminal mind, do you not?' Ford asked.
Myron might have nodded.
'Well, here we have an old pattern with a new twist. Arsonists love to watch firemen put out the blaze. Oft- times they're even the ones who report the fire. They play the good Samaritan. Murderers love to attend the funerals of their victims. We videotape funerals. I'm sure you know this.'
Myron nodded again.
'Sometimes killers make themselves part of the story.' Eric Ford was gesturing a lot now, his knotted hands rising and falling as though this were a press conference in too big a room. 'They claim to be witnesses. They become the innocent bystanders who happened to find the body in the brush. You're familiar with this moth-near- the-flame phenomenon, are you not?'
'Yes.'
'So what could be more enticing than being the only columnist to report the story? Can you imagine the high? How mind-bogglingly close to the investigation you'd be. The brilliance of your deception — for a psychotic, it's almost too delicious. And if you are perpetrating these crimes to get attention, then here you get a double dose. Attention as the serial kidnapper, one. Attention as the brilliant reporter with the scoop and possible Pulitzer, two. You even get the bonus attention of a man bravely defending the First Amendment.'
Myron was holding his breath. 'That's a hell of a theory,' he said.
'You want more?'
'Yes.'
'Why won't he answer any of our questions?'
'You said it yourself. First Amendment.'
'He's not a lawyer or psychiatrist.'
'But he is a reporter,' Myron said.
'What kind of monster would continue to protect his source in this situation?'
'I know plenty.'
'We spoke to the victims' families. They swore they never spoke to him.'
'They could be lying. Maybe the kidnapper told them to say that.'
'Okay, then why hasn't Gibbs done more to defend himself against the charges of plagiarism? He could have fought them. He could have even provided some detail that would have proved he was telling the truth. But no, instead he goes silent. Why?'
'You think it's because he's the kidnapper? The moth flew too close to the flame and is licking his wounds in darkness?'
'Do you have a better explanation?'
Myron said nothing.
'Lastly, there's the murder of his mistress, Melina Garston.'
'What about it?'
'Think it through, Myron. We put the screws to him. Maybe he expected that, maybe he didn't. Either way, the courts don't see everything his way. You don't know about the court findings, do you?'
'Not really, no.'
'That's because they were sealed. In part, the judge demanded that Gibbs show some proof he had been in contact with the killer. He finally said that Melina Garston would back him.'
'And she did, right?'
'Yes. She claimed to have met the subject of his story.'
'I still don't understand. If she backed him up, why would he kill her?'
'The day before Melina Garston died, she called her father. She told him that she lied.'
Myron sat back, tried to take it all in.
Eric Ford said, 'He's back now, Myron. Stan Gibbs has finally surfaced. While he was gone, the Sow the Seeds kidnapper was gone too. But this brand of psycho never stops on his own. He's going to strike again and soon. So before that happens, you better talk to us. Why were you at his condominium?'
Myron thought about it but not for long. 'I was looking for someone.'
'Who?'
'A missing bone marrow donor. He could save a child's life.'
Ford looked at him steadily. 'I assume that Jeremy Downing is the child in question.'
So much for being vague, but Myron was not surprised. Phone records probably. Or maybe there had indeed been a tail when he visited Emily's. 'Yes. And before I go on, I want your word that you will keep me in the loop.'
Kimberly Green said, 'You're not a part of this investigation.'
'I'm not interested in your kidnapper. I'm interested in my donor. You help me find him, I'll tell you what I know.'
'We agree,' Ford said, waving Kimberly Green silent. 'So how does Stan Gibbs fit in with your donor?'
Myron reviewed it for them. He started with Davis Taylor and then moved on to Dennis Lex and then the cryptic phone call. They kept their faces steady, Green and Peck scratching on their pads, but there was a definite jolt when he mentioned the Lex family.
They asked a few follow-up questions, like why he got involved in the first place. He said that Emily was an old friend. He wasn't about to go into the patrimony issue. Myron could see Green getting antsy. He had served his
