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tape. We'll talk about them as we review the case.'
Richard ran his hand through his hair again as he paced to the window. He seemed irritated. He looked at Lucas and Alvarez.
'What can you people do that's any different from what's already being done?'
Myers said, 'More horsepower.'
Lucas nodded.
'That's right. We'll bring the full weight and authority of the Missing Persons Unit to finding your son, not to
mention our experience. Finding people is what we do.' Alvarez leaned forward on his elbows.
'We're the A-team, Mr. Chenier. We'll get the case organized, review what's been done, and find your son. We'll also cooperate with you and Mr. Myers in your own efforts.'
Richard turned impatiently from the window and motioned for Myers to peel himself away from the wall.
'Good. That's great. Now I want to get back to finding
my son instead of just talking about it. Come on, Lee.' I said, 'We know who took him.'
Everyone looked at me as if they weren't sure what I had said or why I had said it. Lucy opened her mouth, then stood.
'What did you say?'
'We know who took Ben. We have a description on
the vehicle and two men, and an ID on one of them.' Myers peeled himself from the wall. 'You're full of shit, Cole.'
Starkey held out her copy of the Interpol file so that Lucy could see Fallon's picture.
'Look at this man, Ms. Chenier. Try to remember if you've seen him before. Maybe at a park when you were with Ben, or after school or when you were at work.'
2I9
Lucy studied Fallon as if she was falling into his picture. Richard hurried across the room so that he could see.
'Who is that? What did you find out?'
I ignored Richard and the rest of them. I was totally focused on Lucy.
'Think hard, Luce--maybe you had one of those feelings like you were being followed; maybe you got a weird
vibe from someone you saw, and this was him.' 'I don't know. I don't think so.' Lucas said, 'Who is that?'
Starkey glanced at Lucas and Alvarez, then handed the sheet to Gittamon.
'His name is Michael Fallon. I've already put it out on a BOLO, along with a description of the vehicle they used. At least one other man was involved--a black male with distinctive marks on his face, but we don't have an ID for him yet. Probably because we're not the A-team.'
Richard stared at Fallon's picture. He breathed hard and rubbed his hair again. He shoved the picture at Myers.
'You see this? You see what they have? They've got a fucking suspect.'
Myers nodded with little roach eyes. 'I can see that, Richard.' The roach eyes came to me. 'How do you know it's him?'
'We found a cigar wrapper on the ridge opposite my house. We found it near footprints that match the footprint where Ben was taken.'
Richard's eyes were bright.
'That footprint we saw? The one you showed us yesterday?'
Starkey said, 'Yeah. We got an NCIC hit on fingerprints
220
from the wrapper on twelve out of twelve points. It doesn't get more positive than that.'
Both Lucas and Alvarez got up so they could see the
picture, too. Lucas glanced at Gittamon.
'You didn't tell me about this.'
Gittamon shook his head as if he were on the spot. 'I didn't know. I called her, but she didn't call back.' Starkey said, 'We found the wrapper this morning. We only got the IDa few minutes ago. That's what Cole and I were doing while you people were figuring out how to steal our case.'
'Take it easy, Detective.'
'Read his goddamned warrants. Fallon is a professional killer, for Christ's sake. He's got a war-crimes indictment in Africa. He's murdered people all over the world.'
Lucas said, 'Detective!'
