Mind prey

"So what about Manette? You said…"

"Tower had maybe ten million back in the fifties, plus the income from the trust, and a board seat at the Foundation. But he was ru

"Helen's his second wife, right?" Lucas said. "She's quite a bit younger than he is?"

Du

"What's a reet?" Lucas asked.

"Sorry; real-estate investment trust. Anyway, that was just before real estate fell out of bed, and he got hammered again. And the crash of eighty-seven… Hell, the guy was the kiss of death. You didn't want to stand next to him."

"So he's broke?"

Du

"Jesus, he's eating dog food," Lucas said, with just a rime of sarcasm in his voice.

Du

"Poor sonofabitch."

"Listen, a million ain't that much any more," Du

"So if you took your wife off, you wouldn't have done it for the money," Lucas said.

"Hell, if anybody got taken off, it should've been me. I'm worth fifteen or twenty times what Tower is. Of course, it ain't as good as Tower's money," he said ruefully.

"Why's that?"

" 'Cause I earned it," Du

"I've never seen any of it, the money," Lucas said. "It's all paper, at this point." Then: "What about insurance? Is there insurance on Andi?"

"Well, yeah." Du

"Who'd get it?"

Du

"Sole beneficiary?"

"Yeah… except, you know, Nancy Wolfe would get a half-million. They do pretty well in that partnership, and they both have key-man-key-woman-insurance to help cover their mortgage and so on, if somebody died."

"Is a half-million a lot for Nancy Wolfe?"

Du

"Will you sign a release saying that we can look at your wife's records?" Lucas asked.

"Sure. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because a lot of medical people think psychiatric records should be privileged," Lucas said. "That people need treatment, not cops."

"Fuck that. I'll sign," Du

"I'll have one sent over tonight," Lucas said.

Du

Lucas looked down at his hand and saw the ring. "Ring."

"Uh-oh. Coming or going?" Du

"Thinking about it," Lucas said.

"Marriage is wonderful," Du

"You seem… sort of lighthearted about this whole thing."

Du

Lucas grunted and stood up. "You'll stick around." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah." Du

"Maybe," Lucas said.

"Football, I bet."

"Hockey."

"Yeah, you got the cuts… Think you could take me?" Du

Lucas nodded. "Yeah."

Du

"I'll find them," Lucas said.

"But you won't guarantee their condition," Du

Lucas looked away, into the dark house: he felt like something was pushing his face. "No," he said to the darkness.

CHAPTER 4

The Homicide office resembled the city room of a slightly seedy small-town daily. Individual cubicles for the detectives were separated by shoulder-high partitions; some desks were neat, others were a swamp of paper and souvenirs. Three different kinds of gray or putty-colored metal file cabinets were stuck wherever there was space. Old fliers and notes and cartoons and bureaucratic missives were tacked or taped on walls and bulletin boards. A brown plastic radio the size of a toaster, the kind last made in the sixties with a big, round tuning dial, sat on top of a file cabinet, a bent steel clothes hanger jammed into the back as an ante

"… is one of the most historical of crimes, from the Rape of the Sabine women to the Lindbergh kidnapping of our own era…"

Lucas was drinking chicken noodle Soup-in-a-Cup, and paused just inside the door with the cup two inches from his lips. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't place it until the DJ interrupted:

You're listening to Blackjack Billy Walker, go ahead, Edina, with a question for Dr. David Girdler…

Dr. Girdler, you said a minute ago that kidnapping victims identify with their kidnappers. All I can say is, that's a perfect example of what happens when the liberal school system shoves this politically correct garbage down the kids' throats, teaching them things the kids know are wrong but they gotta believe because somebody in authority says so, like these union hacks that call themselves teachers…

Girdler's voice was consciously mellow, hushed, artificially and dramatically deepened. He said:

I understand your feelings-heh heh-about this, although I don't entirely agree with your sentiments: there are many good teachers. That aside, yes, that identification often takes place and begins within hours of the kidnapping; the victims may actually suggest ways that the police can be more effectively foiled in their efforts…