Hidden Prey

in front of the TV, nervously eating anything she could find. Other families were being interviewed, the talking heads said: the Spivaks, the Svobodas, the Witolds.
    The FBI called, and made arrangements for an interview, tomorrow, first thing.
     
    G RANDMA ’ S AND G RANDPA ’ S bodies were taken away from the house—she saw it all on TV, the bodies coming out on gurneys, in black bags—and the police didn’t know when they would be released for burial.
    The house was sealed, Roy Hopper told her. Nobody in, nobody out.
     
    S HE TOOK SO many calls, talked to so many people, that she lost track of time. When she noticed that it was eleven o’clock, she realized that she hadn’t talked to Carl for an hour or more. She went back to Carl’s bedroom. “You’ve almost worn that bed out,” she said.
    “Yeah.”
    “I don’t think you should go to school tomorrow,” she said. “I think we can forget that.”
    “I’m going. If I don’t go, it’s like we’re guilty of something.”
    “The TV people, Carl, I think it’d be—”
    “I’m going,” he said, stubbornly. “I can take it.”
    “We’ll talk about it in the morning,” she said.
    He pushed himself up on his elbows. “Are you going to reopen the store?”
    “I don’t know. We’ve got to eat, so . . . we’ll see.”
    “If you can open the store, I can go back to school.”
    She kissed him on the forehead. “You’ve been a good boy, Carl.”

     30 
    T HEY WERE ON the outskirts of Duluth when the call came in. Lucas took the car to the side of the street and stopped as he answered the phone: “Lucas Davenport.”
    “This is the person who called you at your hotel in Duluth. I have some more information.”
    “You’re a little late. We broke things out this afternoon. We haven’t got him yet, but we know who he is—”
    “No, no. You mean this Roger person? You’re chasing the wrong man. The man who killed the Russian—he’s a boy, really—I saw him on television tonight. He was outside the house, the spies’ house, where they committed suicide.”
    “The house?”
    “Yes. Outside the house. If you get the video they had on Channel Three tonight, he’s the blond boy who is hugging the blondwoman. He comes into the camera scene and she gives him a hug. He’s wearing a dark jacket, but it’s open, he had a T-shirt underneath. He’s handsome.”
    Nadya whispered, “What?”
    Lucas shook his head at her, then said, “Look, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to come in. You can’t just tell me . . .”
    “I’m not coming in. But I will tell you two things. The first thing is—”
    “I don’t think that’ll work,” Lucas said, interrupting.
    “Then the killer will get away with it, because I’m not coming in. Two things, and then I’ve got to run, because I’m afraid you’re tracing this. First, when he tried to shoot me, I cut him on the arm with my knife. Left arm. He should still show the cut, because he bled a lot and I think I slashed him pretty good. Second, I’ve sent you the knife in the mail. It’s still got some blood on the blade and in the grooves, and it’s his blood. That should get you somewhere. I mailed it this evening at the main post office, right after the five-o’clock news, so you should get it tomorrow. I sent it to your name at the criminal apprehension office.”
    “I don’t—”
    “Good-bye.” Click.
    “Goddamnit,” Lucas said.
    “What?” Nadya and Andreno asked simultaneously.
     
    L UCAS DROPPED THEM at their hotel. Nadya said that she would cancel her flight: she would be there until they found the killer. Lucas said that wouldn’t be necessary, but she insisted.
    Andreno offered to cancel his flight, but had a problem—his ticket was nonrefundable, and it would cost six hundred bucks to cancel and get another.
    “Take off,” Lucas said. “If this is something, we pick up the kid. If it isn’t, we don’t. It’s all over but the shoutin’.”
    “Well, shit, I feel like I’m running out on you,” Andreno said uncertainly.
    “There’s not much to do,” Lucas said. “If we go after him, which is still a big if , it might not be for a couple of days. We’ll have to take local cops with us, and if I’m there, and Nadya . . . it’s already overkill.”
    “All right. I’ll take off. If you need me to cancel, call me on the cell phone.”
    “I think we’re good,” Lucas said.
     
    L UCAS WENT HOME . He hurried through the dark,