InSight

situation. They took Daisy inside the same Charleston hotel where Luke had registered. Jeff called Norm on the way, and he was waiting in the lobby when they arrived.
    “I’ve heard a lot about you from Luke,” Norm said, taking Abby’s hand.
    Abby felt the warmth of the man in his touch and his voice. “The pleasure’s mine, Norm. Have you heard anything?”
    “Let’s go into the bar.”
    Jeff took her arm and led her to a seat. She heard the TV but couldn’t make out what was on. She smelled beer and something sweet.
    “I don’t know where Luke is,” Norm said.
    On hearing his negative response, Abby’s knees weakened. Luke was missing because of her. Right now, she didn’t care about Carlotta Gentry or Graeme Collyer or Herbert Scanlon. She wanted to find Luke and go home to the way things were. She wanted their lives back, their dinners together, their running time, their quiet time. She wanted him. She fought the dizziness when she feared he might be hurt or worse, resurrecting the nausea.
    “I called Mrs. Gentry,” Norm said. “Luke went to see her, all right. They spent twenty minutes together, after which her limo took him back to town. She said he was polite and that he asked a number of questions about the time Stewart got sick. Luke told her he didn’t know where Stewart was but hoped the police apprehended him soon so the attacks on you would stop. On the way back to the hotel, he asked to be dropped off at the Straw Market to pick up some things. That’s the last anyone has seen of him. I think she’s lying through her teeth, but the chauffeur confirmed her account of his visit.”
    “Yeah, a chauffeur in her employ,” Jeff said. “I bet he’s more than a chauffeur. Let me tell you something about Luke. It would take someone very special to take him face to face. Of that I’m sure.”
    “Graeme Collyer?” Abby asked.
    “Oh, yeah,” Norm answered. “He’s special, all right. Special Forces, South African style.”
    “I know the type,” Jeff said. “But why bother face to face when he can take Luke from behind? We’re not talking fair play here.”
    Jeff’s words didn’t help Abby’s frame of mind. “It’s time to call on Mrs. Gentry. She’ll see me, if for no other reason than to find out if I know where Stewart is. Besides, she’ll want to see the results of her handiwork.” She reached down and gave Daisy a rub. “That’d be me. Isn’t that right, Daisy girl?”
    “Well you’re not going alone,” Jeff said. “Luke did, and no one’s heard from him since.”
    “She won’t get away with doing it twice,” Abby said.
    “You’re not going alone,” Jeff repeated.
    “Don’t worry, I couldn’t if I wanted to, and I don’t. Blind, yes; stupid, no.”
    Carlotta Gentry accepted Abby’s call as expected and with a warmth never extended while she was married to her son. In fact, Mrs. Gentry seemed anxious to see her ― a first ― and offered a car to pick her up in front of the hotel in two hours. Abby said she came with a friend and that they’d drive.
    “They don’t have Luke at her house,” Norm said. “He’s stashed somewhere else.”
    “They confined Stewart to Scanlon’s private hospital,” Abby said. “Do you think they’d chance putting Luke there?”
    “I doubt it. In any case, we can’t march in there without a warrant, and I can’t get a warrant on a hunch. I want you to wear a wire.”
    “No way. Mrs. Gentry isn’t stupid either.”
    “Neither is Collyer,” Jeff said. “We may not see him, but he’ll be there. I doubt Luke saw him until it was too late.”
    “Anyway, I won’t need a wire. If Luke is alive, she’ll let him go. I promise she will.” The thought that Luke might be dead weakened Abby’s knees again. It was the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room no one mentioned. She couldn’t lose someone else she loved. Not again.
    “Are you carrying?” Norm asked Jeff.
    “Do you really want to know?”
    “No, I guess not. Forget I asked.”
    * * * * *
    T he butler brought Abby and Jeff out to the veranda. Abby had visited the Gentry estate a few times during her marriage. Coming from such a humble background, she’d been in awe of the luxurious surroundings. While the Gentrys entertained, the parade of yachts and sailboats kept Abby entranced for hours. The rippling water, salt air, and ocean breeze calmed her, and she remembered thinking she could spend the rest of her life taking in the view. Today, the