Invisible Prey

away from the river, up that hill. Bunch of older houses. You know where I mean?”
    “It’s about a ten-minute walk from my house,” Lucas said, “If you’re walking slow.”
    “How far from Bucher’s?” Landford asked.
    “Five minutes, by car,” Lucas said.
    “Holy shit,” Frazier said.
     
    T HEY TALKED for another ten minutes, and spent some more time looking around the house with the Booths, but the crime had been back far enough that Lucas could learn nothing by walking through the house. He said goodbye to the Booths, gave them a card, and when they’d left, waited until Frazier had locked up the house.
    “Why isn’t Amity Anderson involved?” Lucas asked.
    “I’m not saying it’s impossible,” Frazier said. “But Amity Anderson is a mousy little girl who majored in art and couldn’t get a job. She wound up being Donaldson’s secretary, though really, she was more like a servant. She did a little of everything, and got paid not much. One reason we don’t think her boyfriend did it is that there’s no evidence that she had a boyfriend.”
    “Ever?”
    “Not when she lived here. Mrs. Donaldson had a live-in maid, and she told us that Amity never went anywhere,” Frazier said. “Couldn’t afford it, apparently had no reason to. In any case, she had no social life—didn’t even get personal phone calls. Go talk to her. You’ll see. You’ll walk away with frost on your dick.”
     
    O N THE WAY back to the Cities, Lucas got a call from Ruffe Ignace.
    “I got a tip that you’ve been investigating Burt Kline for statutory rape,” Ignace said. “Can you tell me when you’re gonna bust him?”
    “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lucas said, grinning into the phone.
    “Ah, c’mon. I’ve talked to six people and they all say you’re in it up to your hips,” Ignace said. “Are you going to testify for the Dakota County grand jury?”
    “They’ve got themselves a grand jury?” Lucas eased the car window down, and held the phone next to the whistling slipstream. “Ruffe, you’re breaking up. I can barely hear you.”
    “I’ll take that as a ‘no comment,’” Ignace said. “Davenport said, ‘No comment, you worthless little newspaper prick,’ but confirmed that he has sold all of his stock in Kline’s boat-waxing business.”
    “You get laid the other night?” Lucas asked.
    “Yes. Now: will you deny that you’re investigating Kline?” Lucas kept his mouth shut, and after ten seconds of silence, Ignace said, “All right, you’re not denying it.”
    “Not denying or confirming,” Lucas said. “You can quote me on that.”
    “Good. Because that confirms. Is this chick…” Pause, paper riffling, “…Jesse Barth…Is she really hot?”
    “Ah, fuck.”
    “Thank you,” Ruffe said. “That’d be Jesse with two esses.”
    “Listen, Ruffe, I don’t know where you’re getting this, but honest to God, you’ll never get another word out of me if you stick me with the leak,” Lucas said. “Put it on Dakota County.”
    “I’m not going to put it on anybody,” Ignace said. “It’s gonna be like mystery meat—it’s gonna come out of nowhere and wind up on the reader’s breakfast plate.”
    “That’s not good enough, because people are going to draw conclusions,” Lucas argued. “If they conclude that I leaked it, I’ll be in trouble, and you won’t get another word out of me or anybody else in the BCA. Let people think it’s Dakota County. Whisper it in their ear. You don’t have to say the words.”
    “I’m going after the mother this afternoon,” Ignace said. “Let’s see, it’s…Kathy? Is she hot?”
    “Ruffe, you’re breaking up really bad. I’m hanging up now, Ruffe.”
     
    D ESPITE HIS WEASELING, Lucas was pleased. Flowers had done the job, and Ignace would nail Kline to a wall. Further, Ignace wouldn’t give up the source, and if the game was played just right, everybody would assume the source was Dakota County.
    He called Rose Marie Roux. He didn’t like to lie to her, but sometimes did, if only to protect her; necessity is a mother. “I just talked to Ruffe Ignace. He knows about Kline. He’s got Jesse Barth’s name, he’s going to talk to Kathy Barth. I neither confirmed nor denied and I am not his source. But his source is a good one and it comes one day after we briefed Dakota County. We need to start leaking around that Dakota County was talking to Ignace.”
    “We can do that,” she said,