Mind Prey

from the school. We found one of your daughter’s shoes in the parking lot, under her car, out of the rain. There was blood on it. We’ve got her blood type from medical school, so we should be able to tell fairly quickly if it’s her blood. If it is hers, she was probably bleeding fairly heavily—but that could be from a blow to the nose or a cut lip, or even a small scalp wound. They all bleed profusely…But there was some blood. Witnesses also suggest that your daughter and her younger daughter, Genevieve…”
    “Yes, Gen,” Manette said weakly.
    “…apparently were bleeding after the assault, when they were seen in the back of the kidnapper’s van. But we’ve also found that the kidnapper may have tried to disguise his van by painting it with some kind of red water-soluble paint, so that may be what was seen on your daughter. We don’t know about that.”
    “Oh, God.” Manette’s voice came out as a croak: the emotion was real.
    “This could turn out badly,” Roux said. “We’re hoping it won’t, but you’ve got to be ready.”
    “There must be something I can do,” Manette said. “Do you think a reward? An appeal?”
    “We could talk about a reward,” Roux said. “But we should wait awhile, see if anyone calls asking for ransom.”
    “Do you have any ideas—anything at all—about what might be going on?” Lucas asked. “Anybody who might want to get at you, or at Miz Manette?”
    “No…” But he said it slowly, as if he had to think about it. “Why?”
    “She may have been stalked. This doesn’t look like a spontaneous attack,” Lucas said. “But there’s an element of craziness about it, too. All kinds of things could’ve gone wrong. I mean, he kidnapped three people in broad daylight and got away with it.”
    “I’ll tell you what, Mr. Davenport,” Manette said. He took three shaky steps to an overstuffed library chair and sat down. “I’ve got more enemies than most men. There must be several dozen people in this state who genuinely detest me—people who blame me for destroying their careers, their prospects, and probably their families. That’s politics. It’s unfortunate, but that’s what happens when your side loses in a political contest. You lose. So there are people out there…”
    “It doesn’t feel political,” Roux said. Lucas noticed that she’d taken a cigarette out of a pocket and was rolling it, unlit, in her left hand.
    Manette nodded. “I agree. As crazy as some of those people may be, I don’t think this kind of thing would ever occur to them.”
    Lucas said, “There’s always the possibility…”
    Roux looked at him. “Political people always leave themselves escape hatches. With this, there’s no escape hatch. Even if he just dropped them off on the corner, he’d be looking at years in prison for the kidnapping. A political mind wouldn’t do that.”
    “Unless he was nuts,” Lucas said.
    Roux nodded, and looked at Manette and said, “There is that possibility.”
    “Which brings us to your daughter’s psychiatric practice,” Lucas said to Manette. “We need access to her records.”
    “The woman on the couch”—Manette tipped his head toward the living room—“the younger one, is Andi’s partner, Nancy Wolfe. I’ll talk to her.”
    “We’d like to start as soon as we can,” Lucas said. “Tomorrow morning.”
    “I hope it’s a kidnapping,” Manette said. “I hope it’s for profit—I don’t like to think of some nut taking them.”
    “How about George Dunn?” Lucas asked. “He says he was in his car during the attack. No witnesses.”
    “That sonofabitch,” Manette said. He pushed himself out of the chair and took a quick turn around the room and made a sound like a dog’s growl. “He’s a goddamn psycho. I didn’t think before tonight that he’d do anything to hurt Andi or the girls, but now…I don’t know.”
    “You think he might?”
    “He’s a coldhearted sonofabitch,” Manette said. “He could do anything.”
    They talked about the case for a few more minutes, then the two women came to the door and looked inside.
    “Tower? Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine,” he said.
    The women stepped inside. The younger of the two, Nancy Wolfe, was a slender, well-tanned woman. She wore a soft woollen dress, but no jewelry or makeup, and her auburn hair showed a few threads of gray. Speaking to Manette, she said, “You need some quiet. I’m telling you that as an M.D., not as a