Shadow Prey

SoDak who’d probably know him. Deputies. I gave Daniel the names, he called them and they’re driving down to Rapid City tonight. I’m catching a plane out at six o’clock. I should be in Rapid City by seven-thirty. I’ll take the pictures along.”
    “You think they’ll know all these guys?” Lily asked.
    “Most of them. They try to keep track of who has guns,” Hart said.
    “Why don’t we just wire the pictures out . . . ?”
    “The technical guys said we’d lose too much resolution. We decided it’d just be best all around if I went. I could spend some time talking to them.”
    “That sounds right,” Lily said.
    “What about this computer tree you’re building?” Lucas asked. “I understand you got all kinds of family stuff in there from Minnesota Sioux. Anything on Bluebird or Yellow Hand?”
    “I looked up Bluebird. He’s just about the last of the family. A lot of Bluebirds went East and married into the Mohawks and that bunch. There are still quite a few YellowHands out at Crow Creek and Niobrara. Those used to be Minnesota Indians before they got run out. But I know this Yellow Hand you talked to. He doesn’t have much to do with the other Yellow Hands. This one is a loser.”
    “Nothing else?”
    “ ’Fraid not.” Hart checked his watch. “I’ve got a plane to catch.”
    “When will you know? About the pictures?” asked Lily.
    “About five minutes after I get off the plane. Do you want me to call tonight?”
    “Could you? I’ll come back here and wait for the call,” Lucas said.
    “So will I,” Lily added.
    “ ’Bout seven-thirty, we should know,” Hart said.
     
    “So now what?” Lily asked. They were standing on the sidewalk. Hart was on his way to the airport, riding in a squad.
    Lucas glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to see my kid, get something to eat,” he said. “Why don’t we meet back here at seven o’clock? We can wait for Larry to call and figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
    “Depending on what he finds out,” Lily said.
    “Yeah,” Lucas said, flipping his key ring around his finger. “Need a ride down to your hotel?”
    “No, thanks.” She smiled, starting away. “It’s a nice walk.”
     
    Sarah was crawling around on the living room rug when Lucas arrived. He got down on his hands and knees, his tie dragging on the carpet, and played backup with her. First he backed up and she crawled toward him, gurgling; then, with her eyes wide, she backed away and he prowled forward.
    “That’d be a lot more charming if you didn’t have that big bump on your ass,” Jennifer said from the kitchen. Lucas reached back, pulled out the P7 and put it on a lamp table.
    “Jesus, not there,” Jennifer said with asperity. “She could pull herself up and grab it.”
    “She can’t pull herself up yet,” Lucas objected.
    “She will soon. It’s a bad habit.”
    “Okay.” Lucas stood up, slipped the pistol back in its holster and scooped up his daughter, who had been quivering in anticipation of the flight. He bounced her in his hands as he wandered toward the kitchen and propped himself in the doorway. “Have we got some kind of problem?”
    Jennifer was making a salad. She turned her head. “No. Not unless you have.”
    “I just got here and I’m fine,” Lucas said. “You sound a little tight.”
    “Not at all. I just don’t want guns lying around the house.”
    “Sure,” he said. “Come on, Sarah, time for bed. Besides, your mom’s being a grouch.”
    Lucas waited for it during dinner, watching Jennifer’s face. Something was going on.
    “Any lines on the guy from New York?” Jennifer asked finally. Rumors about the meeting at the StarTribune were circulating through all the media. Daniel had already fended off a half-dozen inquiries, but leaks were inevitable. Jennifer, called by her former partner at TV3, had spent the afternoon talking to old sources by phone. By the time Lucas had arrived, she had most of the story.
    “Maybe. I’ve got a call coming in at seven-thirty.”
    “You’re going back?”
    “Yeah. Around seven.”
    “If Kennedy called you from the station, could you give him something for the ten-o’clock broadcast?”
    “He’d have to talk to Daniel,” Lucas said.
    “Is he going to be there tonight?”
    “No, I don’t think so.”
    “How about this New York cop lady?”
    Lucas thought, Ah, and said, “She’ll be there.”
    “I hear she’s terrific-looking,” Jennifer said. She