The Devils Teardrop

Everybody remained silent.
    Which made the braying sound of Parker’s phone a moment later particularly startling.
    He jumped in surprise and opened his cell phone. He noted the caller ID was his home number.
    “Hello?” he answered.
    His heart froze as Mrs. Cavanaugh said in a taut voice, “Parker.”
    In the background he heard Robby sobbing.
    “What is it?” he asked, trying not to panic.
    “Everybody’s okay,” she said quickly. “Robby’s fine. He just got a little scared. He thought he saw that man in the backyard. The Boatman.”
    Oh, no . . .
    “There was nobody there. I turned the outdoor lights on. Mr. Johnson’s dog got loose again and was jumping around in the bushes. That was all. But he’s scared. Really scared.”
    “Put him on.”
    “Daddy? Daddy!” The boy’s voice was limp with fear. Nothing upset Parker more than this sound.
    “Hey, Robby!” Parker said brightly. “What happened?”
    “I looked outside.” He cried for a moment more. Parker closed his eyes. His son’s fear was like his own. The boy continued. “And I thought I saw him. The Boatman. It was . . . I got scared.”
    “Remember, it’s just the bushes. We’re going to cut them down tomorrow.”
    “No, this was in the garage.”
    Parker was angry with himself. He’d lazily left the garage door up and there was plenty of junk inside that could resemble an intruder.
    Parker said to his son, “Remember what we do?”
    No answer.
    “Robby? Remember?”
    “I’ve got my shield.”
    “Good for you. How ’bout the helmet?” Parker glanced up and saw Lukas staring at him raptly. “You have your helmet?”
    “Yes,” the boy answered.
    “And what about the lights?”
    “We’ll put them on.”
    “How many lights?” Parker asked.
    “Every last one,” the boy recited.
    Oh, it was so hard, hearing his son’s voice . . . And knowing what he had to do now. He looked around the lab, at the faces of these people who had become his own band of brothers tonight. And he thought, You can—with luck and strength—pry yourself loose from wives or lovers or colleagues. But not from your children. Never from your children. They have your heart netted forever.
    Into the phone he said, “I’ll be right home. Don’t worry.”
    “Really?” the boy asked.
    “As fast as I can drive.”
    He hung up. Everyone was looking at him, motionless.
    “I have to go,” he said, eyes on Cage. “I’ll be back. But I have to go now.”
    “Is there anything I can do?” Hardy asked.
    “No, thanks, Len,” Parker answered.
    “Jesus, Parker,” Cage began, looking up at the clock. “I’m sorry he’s scared but—”
    Margaret Lukas lifted her hand and silenced the older agent. She said, “There’s no way the Digger could know about you. But I’ll send a couple of agents to stay outside your house.”
    He thought that she was saying this as a preface totalking him into staying. But then she added quietly, “Your little boy? Go home. Make him happy. However long it takes.”
    Parker held her eyes for a moment. Wondering: Had he found a clue to the maze of Special Agent Lukas?
    Or was this only a false trail?
    He started to thank her but he sensed suddenly that any show of gratitude, any response at all, would throw off this tenuous balance between them. So he simply nodded and hurried out the door.
    As he left, the only sound in the lab was Geller’s raspy voice speaking to his computer. “Come on, come on, come on.” The way a desperate handicapper pleads with a losing horse at the track.

21
    Pixel by pixel.
    Watching the images fall into place on Tobe Geller’s screen. Still a jumble.
    Margaret Lukas paced, thinking about anagrams, about ash. Thinking about Parker Kincaid.
    When he got home how would he comfort his son? Would he hold him? Read to him? Watch TV with him? Would he be the sort of father who talked to him about problems? Or would he try to distract the boy, take his mind off his fear? Bring him a present to bribe away his sorrow?
    She had no idea. All Margaret Lukas knew was that she wanted Kincaid back here now, standing close to her.
    Well, part of her did. The other part of her wanted him never to come back, to stay hidden forever in his little suburban fortress. She could—
    No, no . . . Come on. Focus.
    Lukas turned to compact Dr. Evans, watched him examining the extortion note carefully, rubbing his handover his stubbly beard. His pale eyes were unsettling and she decided she