Vanish: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

how it goes.
    The blond man took in the room at a glance, and his gaze focused on Regina, who slept soundly among the couch cushions. At once he turned his weapon on the baby, and Jane felt a stab of panic, sharp as a knife to the heart. “Not a word,” he said to Jane. He knew just how to control her, just how to find a mother’s most vulnerable spot. “Where’s the whore?” he asked Lukas.
    “The bathroom. I’ll get her.”
    It’s too late to warn Mila, thought Jane. Even if I screamed, she would have no chance to escape.
    “So you’re the cop I heard about,” the blond man said.
    The cop. The whore. Did he even know the names of the two women he was about to kill?
    “My name is Jane Rizzoli,” she said.
    “Wrong place, wrong time, Detective.” He did know her name. Of course; a professional would have to know. He also knew enough to keep a respectful distance from her, far enough away to react to any move she might make. Even without his gun, he was not a man she could easily tackle. His stance, the quietly efficient way he had taken control, told her that, unarmed, she did not have a chance against this man.
    But armed . . .
    She glanced at the floor. Where the hell had she left the diaper bag? Was it behind the couch? She didn’t see it.
    “Mila?” Lukas was calling through the bathroom door. “Are you all right in there?”
    Regina suddenly gave a start and let out a jittery cry, as though aware that something was wrong. That her mother was in trouble.
    “Let me pick her up,” said Jane.
    “She’s fine right where she is.”
    “If you don’t let me pick her up, she’ll start screaming. And she knows how to scream.”
    “Mila?” Lukas was rapping on the bathroom door now. “Unlock this, will you? Mila!”
    Regina, as predicted, began to howl. Jane looked at the man, and he finally gave a nod. She gathered the baby into her arms, but her embrace seemed to hold no comfort for Regina.
She can feel my heart pounding. She can feel my fear.
    There was banging in the hallway, then a crash as Lukas broke through the door. Seconds later he came running back into the living room, his face flushed. “She’s gone.”
    “What?”
    “The bathroom window’s open. She must have crawled out.”
    The blond man reacted with a mere shrug. “Then we’ll find her another day. The video is what he really wants.”
    “We have it.”
    “You’re sure it’s the last copy?”
    “It’s the last.”
    Jane stared at Lukas. “You already knew about the videotape.”
    “Do you have any idea how much unsolicited junk a reporter gets in the mail?” said Lukas. “How many conspiracy theorists and paranoid nuts there are out there, desperate for the public to believe them? I wrote that one column about Ballentree, and suddenly I’m the new best friend for all the Joseph Rokes in this country. All the weirdos. They think if they tell me about their little delusions, I’ll take the story from there. I’ll be their Woodward and Bernstein.”
    “That’s how it
should
work. That’s what journalists are supposed to do.”
    “You know any rich reporters? Once you get past the rare superstars, how many names do you remember? The reality is, the public doesn’t give a shit about the truth. Oh, maybe there’d be a flutter of interest for a few weeks. A few front-page stories above the fold.
Director of National Intelligence charged with murder.
The White House would express the appropriate amount of horror, Carleton Wynne would plead guilty, and then this would go the way of every other scandal in Washington. In a few months, the public would forget about it. And I’d go back to writing my column, paying my mortgage, and driving the same beat-up Toyota.” He shook his head. “As soon as I saw the videotape Olena left me, I knew it was worth a lot more than just a Pulitzer. I knew who’d pay me for it.”
    “That video Joe sent you. You
did
receive it.”
    “Almost threw it away, too. Then I thought, what the hell, let’s see what’s on it. I recognized Carleton Wynne right away. Until I picked up the phone and called him, he didn’t even know the tape existed. He thought he was just chasing down a couple of whores. Suddenly this got much, much more serious. And more expensive.”
    “He was actually willing to deal with you?”
    “Wouldn’t you be? Knowing what this tape could do to you? Knowing there are other copies floating around out there?”
    “Do you really think Wynne is going to let