The Search

by Нора Робертс

  Perry’s voice murmured in his ear. He made himself turn back, cast his gaze down. He was sick of blending. Sick of not being seen.

  But... but...

  He couldn’t think with all this noise. People talking about him, behind his back. Just like always. He’d show them. Show them all.

  Not yet. Not yet. He needed to calm down, to remember the preparations. To focus on the goal.

  When he glanced up again, he saw the prey already moving toward the door, her take-out cup in her hand. His face burned with embarrassment. He’d nearly let her walk away, nearly lost her.

  He stepped out of line, kept his head down. It couldn’t be tonight after all. Discipline, control, focus. He needed to calm down, to calm himself, to box in the excitement until after.

  She’d have one more night of freedom, one more day of life. And he’d have the pleasure of knowing she was unaware she had already stepped into the trap.

  Fiona considered a voodoo doll. She could probably get one of Sylvia’s artists to make a doll in Kati Starr’s likeness. Sticking pins in it, or simply bashing its head against a table, might be childish, but she had a feeling it would also be therapeutic.

  Simon didn’t seem to be concerned about the latest story with Starr’s byline. He was probably right. Probably. But the idea that she claimed to have sources stating the FBI was looking for a “person of interest” in the RSKII investigation grated.

  She didn’t just pull that out of the air.

  Someone was leaking information, and she was confident enough of the source to print it, and to have traveled to Orcas, again.

  To have pushed Fiona’s name forward, again. And this time linking her with Simon. The hunky artist who traded Seattle’s urban flair for a quiet inlet retreat on Orcas.

  The paper had even printed a sidebar on him, relating his work in the medium of wood, his practical applications with a creative flair, its organic center.

  Blah, blah, blah.

  She had a few dozen things she’d like to say to Kati Starr, which of course was just what the reporter wanted.

  The continued publicity put her in a tenuous position with clients. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—answer questions, and they couldn’t help but ask them.

  And because the questions, and the crazies, were popping up on her blog, she had to close the comments section and rerun old entries.

  Desperate for something to keep her mind occupied, she focused on a new project. And hunted Simon down in his shop. Whatever he was making involved the lathe and the use of a small carving tool—and looked as though it required precision and focus.

  She stood back and kept her mouth shut until he turned off the machine.

  “What?”

  “Can you make this?”

  He tossed the protective goggles aside and studied the photo.

  “It’s a window box.”

  “I know what it is.”

  “It’s actually Meg’s window box. I asked her to take a picture and upload it for me. Simon, I need something to do.”

  “This looks like something for me to do.”

  “Yes, initially. But I’ll plant them. If you could make four of them.” She caught the wheedling edge in her voice and hated it enough to change tones. “I know maybe you don’t actually want window boxes, but you have to admit they’d look good, and they’d perk up the front of the house. You could even decorate them for Christmas with—or not,” she said as he only stared.

  “Okay, I guess I won’t mention an idea for some raised beds on the south side of the house. Sorry. Sorry. One look around here and anyone could see you’re already busy enough without me dreaming up more to keep myself occupied. What’s that?”

  She gestured toward the tarp that covered the wine cabinet.

  “That would be none of your business.”

  “Fine. I’ll go clean something and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”

  “Fiona.”

  She stopped at the door.

  “Let’s go for a walk.”

  “No, it’s fine. You’re in the middle of something, and my problem is I’m not. So I’ll get in the middle of something.”

  “So, I’ll go for a walk by myself, and you can go in and sulk.”

  She heaved out a breath before crossing over and putting her arms around him. “I was planning on sulking, but I can put it off.” She tipped her face up. “I’m restless, that’s all. I’m used to coming and going when I please. Heading off with the dogs, or jumping in the car and driving into the village. Stopping by Sylvia’s, or going by to see Mai. I promised I wouldn’t go anywhere alone, and I didn’t realize how stir-crazy I’d get when I couldn’t. So now I’m a pest, and it annoys me. Probably more than it annoys you.”

  “Doubtful,” he said, and made her laugh.

  “Go back to work. I’m going to go take some new pictures of the boys and update the website.”

  “We’ll go out later. Go out for dinner or something.”

  “I feel sanity returning. I’ll see you when you’re done.” She walked back to the door, opened it. Stopped. “Simon.”

  “What now?”

  “Agents Tawney and Mantz just pulled up.”

  She tried to be optimistic as she walked across the yard. Tawney greeted the dogs, and was immediately offered a rope by Jaws as Mantz stayed several cautious steps back.

  “Fiona. Simon.” Despite his dark suit, Tawney gave Jaws a quick game of tug. “I hope we’re not interrupting.”

  “No. In fact I was just complaining I had too much time on my hands today.”

  “Feeling hemmed in?”

  “A little. Lie. A lot.”

  “I remember how it was for you before. We’re making progress, Fee. We’re going to do everything we can to close this case and get things back to normal for you.”

  “You look tired.”

  “Well, it’s been a long day.” He glanced over at Simon. “Is it all right if we talk inside?”

  “No problem.” Simon started toward the house. “You’ve seen the latest in U.S. Report,” he said. “It upsets her. She doesn’t need that added on. You’ve got a leak to plug.”

  “Believe me, we’re working on it.”

  “We’re no happier about it than you are,” Mantz added as they stepped inside. “If Eckle gets the idea we’re looking for him, he could go under.”

  “That answers the top question. You haven’t found him yet. Do you want anything?” Fiona asked them. “Coffee? Something cold?”

  “Let’s just sit down. We’re going to tell you as much as we can.” Tawney sat and, leaning forward, linked his hands on his knees. “We know he was in Portland on January fifth because he sold his car to a used-car lot on that date. There’s no other vehicle registered in his name, but we’re checking on purchases in the Portland area on or around that date.”

  “He could have bought something from a private seller. Not bothered to register it.” Simon shrugged. “Or had fake ID. Hell, he could’ve taken a bus to anywhere and bought a car off Craigslist.”

  “You’re right, but we check, and we keep checking. He needs transportation. He needs lodging. He needs to buy gas and food. We’re going to turn over every stone and use every means at our disposal. That includes Perry.”

  “We spoke with him earlier today,” Mantz continued. “We know he and Eckle communicated, using a third party to smuggle letters in and out.”

  “Who?” Simon demanded.

  “The minister Perry bullshitted at the prison. The minister took Perry’s letters out and mailed them—they were to different names, different locations,” Tawney explained. “Perry claimed they were to members of a prayer group his sister belonged to, and the minister swallowed it. He brought Perry the responses, mailed to him, again from different names and locations.”

  “So much for maximum security,” Simon muttered.

  “Perry managed to get a letter out a few days after Kellworth’s body was found, but there’s been no correspo
ndence to him for over three weeks.”

  “Eckle’s distancing himself ?” Fiona glanced from agent to agent. “Is that what you think?”

  “It plays. Eckle’s gone off script now,” Tawney added. “And that’s something Perry’s not pleased about. Now that he knows we’ve identified Eckle and we’re focused on him, Perry’s not pleased about that either.”

  “You told him?” Simon interrupted. “So he’ll have a chance to confirm the damn news story with his pen pal?”

  “Short of ESP, Perry’s not getting any more messages out or in,” Mantz insisted. “We’ve blocked his conduit. He’s been locked down, and now he’ll remain locked down until we have Eckle in custody. Eckle’s not living up to his standards, and Perry’s feeling the squeeze of losing some of the privileges he gained through good behavior.”

  “You think he’s going to tell you, if he knows, how to find this Eckle?” Fiona demanded. “Why would he?”

  “He wants to cut the cord there, Fee. He’s not happy his protégé is making mistakes, going his own way. Perry knows, because we made sure he knows, those mistakes will make it impossible for Eckle to get to you.” Tawney waited a beat. “You’re still his one failure, and the reason he’s in prison. He still thinks about you.”

  “That’s not particularly good news.”

  “We don’t have much to bargain with. Perry knows he’s in prison for life. He’s never getting out. Eventually, his pride will push him into telling us what we need, or we’ll take Eckle without him.”

  “Eventually.”

  “He’s offered us information. He’s careful enough to couch it as observations, speculations, theories, but he’s ready to turn on Eckle with the right incentive.”

  “What does he want?” She already knew. In her gut she already knew.

  “He wants to speak with you. Face-to-face. You can’t say anything I haven’t already thought,” Tawney said as Simon surged to his feet. “Nothing I haven’t already said to myself.”

  “You’d put her through that, ask her to sit down with the man who tried to kill her so maybe he might toss you a few crumbs?”

  “It’s up to her. It’s up to you,” Tawney said to Fiona. “I don’t like it. I don’t like asking you to make this decision. I don’t like giving him squat.”

  “Then don’t,” Simon snapped.

  “There are plenty of reasons not to do it. He may lie. He may get what he wants and claim he knows nothing after all, or give us information that sends us in the wrong direction. But I don’t think he will.”

  “It’s your job to stop this bastard. Not hers.”

  Mantz shot him a single hard look. “We’re doing our job, Mr. Doyle.”

  “From where I’m standing, you’re asking her to do it.”

  “She’s the key. She’s what Perry wants, what he’s wanted for eight years. The reason he recruited Eckle, and she’s the reason he’ll betray him.”

  “Stop talking around me,” Fiona murmured. “Just stop. If I say no, he’ll shut down.”

  “Fiona.”

  “Just wait.” She reached up for Simon’s hand, felt the anger through his skin as clearly as she heard it in his voice. “Wait. He’ll say nothing. He’ll hold out for weeks, maybe months. He’s capable of that. He’ll wait until there’s another. At least one more, so I’ll know she’s dead because I wouldn’t face him.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “It’s how I’d feel.” She squeezed Simon’s hand, hard. “He took Greg to hurt me, and he could do this. He’d like to do it. He expects me to say no. He probably hopes I do until someone else is dead. It would appeal to him. That’s what you think, too.”

  “I do,” Tawney confirmed. “He can wait, and the waiting gives him more time to think. He considers us inferior. We wouldn’t have caught him but for a fluke, so he’d calculate Eckle may have time for one or two more.”

  “There wouldn’t have been a fluke if he hadn’t killed Greg. He wouldn’t have been driven to kill Greg if I hadn’t gotten away. So it comes back to me. You need to make the arrangements. I want to do this as soon as possible.”

  “Goddamn it, Fiona.”

  “We need a minute.”

  “We’ll be outside,” Tawney told her.

  “I need to do this,” she said to Simon when they were alone.

  “The fuck you do.”

  “You didn’t know me when Greg was killed. You wouldn’t have known me in those weeks, months even, afterward. I shattered. My broods? They’re a shadow of it. They’re nothing compared to the guilt, the grief, the depression, the despair.”

  She took both his hands now, hoping to transmit her need through his rage.

  “I had help through it. The counseling, sure, but it was friends and family that pulled me out. And Agent Tawney. I could call him, day or night, talk to him when I couldn’t talk to my mother, my father, Syl, anyone else. Because he knew. He wouldn’t ask me if he didn’t believe. That’s one.”

  She took a breath, steadied herself. “If I don’t do this, don’t try, and someone else dies, I think it’ll break something inside me. He’ll have won after all. He didn’t win when he took me. He didn’t win when he killed Greg. But, Simon, God, you can only take so many beatings and get up again. That’s two.

  “Last. I want to look him in the eye. I want to see him in prison and know he’s there because of me. He wants to use me, he wants to manipulate me.”

  She shook her head, the gesture as fierce as the sudden fury that lit her face. “Fuck him. I’ll use him. Maybe, I hope to God, he’ll tell them something that leads them to Eckle. I hope to God. But whether he does or not, I’ll have used him, and done what I needed to do to live with whatever happens after. I’ll be the one who wins. I’ll be the one who beats his sorry, motherfucking ass again. And when it’s done, he’ll know that.”

  He pulled away, walked to the window, stared out, then walked back to look down at her. “I love you.”

  Knocked sideways, she lowered to the arm of the couch. “Oh my God.”

  “I’m so pissed off at you right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been more pissed at anyone in my life. And I’ve been pissed at plenty.”

  “Okay. I’m really trying to keep up, but with my head spinning it’s hard to focus. You’re pissed off because you love me?”

  “That’s a factor, but not the main thrust. I’m pissed off because you’re going to do this, because you, being you, have to do it. I’m pissed off because short of tying you to the bed, I can’t stop you.”

  “You’re wrong. You could. You’re the only one who could.”

  “Don’t give me the opening,” Simon warned. “I’m pissed at you. And I think you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known, and my mother sets a damn high standard for amazing. If you cry,” he said when she teared up, “I swear to God...”

  “I’m having a hell of a day. Give me a break.” She got to her feet. “You don’t say what you don’t mean.”

  “Goddamn right. What’s the point?”

  “Tact, diplomacy, but we won’t get into that. Simon.” Needing to touch, she ran her hands over his chest. “Simon. Everything you just said to me—all of it—there’s nothing you could have said or done that could have made me feel better or stronger or more able to do what I need to do.”

  “Great.” A few grains of bitterness came through. “Glad I could help.”

  “Would you tell me again?”

  “Which part?”

  She rapped a fist on his chest. “Don’t be an ass.”

  “I love you.”

  “Good, because I love you. So we’re balanced. Simon.” She laid her hands on his cheeks, and when she kissed him it was strong and sweet. “Try not to worry. He’s going to try to mess with my head. It’s the only power he has now. And he can’t because I’m going in armed with something he’ll never have, and never understand. When I do what I need to do, and walk away from him, I know I’m coming back here. I know you’ll be here, and
you love me.”

  “You want me to buy that?”

  “I’m not selling it. I’m giving it, and it’s truth. Let’s go out and make this deal. I want it done and over, so I can come back to the good part.”

  They walked outside. “How soon can we go?” Fiona asked.

  Tawney took a moment to study her face. “We’re cleared for tomorrow morning. Agent Mantz and I will see about getting a hotel here on Orcas, and we’ll fly out of Sea-Tac at nine-fifteen. We’ll escort you all the way, Fee. There and back, and be with you throughout the session with Perry. We’ll have her home by midafternoon,” he said to Simon.

  Over and done and back, Fiona told herself. “I’ll have someone cover my classes tomorrow morning and afternoon. You don’t need a hotel. You can stay at my place. It’s there, it’s empty,” she added before Tawney could decline. “And it’ll save you some time.”

  “We appreciate that.”

  “I’ll get the keys.”

  Simon waited until Fiona went back inside. “If he screws her up, you’ll pay for it.”

  Tawney nodded. “Understood.”

  Twenty-Seven

  Normally, though opportunities to travel were few and far between, Fiona liked to fly. She enjoyed the ritual, the people-watching, the sensations, the anticipation of leaving one place and hurtling through the air to another.

  But in this case, the flight was simply one more necessary part of a means to an end, just something to get through.

  She’d thought carefully about what to wear, and hadn’t been able to figure out why her appearance, her presentation, took on such importance.

  She considered and rejected a suit as too formal and studied. She contemplated jeans, her usual and most comfortable choice, but decided they were too casual. In the end, she decided on black pants, a crisp white shirt and added a jacket in strong blue.

  Simple, serious and businesslike.

  And that, she realized when she sat between Tawney and Mantz on the plane, had been the importance. What she wore, how she presented herself indicated tone.

  Perry thought he was in charge, she reasoned. Though he currently resided in a maximum-security prison, he’d made a strong bid for alpha position.