92

"Please turn the car around," Meredith said. "I am not permitted to leave the grounds. When you asked me to sit in the car, I thought you meant just to talk for a minute. I'm sorry you left the letter about my mother in your other pocket, but I'll have to wait to get it. Please, I must go back, Mr. – "

"You were about to use my name, Meredith. I don't want you to do that. You must refer to me as Owl or The Owl."

She stared at him, fear suddenly gripping her. "I don't understand. Please take me back." Meredith grasped the handle of the passenger door. If he stops for a light, I'll jump out, she thought. He's different. He even looks different. No, not just different-crazy! Questions of doubt, unanswerable questions, flitted through her mind. Why did Dad ask me to promise I wouldn't leave the grounds? Why did he ask me about the hairbrush that I lost? What does this have to do with my birth mother?

The car was speeding north along Route 218. He's going way over the speed limit, Meredith thought. Please, God, let us pass a cop. Let a cop see us. She considered grabbing the steering wheel, but there were cars coming in the other direction; somebody in one of them might get killed. "Where are you taking me?" she demanded. Something was pressing into her back. She moved forward in the seat, but it was still there. What was it?

"Meredith, I lied when I said I met your mother's friend at the reunion. I met your mother there. I'm taking you to see her."

"My mother! Jean! You're taking me to see her?"

"Yes, I am. And then the two of you are going to join your birth father in heaven. You'll have a wonderful reunion, I'm sure. You look a lot like him, you know. At least you look as he did before I smashed into him on the road. You know where that happened, Meredith? On the road near the picnic grounds at West Point. That's where your real daddy died. I wish you'd had a chance to visit his grave. His name is on the tombstone: Carroll Reed Thornton,}r. He would have graduated one week later. I wonder if they'll bury you and Jeannie beside him. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"My father went to West Point, and you killed him?"

"Of course I did. Do you think it was fair for him and Jean to be so happy and leave me out in the cold? Do you think that was fair, Meredith?"

He turned his head and glared at her. His eyes were flashing. His lips were pressed together so tightly that his mouth seemed to have disappeared beneath flaring nostrils.

He's crazy, she thought. "No, sir. It doesn't seem fair," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. I can't show him how scared lam.

He seemed mollified. "Your West Point training. 'Yes, ma'am.' 'No, sir.' I didn't ask you to call me sir. I told you to call me 'Owl.'"

They had passed the cutoff for Storm King Mountain and were on the outskirts of Cornwall. Where are we going? Meredith wondered. Is he really taking me to my mother? Did he really kill my father and is he planning to kill us now? What can I do to stop him? Don't panic, she warned herself. Look around. See if there's anything you can use to defend yourself. Maybe there's a bottle of water somewhere. I could hit him in the face with it. It might give me enough time to reach the ignition key and stop the car. We're passing enough cars now that somebody might notice a struggle. But as she glanced around, she saw absolutely nothing she could use to defend herself.

"Meredith, I can read your thoughts. Don't even think about trying to attract attention to yourself, because if you do, you will not live to get out of this car. I have a gun, and I will use it. At least I am offering you a chance to meet your mother. Don't be foolish and throw it away."

Meredith's hands were gripped together. What was pressing against her back? Maybe, maybe it was something that would give her a chance to save herself and save her mother. With infinite care she unclasped her hands and moved her right hand slowly to her side. She sat up straighter in the seat as she slid her hand behind her back. Her fingers touched the edge of a narrow object that felt familiar.

It was a cell phone. She had to tug to get it loose, but The Owl didn't seem to notice. They were driving through Cornwall now, and he was looking from side to side as though afraid he'd be stopped.

Meredith moved her hand slowly back, the phone cupped in it. She flipped it open, glanced down, and her finger pressed 91-

She did not see his hand shoot across the car seat, but she felt it as he grabbed her neck. She slumped forward, unconscious, as The Owl grabbed the phone, lowered his window, and threw it onto the road.

Less than ten seconds later, a mail truck rumbled over it, breaking it into bits of plastic.

"Sam, we've lost him," Eddie Zarro said. "He's in Cornwall, but we're not getting any more signals."

"How did you lose him?" Sam shouted. It was a stupid, useless question. He knew the answer-the phone had been discovered and destroyed.

"What do we do now?" Zarro asked.

"Pray," Sam said. "We pray."

93

Jake again asked permission to leave his car outside the delicatessen, and once more it was granted, but Duke's curiosity was now at a fever pitch. "Who are you taking pictures of, sonny?" he asked.

"Just of the neighborhood. As I told you, I'm doing a little story for the Stonecroft Academy Gazette. I'll give you a copy when I finish." Jake had an inspiration. "Better yet, I'll mention you in it."

"That'd be nice. Duke and Sue Mackenzie. No capital k in Mackenzie."

"Gotcha."

Jake's cell phone rang as, camera over his arm, he was starting out the door. The call was from Amy Sachs, on duty at the hotel. "Jake," she whispered, "you should be over here. All hell is breaking loose. Dr. Sheridan is missing. They found her car abandoned at Storm King Lookout. Mr. Deegan is in the office here. I just heard him shouting about something being lost."

"Thanks, Amy. I'll be right over," Jake said. He turned to Duke. "Guess I won't need that space after all, but thanks anyhow."

"There goes that fellow from the reunion I was telling you about," Duke said, pointing to the street outside. "He's going kind of fast. He'll get a ticket if he's not careful."

Jake looked out quickly enough to see and recognize the driver. "He's been buying stuff here?" he asked.

"Yup. Didn't come in this morning, but most days he'd buy coffee and toast, and sometimes stop by for coffee and a sandwich at night."

Could he have been buying it for Laura? Jake wondered. And now Dr. Sheridan is missing. I've got to call Sam Deegan. I'm sure he'll want to check Laura's old house. Then I'll go up there and wait for him, he decided.

He dialed the hotel. "Amy, put Mr. Deegan on. It's important."

Amy didn't take long to come back. "Mr. Deegan told me to tell you to get lost."

"Amy, tell Mr. Deegan that I think I know where he can find Laura Wilcox."