“She followed me?” He’d had no idea…

“And she followed you to A.C. An accident on the interstate prevented us from diverting her. So who’s to say this Snake couldn’t have done the same thing?”

John stared out the window at the surf. He was right, dammit.

“Dear God. How many people have been watching me?”

When Decker hesitated, John turned and looked at him. His brow was furrowed, his expression troubled… as if he’d just thought of something. Whatever it was, it passed.

“Your house is under surveillance right now,” Decker said. “Just in case somebody targets your mother.” John dropped onto the edge of the bed, staring up at Decker. The horror of what he’d just said… Nana?

“My God! I never even imagined…”

“But we did. And truth is. Doc, you should have told us about those calls.”

“Why?” John said, his anger flaring again. “You don’t care about Katie. I know what your primary objective is and it’s not getting Katie back. Is it?”

For the first time, Decker’s eyes broke contact. And John felt a tiny surge of triumph.

Gotcha, you son of a bitch.

“I want to get her back, believe me. But no, you’re right. My primary directive is to safeguard the President and bring in the people behind this plot. But don’t ever say I don’t care about your daughter. That isn’t true.”

John stared at Decker. Somehow, for some reason, he believed him.

The phone rang. John leapt to it. Could it be? Had Poppy had a change of heart?

But no… a male voice, asking for Decker. John handed it to him and went back to the window. Behind him he heard Decker say, “Tell you what. Come up here and tell me. Yeah, he’s here, but I see no reason why he shouldn’t know.”

John turned as he hung up. “Shouldn’t know what?”

“New information on Poppy and Snake. We’ll both find out at the same time.” John realized Decker was making a gesture.

“Thanks,” he said softly. “I appreciate that.” While they were waiting for the caller to ride up from the lobby. Decker filled him in on what they knew about Poppy Mulliner and their theory about the violence at the Falls Church house.

A blond-haired man who looked like he’d just come off the beach arrived and was introduced as Supervising Special Agent Gerry Canney of the FBI. He seemed hesitant about speaking in front of John, but finally relented at Decker’s insistence.

“Okay,” he said, looking at John. “We got this call from the A.C. Medical Center emergency room about some woman saying she was beaten up in a parking garage and her daughter kidnapped. We checked it out and guess who it was?”

“Mamie,” John said.

“Right. Says she found her daughter wandering around alone in a souvenir shop.” John remembered a big souvenir shop north of the pay phone where he’d spent the better part of the afternoon.

“Not the one—?”

Canney nodded. “Yeah. Peanut World. About fifty yards from where you were standing.”

“Aw, no.” He felt sick. Katie had been so close.

“She said she was taking Katie to her car when this twenty-something woman with spiked hair starts beating on her. Broke her nose, knocked her out.”

John closed his eyes. Yes! How many times had he wanted to do that? Give Mamie a taste of what she’d done to Katie. But he’d never raised a hand to her. Kept telling himself she was sick, couldn’t help herself.

Thank you once again, Poppy Mulliner…

“The fallout from all of this is we have a good description of Poppy—a lot different from her three-year-old mug shot, believe me—and the changes she made in Katie.”

“Changes?”

Canney explained about Katie’s new look: boy’s clothes, short reddish hair.

“But here’s the best part. We canvassed the parking garage and the area around it and came up with somebody who saw a woman and a child fitting Poppy and Katie’s new descriptions climbing into a red panel truck. She noticed them because they were in an otherwise restricted church parking lot.”

Decker smacked a fist into his palm. “Great! You put the description out?”

“Just before I came here. Jersey State cops have it, all the local munis. Every major road is being covered. But I’m willing to bet they won’t come up with a damn thing.”

“Why not?” John said.

“Because she’s not on a major road. I’ll bet next year’s salary she’s heading into the pines. Home… to Sooy’s Boot.”

Decker was on his feet. “All right, then. Let’s go.”

John rose too. “I’m going with you.”

“No way,” Canney said.

“Damn right, no way,” John said. “No way you’re leaving me behind. If this Sooy’s Boot is where Katie is, then that’s where I belong. You don’t take me along, I’ll go on my own.”

“Look,” Canney said. “I’ve got a little girl too. I understand. But we can’t let you jeopardize a federal investigation.”

But John was concentrating on Decker. “You owe me, Bob.”

Decker hesitated, then nodded to Canney. “We’ll bring him along.”

Canney’s eye went wide. “What? We can’t—”

“We can discuss it later. Right now we’ve got some traveling to do.” He turned to John. “Pack up and we’ll—”

“To hell with packing. Nothing here I can’t do without. Let’s go.” The grief, the rage, the frustration of the past few hours had vanished. Suddenly John felt alive again.

Hang on, Katie. I’m on my way.

18

Poppy drove past the house three times before she had the nerve to stop.

“Is this where you grew up?” Katie said.

“No. This is my Uncle Luke’s house. He’s my father’s brother. They were like real close.” So close, she thought, that he probably won’t even speak to me.

She sat and stared at the mailbox: #528—LUKE MULLINER. Dad’s name was Mark, and he’d had five brothers: Matthew, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul. Yeah, Grandma Mulliner had been like real heavy into the Bible. All the Mulliner boys had been close, but Dad had always found Uncle Luke the most simpatico. He saw the most of Luke, and so naturally, Luke was the uncle she’d known the best. And loved the best.

She knew Luke had been royally pissed that she went and got knocked up and had to quit the basketball team—not for himself, but for what it had done to Dad’s dream’s of her going to college. And if he’d been so mad about that, would he ever like forgive her for running away and leaving Daddy alone? And for not showing up at his funeral?

I didn’t know he died! But that probably wouldn’t cut it. All the Mulliners tended to carry grudges to their grave. And Uncle Luke’s temper was like legendary.

She checked out the yard. The grass looked kind of weedy and scraggly, and would need cutting soon. An old Ford pickup sat in the driveway. Beyond it stood the tiny two-bedroom ranch Uncle Luke had called home for longer than Poppy had been alive. As far as she was concerned, it had been here like forever, nestled amid the close-packed scrub pines. And in all these years, no other homes had joined it. Uncle Luke’s was still the only house along this whole stretch of potholed and crumbling asphalt.

Even in the fading light she could see how the place needed some paint. So did the flaking propane tank peeking around the right rear corner.

She noticed how the toolshed in the backyard leaned to the left. And that made her kind of sad. Looked like Uncle Luke wasn’t keeping things up the way he used to. Not that he was too old. He couldn’t be fifty yet.

Maybe he was just lonely. His wife. Aunt Mary, had died not long after Mom, and his one son. Poppy’s cousin Luke Jr.—“Little Luke,” who surely wasn’t little anymore—was probably married and living on his own. So who was around for him to keep the place neat for?

A light came on in the front room.

“He’s home,” she said aloud. She didn’t see how she could put this off much longer. “Come on, honey bunch. Let’s see if Uncle Luke will take us in.” She lifted Katie in her arms and carried her up to the front door. She put her down on the stoop, took her hand, and reached out to knock… and hesitated.