A few minutes later Sean and Michelle were climbing in her SUV.

"Got one question," said Michelle.

"Just one? I'm impressed."

"Why was Tuck out of town at a meeting on the day of his daughter's birthday at Camp David? I mean, the polish meeting in Jacksonville couldn't wait? Or you couldn't do it by video conference? And was it just me or did he really seem to want to know if the president could pay a ransom from the U.S. Treasury?"

"He jumped on the cult thing a little too quickly too. That's why I didn't ask him about Pam wanting to meet with us, because it could be she wanted to meet with us about Tuck."

"So you suspect him?"

"I suspect everybody. That's why I didn't mention it to Jane Cox either."

"I liked your tactic in nailing down that he drove straight home. But do you think this really was just a random thing?"

"No, I don't."

"Then do you think this is really tied to the First Family?"

"I did until Tuck said it."

"Said what?"

"That he was working on a big biodefense project for the government."

CHAPTER 14

LATER THAT EVENING they drove near the Duttons' home but didn't pull down the road they lived on because it was closed off to traffic by portable blockades. In front of the barriers police cruisers and FBI SUVs sat slant-parked. Behind the temporary walls, the road was still clogged with police and forensics vans.

Beyond the barrier zone they could see eager journalists running around with fat microphones clutched in hand, while their videographers trotted behind. News vans with electronic masts raised to the heavens were parked up and down the road. Gawkers were out in force as well, trying to get a peek of what was going on and becoming fodder for the reporters who had little else to do but seek out inane comments since the authorities weren't talking.

"Okay, so much for tripping through the forensics evidence," said Michelle.

Sean wasn't listening. He was staring down at the piece of paper on which he'd written the letters found on Pam Dutton's arms. He was trying to assemble them in a way that made sense.

"Chaffakan. Hatka and Tayyi?"

"Chaffakan? Like in Chaka Khan? Maybe they're fans of pop singers with cool names."

"Will you get serious?"

"Okay, Tayyi sounds like Japanese or Chinese. Either a martial art or a relaxation technique."

"Or how about a code?"

"If so we don't have the key."

Sean pulled out his phone and pecked on the digital screen.

"What are you doing?"

"What everybody does these days, I'm Googling it."

He waited for the search request to load and then started scrolling down the responses. He didn't look too confident.

"Hatka is either an actress or an entertainment company. And Tayyi has something to do with Arabs in the sixth century, apparently some tribal groups."

"Some terrorist thing?"

"Doesn't feel right. I'm going to try a few more combinations with these letters." He pecked at the digital keys and got more results until another entry caught his attention.

"Yi."

"What about it?"

"I typed in Yi instead of Tayyi and here's what it says." Sean read off the screen. "The Yi Syllabary's origins are lost in time but are thought to be influenced by the Chinese writing system. Each character represents one syllable. It was used mainly for religious and secret writings. It's spoken by millions of people in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan."

"So a secret Chinese religious society with a weird language is responsible for all this?" Michelle said skeptically. "But the letters are from the English alphabet, not Chinese."

"I don't know. I'm just trying to cop a lead." He punched in a number and held up a hand when Michelle started to say something.

"Hey, Phil, it's Sean King. Right, yeah, it's been a long time, I know. Look, I'm back in D.C. and I've got a question about a language. Right. No, I'm not trying to learn one, I'm trying to see if something is a language or not. Yeah, I guess I'm not making much sense. Look, do you know anyone at Georgetown who's familiar with a language called Yi? From China?"

Michelle tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while he talked.

"Yeah, I know it's not one of the major ones. But could you check and see if anyone in your department might know? Thanks, I owe you." He gave Phil his number and clicked off.

When Michelle looked at him questioningly he said, "Buddy of mine who's in the foreign language department at Georgetown. He's going to check and get back to me."

"Yi-pee."

He stared at her crossly. "You got any better ideas?"

She was about to answer when his phone rang. "Yeah?" He straightened up and then glanced out the window. "Now? Right, okay."

He clicked off and then looked puzzled.

"Who was it?"

"FBI Special Agent Waters. We've been officially invited to participate in the investigation."

Michelle slid the gearshift lever to drive. "Wow, Jane Cox really lived up to her billing."

CHAPTER 15

WATERS MET THEM at the front door. It was quite obvious that the FBI agent had been put on a short leash with a choke collar and didn't like it one bit. He had them put on elastic booties and instructed them to walk only where he walked. He was obviously taking great pains to sound polite, but it all came out as a near growl.

"It must be nice to have friends in high places," he said as they headed up the stairs to the bedrooms after passing the outline of Pam Dutton's body on the living room rug.

"You should try it, but then you'd have that whole 'getting friends' challenge to overcome," snapped Michelle. Sean elbowed her in the side as they stopped at the door to one of the bedrooms. Waters pushed it open. Sean and Michelle looked around as they stood just inside the doorway.

This was Willa's room, the one that had been empty when they'd searched the house before. It was neat and clean. There were shelves full of books and a slender silver Mac on her desk. The words "Willa Land" were written out on one wall that was actually a black chalkboard.

"John Dutton said he thought Willa was downstairs with their mother when it happened. But Colleen said she thought she heard Willa on the stairs," said Sean.

"The same thing they told us," Waters said curtly.

"Could you tell which version was right?"

"If Willa was attacked on the stairs there's no trace left there. What she might have heard on the stairs were the kidnappers."

"Any sign of forced entry?"

"We think they gained access through the back door. It wasn't locked. There's a rear stairs to the upper level from there." He pointed to his left. "Just down that hall."

"So is the idea that the attackers came in via the unlocked door in the rear and worked their way through the house, room to room, back to front?" said Michelle.

"Drugged Colleen, then John, knocked out Tuck, and then killed Pam and took Willa?" finished Sean.

"That's one theory," said Waters.

"Why not drug Tuck too? He told us he opened the bedroom door and something hit him."

"He's a big guy, not a kid. Maybe they didn't want to take a chance with the drugging part. Blow to the head was better."

"What drug did they use?"

"The docs took some samples from residue on the kids' faces. Looks to be a liquid form of general anesthetic."

Sean said, "And is your theory that Willa was the intended victim all along?"

"Not necessarily. It might just be that they ran into Willa first and grabbed her. Pam Dutton comes in the room, sees what's going down, and starts fighting to protect her daughter. Only natural. They kill her and take the kid."