Hostage

'When I talk with Rooney again I'll push him to find out how everyone's doing. Maybe I can kick free some information about the father.'

They agreed that for now the best plan was to let Rooney and the others in the house calm down. Martin looked back at Talley.

'If the boy calls again, he'll call through your office.'

'I would guess so. He must've gotten the department's number from information.'

Talley knew what she wanted.

'I'll have someone in my office around the clock. If the boy calls, they'll page me and I'll bring you in.'

Martin checked her watch, then looked at Maddox.

'We've got to get to it. I want you and Ellison set up in front of that house so we can start breaking these assholes down.'

Talley knew what that meant: They would maintain a high noise level profile, phoning Rooney periodically throughout the night to keep him awake. They would try to wear him down by depriving him of sleep. Sometimes, if you got them tired enough, they gave up.

Martin turned back to Talley, and now her face softened. She put out her hand, and Talley took it. Her grip wasn't as hard as before.

'I appreciate your help, Chief. You've done a good job keeping this situation under control.'

'Thanks, Captain.'

Martin squeezed his hand, then let go.

'You want to relieve your people now, that's fine. I'd like four of your officers to liaison with the locals, but past that, we've got it. I know you have a slim department up here.'

'It's yours, Captain. You have my numbers. If you need me, call. Otherwise, I'll grab a few hours' sleep and see you in the morning.'

'We're good.'

Martin gave him an uncertain smile that almost looked pretty, then walked away. Talley thought that she probably had a hard time smiling, but people often did, and for reasons that surprised you. Maddox and Ellison followed her.

Talley brought his cup to the kitchen, thanked Mrs. Peña for her help, then went to his car. He brought Larry Anders up to speed, then checked the time, wondering if Jane and Amanda were still at dinner or were waiting at home.

He wondered why Martin had squeezed his hand.

KEN SEYMORE

The television crews wouldn't share their food, cheap pricks, big urns of Starbucks coffee that someone had brought, Krispy Kreme donuts, and pizza. Just as well, or Ken Seymore would have missed seeing Talley leave.

Rather than eating, Seymore was seated in his car, a Ford Explorer, near the gate. He told the two cops there, who had asked him what he was doing, that he was waiting for a pool photographer to arrive from Los Angeles. Going to snap some shots of the guys guarding the development, he had said. That had been enough. They'd left him alone.

When Seymore saw Talley drive out, he picked up his phone.

'He's leaving.'

That was all he needed to say.

CHAPTER 13

Friday, 8:46 P.M.

JANE

Her heart pounding, her lips tingling from the kiss, his voice a whisper in her ear there in the dark, parked outside her house.

'We would be good together. I've thought that for weeks, the two of us, fitting together like pieces of a puzzle.'

He was a doctor at her hospital, newly divorced, two boys in high school, one a year older than Mandy, the other a year younger.

'You know it would be good.'

'It would.'

She loved the warm hardness of him, something that had been missing so long; this large male body, holding her, hers to hold. And a nice man. A nice man. They had the same sense of humor, wacky and sarcastic.

'Come home with me tonight. For a little while.'

Her first date with another man since Jeff moved out, almost a year; Jeff up there in Bristo, Jeff who had simply shut down on her, stopped feeling, pulled back, withdrawn, disappeared, whatever the hell. It felt like cheating.

'I don't know.'

'I don't want the night to end. We don't have to do anything. Not for at least five minutes.'

She laughed. Couldn't help herself.

He kissed her, and she kissed back, the sensuous play of lips and tongues. She felt drunk with it, and so SO alive.

'I told Amanda I would be in by now.'

'I'll cry. Worse, I'll sulk. It's terrible when I sulk.'

Laughing, she put her hand over his face and pushed him away. Gently.

He sighed, and now they were serious.

'Okay. I had fun.'

'Me, too.'

'I'll see you at work tomorrow. I'll drop around the floor, find you.'

'I'm off tomorrow and the day after.'

'Thursday, then. That would be Thursday. I'll see you then.'

She kissed him a final time, a quick peck, though he wanted more, then hurried into the empty house. Amanda was sleeping over at her friend Connie's. She hadn't told Amanda that she was going out, let alone that she would be in by now. That had been a lie.

The next day, Jane changed her hair color, going with the dark red, the red that's almost black, wondering if it made her look younger, wondering what Jeff would think.

Everything that night, it had felt like cheating.

'Earth to Mom?'

Jane Talley focused on her daughter.

'Sorry.'

'What were you thinking?'

'If your father likes my hair.'

Amanda's face darkened.

'Like you should care. Please.'