I jumped in to help that girl.
The result was heroic but the act was suicidal. Graham averted his stare.
Danny, youve got to stop beating yourself up for what happened to Nora. You cant go back and undo what happened. It was an accident, which is probably what happened with the Tarver family.
She spoke to me.
Who spoke to you?
I told you. The little girl, Emily. In the river. Just before she died.
Dan. He let a long silence pass. Dan, are you sure youre ready to be back on the job?
I swear it happened, Mike.
Stotter looked at him for a long moment, thinking.
This isnt in your report.
It was chaotic. I was unclear at first.
What did she say?
Dont hurt my daddy.
Dont hurt my daddy?
Thats right.
Youre certain?
Yes.
She say anything else?
No, just, Dont hurt my daddy. Why would she say something like that? There has to be something else at work.
Stotter looked hard at Graham for a long time then scratched his chin.
Youve attended traffic accidents, Dan. Youve seen badly injured people in shock. They fight off people who try to help them. They say all kinds of things that
106 Rick Mofina dont make sense when theyre in shock. I dont think you have a clear dying declaration here that would warrant a criminal investigation into suspicious deaths. You have no solid evidence.
We still havent found Ray Tarver, or his laptop. He met some stranger the day before this happened. The guy was a freelance investigative reporter from Wash ington, D.C. And theres another thing, the last hand written entry in his notebook, this Blue Rose Creek.
All circumstantial. It will not hold up in court. But
You know real cases are not like TV crime shows,
Hollywood movies or books. There are always loose, inexplicable threads that cannot be tied up neatly at the end, and have no bearing on a criminal act.
My guts telling me theres more to this. Your gut?
Sir, youve got nothing to lose by signing off on a thorough investigation.
Dan, our budgets tight. Were shorthanded. I need you on other cases.
Were talking a multiple death case with unsettling circumstances.
Stotter crossed his arms, cognizant of the fact
Graham was one of his best, that he needed to keep him on his game and that this case could be crucial to pre serving his confidence. After ruminating on the situa tion, Stotter grabbed Grahams report.
Give me an hour.
Some forty minutes later, Stotter, holding Grahams rolled report like a baton in his hand, waved him into his office.
Six Seconds 107
Shut the door. I talked to the superintendent. And?
Apart from his life insurance- Stotter had circled part of Grahams report -Ray Tarver took out a small Canadian travel insurance policy when he booked their trip.
Right. It doesnt pay much for death.
In cases where bodies are not recovered the policy has a standard presumption-of-death clause.
Youre going to let me do this, let me go to the U.S. and check his background?
Listen to what Im telling you.
Graham took out his notebook.
You get in touch with the LO in Washington and give him what he needs to set you up down there. This is how you approach this: You tell people that youre completing paperwork that confirms Ray Tarver was in peril at the time of his presumed death. All efforts to locate him have been exhausted. Youre asking a few routine background questions, basically to ensure that he hasnt surfaced, wandering like an amnesia victim, or was acting out of character before the tragedy.
Right.
You say that youre tending to an administrative matter while youre in the U.S. following up on other unrelated matters. This will be low-key with no poten tial for ruffling feathers or causing embarrassment between the force and U.S. law enforcement. Besides, Im sure some of the guys will be busy with the papal visit. Do you understand what Ive told you?
Got it.
You are not authorized to conduct a criminal inves tigation in the United States. Is that clear, Corporal Graham?
Crystalline.
Register your trip with the travel branch. You have one, maybe two weeks, unless I call you back sooner.
17
Los Angeles, California
Please, God, let it be Logan.
Blurry images of a boy played on the screen before
Maggie.
Let it be him. Please.
A few days after Maggies ordeal with Madame
Fatima, a new hope had emerged.
We believe this is your son, Ned Rimmer said just as the video froze and static snowed on the images. Rimmer was an LAPD detective-retired six years now after a drug dealers bullet took his left eye.
Rimmer wore an eye patch, a ponytail and a sour dis position most days. He was still a detective, just not the kind hed planned on being.
Rimmer and his wife, Sharmay, an emergency dis patcher with a penchant for dangling earrings, belonged to the Guardian Rescue Society, a national group of law enforcement types who volunteered their money, re sources and time, to find children in parental abduction cases whod slipped through the cracks.
Logans file was passed to them months ago when Maggie had first sought help from support groups whod circulated her plea among their circles. Shed never heard of the society until today when
Sharmay called her at the bookstore, identified herself, then said, We believe one of our Guardians may have located your son, Logan Conlin.
Stunned into silence, Maggie gripped the phone. Hello? Maggie?
My God, do you have him? Where is he? Is he okay? I have to see him!
We dont have him yet. Wed prefer to discuss details at our Los Angeles office. Please come as soon as its convenient so we can advance the case. An hour later, after following Sharmays directions,
Maggie had parked her car on a street that bordered
Culver City and West L.A.
The societys L.A. chapter was in a second-story office above the Flying Emerald Dragon takeout restau rant. The aroma of deep-fried chicken and stir-fried veg etables filled it now as Maggie sat before the video monitor.
Here we go. Fixed it, Rimmer said. This footage comes to us from our New York chapter from Wayne
Kraychinski, retired NYPD detective first grade. As the Rimmers had explained it, Kraychinski checked Logans profile with his school sources, as he does with all the cases his chapter takes on.
Kraychinski got a lead in Queens concerning a boy fitting Logans age and description. According to the history, the boy had recently moved to the community with his father, a trucker, who fit Jake Conlins general profile.
Six Seconds.
Kraychinski and some of the other Guardians initi ated surveillance.
Weve got a series of sequences recorded over a few weeks, Rimmer said.
The camera shook and a boy about eight to ten years old in a hooded sweatshirt swam into view but not in sharp focus. Maggie couldnt see his face clearly, or his full body and gait. The boy was among a group walking through a schoolyard to a basketball court.
Now, this is where they reside.
The video jumped to a row of tired-looking twostory detached homes shoehorned into a Queens neigh borhood. One house had a rig out front. No trailer. A green Peterbilt. Being married to a trucker, Maggie knew vehicles. Jake drove a Kenworth but he couldve sold it or traded it for a Peterbilt.
Next, the boy was in a park with other kids on skateboards.
Again, his back was to the camera. He was wearing a ball cap and was sitting on the grass bordering the skating area. Maggie caught her breath as he turned to offer his profile, but a shadow blocked the image before it disappeared.
Maggie covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a groan.
Is it Logan? She couldnt be certain.
Now, Rimmer said, this next sequence, which is the money sequence, was obtained by Kraychinskis friend, Ella Bell. Shes a former Customs officer. Ella used a minicamera hidden in her hat to employ a ruse for interaction.
The camera was shaky as it came upon a group of boys at a park bench in a playground. The audio offered a womans voice that carried a touch of Long Island. The speaker was unseen as the camera closed in on the group.
Excuse me, guys, could you help me? Im lost and could use some help here.
A map was unfolded on the bench.
Im looking for the Vander Building. Anybody know where that is?
The boys huddled around the map and faces bobbed in and out of view. The camera pulled close on a boy about ten with a ball cap.
This is it, Rimmer said. Watch.
Nice hat, the woman said. You like the Yankees?
Yeah.
The caps brim cast the boys face in shadow.
Youre not from around here, the woman said. Wherere you from?
Hes new here from Ohio, another kid answered. Yo-hi-yo.
That right?
The boys face is clear now, filling the screen as he nods.
The Vander Buildings that way. Another boy pointed. The images blurred for Maggie as her heart sank and tears rolled down her face.
Its not him.
Are you sure? Rimmer asked. Because sometimes the abducting parent will change the hairstyle and color.
That boy is not my son!
Stop the video, Ned. Sharmay began rubbing Maggies shoulders. Youre going to be okay, honey.
Im sorry I yelled. Thats not Logan. Im sorry. Please thank everybody for me. Im sorry. Maggie col lected her bag and headed to the door.
Well keep looking, Sharmay called to her back. Youre going to see him again, I just know it.
Night was falling.
Maggie was losing a battle with her emotions as she hurried to her car.
How could she have been so stupid? How could she let her hopes get so high?
She pulled her keys from her bag and fumbled them. They chimed against the pavement. As she retrieved them, she glanced to the end of the street.
Although it didnt fully register, Maggie glimpsed a man near the end of the block whod been sitting in his car reading a newspaper.
As Maggie got behind the wheel of her car, he put the paper aside, sat upright then turned his ignition. When she left her parking space, the man behind her pulled out of his.
He stayed several car lengths back in a blue Impala with tinted windows. His lower front bumper was scraped on the drivers side.
Maggie had noticed him as she checked her rearview mirror, but didnt give it much thought as she headed for the freeway. She had other things to contend with.
Traffic was heavy.
The radio news reported that a wreck was choking flow on the San Bernardino Freeway, so she took the 60, her pulse still racing over what had happened with the Guardians. It hammered home the reality that she may never see Logan again.