Enigma (FBI Thriller #21)(68)
Liam looked at her, smiled. “Maybe where we’re going we can shower together.”
She turned to look at him. “In your dreams. You look like a clown in Abram’s white shoes.”
He leaned over, lightly rubbed the Walther’s muzzle over her smooth cheek. She didn’t move. He admired that. He drew back, smiled at her. “You have guts, moy golub,” he said.
“I wonder if I will have time to kill you and exactly how I’ll do it.”
Liam laughed.
Ralph’s voice came over Liam’s headphones, “Where do you want me to go, Mr. Hennessey?”
“Do you have a full tank of gas, Ralph?”
“Nearly.”
“Fly north, mate, I’ll tell you when to drop me off.”
44
DR. HICKS’S OFFICE
JEFFERSON DORMITORY, QUANTICO
WEDNESDAY MORNING
Dr. Emanuel Hicks, FBI psychologist and huge Beatles fan, stood when Savich and Sherlock walked into his office behind a pale-faced young man. He had dark smudges beneath pale blue eyes that held no hope. He looked ready to climb in a coffin and pull the lid down. Dr. Hicks had seen the same look in the terminally ill. He wore jeans, a white shirt, and an old dark-brown hoodie. So this was Saxon Hainny, the twenty-four-year-old brilliant young grad student in computer science at George Washington and the son of the eminent Eric Hainny, the president’s chief of staff. Dr. Hicks thought the young man would have looked quite handsome if the life hadn’t been leached out of him.
“Mr. Hainny,” Dr. Hicks said and shook the young man’s limp hand. It felt nearly boneless. “Thank you for coming.”
Saxon slowly nodded. “Agent Savich told me you could help me remember.” He looked down at his sneakers. “I don’t understand how, since everything is a blank.”
Dr. Hicks waved to a comfortable armchair. “Please sit down, Mr. Hainny, and I’ll explain to you what we’re going to do.”
Saxon Hainny shot a look at Savich, who smiled and said easily, “Saxon, I would trust Dr. Hicks with my life. You told us you wanted to know the truth. None of us believes what happened to you the night of Mia Prevost’s murder has been simply wiped out of your memory.” He lightly laid his hand on Saxon’s arm. “It’s time to have some faith.”
Saxon studied Dr. Hicks, a man his father’s age, but unlike his father, Dr. Hicks was thin as a pole, his wire-rimmed glasses set over intense dark eyes. “I can’t see how that’s possible, sir. I mean, I told the police and I told Agent Savich I’ve tried to remember, but there’s nothing at all. I don’t think your waving a silver coin in front of my eyes will make any difference.” His voice caught; his eyes went blank. Savich knew he was thinking about Mia Prevost.
Dr. Hicks gently pushed him down onto the chair. “Mr. Hainny, have you ever been hypnotized before?”
“No, sir. I’ve always thought it was fake.”
Dr. Hicks smiled. “We’ll see.” He pulled an old-fashioned round gold watch from his pocket. “This was my father’s watch, given to him by his father. It’s an old friend, nothing more really than something for you to look at. All I ask you to do is sit back and relax.”
A slight smile lit up that haggard face for a moment. “If you’re going to try to dig into my subconscious, you can call me Saxon.”
“Thank you. I want you to relax, Saxon, simply look at the watch, focus on it. Very good. Now empty your active mind as much as you can, and pay attention only to the watch. Think about how many daylight savings times this old watch has seen, never knew when we lost an hour, not like the new ones that do it all for you. Look at the shine on that old gold finish, how it picks up the light. You can see yourself in the gold, if you try. That’s right, Saxon, look at it and think about time melting away, an hour here, an hour there, until time means nothing.”
He continued speaking, more nonsense than not, then lowered the watch and slipped it back into his pocket. He nodded to Savich and Sherlock, rose. “He’s a very intelligent young man, focused enough to go under like a dream. He’s ready for you to question him now.”
Savich sat down in a chair, pulled it closer, and lightly laid his hand on Saxon’s arm. “Saxon, tell me about Mia Prevost. How did you meet?”
A real smile appeared at a memory all of them knew would stay with the young man until he died. “I was in a graduate seminar when a beautiful girl wandered into the room. There were six of us guys in the class and every eye was fastened on her. She blushed, apologized, and left. After class, she was sitting outside in the hallway reading. I’ll never forget what she said, ‘Here I thought that was a class on deviant behavior. To me gigabytes sound like a vampire with huge teeth. Who knew?’ She laughed and asked me if she could buy me a cup of coffee. She was so pretty, so kind, she made everything easy for me. I didn’t feel clumsy around her, and when I couldn’t think of anything to say or stumbled around, she’d laugh and pat my hand and tell me I was so good-looking I didn’t have to talk, girls wouldn’t care. My mom always called me her beautiful boy, but who believes their mom?” He paused, then his face lit up again. “Our first dinner together was at McDonald’s. We had so much fun. We talked and talked. She told me one night she couldn’t believe how she felt that first time she saw me. She told me she was falling in love with me.” His voice caught. A tear slowly slid down his cheek.