Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine, #1)(80)

“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” said Pine as she stared off.

“Why’s that? He had some happy memories.”

“I’m talking about the unhappy ones.”

Blum sat back and gazed at her. “So I spilled my life story in ten minutes. What about you?”

“You said you read up on me. What’s to tell?”

“Always better from the horse’s mouth.”

Pine shrugged and said nothing.

“That time you came into the office after a run. You had a tank top on. The tats on your delts? Gemini and Mercury. All about twins. And you looked down when I said the word.” Blum looked at Pine’s arms. “And you have the words ‘No Mercy’ on your forearms.”

“Lots of people have tats.”

“Lots of people have the usual tats. ‘Love you, Mom.’ Or a shark or a rose. Not you. Yours have meaning. Real meaning.”

“You a shrink?” Pine said quietly, as she applied oil to her trigger coil.

“No, but unlike most people, I’m a good observer. And listener.”

“I’m just fine, thanks.”

Pine started putting her weapons back together.

“Daniel James Tor?”

Pine’s hands slightly shook, and the weapon components slightly rattled.

“You want to talk about it?” asked Blum.

“No. Why would I?”

“Because we have jumped over the precipice together. Only we haven’t hit the bottom of the canyon yet, no pun intended. I think it gives me certain rights and privileges with my partner in crime. If you disagree, I’ll understand. But that’s my position, just so you know.”

Pine finished rebuilding the Beretta and reholstered both.

Blum waited patiently while she did so.

A light rain had begun to fall outside.

Pine glanced at her watch and said, “I checked, Fabrikant’s flight left on time. He’ll be landing in Munich soon.”

“Let’s hope he finds out something helpful.”

Pine nodded absently and then fell silent for a bit. “The police thought my father had done it. Taken my sister.”

“Not to be too blunt, but are you certain that he didn’t?”

“He passed a polygraph. He was a broken man from the minute he found out Mercy was gone. My parents divorced. My father killed himself.”

“Did he leave a note?”

“Not that I ever heard. My dad wasn’t what you would call the methodical planner type. He acted on impulse.”

“He might have killed himself out of guilt,” Blum said cautiously.

“Don’t think so. I mean he didn’t have guilt because he hurt Mercy. He had guilt because he was too drunk to stop it.”

“How can you be sure about that?”

“I had memory reconstruction. Via hypnosis. My father never came up, but Daniel James Tor came tumbling out of that session.”

“You remembered him abducting your sister?”

Pine said, “Only I don’t know if it’s because he actually did it, or because I knew he was in the area at the time and I wanted to believe I finally had an answer to what happened to my sister.”

“I can see your dilemma.”

“You know about Tor?”

“Of course. I was at the Bureau when they captured him in Seattle. He’d killed women and young girls in the Southwest, too. One in Flagstaff.”

“And one in Phoenix and one in Havasu City. Those three sites formed a triangle.”

Blum nodded thoughtfully. “Right. I remember now. He did mathematical patterns. That’s how they caught him. What an idiot.”

Pine shook her head. “Granted, Tor is missing some key chromosomes, but he’s no idiot.”

“So you met with him?”

“I did.”

“How did it go?”

“Badly,” replied Pine.

“Did he admit to taking your sister?”

“No. I didn’t expect him to. Certainly not at the first meeting.”

“First? So you’re going to see him again?”

“That’s my plan.”

“With what goal?” asked Blum.

“The truth. Call me na?ve, but it’s the only goal I’ve ever had.”

“And if you don’t get it? Because I just don’t see a creep like Tor giving that up, ever. I could see him twisting you in knots while he plays all of this for a game. What else does he have to do up there?”

“That’s a chance I’ll have to take.”

Before Blum could respond, Pine’s burn phone buzzed.

She looked at the message. It was from Kurt Ferris.

Roll right now. They know where you are. They’ll be there in ten.

“Let’s go,” barked Pine.

Pine and Blum grabbed their bags, which they’d never unpacked, and raced down to the parking lot.

Sixty seconds later the Mustang blew out of the underground garage and headed south. Pine turned at the next corner and then worked her way back around, to where she was three blocks away from the condo building and sheltered just inside the mouth of an alleyway.

“What are you doing?” asked Blum.

“Just making sure of something.”