Fear Has a Name: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

photo from which Jack had been cut out.
    Pamela moved to the edge of her chair. “He was looking at the house. I was sure he was going to get out of that car and come right up to the front door again.”
    Jack reached over and covered one of her hands.
    “You weren’t able to get a license number?” DeVry said.
    “I called Tommy, the neighbor you met yesterday, to see if he could go out and get the plates, but he wasn’t home. I wasn’t going out there.”
    “And he eventually just left?” DeVry set the photo upright on the kitchen table.
    She nodded and sniffed back the emotion. “Very slowly, looking at the house the whole way.” She covered her quivering mouth with a wadded tissue. “I’m sorry. Excuse me a minute.”
    Pamela rose and hurried through the family room to the downstairs bath. Shutting the door and turning on the exhaust fan, she patted her eyes with a clean tissue, blew her nose, and stared at herself in the mirror.
    Her mascara was running, and the skin beneath her brown eyes was dark and swollen. She ran a wet finger below one eye, then the other, and patted dry with a towel. She ran her fingers through her hair and applied lipstick. That would have to do.
    She leaned all her weight through her hands onto the marble counter, sighed, and closed her eyes.
    Jack’s words from the garage the day before came back. Leave it all in God’s lap …
    Lord, help me. I’m scared. I can’t deal with this.
    She looked into the mirror again. Her bottom jaw jutted forward. Tension had carved its signature in the crevice between her eyes and the sides of her nose and mouth. Relax, Pam. But she couldn’t work up the tranquillity she had been seeking ever since the break-in.
    She sucked in her cheeks, took a deep breath, and headed back out.
    “Girls?” she called upstairs, where she could hear Rebecca’s and Faye’s giggles and the sound of a DVD they were watching. “You okay?”
    “Yes, Mommy,” Rebecca called.
    “Yes,” Faye echoed.
    “Pam,” Jack said as Pamela made her way back to the kitchen, “Officer DeVry is going to arrange for extra patrol.”
    “And I’ll come by myself when I’m on duty, Mrs. Crittendon.” DeVry stood and handed a white business card to each of them. “This has my cell. I want you to call me the instant you see that car again. Let’s hope you don’t.”
    “What about checking that picture for prints?” Pamela pointed to the framed photo on the kitchen table.
    “Well …” DeVry hesitated. “You and your neighbor both saw the perpetrator at different times with gloves on, and we found no prints anywhere. I’m 99 percent sure there aren’t any prints on that picture except ours.”
    “Why would he take Rebecca’s locket?” Pamela said. “I just don’t get it.”
    “Are you sure your daughter might not have misplaced the locket?” DeVry asked. “I know my kids are always—”
    “No.” Pamela shook her head. “It’s her absolute favorite. Jack gave it to her at a father-daughter banquet, and she had a special place for it in her jewelry box. She’s extremely organized for her age, and she says it was in there.”
    Jack retrieved the scarred photograph from the kitchen table. “Could you possibly have someone dust this anyway?” He handed it to DeVry. “Just to make sure.”
    DeVry took the photo from Jack and put it under his arm. “Sure. If anything turns up, I’ll let you know.”
    Pamela blinked with a nod of gratitude toward Jack.
    “Thank you.” Jack placed a hand on the officer’s shoulder.
    “Is there anything more you can do, or we can do?” Pamela asked.
    “I’m afraid not.” DeVry rested a hand on the big black gun in his holster. “I realize finding this picture makes this whole thing even scarier for you and your family. But as I told your husband, we really will get by here every time we possibly can. Try not to lose too much sleep over it. People like this rarely hit the same house twice.”
    “Then why did he come