Mind Prey Read Online Free PDF Page B

recognized.
    Enright led them to a sprawling center room, with two interlocking groups of couches and chairs. Three men in suits were standing, talking. Two well-dressed women sat on chairs facing each other. They all had the expectant air of a group waiting for their picture to be taken.
    "Rose Marie..." Tower Manette walked toward them. He was a tall man with fine, high cheekbones and a trademark shock of white hair falling over wooly-bear white eyebrows. Another man, tanned, solid, tight-jawed, Lucas knew as a senior agent with the Minneapolis office of the FBI. He nodded and Lucas nodded back. The third man was Danny Kupicek, an intelligence cop who had worked for Lucas on special investigations. He raised a hand and said, "Chiefs."
    The two women were unfamiliar.
    "Thanks for coming," Manette said. He was thinner than Lucas remembered from seeing him on television, and paler, but there was a quick aggressive flash in his eyes. His suit was French-cut but conservative, showing his narrow waist, and his tie might have been chosen by a French president: the look of a ladies' man.
    But the corner of his mouth trembled when he reached out to Roux, and when he shook hands with Lucas, his hand felt cool and delicate; the skin was loose and heavily veined. "And Lucas Davenport, I've heard about you for years. Is there any more news? Why don't we step into the library; I'll be right back, folks."
    The library was a small rectangular room stuffed with leather-bound books, tan, oxblood, green covers stamped with gold. They all came in sets: great works, great thoughts, great ideas, great battles, great men.
    "Great library," Lucas said.
    "Thank you," Tower said. "Is there anything new?"
    "There have been some further... disturbing developments," Roux said.
    Tower turned his head away, as though his face were about to be slapped. "That is... ?"
    Roux nodded at Lucas, and Lucas said, "I just got back from the school. We found one of your daughter's shoes in the parking lot, under her car, out of the rain. There was blood on it. We've got her blood type from medical school, so we should be able to tell fairly quickly if it's her blood. If itis hers, she was probably bleeding fairly heavily--but that could be from a blow to the nose or a cut lip, or even a small scalp wound. They all bleed profusely... But there was some blood. Witnesses also suggest that your daughter and her younger daughter, Genevieve..."
    "Yes, Gen," Manette said weakly.
    "... apparently were bleeding after the assault, when they were seen in the back of the kidnapper's van. But we've also found that the kidnapper may have tried to disguise his van by painting it with some kind of red water-soluble paint, so that may be what was seen on your daughter. We don't know about that."
    "Oh, God." Manette's voice came out as a croak: the emotion was real.
    "This could turn out badly," Roux said. "We're hoping it won't, but you've got to be ready."
    "There must be something I can do," Manette said. "Do you think a reward? An appeal?"
    "We could talk about a reward," Roux said. "But we should wait awhile, see if anyone calls asking for ransom."
    "Do you have any ideas--anything at all--about what might be going on?" Lucas asked. "Anybody who might want to get at you, or at Miz Manette?"
    "No..." But he said it slowly, as if he had to think about it. "Why?"
    "She may have been stalked. This doesn't look like a spontaneous attack," Lucas said. "But there's an element of craziness about it, too. All kinds of things could've gone wrong. I mean, he kidnapped three people in broad daylight and got away with it."
    "I'll tellyou what, Mr. Davenport," Manette said. He took three shaky steps to an overstuffed library chair and sat down. "I've got more enemies than most men. There must be several dozen people in this state who genuinely detest me--people who blame me for destroying their careers, their prospects, and probably their families. That's politics. It's unfortunate, but that's