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expecting this reaction
and got up, offering his hand. “I’d like to thank you for your
time. When can I call you again?”
    “Tomorrow,” Blake replied.
    Just as
Miles reached the door, the phone rang
and Crouse answered it with his in-office “Hello.” He watched Miles
leave, closing the door.
    “ Officers
Wilson and Benotti are waiting in the reception.”
    “Send them to my office, Maria.”
    “ Of
course, Mr. Crouse.”
     
    *
     
    “ Because of
the possibilit y that it is a kidnapping,
we’ll install all the necessary listening and tracking equipment,”
Inspector Benotti said. “You probably know the rules. You must keep
the person at the other end of the line talking for as long as
possible.”
    Blake nodded.
He never thought he ’d find himself in a
situation like this. Until then, he had only seen such things on
television. “In your experience, do you think that something bad
really has happened to Ms. Donnovan?”
    “ Everyt hing is possible but we
mustn’t be pessimistic,” she said. “At the same time, we’ve got to
be ready for the worst. Whatever has happened will become clear
soon.”
    Blake regarded the woman in front of him, thinking her
cold and without feeling. She was around thirty-five. Her face,
free of makeup, was framed by a simple hairstyle. Who knows what she’s already seen in
her career? he thought.
    Inspector
Benotti said, “If we assume it’s a
kidnapping, then we can expect the phone to ring sooner or later.
We’ll ask the phone company to redirect the calls to her apartment,
to Donnovan Corporation. This way we’ll be able to monitor all the
calls from a single place.”
    Blake nodded again.
    “ I’m warning
you in advance that the voice at the other end of the line will be
distorted and hard to understa nd. They’ll
use short sentences and keep to the point. Do everything they ask.
But demand proof. Demand they hand over Emely Donnovan.”
    Benotti
stopped talking for a second, weighing
him with her eyes as if trying to judge if he really was fit for
such a task.
    “Yes, yes,” he said, “don’t worry.”
    “ OK, if
you’re sure, we’ll install the equipment immediately.”
     
    *
     
    An hour later
the police officers returned to his
office. This time, Inspector Wilson asked, “How well do you know
Ms. Donnovan?”
    “ I’ve known
her for over fifteen years. She created the corporation, I
joine d it later. Our relationship is
mostly a business one.”
    “Had she mentioned any threatening
calls?”
    “ No, never.”
    “ What about
her behavior? Has she seemed under
stress, or tense, recently?”
    Blake thought for a few seconds. “No, she
seemed pretty normal to me.”
    “ If she was kidnapped, do you have any idea who it
could be?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’ll be more direct. Large companies like
yours have business relations with other companies. Sometimes these
deals work out in such a way that one side benefits much more than
the other. Do you think any of your business partners could be
involved?”
    “ I’m certain
not one of them would do anything like
this.”
    “So am I to understand that your company does
not have any business enemies?”
    “ Donnovan
Corporation is involved mainly in stock market deals. This means
that we buy and sell securities for other people. All our clients
are very happy with our services. We are also involved in
speculative deals, which means we buy and sell securities for our
company. But we don’t have any enemies in this respect either
because we always play by the rules that apply to
stockbroking.”
    Bo th police officers made a
note.
    “ We
have also bought a number of medium-sized
manufacturing companies and a part of our profit comes from that.
But I can’t see a connection between her kidnapping and anyone
involved in our business past.”
    “ Good. We
also think a well -organized group of
kidnappers is involved, whose aim is the extortion of
money.”
    “So you do think it’s a