Chapter 7

Lichter and Goren inspected the car carefully. To his relief, the blood found in the car was minor, and probably related to the shattering glass windows. He focused his attention on the driver's side of the car. On his 4th run from the back end to the front, he found what he was looking for, called a technician over, and asked for a sample of the paint.

It had been a tearful morning with Katie. She was terribly upset about Andy and Darren, and was blaming herself for letting them go, for not noticing anything suspicious. Alex had done a lot of talking, and finally her daughter was coming back to herself.

"I… I have class soon," Katie said.

Alex didn't ask her if she thought she could handle it. She knew her daughter, and she knew she would go unless someone told her not to. Right now, Alex thought the distraction might do her some good.

"Will you… will you stay here?" Katie asked her mother.

Alex nodded. "I'll walk with you," she said.

And while Katie was in the shower, Alex stared out the window. She saw the minivan pull slowly away, caught the glimpse of that blond hair. She memorized the plate number and texted it to Bobby.

Even with the help of the pill, Carolyn only slept a few hours. She awoke in the hotel room with her husband asleep by her side, still in his clothes. Carolyn slipped out of the bed and checked both her and Mike's cell phone. Her only message was from work. She texted them back; she was in no mood to talk to anyone.

She was still in her clothes, too. They hadn't taken time to pack anything. She went into the bathroom and found a miniature coffee machine. She started it brewing and came back out to find he was sitting up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Mike never slept soundly when something was on his mind. He looked over at her.

"No news is good news," was all she could think to say.

Mike held out his arms and she willingly joined him, allowing him to wrap them around her. He kissed her hair. "Goren thinks… he thinks this was done by a person from his past."

She looked up at him.

"A woman named Nicole Wallace. A psychopath. He never could catch her. They thought she was dead all this time, but he just got a consulting job and he… he thinks it's her. And now this happened."

"But why Andy?"

"I don't know." They sat in silence a few minutes and Mike spoke again. "Goren's here. They're checking into it."

"The car?"

Mike nodded. "He's inspecting the car."

The information from the plate number Alex gave him was a dead end. The color didn't match the paint on Mike's car. He filed away the registered name, just in case she would use it as an alias.

He pulled out his phone and called Mike. Carolyn was the first to grab it off the table. "Carolyn Logan," she said.

"Hi uh, Carolyn, it's me."

"Did you find something, Bobby?"

"You were right about the car. It was forced off the road by a white Toyota."

Carolyn's emotions got the best of her and Mike quickly got up and drew her into his arms. She kept the phone to her ear.

"I don't have to tell you… we haven't heard anything. We haven't found them. They're alive, Carolyn. You know that."

Tears fell and she nodded as Mike eased the phone away from her. "Bobby," Mike said.

"Mike."

"You got something?" Bobby repeated what he'd just told Carolyn. "Mike, I'm on this. I'll catch her. I swear to God I'll catch her."

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Bobby." He hung up the phone and held his wife.

"He says they're alive."

"No ransom call yet. No trace."

"Do you think so, Mike? Do you really think so?"

He nodded fiercely and his eyes filled with tears. "He's alive," Mike said.

It was one in the afternoon when Robert Goren walked into Katie's dorm. He barely had time to greet his wife and daughter when Katie's phone rang. She showed her phone to her father. It read "UNAVAILABLE."

Bobby answered. "Katie's phone," he said.

"Now that's a voice I haven't heard in a long, long time," Nicole said with delight.

Bobby gave a signal to his wife, who quietly called Lichter on her own phone. "Nicole. Back from the dead?"

"Oh, Bobby. Were you still in mourning?"

"What do you want, Nicole?"

She clicked her tongue against her cheek a few times. "Oh, Bobby. You know what I want, what I've always wanted."

"Love."

His response angered her and she snapped, "I've never wanted for love."

"For true love, you have, Nicole."

Her voice softened and she decided to turn his comment to her advantage. "Perhaps you're the one to show me…"

"Where are the boys?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"If you hurt them, Nicole, you'll never learn about love from me."

Alex ignored it, but Katie's head snapped up in alarm.

"Perhaps if you meet me, I might remember something… useful."

"Fine. Where?"

"I'll call again."

The call ended, and Bobby angrily closed his daughter's phone. "They're working on tracing it," Alex said.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Kate?" he turned to her.

"What did you mean, she'll never learn about love from you?"

Bobby shared a look with Alex. "Your mother… she thinks this woman's… infatuation… with me is why she keeps coming back."

"She's in love with you?"

"She's a psychopath," Alex reminded Katie.

"She doesn't know what love is," Bobby said.

"And she wants… you… to show her, Daddy?"

Bobby looked his daughter in the eye. At times like this, he wished she weren't so damned smart. He nodded. "It's a… a game. If she can get me to… to…"

"To love her," Katie encouraged him.

"Then she wins."

Katie chuckled. "But you love Mom! Doesn't she know that?!"

Alex searched Bobby's eyes, and knew he needed her help. "Honey, why don't you go downstairs and call Lichter? I need to talk to Katie."

A fleeting, terrified look passed between them. Just as quickly, Bobby realized Alex was right. He nodded and walked out of the room.