Thursday
We arrived at Luke’s just before midnight. LeJeune followed us to the house and coached me on how to handle Stokes’ call. Afterward, we settled in Luke’s kitchen. The room had a gas fireplace at one end, and Luke turned it on. An ugly couch in tartan plaid sat in front; I always kidded Luke about it—only WASPs with absolutely no taste would have it in their home, much less their kitchen. He would reply that I must have known his parents.
Tonight, though, there was no ribbing. I was drained, but a feverish urgency wouldn’t let me relax, much less sleep. Luke and LeJeune switched from coffee to beer and camped out on the couch, but my full-blown case of shpulkes kept me pacing back and forth.
“You’re sure he’ll call?”
“Of course he will, cher. He’s just waiting for you to reach that panic stage where you’ll do or say anything to get Rachel back.”
“In that case, he should have called hours ago.”
“Got a present for you,” Nick said. He pulled out something about the size of a quarter from his jacket pocket and tossed it on the coffee table.
Luke leaned over. “The tracker.”
LeJeune nodded. “He’s known where you’ve been for a while.”
“That includes the Baha’i Temple and the library, doesn’t it?”
He frowned. “Why?”
I told him about the man who’d shown up while Grace Qasimi and I were talking. And the video clips about the Uyghurs that disappeared from the Internet.
LeJeune pulled out his cell and made a few notes. “I don’t know about those videos, but do you know how to reach this Qasimi woman?”
“You can’t,” I said.
“Why?”
“She was killed on the Eisenhower Expressway a couple of hours ago.”
LeJeune’s eyebrows went sky-high.
“I don’t think it was an accident.”
“Because…”
“Because of what I just told you. She was Gregory Parks’ fiancée. She was the one who told me about the Uyghurs. And that Gregory was a double.”
LeJeune chewed his lip. “What about friends? Relatives? You know anyone who knew her?”
“She obviously knows someone up at the Dragon Inn North. She got them to pass me a message.”
“Good. I’ll start there.”
Panic swirled in my belly. “Wait. You’re not leaving, are you?”
He smiled. “Luke can handle you.” He shot him a sidelong glance. “Probably a lot better than I can.”
My eyes went wide at LeJeune’s—well—I would have to call it modesty. That was the first time I’d ever seen it. Had I not been so miserable, I might have had a comeback. Instead I let it go.
“There’s one more thing, guys,” I said. “What do we do about Dad? I haven’t told him yet. But if I don’t, he’ll never forgive me.”
Both men were quiet for a moment. Then Luke said, “I wouldn’t say anything yet. If you don’t hear anything by tomorrow night, then we can reassess.”
“I agree,” LeJeune echoed. “The fewer people who know what’s going on, the better. More controllable.”
I stopped pacing. “Controllable? How do you control a kidnapping? You just finished telling me he holds all the cards.”
“True.”
“So we have no options.”
“Maybe, maybe not. He needs the flash drive, right?”
I nodded.
“In fact, he has to get it. Or so he thinks.”
I nodded again.
“That may mean we can dictate how and when.”
“And put Rachel in more jeopardy? No way.” I went to my bag and started digging inside for the flash drive.
LeJeune let out a strained breath. I could tell I was trying his patience. It had been a long night. “Not necessarily.”
I kept fishing for the drive in my bag. LeJeune watched me. He looked like he was going to explain when I threw my bag down on the couch. “Oh crap!”
“What?”
“The flash drive. It’s not here. In the rush to get away, I think I left it back home. And Stokes knows from the tracker that I’m not there. What if he breaks in to get it? Then he doesn’t need Rachel at all. He could do anything he wanted with her,” I wailed. “Christ! What are we going to do?”
LeJeune got to his feet. “Don’t worry about that, Ellie.”
“What do you mean, don’t worry? Of course I’m—”
“I have six agents outside your house right now. No one is going to break in unless it’s us.”
“Really?” For the first time all evening, I allowed myself a deep breath. “Thank God. Thank you.”
He nodded and zipped up his jacket. “But I’m going to get it. You want to give me your key?” He paused. “Unless you’re okay with a B and E, Bureau-style.”
I almost smiled. Almost. “Yup.”
“What do you mean ‘yup?’”
“You will have to do a B&E. The assholes took off with my keys.”
LeJeune sighed. “Of course they did.” He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again. “Don’t worry. We’ll be careful.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“The best thing you can do is try and get some rest,” he went on. “He’ll call. But it won’t be tonight. It may not even be tomorrow. But he will.”
Luke came over and put his arms around me. “Listen to him, Ellie. He knows what he’s doing.”
I swallowed.
“Where is it?” LeJeune asked. “The drive.”
“Probably in my desk drawer. Upstairs in my office.”
“Okay, cher. I’ll be back tomorrow.”