Mariah Stewart - Cry Mercy

“Mount Penn's about an hour from here,” Robert noted.

“And it's about twenty minutes from Heaven's Gate, the fertility clinic,” she told him. “Looks like we have our man.”

“Damn good reason not to want a passel of children coming out of the woodwork to claim your DNA.” Emme called Nick's shop to give him the news. “I imagine it could prove embarrassing if the press got hold of that story.”

“Yeah, puts him in an awkward position,” Nick had snapped angrily. “Do I acknowledge them? Do I try to ignore them? Seems to me whatever he does, it's going to prove to be a distraction during his campaign.” He paused, then added, “Unless, of course, he got rid of the distraction. Permanently.”

“Don't jump to conclusions, Nick. We don't know if Belinda ever contacted him, or that he even knew about any of these kids.”

“So let's go ask him. Point blank.”

“Let's find out where he is first, then we'll make an appointment, then we'll-”

“No. First we find out where he is, then we show up.”

“Let me give some thought to the right way to go about this. I'll get back to you.”

She was still holding the phone in her hand, debating the best way to approach John Gardner, when Robert strolled into her office.

“You get in touch with Gardner yet?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I have the numbers of his local office and his office in Annapolis.”

“Forget the Annapolis office,” he told her. “It's summer. No one's going to be there now.”

“Good call.”

“I'm trying to decide the best way to go about this, the best way to get in touch with him.”

Robert reached past her for her desk phone and hit two numbers. “Suse, call Maryland state congressman John Gardner and tell him I'd like him to meet with a few of my people as soon as possible. No, don't give any reason. Just that I'd appreciate it if he could clear his schedule, as soon as he can swing it.” He hung up the phone and sat in one of the wing chairs facing her desk. “She'll let us know. So, Emme, how do you like Conroy so far?”

“I… it's fine. Great.” She nodded, surprised at his intervention. From what she'd seen so far, except for putting his computer skills to work, he hadn't seemed too engaged in the foundation.

“Chloe seems like a really happy kid,” he went on. “She's really something. You never know what she's going to say.”

Dear God, what has she said? Emme went cold inside.

She must have gone white because Robert immediately said, “Oh, nothing bad. Just funny stuff. And we all know that Trula adores her. I haven't seen her have this much fun since… well, not in a long time.”

A shadow crossed his face and Emme suspected that he was thinking of the joy his own child must have brought Trula.

Her phone rang and he answered it. “Great. I'll tell Emme. I'm sure she can make it. Thanks, Suse.”

He handed her the phone to hang up, and said, “One of the good things about having an easily recognizable name is that when you call people, they usually respond.”

“She found him?”

“He's at his summer home on the Eastern shore. He'll see you at ten tomorrow morning. Stop by Susanna's office and get his address and the directions.” He slapped a hand on her desktop before rising from the chair, a smile on his face. “Good luck. I hope this leads to the break you've been looking for.”

“So do you know what you're going to ask Congressman Gardner?” Nick asked.

“I'm working on it.” Curled up on the love seat in the sitting area of her hotel room, Emme juggled the phone with the remote for the TV. “I know what I want to ask. I just want to be sure to approach him in a way that will give us the answers we need.”

She channel surfed through the cable news stations and settled on her favorite talking head. It was the top of the hour, and the day's headlines were being read.

“On the one hand, I think we need to go slow and easy and build into it, and on the other, I'm thinking we need to go the direct route, hit him with it right up front. Then we-” She stopped, her attention drawn to the newscast. Uncertain of what she'd just heard, she increased the volume.

“Then we what?” Nick was asking. When she didn't answer, he repeated, “Emme, then we what-”

“Oh, dear God in heaven.” In a flash, she was on her feet, standing directly in front of the TV screen. “Dear God, no.”

“Emme, what's wrong?” She heard the alarm in his voice, but was powerless to respond. “What's happening, baby? What's wrong? Is it Chloe?”

“It's…” She felt as if she were underwater, struggling to breath. “Turn on your television. Carolyn Craft's show.”

“… investigators say they have no suspects in the shooting death of Henry Carroll-Wilson, whose body was found in a dumpster in a rest area off Route 213, and the disappearance of his sister, Lori Carroll-Wilson. Anyone having any information is asked to call…”

“Henry.” She gasped. “Henry's dead. And Lori… dear lord…”

“Are they saying when they think this happened?” Nick was asking. “Emme, come on. Get a grip. Did they say when this happened?”

“They're saying that they haven't been seen since Saturday morning.” She repeated to him what the newscaster was saying. “Henry lived with his girlfriend in Hartford… Lori staying in New Haven with a roommate over the summer, working at a restaurant… the roommate said Henry picked up his sister very early on Saturday morning… she's saying it was around 6 A.M. The roommate was leaving for a weekend at the Cape, so she isn't aware of when-or if-Lori ever came back to the apartment. The investigation is continuing.”

“Did they say if this is a suspected carjacking, some random shooting, what?”

“They don't know. They did find blood on the ground near a car that matches the description that Henry's girlfriend gave the police, but the tags are off it. And now they've moved on to another story.” Emme sat on the sofa and opened her laptop. “Let me see what's on the wires.”

“Are you still there?” Nick asked after a few quiet moments passed.

“Yes, I thought maybe I could find some more detailed information online but there really isn't much yet.” She closed her laptop and blew out a long breath. “This is just crazy. Henry dead and Lori gone. First Belinda, now these two… I don't like what I'm thinking, Nick.”

“I don't like what I'm thinking, either. What are we going to do about it?”

“Let's take this one step at a time. The first thing I'm going to do is call the detective who's investigating Henry's murder. I'll tell him about the meeting we were supposed to have on Saturday and I'm going to tell him why. I'm also going to tell him about Belinda. Then tomorrow, we're going to keep our appointment with Congressman Gardner. After that, well, we'll just have to see where it all takes us.”

What's got you all pissy this morning?” Nick strapped himself into the passenger seat of Emme's car after having tried to plant one on her when he first got in.

“Detective Lou Stafford, that's what's got me pissy. Your door's not closed.” She pointed to the light on her dash.

Nick opened and reclosed the door. “So what's his problem?”

“I called him and told him everything.” She pulled into traffic and headed for the highway. “I mean everything. From Belinda trying to find Donor 1735, then going missing in January, to our planning a meeting with Henry and Lori on Saturday and their unexpected car trouble and their canceling out on us.”

“Okay, and he said-”

“He said he thought it was highly unlikely that the two cases were related because there was so much time between them. That it's probably a coincidence that Belinda disappeared and then months later one of her donor siblings was murdered and another-also a young girl-has gone missing. And besides, he said they're looking at the case in two ways. One, Lori could have killed Henry for some as yet unknown reason…” She glanced over and saw the look of skepticism cross his face. “Yeah, that's what I thought, too. I asked him how she would have made her getaway, if the car was there at the scene. His answer for that was theory number two, which involves a guy Lori recently broke up with.”