Jan Burke - Nine

Then he heard her shout Gabe’s name.

Her phone ringing, then.

Gabe was alive. For a few minutes, that was all that mattered.

He moved away from the door, not wanting to eavesdrop. Or, he admitted to himself, wanting to eavesdrop but overcoming the temptation. He called Moriarty from the study.

“Just getting ready to call you,” Moriarty said. “There’s a reason you were feeling like you were being followed.”

“You saw someone?”

“No, we waited around for a little while, just watching, and then we decided to look the car over-I’ve got a suspicious nature, you see.”

“That’s why you’re good at what you do,” Kit said. “What did you find?”

“A transmitter. Secured near the back bumper.”

“Any idea how long it’s been there?”

“Judging by the amount of undisturbed mud near it, maybe before you left Colorado.”

“Someone followed me from there?”

“I doubt it. This type of device has a range of about thirty miles, forty if you’re tracking it from the air. If they had attached a little larger model GPS system, they could have found you just about anywhere. From that and everything else we know, I think they were waiting for you to come back here.”

“How hard would it be for them to get this type of equipment?”

“You can order it off the Internet. Companies get these devices for their company cars and delivery vans, to make sure the drivers are going where they say they’re going. Shippers use them to make sure their cargo doesn’t get lost. This is a fairly sophisticated one-it will pulse at about forty beats a minute when the vehicle is still for fifteen seconds or more, but if the vehicle moves, it pulses at more than ninety beats per minute.”

“So it alerted them every time I moved.”

“Whenever they were close enough to pick up the signal, yes.”

Kit was silent for a moment. Moriarty waited patiently.

“Did you take it off?”

“No. I didn’t think that would be smart. For one thing, this type of transmitter has a tilt sensor that would tell them if it was pried off the car. So we couldn’t just take it off and stick it on a mail truck or something.”

“Better to leave it on anyway,” Kit said. “If they’ve tracked it to the airport, they may think I’ve taken a plane somewhere.”

“That’s my boy,” Moriarty said with pride.

“Any listening devices?”

“No, we swept for those. And the house is clear, so I’m not worried about that. Can you live without the Suburban for a while?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Sorry to send you all the way out there…”

“No, it’s a good thing I went. If you and Meghan had picked it up, you would have brought them right back onto your trail. See you in a few-and try to get some sleep, kid.”

Kit walked back down the hall. He stood outside Meghan’s door, then summoned the courage to knock on it. “Meghan?”

“Kit?”

“Are you all right?” He added, “I’m asking in person.”

He heard her give a small laugh. “Come in, Kit.” Her voice sounded odd to him.

Her light was on, and she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her hair was tousled, and she was wearing an old flannel robe. She was holding her cell phone. She looked up at him, and he saw that she was crying, but she smiled. “Gabe just called. He’s all right…” She started crying harder. She set the phone down and, propping her elbows on her knees, covered her eyes with her hands.

He found that he couldn’t just watch her cry. He sat next to her and tentatively placed an arm around her shoulders. He felt her surprise, but only for the briefest moment, then she leaned against him. She was warm, especially where her head rested on his shoulder and chest, and he wondered if there was the slightest chance that she didn’t hear his heart hammering in a rhythm that echoed both his pleasure and his panic.

“You’ll be okay,” he said, as much to himself as to her.

“Until just now, I didn’t realize how scared I’ve been that Gabe was tortured or dead,” she said.

He reached into his pocket and produced a clean handkerchief.

She took it gratefully, then said in a wistful tone, “Cloth handkerchiefs. I’d forgotten. Elizabeth hated tissues, didn’t she?”

“Yes. Environmentally wasteful, she said, but I think she was just old-fashioned.”

He wished he could relax. She must feel, he thought, as if she’s being hugged by a mannequin. He was aware of every centimeter of contact between them.

She blew her nose.

It was such a robust, undignified, unexpected sound that he started laughing.

“What?” she said, but she was laughing, too. “I promise I’ll wash it before I give it back.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed.”

She looked up at him. “I like your laugh.”

He moved his hand away but stayed sitting next to her. “So tell me what Gabe had to say.”

“He sounded good, in spite of everything-he sounded sober and didn’t seem to be on anything. Usually, if he calls me this late-I guess I don’t need to tell you what state he’s usually in at this hour.”

“I don’t think I get as many of those calls as you do. And none lately. Does he know…?”

“Yes. He’s heard the news. He says he’s safe, but he won’t tell me where he is. He said he’s promised the person who’s hiding him not to reveal his location, but I have to tell you, that makes me so nervous! What if it’s someone who wants to turn him in for reward money, or sell him to Everett, or-I don’t know!” She glanced at him and said, “What is it? Why are you smiling?”

“If he’s where I think he is, he’s safe, at least for now.”

“How could you possibly know where he is?”

He picked up the bedroom phone and called the number for the house in Blue Jay.

It rang several times, and when it was picked up, no one said anything.

“Gabe, it’s Kit.”

He heard Gabe exhale in relief. Meghan’s eyes widened.

“God damn, you scared me,” he said. “But I also hoped it might be you.”

“Are you all right?”

There was a little hesitation before he said, “‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ I’m grateful to you for giving me the key to this place, Kit. I think you saved my life. I think you saved it even before all this bullshit started happening.” He paused, then added, “I don’t know if you’re happy about that, though.”

“Of course I am. Talk to your sister again before she punches me, okay?”

“Sure.”

“You two…” she sputtered angrily. “I’ve worried myself sick, and Kit has known all along where you were?”

“No, no. He gave me the key to this place five years ago. I never told him I was coming up here. Don’t be mad at him, Meggie. Think of where I’d be if he hadn’t given me that key.”

She looked at Kit, nervously watching her. “You’re right. Gabe, I was trying to tell you before-Kit has some theories about all of this. I think you should listen to him.”

She gave the phone back to Kit.

Gabe said, “Before we talk about anything else, I want you to know-”

“That you didn’t shoot anyone. I know.”

There was a silence, and Kit saw Meghan watching him intently.

“Thanks, Kit,” Gabe said in a choked voice.

“Meghan never thought so, either.”

“But I was there. I was part of it.”

“You’ll have to decide the best way to make up for that, then. In the meantime, let me tell you my ideas about Everett.”

Meghan listened as he talked to Gabe, then said, “Tell him about Freddy,” and Kit realized that she didn’t know that he was dead.

“There’s a lot more to this, but I don’t want to talk about it on the phone,” Kit said. “I don’t think you’ll be safe there forever.”