John Sandford: Silken Prey

“And not a speck of evidence.”

“Not a speck,” Lucas said.

“Well, good for her,” Corcoran said. “I always liked that girl.”

On the way out of town, Lucas stopped at the only gas station to get a Diet Coke and whatever kind of Hostess Sno Ball imitation they had, and found himself looking at a rack of postcards.

• • •

A COUPLE OF DAYS later, Lauren and Kidd were going out for a late lunch, and they stopped in the bottom hallway to check the mail. Lauren took a postcard out of the mailbox and Kidd asked, “Anything good?”

“It’s a postcard from Lucas. . . . It says, ‘Glad you’re not here.’” With a puzzled look on her face, she turned it over and found a photo looking out over Iron Bay and Lake Superior.

“Oh, shit,” she said, stricken.

“What?”

“Lucas knows.”

• • •

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, wrapped in warm winter jackets, she and Kidd stood side by side on the Robert Street bridge, looking down at the dark waters of the Mississippi.

Kidd said, “This is the only time since I knew you, all those years, that you ever kept anything that they could stick you with.”

“Because it’s gorgeous,” she said. A gold watch dangled from her fingers. “It’s a Patek Philippe, from 1918. I’ve looked it up—it could be worth anything up to a quarter million.”

“And it would hang you, if anybody ever saw it,” Kidd said.

“I know,” she said. “But I refuse to give it back to a killer.”

“It’s a shame, though,” Kidd said.

“Would you do it if it was a Monet?”

“Jesus Christ, no,” Kidd said. “If it was a Monet . . . I’d . . . I’d . . .”

“You’d never drop it in the river,” Lauren said. She relaxed her fingers, and the watch dropped like a golden streak through the gray light of winter, and a quarter million dollars disappeared into the black water below the bridge.

“That’s it,” Lauren said, dusting her hands off. “Not a speck of evidence, now.”

“Not a speck,” Kidd said, hooking an arm through hers. “C’mon, little housewifey. Let’s go get a cheeseburger.”

• • •

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