"Can I do anything for you, Betsy?"
Page was concerned by Betsy's pallor. Betsy took a deep breath and shut her eyes. She was used to thinking of Alan Page as a stone-hard adversary. Page's show of concern disarmed her.
"I'm sorry," Betsy said. "I just can't seem to focus."
"Don't apologize. You're not made of iron. Do you want to rest? We can talk about this later."
No. Go ahead."
"Okay. Has anyone contacted you about Kathy?"
Betsy shook her head. Page looked troubled. It didn't make sense. Rick Tannenbaum had probably been killed the day before. If the person who took Kathy was after ransom he'd have called Betsy by now.
"This wasn't a robbery, Betsy. Rick's wallet was full of money. He had on a valuable watch. Can you think of anyone with a reason to hurt Rick?"
Betsy shook her head. It was hard lying to Alan, but she had to do it.
"He had no enemies?" Page asked. "Personal, business, someone in his firm, someone he bested in court?"
"No one comes to mind. Rick didn't get into court.
He does contracts, mergers. I never heard him say anything about personal problems with anyone in his firm."
"I don't want to hurt you," Page said, "but Ross told me you and Rick were separated. What happened? Was he drinking, using drugs, was there another woman?"
"It was nothing like that, Alan. It was… He… he desperately wanted to be a partner at Donovan, Chastain and Mills and it looked like they weren't going to let him. And… and he was terribly jealous of my success. Tears welled up in Betsy's eyes. "Making partner meant so much to him. He couldn't see that I didn't care.
That I loved him."
Betsy could not go on. Her shoulders shook with each sob. It all sounded so stupid. To break up a marriage over something like that. To leave your wife and daughter for a name on a letterhead.
"I'll be sending you home with an officer," Page said quietly. "I want to set up a command post in your house.
Until we learn otherwise, we're treating Kathy's disappearance as a kidnapping. I want your permission to put a tap on your home and office phones, in case the person who has Kathy calls. We'll cut off any call from a client as soon as we know it's not the kidnapper. I'll have the office tapes erased."
"Okay."
"We haven't released Rick's identity yet and we aren't going to let the media know Kathy's missing until we have to, but we'll probably have to give out Rick's name in the morning. You're going to be hounded by the press."
"I understand."
"Do you want me to call someone to stay with you?
There was no longer a reason to keep Kathy's disappearance from Rita.
Betsy needed her more than ever.
"I'd like my mother to stay with me."
"Of course. I can have an officer drive her to your house."
"That won't be necessary. May I use the phone?"
Page nodded. "One other thing. I'll explain what happened to judge Norwood. He'll set over the Darius hearing."
Betsy's heart leaped. She had forgotten about the hearing. How would Reardon react, if it was set over?
Reardon was holding Kathy because of the hearing. The longer it was put off, the greater was the danger that Reardon would harm Kathy.
"I'm going to work, Alan. I'll go crazy if I just sit at home."
Page looked at her oddly. "You won't want to tackle anything as complex as Darius's case now. You'll be too distracted to do a competent job. I want Darius more than I've ever wanted anyone, but I'd never take advantage of a situation like this. Believe me, Betsy. We'll talk about his case after the funeral."
The funeral. Betsy hadn't even thought about a funeral. Her brother had taken care of her father's funeral.
What did you do? Whom did you contact?
Page saw how confused Betsy looked and took her hand. She had never noticed his eyes before. Everything else about the district attorney, from his lean build to the angles that made up his face, were so hard, but his eyes were soft blue.
"You look like you're about to fold up," Page said.
"I'm going to send you home. Try to get some sleep, even if you have to take something. You'll need all your strength. And don't give up hope.
You have my word. I'll do everything in my power to get back your little girl."
Chapter Twenty-seven
"Tannenbaum was killed Friday evening," Ross Barrow said as he uncapped a Styrofoam cup filled with black coffee. Randy Highsmith pulled a jelly doughnut out of a bag Barrow had placed on Alan Page's desk. it was still dark. Through the window behind Page, a river of headlights flowed across the bridges spanning the Willamette River as the Monday morning commuters drove into downtown Portland.
"Three days without a call," Page muttered to himself, fully aware of the implications. "Anything last night at Betsy's house?" he asked Barrow.
"A lot of condolence calls, but no kidnapper."
"How do you figure it?" Page asked Highsmith.
"First possibility, it's a kidnapping, but the kidnapper hasn't gotten in touch with Betsy for some reason known only to him."
"The kid could be dead," Barrow offered. "He wants to hold her for ransom, but fucks up and kills her."
"yeah," Highsmith said.. "Or, possibility number two, he has Kathy and he's not interested in ransom."
"That's the possibility I don't even want to consider," Page said.
"Do we have anything new, Ross?" Highsmith asked.
Barrow shook his head. "No one saw anyone leaving the apartment house with a little girl. The murder weapon is missing. We're still waiting on results from the lab."
Page sighed. He'd had very little sleep in the past few days and he was exhausted.
"The only good thing to come out of this mess is the extra time it's bought with Darius," Page said. "What was in the surveillance logs?"
"Nothing that helps us," Barrow answered.
"Padovici and Kristol were on Darius from the moment he left his estate at six forty-three a.m. I talked to justice Ryder again. He's positive he was eating breakfast with Lisa Darius at seven-thirty. The teams were on Darius constantly. Besides, Darius met with people all day, in his office. I've had every member of his staff and visitors interviewed twice. If they're covering for him, they're doing a great job."
"There has to be an answer," Page said. "Has the team we've got searching for Gordon turned up anything?"
"Nada, Al," Barrow answered. "No one's seen her since she checked into that motel."
"We know she's alive," Page said, his tone echoing his frustration. "She made that damn call. Why won't she show herself'?"
"We have to start facing the fact that Gordon may have lied to you,"
Highsmith said. "Darius may have been a victim in Hunter's Point. Waters may have been the killer."
Page wished he could let Highsmith and Barrow know what Wayne Turner had told him. Then they would know Gordon was telling the truth.
"Remember I suggested Gordon might be our killer, Al," Highsmith continued. "I think we'd better start considering her very seriously. I can't see any way she could have known we would find Lisa Darius in the basement, unless she put her there.
"what if she visited Lisa and convinced her to help her break into Martin's house to find evidence to convict him. They go through the woods. Lisa knows how to turn off the alarms. Martin Darius is at work all day and the house is deserted. She kills Lisa to frame Darius, waits until she sees him come home, then calls you. The only flaw in the plan is that Gordon doesn't know about the surveillance teams."
"Nancy Gordon did not kill those women," Page insisted. "Darius killed them, and he's not beating this case."
"I'm not saying Darius isn't guilty. I'm saying this case makes less and less sense every time I look at it."
Alan Page checked his watch. It was ten-thirty in Washington, D.C.