"’Cause if he found out that I knew and I didn’t tell him…"
"What?" Farley demanded.
"He can get real mean," the sheriff said. "And I don’t want to make him angry."
"Make who angry, Sheriff?"
Lloyd pulled a stained handkerchief from his back pocket and mopped his brow. "It’s close in here, isn’t it? Lauren’s got herself a window air conditioner, and I don’t think she’d mind if you boys turned it on. The living room will be nice and cool by the time she gets home. She is coming here today, isn’t she?"
"We’re not sure," Feinberg said.
Farley wouldn’t give up. "We’re still curious to hear that name, Sheriff."
"I’m not giving it to you, and I can be right stubborn when I want to, and I’m feeling stubborn now. I wouldn’t get myself worked up about it if I was you, because you’re going to be meeting my friend real soon. He’ll come over here lickety-split as soon as he hears you’re here. I guarantee it. He’s a powerful man around these parts, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll be real respectful to him. I wouldn’t make him mad, that’s for sure. The law can only do so much."
"Meaning we’re on our own?" Farley asked.
The sheriff lowered his gaze. "Something like that." Shrugging, he added, "It’s just the way things are around here. Progress comes with a price."
"And that means…?" Farley asked.
"Never you mind."
"You can tell your friend he has nothing to fear from us," Feinberg said. "Neither one of us is romantically interested in Laurant."
Farley guessed where Feinberg was heading and immediately nodded. "That’s right," he agreed.
"Well, now, that’s good to hear because my friend is planning to marry Lauren real soon, and he always gets what he wants. Make no mistake about that."
"He’s talking marriage, huh?" Feinberg remarked.
"It ain’t just talk. It’s only a matter of time before she comes around to understanding that’s the way it’s going to be."
"Sounds like your friend thinks he owns Laurant," Farley said.
"He does own her."
Feinberg laughed.
"What in tarnation’s so amusing?"
"Your friend," Feinberg explained. "He’s in for a real disappointment."
"How’s that?"
"When he finds out…" Farley deliberately let the sentence trail off.
"Finds out what?"
"Laurant met someone while she was in Kansas City."
"It was love at first sight," Feinberg interjected.
"That’s not completely true." Farley spoke to Feinberg now as the agents continued to play the sheriff and feed him information. "She’s known Nick all her life."
"No, she’s known about him, but she never met him until last week."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Nick."
"Nick who?" the sheriff demanded, his frustration apparent.
"Nicholas Buchanan."
"The man Laurant’s in love with," Farley explained.
"The funny thing is…" Feinberg began.
"What?"
"This guy… Nick…"
"What about him?"
"He’s Father Tom’s best friend. Guess it was meant to be."
"And this Nick lives in Kansas City? Long-distance relationships don’t work out."
"Oh, he doesn’t live in Kansas City. He lives on the East Coast."
"Then I don’t think Brenner has anything to worry about. Like I just said, long-distance relationships rarely work."
The sheriff had unknowingly just given them his friend’s name, but neither Feinberg nor Farley let him know it. "Nick must have figured that too," Feinberg said. "Which is why he’s moving here to Holy Oaks to be with Laurant," Farley added.
The sheriff’s eyebrows shot up. "He’s coming here… with her?"
"That’s right," Farley said. "Guess he doesn’t want to take the chance of losing her."
"And it was love at first sight," Feinberg reminded him.
"Where’s this fella going to stay?"
"Here with Laurant, until they get married. Then I’m not sure where they’ll live," Farley told him.
"Get married, you say? Who’d you hear this from?"
"Laurant told us," Feinberg answered.
"People will talk."
"I imagine they will."
"I got to get going now." The sheriff hastily shoved his handkerchief back into his pocket and headed for the door.
For all his considerable bulk, the lawman could move fast when he wanted to. Farley and Feinberg stood at the window and watched the sheriff run to the car.
"What a piece of…" Farley muttered. "He didn’t even ask us our names or ask to see our identification."
"He’s got places to go, people to see…" Feinberg began.
"And a friend named Brenner to tell," Farley concluded as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
The phone was answered on the first ring. "You got him?" Farley asked. He listened for another minute, then said, "Yes, sir," and hung up.
Feinberg squatted down by the black case. "Let’s get started," he said as he handed the other agent a pair of gloves. "This could take us all night."
Farley was the eternal optimist. "Maybe we’ll get lucky." An hour later, they did get lucky. They found the video camera tucked high in a corner of the linen closet outside of Laurant’s bedroom. The camera lens was pressed against a hole in the wall and was pointed toward Laurant’s bed. He’d been watching her sleep.
Chapter 16
Nick wasn’t talking to her. Laurant assumed he was still furious because she had insisted upon returning to Holy Oaks. After she’d taunted the madman to come and get her, Nick had gone a little crazy. And that was putting it mildly. Tommy heard all the commotion and came running, with Noah hot on his tail. As soon as Nick told her brother what she’d done, Tommy joined in the shouting match, but she held her own and stood up to them. Pete and Noah came to her assistance, flanking her sides like protective guardians. They defended her plan, and after what seemed like an hour of battling, Tommy finally caved. The phone call convinced him that the man wasn’t going to forget Laurant, and if the FBI didn’t set a trap and catch the animal, then she would be on the run or in hiding for the rest of her life.
And while the unsub was playing his hide-and-seek game with her, he would, no doubt, be preying on other women.
They had no other choice.
Unfortunately, Nick hadn’t seen it that way, and thus far she’d been unsuccessful in penetrating his anger. Pete had once again suggested that Nick step aside, repeating his earlier argument that he was simply too close to the situation and couldn’t be objective. Nick refused to listen, but when Morganstern threatened to take the choice away from him and have him removed from the case, Nick saw Tommy’s stricken expression, and then he too caved.
Pete made a call to Frank O’Leary to get the ball rolling.
Now, she was finally on her way home, sitting side by side with Nick on a US Air Express plane that was taking them from Kansas City to Des Moines. They would drive the rest of the way. Pete told her a car would be waiting at the airport. Her automobile was going into the shop for repairs in Kansas City, and as soon as the work was finished, Tommy and Noah would drive it back to Holy Oaks.
She didn’t want to think about what was going to happen once she got there. She nervously flipped through the pages of Time magazine, even tried to read an article about inflation, but she couldn’t concentrate, and after rereading the same paragraph three times, she gave up.
How long was Nick going to give her the silent treatment? He had stopped talking the minute they’d entered the airport.
"You’re being childish."
He didn’t respond. She turned to look at him and noticed how gray his complexion was.