Paul opened the door, wearing dress slacks and a white shirt-no jacket yet, but the cuff links were in place, his shoes polished. Paul wore authority comfortably and it showed. “Come on in, Gabriel. I’m in the kitchen following instructions I got from the women last night.” The two men chuckled, and Paul glanced at the stairs. “They aren’t down yet.”
“Ann fall asleep again?”
“I made sure her feet touched the floor before I came down. It’s more likely there’s a caucus going on that doesn’t involve us guys.”
They moved into the kitchen, where Gabriel accepted the mug Paul offered, drank the coffee with appreciation. “You’re looking good, Paul. Marriage and running the Chicago office appear to agree with you.”
Paul turned the heat up under the skillet, poured in pancake batter. “I’m helping Matthew Dane train for the Boston Marathon, and it’s got me in the best shape of my life. You, on the other hand, look a bit… rough,” he decided after a scan, but his grin softened the words.
“Bad day yesterday,” Gabriel said.
“I heard.” Paul flipped the pancakes, got out another plate, stacked them, and pushed it over. “Not a thing you could have done about it, Gabe, nor your father.”
He chose blueberry syrup and selected several pieces of crisp bacon from another plate. “We both know there are men like Arnett out there, with victims left in their wake. But you don’t expect them to be next door. We were childhood friends with Grace. It’s overwhelming to me-to all of us-that we didn’t see it, didn’t help her. Even worse is not knowing how to help her now.”
Paul slid a glass of orange juice Gabriel’s way. “Ann and I didn’t see it either, not at first. Rachel knew something was back there, would have said it was likely since her training picks up on that kind of trauma. But until Grace wanted to talk, it wasn’t a secret that was going to surface. Grace started trusting her doctor four years ago, let Ann in two years ago. She’s made progress, but I’m with Ann-I don’t think Grace is ready to face head on what she’s decided to do. This is going to be brutally hard on her.”
“Josh said she cried most of the evening with him.”
“That’s probably the best thing she could do at this point. She stops letting those tears show, then it’s time to get worried.” Paul picked up a piece of bacon. “Ann said you’re heading over this morning to see Will, tell him about Karen.”
“That’s the plan,” Gabriel replied as he switched focus, equally concerned about how that conversation was going to go. “We’ll tell him about Tom Lander, talk about the plan if and when the guy shows up around here.”
“Now that’s a man I’d like to see tossed in jail with the key dropped in the Chicago River,” Paul said. “He’s slick, smooth, dangerous, and deceptive clear down to the core. A chameleon who appears innocent of everything until you peel back the skin and see the viper underneath. He enjoys his rage-driven violence and the destruction he leaves behind.”
Gabriel listened to the summary, knew that coming from Paul it was, if anything, understated. “My goal is to avoid a day Tom Lander and Will Thane come face-to-face.”
“A reasonable goal,” Paul agreed. “Maybe Lander never locates her, and this problem is theoretical. But if he does learn she’s in Carin, your best defense is probably a strong proactive offense. Circulate a photo of Tom Lander, let it be known he’s a person of interest. Gas stations, hotels, campgrounds-he’ll get here sooner or later, and you’ve got contacts and friends you can use in a home-court advantage. Put some Thane money on sightings of him. Set it up before it’s needed. He comes to Carin, he has to drive here, fly, he has to stay somewhere. Covering airport and rental cars should be relatively easy. Lodging is broader, but he’ll likely stay at a hotel. He’s not an outdoor camping kind of guy. He shows up, you promptly hear about it.”
“An interesting suggestion, Paul,” Gabriel said, visualizing how just such a campaign across the county might function.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Chicago PD will eventually get enough to prove Tom Lander murdered his ex-wife. On our side, we’re trying to build a case related to his past business dealings-I don’t care if we put him in jail for tax fraud so long as we get him behind bars. In the long term, eventually, inevitably, he’ll do something we can arrest him for and get a conviction. Time should help this problem get resolved. My concern is whether that will come soon enough for Karen.
“But for now, the Chicago PD is keeping an eye on him. He leaves Chicago, I’ll hear about it, and you’ll hear about it immediately. I figure even if he shows up in Carin, it’s not catastrophic if you can get Karen out of sight. He might believe she’s in town, might even have her working at the café. But if he can’t see her, can’t find her, she’s still safe. You just have to keep her hidden away until he gives up. I’m certain there are places all over this county you can hide her comfortably.”
Gabriel agreed. Hiding someone was relatively simple around here. Given the number of family friends he could tap, Karen could stay on any number of properties where no one could approach without being tagged long before they reached the house.
Paul leaned back against the counter. “You can get even more creative, Gabe. Tom hires a local PI, turns out the guy’s rather slow and not very good at his job-as he also happens to be working for the Thane family. And while Tom Lander is occupied here, Chicago can get very inconvenient for him. I happen to know the person buying the building he’s leasing for a new business-he’s hung out a shingle to enter the exterminator business. We can give Lander reasons he has to be back in Chicago. A problem with the building. License issues. Employees quit on him for greener pastures.”
Gabriel smiled. “I like the way you think, Paul.”
“He got away with a double murder, he terrorized a witness, he killed his ex-wife-between Chicago PD and FBI, there are a lot of people motivated to see Tom Lander shut down. You won’t be fighting this alone.”
Gabriel considered that, finished the orange juice, studied Paul. “Ann’s given the impression there’s very little to be done if Tom Lander finds Karen here, except to move her far away.”
“I make a point never to disagree with my wife, and in this case, I actually don’t,” Paul responded. “I just think there are some things to be tried before that outcome. You don’t leave Karen open to his attack. You keep her out of sight, keep those she cares about beyond reach. But within those parameters, there are options.”
“I’m realizing that, Paul. I’m glad you came down for the day.” Gabriel heard footsteps on the stairs and turned as Ann and Evie joined them, both looking a lot more alert than he felt.
Ann greeted Paul with a kiss, a whispered word. Evie tactfully looked away, caught his gaze. Gabriel smiled, and her answering one was tentative, maybe a bit flustered, as she glanced away from him.
Ann picked up a glass of orange juice. “Sorry I’m late, Gabriel. I’ll take breakfast to go. I can eat while you drive.”
“We can spare ten minutes so you can eat a civilized breakfast.”
Ann filled her insulated cup, rolled up bacon in a pancake, waved toward the door. “This is how I enjoy Paul’s breakfasts more mornings than I’ll admit. Let’s go deal with Will, get this day started. Who’s with Josh and Grace today?”
“Dad’s handling the shovel this morning, Will after that. Evie and I are heading to Decatur to have lunch with the Florist family doctor at noon.”