“I’m sorry,” Somerset started to tell her. “We just told your husband….”

“They don’t have anything new,” Arriaga said softly to his wife. He walked past them to turn off the television.

“Actually, we’re here to ask a few more questions,” Huddy explained.

“I don’t know what we can tell you that we didn’t tell your compadre Roeland the other day,” Arriaga replied.

“We don’t want to ask you the questions,” Somerset told him. “We’ve been informed that a relative of yours, a Jake Pickett, is visiting from California. It’s him we want to talk to.”

“Uncle Jake?” Wendy looked from one visitor to the other. “He’s terribly fond of Amanda, but I don’t see how he can be of any help to you. He only arrived here yesterday.”

“We know that.” Huddy smiled. “That’s why we’d like to question him. You never know what he might have seen or heard on his way into town.”

“If he heard or saw anything he sure didn’t say anything about it to us,” Arriaga observed.

“Sometimes important details go unremarked upon until you pull them out of a witness,” said Huddy. “We want to be as thorough as possible. It’ll just take a minute.”

“I’m sure Uncle Jake will help in any way he can.” Wendy glanced at her husband, who shrugged indifferently. “I don’t see any harm in it. Try not to get him excited, though. He has a bad heart. I’ll go and fetch him.”

An uncomfortable silence ensued. Arriaga finally broke it, speaking while staring at the floor. “I still don’t understand why anyone would do something like this. Amanda, she’s never done anything bad to anybody in her whole life. Life’s been mean to her, not the other way around. If these people wanted revenge, let them come to me. Why pick on an innocent, handicapped little girl? Sometimes … sometimes I think maybe the world’s going loco.”

“Mr. Ramirez, we understand what you’re going through,” Somerset said soothingly. “In fact, I can say that we have reason to believe your daughter will be returned to you very soon, none the worse for this experience.” Huddy shot her a warning look but she ignored him.

Ramirez glanced up sharply, suddenly alert. “You do? But the other agent said—”

“We have access to certain other sources of information. Don’t be surprised if your daughter isn’t returned as early as tomorrow.”

“Can you promise that?”

“We can’t promise anything,” Somerset warned him. “There are still a number of variables which could complicate matters. But I can say truthfully that things are looking up. Try not to worry quite so much.”

“It’s good to hear you talk like that,” said Arriaga, “because we—”

He broke off at the look his wife threw him as she re-entered the living room. “Arri, did Jake go for a walk this morning? You know he likes to walk. I thought maybe he went out without telling me.”

Arriaga shook his head. “I haven’t seen him since last night.”

Ruth Somerset didn’t stop to ponder propriety. She rushed uninvited past Wendy Ramirez. There was no one in the spare bedroom, the bathroom, or the girl’s bedroom, nor anywhere else in the back of the house. She was back in the living room in a minute.

“He’s gone,” she snapped at Huddy, then turned her nolonger solicitous attention on Wendy. “You’re positive you didn’t see your uncle go outside and you don’t know where he might be, Mrs. Ramirez?”

“Why, no. I’m sure he’s probably just taking one of his morning constitutionals. He’ll be back soon. If you’d like to wait for him I’ll make us some coffee.”

“Another time, thanks.” Huddy was already halfway to the front door, leaving a deeply confused couple in his wake.

He barely beat Somerset to the car. “Where do you think the old bastard’s got to?”

“Why ask me?” Somerset growled back at him. “Nobody saw him go out. There’s nothing on last night’s tapes, as you well know, so he couldn’t possibly have been in touch with the girl even if she’d somehow managed to get to a phone.”

Huddy gunned the engine and the car squealed as it shot off down the street. Behind them, Arriaga and Wendy Ramirez stood on the porch and watched as it squealed a second time rounding the far corner.

“This is crazy,” Arriaga was muttering. “Crazy. That woman, she was so confident a moment ago. Now all of a sudden they panic because your Uncle Jake’s gone for a walk. I don’t understand.”

Wendy Ramirez leaned against her husband’s shoulder and said nothing. The brief, bizarre visit had pushed her emotions to the breaking point. She held tightly to the only stable part of her life and tried to still her trembling.

Somerset and Huddy didn’t even bother to return to the motel room. Huddy roared into the parking lot of a U-Totem and viciously stabbed the break pedal. Somerset had the door open before the car came to a stop. With the number committed to her remarkable memory, it took only seconds to dial the private number of the VIP suite at the refinery. The young clerk inside the store peered curiously out at the idling car and the elegant woman using the pay phone.

Drew picked up the receiver, wondering who would be calling the suite this early. He wore only slacks, a white shirt open at the collar, and a .45 in a shoulder holster. He waited for the phone to ring three times before picking it up, holding the magazine he’d been reading in his free hand.

“Drew here,” he said quietly into the phone. Drew was always quiet. It was almost impossible to upset him, which was one of the reasons his services were valued so highly. In his line of work, inconspicuousness was a virtue.

“Drew, this is Somerset. I’m on my way to the plant.” When no reply was forthcoming she added, “Ruth Somerset, Benjamin Huddy’s partner.”

“I know the name, lady. Where is Mr. Huddy?”

“In our car. He’s coming up with me.”

“Why the call? I thought everything was going to be wrapped up today.”

“So did we. We went to the parents’ house. The old man isn’t there and they don’t know where’s he gone to.”

“Well he sure as hell ain’t shown up here,” Drew informed her. “Only one’s been on this floor is the regular receptionist and the meal boy from the kitchen. Nobody else. I’ve been here all the time.”

“What about the girl? Is she still where she belongs?”

“Unless she’s learned how to fly while sleeping,” said Drew sardonically. He was a little surprised when Ruth Somerset replied in deadly earnest.

“Go check on her and make sure she’s still there. I’ll hold at this end.”

“Whatever you say, ma’am.” Shaking his head in disgust he pressed hold on the phone console and put the receiver down on its cradle. Typical, he thought. Likes to give orders just to see them obeyed. Snooty bitch. Well, it was all part of the job. He unlocked the door barring the bedroom from the sitting room and stepped inside.

He got a nasty shock when he saw the empty bed, but Drew wasn’t the kind to panic when confronted with the unexpected. He’d handled too many awkward situations in which he’d come out on top to panic now. So the girl wasn’t in bed. She’d awakened from her stupor and gone exploring. That was improper, but hardly threatening.

Sure enough, there she was in the bathroom, sitting on the inside rim of the bathtub and staring out the window.

“Enjoying the view?”

She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, turned to glare at him. He’d been standing there for a long minute before she noticed him, which meant she was still feeling the effects of the drugs. There wasn’t anything outside the window to concentrate on except sunlight and water and unattainable freedom.

“You could’ve called me if you had to go that bad,” he told her, grinning unpleasantly. “I would’ve been glad to carry you.”

“Just get out,” she said, her voice thick from the sedation. “Get out and leave me alone.”

“Why, sure. Why not?” And he turned and strode out of the bathroom. Back in the sitting room he picked up the phone, pressed the hold button to release it.

“Somerset?”

“Yes?”