Jack looked down at the drawing. “Too bad he was wearing sunglasses.”
“Yes, but Mr. Pruitt nailed them, though. The lenses were square, perfectly square, with black frames, and they looked weird. He’s the one who handed Manta Ray the cap before he put on his own, so I saw his hair. It was dark brown.”
Chief called out, “Did you see him walk, Kim? Did he seem old? Young?”
Kim twirled her ponytail around her busy fingers while she thought about it. “I only had a fast look at the three of them, but he didn’t seem as old as you, Dad.”
“Thanks, kid. So late thirties?”
She nodded. “I guess so. And he was tanned, at least his face was.”
“Show us the second man,” Jack said.
She pulled out a second drawing. This sketch looked pretty rough. It showed a slender face covered with aviator sunglasses and a dark wool cap pulled low, hiding all the hair.
Kim said, “This guy was lots shorter than the big guy and Manta Ray. Maybe five foot eight, same as me. He looked like he might be in charge, though; well, that was the impression I got. He kind of swaggered, took the lead, expected the other two to follow him. But there was something different about him, the shape of his face, his really sliced-thin cheekbones.” She shrugged. “I thought first he might be foreign, Hispanic maybe, but I’ve been thinking about him a lot, and here’s the thing.” Kim leaned in close. “I’m not so sure it was a he. It might have been a she.”
That was a kicker. Jack said, “A woman?” He looked down at the drawing. Impossible to tell. “Why do you think that?”
“Well, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but what happened is I turned to sneak a look at them as we were driving away. They were moving out fast, with her in front of the two guys. Even though her jeans were loose I got a good look at her butt. It wasn’t a guy’s butt, it was a girl’s.”
Chief looked at her in his rearview. “Nice timing, Kim, you couldn’t have done that better.” He grinned at her as he turned the SUV onto a short paved driveway toward a low redbrick building nestled among maples, oaks, and larches. “This is the London Ranger Station, where we’re meeting Duke.” Chief checked his watch. “And Harry should be here any minute with the camping gear. Grab your stuff and I’ll give you an overview while we’re waiting.” He pulled out a map of the forest, spread it out on the hood of the SUV. “You see the forest runs along the Cumberland Plateau in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky. You can see the roads for vehicles, trails for bikes, hikers, and horseback riding, and the stretches of private property. We’re going to avoid all the visitor areas because we hope Manta Ray and his group will do the same. One of Duke’s rangers will drive us to where Kim saw them last—on East Branch Road. It’s about five miles from here. Duke will go over all this in more detail when he gets here.”
They looked up to see a young man wearing a John Deere ball cap, jeans, and a cotton shirt climb out of a red Ford F-150 and wave to them. The chief folded the map, stuck it in his pocket. “That’s Harry, right on time.”
Harry Morsi introduced himself and walked them over to the bed of his truck, piled high with the gear he’d brought. “Didn’t know how heavy you’d be packing, so I brought pretty much everything. I’ve got two light MSR backpacking stoves with fuel canister lines, my newest lightweight Nalgenes along with a water-filter system so you can drink from the streams without worrying about giardia, bivvy sacks, three lightweight sleeping bags with ground pads. Duke told me there was no rain in the forecast, but in case it does rain, here are some lightweight rain jackets, extra socks. A couple of tarps you can build a shelter with if it rains and the ground’s wet, some lengths of nylon and bungee cord to fasten down the tarps if you need them. I’ve got instant oatmeal, freeze-dried eggs, dried fruit, nuts, and some freeze-dried carbs.”
Jack said, “Chief, you brought along a good set of binoculars and your sat phone, right?”
“Wouldn’t forget those,” Chief said. “And I’ve got my scoped Remington, the 7600 bolt-action in the SUV. It’s accurate and dependable, fast follow-up shots.”
Jack nodded. “It’s a fine rifle, and I hope we don’t have to use it.” He looked toward Harry’s truck bed. “Harry, we appreciate all your trouble, but we’re not going out there to relax and get comfortable. We’ll be traveling as light and fast as we can. And I don’t expect we’ll be out there for very long.”
11
WASHINGTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MONDAY AFTERNOON
Savich ran into Kara’s room, Ray Hunter the security guard and a nurse from the front desk on his heels. Kara was standing by the bassinet holding a bundle of blankets and towels in her hands, staring down. She wasn’t screaming now. She was silent, frozen.
“Kara?”
She slowly turned, raised blank eyes to Savich’s face. “He’s gone, Dillon. I don’t understand. Alex is gone. I wanted to tell the nurse but I couldn’t stop screaming. The nurse who took him for an ultraviolet treatment, she didn’t bring him back. She brought these.” Kara handed him the blankets. Three hospital towels were twisted together inside the blanket.
The alarm sounded as Philly Adams, the nursing supervisor, came running into the room and slowed, calmed herself. She looked at Kara, at the nest of towels in the blanket, realized exactly what had happened, and went into command mode. “I understand Alex is missing, Ms. Moody. Ray will put all our procedures into motion. There’s the alarm. That means the elevators and stairwells are in lockdown. Hospital security will be here any moment. As you know, Alex has a radiofrequency tag fastened to his umbilicus and another tag around his ankle. I will have the nurses check all the rooms. We will find him, Ms. Moody.” She looked at Savich, eyebrow arched, and he introduced himself.
Savich ignored the alarm, the sound of voices, running feet, the faces peering into the room. He put the blankets down in the bassinet, took Kara’s arms in his hands to steady her. “Tell me what happened, Kara.”
He watched her draw on the strength she’d showed at her house with John Doe. “One of the nurses came to take him for his ultraviolet treatment. She said it was to help prevent his getting jaundice. When she brought him back, she told me to let him sleep for a while longer before feeding him.”
Philly said, “Ms. Moody, Alex wouldn’t have had an ultraviolet light treatment. It’s used for babies who already have jaundice.”
Savich said, “How long ago did she supposedly bring him back?”
“About ten minutes. I sat on my bed looking at the bassinet for a while, but I wanted so much to hold him. I had to see him, speak to him, and so I came over to the bassinet and lifted the cover away from his face, but he wasn’t there.” Her voice caught. “Dillon, it was towels, just towels.”
Savich said, “Kara, the nurse who brought him back, what was her name?”
“I—I don’t know, I didn’t recognize her, never saw her before. She was very professional, very nice.”
“What did she look like?”
“She was wearing a cap, so I couldn’t see her hair, and glasses, narrow with black frames. I remember thinking that style didn’t look good on her. She had on a white lab coat over a nurse’s uniform. She was in her midthirties.”
Savich said, “Picture her in your mind. Was she heavy? Slender? Fit? Anything unusual about her you can see?”
“She was slender, tall, maybe five foot eight. I think she had a bit of a limp, like she’d hurt her left foot and couldn’t put her full weight on it.”
“Anything else you can remember about her?”
Kara shook her head.
Ray Hunter had come into the room to stand beside Philly Adams.