Read Mind Prey for Free Online

what happens when your side loses in a political contest. You lose. So there are people out there..."
    "It doesn't feel political," Roux said. Lucas noticed that she'd taken a cigarette out of a pocket and was rolling it, unlit, in her left hand.
    Manette nodded. "I agree. As crazy as some of those people may be, I don't think this kind of thing would ever occur to them."
    Lucas said, "There's always the possibility..."
    Roux looked at him, "Political people always leave themselves escape hatches. With this, there's no escape hatch. Even if he just dropped them off on the corner, he'd be looking at years in prison for the kidnapping. A political mindwouldn't do that."
    "Unless he was nuts," Lucas said.
    Roux nodded, and looked at Manette and said, "There is that possibility."
    "Which brings us to your daughter's psychiatric practice," Lucas said to Manette. "We need access to her records."
    "The woman on the couch"--Manette tipped his head toward the living room--"the younger one, is Andi's partner, Nancy Wolfe. I'll talk to her."
    "We'd like to start as soon as we can," Lucas said. "Tomorrow morning."
    "I hope it's a kidnapping," Manette said. "I hope it's for profit--I don't like to think of some nut taking them."
    "How about George Dunn?" Lucas asked. "He says he was in his car during the attack. No witnesses."
    "That sonofabitch," Manette said. He pushed himself out of the chair and took a quick turn around the room and made a sound like a clog's growl. "He's a goddamn psycho. I didn't think before tonight that he'd do anything to hurt Andi or the girls, but now... I don't know."
    "You think he might?"
    "He's a cold-hearted sonofabitch," Manette said. "He could do anything."
    They talked about the case for a few more minutes, then the two women came to the door and looked inside. "Tower? Are you okay?"
    "I'm fine," he said.
    The women stepped inside. The younger of the two, Nancy Wolfe, was a slender, well-tanned woman. She wore a soft woollen dress, but no jewelry or makeup, and her auburn hair showed a few threads of gray. Speaking to Manette, she said, "You need some quiet. I'm telling you that as an M. D., not as a psychiatrist."
    The other woman was paler, older, with a loose, jowly face touched expertly with rouge. She nodded, stepped closer to Manette, and took his arm. "Just come on upstairs, Tower. Even if you can't sleep, you could lie down..."
    "I don't go to bed until two o'clock in the morning," Manette said irritably. "There's no point in going up now."
    "But it's been exhausting," the woman said. She seemed to be talking about herself, and Lucas realized that she must be Manette's wife. She spoke to Roux: "Tower's under a lot of stress, and he's had health problems."
    "We wanted him to know that we're doing everything we can," Roux said. She looked back at Manette. "I've assigned Lucas to oversee the investigation."
    "Thank you," Manette said. And to Lucas: "Anything you need, anybody that I know, that you want to talk to, just call. And let me know about that reward, if it would be useful."
    "George Dunn," Lucas said.
    "Get him on the phone, will you, Helen?" Manette said to his wife. "I'll talk to him."
    "And after that, Tower, I want you to kick back and close your eyes, even if it's just for half an hour," Wolfe said. She reached out and touched his hand. "Take some time to think."
    Lucas dropped the chief at her house, promising to call back at midnight, or when anything broke.
    "Lester's running the routine," Roux said as the car idled in her driveway. "I need you to pluck this thing out of the sky, so to speak."
    "Doesn't have a plucking feel about it," Lucas said. "Something complicated is going on."
    "If you don't,we're gonna get plucked," Roux said. Then: "You want fifteen seconds of politics?"
    "Sure."
    "This is one of those cases that people will talk about for a generation," Roux said. "If we find Manette and her kids, we're gold. We'll be untouchable. But if we fuck it up..." She let her voice