First Daughter - Eric van Lustbader [101]
"That's a phony. Kray told me. He's very private."
Jack wondered why the name seemed familiar to him. He racked his brain, but the answer remained frustratingly out of reach. "So where does Mr. Kray live?" he said.
"He never told me and I never asked," Tolkan answered. "But he said he works at Sibley Memorial Hospital."
"I've heard of it," Jack said. "It's a rehab place for the elderly. Physical and psychiatric."
Tolkan nodded. "Ron's a nurse there. A psychiatric nurse."
THE MODERN layer cake of Sibley Memorial occupied a wide swath of real estate on Sleepy Hollow Road outside of Falls Church. Nina suggested they call to see if Kray was on duty, but Jack disagreed.
"First off, I don't want to take any chance of him being tipped off we're coming. Secondly, even if he's not there, the HR department is bound to have a current photo of him."
As it turned out, Kray wasn't on duty. In fact, the head of the psychiatric department told them he hadn't worked there for over two years.
They were directed to the HR department, where they obtained Kray's last known address, which matched the one on the list Chris Armitage had given them. Kray's photo ID, however, had been destroyed.
KRAY LIVED on Tyler Avenue, not more than six minutes away. Nina was silent during most of the drive. At length, she turned to Jack.
"You must think I'm quite the neurotic."
Jack concentrated on his driving. This was somewhat of a new area for him, and he wanted to make sure he read every road sign.
Nina took his silence for assent. "Yeah, you do."
"What do you care what I think?"
"For one thing, we're working together. For another, I like you. Your mind doesn't work like anyone else's I've ever met."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
She offered a nod of assent. "In a very short time, I've come to trust what you call your hunches."
"Would you call them something else?"
She nodded. "I would, yes, if I had a word to describe them. Whatever they are, they're far more than hunches, though." She put her head back. "You know, if I spend any more time with you, I'll start to doubt everything I thought was true."
She put a hand over his. "We had a moment there under the old oaks where Emma escaped from school at night." Her forefinger curled, the nail scratched lightly, erotically along his palm. "Why don't we take it from there?"
He braked until he could decipher a street sign. Also, to clear the air between them.
"Listen, Nina, I'm flattered. But just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm not into on-the-job screwing."
"Too many complications?"
The image of Sharon was beside him, with her long tanned legs, hair swept across her face, that mysterious look in her eyes he loved because he never quite knew what it meant or foretold. "Among other things."
"What if we weren't partners? I could arrange—"
"It wouldn't matter."
"Well, that's candor for you." Nina removed her hand. "Your ex still under your skin?"
He swung onto Tyler, slowed to a crawl.
"Okay, forget it. Privacy's something I respect. There is, in any case, a kind of privilege in loneliness. It makes you feel alive, introduces you to yourself."
Jack felt annoyed. "I didn't mean that."
"You just didn't say it." She took out a clove cigarette, lit up. "I have a question. D'you have any idea who Emma met underneath the oaks?"
"My daughter's life was a closed book to me. It was as well hidden as a spy's dead drop."
"You never followed up on it?"
"With who?" A nerve she had nicked flared up. "My daughter's dead."
THIRTY - FOUR
JACK WENT up the flagstone path, knocked on the door. Immediately, a dog began to bark. He heard a scuffling inside, then the patter of feet. The door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman in a housecoat. A cigarette was dangling from her mouth.
"Yeah?" She looked Jack square in the eye without a trace of apprehension.
Jack cleared his throat. "I'm wondering if Ron Kray is home."
The dog continued barking inside the house. The woman squinted through the smoke trailing up from her cigarette. "Who?"
"Ron Kray, ma'am."