Killing Hour - Lisa Gardner [120]
“The leaf was easier,” Kimberly said shortly, as they walked down the hall.
“That was probably the point.” Mac pushed through the exterior door and led them back into the wall of heat. He glanced at his watch and Kimberly caught the gesture.
“Time?”
“Yep.” They got into his car and headed for the airport.
CHAPTER 34
Richmond, Virginia
10:34 A.M.
Temperature: 94 degrees
KIMBERLY’S FIRST GLIMPSE OF NORA RAY WATTS was not what she had expected. In her mind, she had pictured a young, deeply traumatized girl. Head bowed, shoulders hunched. She would wear nondescript clothes, trying desperately to blend in, while her furtive gaze would dash around the crowded airport, already seeking the source of some unnamed threat.
They’d handle the girl with kid gloves. Buy her a Coke, pick her brain for what she claimed to know about the Eco-Killer, then send her back to the relative safety of Atlanta. That’s how these things were done, and frankly, they didn’t have time to dick around.
Nora Ray Watts, however, had another plan in mind.
She strode down the middle of the airport terminal, with an old flowered bag slung over her shoulder. Her head was up, her shoulders square. She wore a pair of slim-fitting jeans, a wispy blue shirt over a white tank top, and a pair of heavy-duty hiking boots. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she hadn’t a shred of makeup on her face. She headed straight for them, and the other travelers immediately gave way.
Kimberly had two impressions at once. A young girl, grown up too fast, and a remote woman who now existed as an island in the sea of humanity. Then Kimberly wondered, with almost a sense of panic, if that’s what people saw when they peered into her own face.
Nora Ray walked up and Kimberly looked away.
“Special Agent McCormack,” she said gravely and shook Mac’s outstretched hand.
He introduced Kimberly, and Nora Ray took her hand as well. The girl’s grip was firm, but quick. Someone who didn’t like touching.
“How was the flight?” Mac asked.
“Fine.”
“How are your parents?”
“Fine.”
“Uh huh. And what kind of story did you feed them about today?”
Nora Ray brought her chin up. “I told them I was going to spend a few days with an old college classmate in Atlanta. My father was happy I was going to see a friend. My mother was busy watching Family Ties.”
“Lying’s not good for the soul, little girl.”
“No. And neither is fear. Shall we?”
She headed toward the food court, while Mac arched a brow.
“She’s not your typical victim,” Kimberly murmured as they fell in step behind the girl. Mac merely shrugged.
“She has a good family. Least she did before this.”
In the food court, Mac and Kimberly got large cups of bitter coffee. Nora Ray purchased a soda and a banana muffin, which she then proceeded to pick at with her fingers as they sat at a small plastic table.
Mac didn’t ask anything right away. Kimberly, too, took her time. Sipping the foul-tasting brew, looking around the Richmond airport as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Nothing better to do than sit around in air-conditioned glory. Nothing more urgent today than getting that perfect cup of coffee. If only her heart hadn’t been beating so hard in her chest. If only they all hadn’t been so unbearably aware of the fleeting nature of time.
“I want to help,” Nora Ray said abruptly. She’d finished destroying her muffin, and now she looked at them with a nervous, shaky expression. Closer to the young girl again, not so much the remote woman.
“My boss tells me you know something about the current situation,” Mac said neutrally.
“He’s at it again. Taking girls. Two are dead, aren’t they?”
“How do you know that, honey?”
“Because I do.”
“He call you?”
“No.”
“Send you letters?”
“No.” She stiffened her spine. Her voice grew stubborn. “You answer my question first. Are two more girls dead? Is he doing it again?”
Mac was silent, letting the moment drag out. Nora Ray’s fingers returned to the bits of her muffin. She kneaded them back together, then tore them apart into a fresh round of small,