Murder Inside the Beltway - Margaret Truman [77]
“Can’t we take that damn thing off the hook,” Sue said.
“No, ma’am,” was Kloss’s response.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. If the kidnapper calls…”
“I understand,” the detective assured.
The food arrived. Jerry Rollins picked at a couple of fried dumplings and poured himself bourbon, neat. Sue ate nothing until Mary convinced her that she had to keep up her strength and she settled for brown rice and steamed vegetables. The two females sat together in the kitchen. Sue said little; Mary tried to keep up a conversation to distract Sue, and succeeded for the most part.
“Mr. Rollins,” Kloss said, “there’s something I want to suggest.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s possible that we won’t receive a call tonight from whoever took your daughter. It’s been my experience that people in these cases often take their time to make contact. They want to think it out before making the call. Obviously, with this all over TV, the perpetrator knows what’s going on here outside the house. They’ll be gun-shy and wait until they’ve figured out how best to reach you.”
“But if they don’t call, how can we ever know what’s happened to Samantha?”
Again, thoughts ran parallel in the room. If the kidnapper was a child molester, a pervert, it was possible that no call would ever be made. He would assault the child and, in all likelihood, kill her. Hopefully, instead, money was the motive. It was the best motive of all, in almost every crime. Money was impersonal. People who kidnapped kids for money weren’t interested in harming them. They wanted to be paid, pure and simple, and as long as funds could be delivered without placing them in jeopardy, they’d be content.
Kloss answered his question. “If this is someone with a grudge against you, Mr. Rollins, it’s possible that they’ll want to make contact away from the house.”
“Away?”
“Yes, sir. Your office, or part of the daily routine having to do with your law practice or involvement in the campaign. What do you have scheduled for tomorrow?”
“It’s Sunday. I mentioned that I’d canceled a meeting with Governor Colgate this afternoon. I told him I’d try to make time tomorrow.”
“All right. What about Monday, Tuesday?”
“My calendar’s in my den. I’ll get it.”
Kloss invited Jackson to join them at the table as they meticulously reviewed Rollins’s upcoming schedule. When they were finished, Rollins asked, “Are you suggesting that I leave here and pretend to go about my usual routine?”
“That may be necessary,” Kloss said, “depending upon whether we hear from the abductors.”
“That doesn’t make much sense to me,” Rollins said. “Whoever took Samantha will know that the police will be following me at every turn. They wouldn’t dare approach me under those circumstances.”
“Not necessarily,” Kloss countered. What he didn’t say was that his gut feeling was that the abduction of Samantha Rollins had something to do with Rollins’s position in town, perhaps his close relationship with Robert Colgate. He had nothing to base that on and admitted as much to himself. But the manner in which the girl was taken, the swiftness of it, the smooth execution of what must have been a plan, buttressed his hunch. A child molester wouldn’t have been brazen enough to attempt to snatch her on a sunny afternoon on the Mall with thousands of people milling about. No, he decided, this was a professional job. Either the girl had been taken for money—or because the kidnappers wanted something from Rollins besides money.
“Let me ask you a question, Mr. Rollins,” Kloss said. “Is it possible that someone has taken Samantha in order to blackmail you, to extort money from you?”
It was more of a snort than a laugh. “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to blackmail me. I have nothing to hide.”
“It’s not necessarily a matter of having something to hide, sir. I just thought you might have something in your possession