The Secret History - Donna Tartt [161]
“I am now with William Hundy,” the reporter said, “co-owner of Redeemed Repair in Hampden, a member of the Hampden County Rescue Squad who has just come forward with this information.”
“Henry,” said Francis. I was startled to see that his face had all of a sudden got very white.
Henry reached in his pocket for a cigarette. “Yes,” he said tersely. “I see.”
“What’s the matter?” I said.
Henry tamped the cigarette down on the side of the pack. He didn’t take his eyes from the screen. “That man,” he said, “fixes my car.”
“Mr. Hundy,” said the reporter, “will you tell us what you saw on Sunday afternoon?”
“Oh, my God,” said Charles.
“Hush,” said Henry.
The mechanic glanced shyly at the camera, and then away. “Sunday afternoon,” he said, in a nasal Vermont voice, “there was a cream-colored LeMans, few years old, pulled up to that pump over there.” Awkwardly, as an afterthought, he raised his arm and pointed somewhere off camera. “It was three men, two in the front seat, one in the back. Out-of-towners. Seemed in a hurry. Wouldn’t have thought a thing of it except that boy was with them. I recognized him when I saw his picture in the paper.”
My heart had nearly stopped—three men, white car—but then the details registered. We were four, with Camilla, too, and Bunny hadn’t been anywhere near the car on Sunday. And Henry drove a BMW, which was far from a Pontiac.
Henry had stopped tapping the unlit cigarette on the side of the pack; it dangled loosely between his fingers.
“Although no ransom note has been received by the Corcoran family, authorities have not yet ruled out the possibility of kidnapping. This is Rick Dobson, reporting live from ActionNews Twelve.”
“Thank you, Rick. If any of our viewers have further information on this or any other story, they are urged to call our Tips Line, 363-TIPS, between the hours of nine and five.…
“Today the Hampden County School Board took a vote on what may be the most controversial …”
We stared at the television in astonished silence for what seemed several minutes. Finally the twins looked at each other and started to laugh.
Henry shook his head, still looking incredulously at the screen. “Vermonters,” he said.
“Do you know this man?” said Charles.
“I’ve taken my car to him for the last two years.”
“Is he crazy?”
He shook his head again. “Crazy, lying, out for the reward. I don’t know what to say. He always seemed sane enough, though he did drag me off in a corner once and start talking about Christ’s kingdom on earth.”
“Well, for whatever reason,” said Francis, “he’s done us a tremendous favor.”
“I don’t know,” said Henry. “Kidnapping is a serious crime. If this turns into a criminal investigation they may stumble across something we’d rather they didn’t know.”
“How could they? What does any of this have to do with us?”
“I don’t mean anything big. But there are a great many little things which would be just as damning if anyone took the trouble to add them up. I was a fool to put those plane tickets on my credit card, for instance. We’d have a difficult time explaining that. And your trust fund, Francis? And our bank accounts? Massive withdrawals over the last six months, and nothing to show for it. Bunny’s got an awful lot of new clothes hanging in his closet that he couldn’t possibly have paid for himself.”
“Somebody would have to dig pretty deep to find that.”
“Someone would only have to make two or three well-placed phone calls.”
Just then the telephone rang.
“Oh, God,” Francis wailed.
“Don’t answer it,” said Henry.
But Francis picked it up anyway, as I knew he would. “Yes,” he said carefully. Pause. “Well, hello to you too, Mr. Corcoran,” he said, sitting down and giving us the OK signal with thumb and forefinger. “Have you heard anything?”
A very long pause. Francis listened attentively for some minutes, looking at the floor and nodding; after a while he began to bob his foot up and down impatiently.
“What’s going on?” Charles whispered.
Francis held the phone away from his ear and made a gabby mouth sign with his hand.
“I know what he wants,” Charles