Молчаливая ночь [with w_cat]

[284] Jack had asked Cally if she would mind if they looked around again, and she had nodded assent. Certainly no one was hiding in that place. They had opened the door to the bathroom, looked under the beds, poked in the closet. Levy had felt unwilling pity for Cally Hunter’s attempts to brighten the dismal flat. All the walls were painted a bright yellow. Floral pillows were randomly piled on the old couch. The Christmas tree was bravely decorated with tons of tinsel and strings of red and green lights. A few brightly wrapped presents were placed under it.

[285] Presents? Mort did not know why this word triggered something in his subconscious. He thought for a moment, then shook his head. Forget it, he told himself.

[286] He wished Jack hadn’t bullied Cally Hunter. It was easy to see that she was terrified of him. Mort hadn’t been in on her case, which had been tried over two years ago, but from what he’d heard, he believed that Cally honestly thought that her troublesome kid brother had been in a gang fight and that the members of the other gang were hunting him.

[287] What am I trying to remember about her apart ment? Mort asked himself. What was different?

[288] They were normally scheduled to go off duty at eight o’clock, but tonight both he and Jack were going back to headquarters instead. Like dozens of others, they would be working overtime at least until after midnight Mass at the cathedral. Maybe, just maybe, Siddons would show up as he had promised. Levy knew that Shore was aching to make the arrest personally. “I could spot that guy if he was wearing a nun’s habit,” he kept saying, over and over again.

[289] There was a tap at the back door of the van, signifying that their replacements had arrived. As Mort stood up, stretched, and stepped down onto the street, he was glad that just before he left Cally Hunter’s apartment, he had slipped her his card and whispered, “If you want to talk to anyone, Mrs. Hunter, here’s a number where you can reach me.”

8

[290] The crowds on Fifth Avenue had thinned out, although there were still some onlookers around the tree in Rockefeller Center. Others were still lined up waiting to see Saks’s window display, and there was a steady stream of visitors slipping in and out of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

[291] But as the car she was in pulled up behind the squad car where Officer Ortiz and Michael were waiting, Catherine could see that most of the last-minute shoppers were gone.

[292] They’re on their way home, she thought, to do the final gift wrapping and to tell each other that next year, for sure, they won’t be rushing around to stores on Christmas Eve.

[293] Everything at the last minute. That had been her own pattern until twelve years ago, when a third-year resident, Dr. Thomas Dornan, came into the administration office of St. Vincent ’s Hospital, walked over to her desk, and said, “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

[294] Tom, so easygoing, but so organized. If she were the one who was sick, Tom wouldn’t have stuffed all her money and identification into his own bulging wallet. He wouldn’t have dropped it into his pocket so carelessly that someone either reached in and grabbed it or picked it up off the ground.

[295] That was the thought that was torturing Catherine as she opened the car door and, through the swirling snow, ran the few steps to the squad car. Brian would never have wandered away on his own, she was sure of that. He was so anxious to get to Tom, he hadn’t even wanted to take the time to look at the Rockefeller Center tree. He must have set off on some mission. That was it. If somebody hadn’t actually kidnapped him-and that seemed unlikely-he must have seen whoever took or picked up the wallet and followed that person.

[296] Michael was sitting in the front seat with Officer Ortiz, sipping a soda. A brown paper bag with remnants of a packet of ketchup was standing on the floor in front of him. Catherine squeezed in beside him on the front seat and smoothed his hair.

[297] “How’s Dad?” he asked anxiously. “You didn’t tell him about Brian, did you?”

[298] “No, of course not. I’m sure we’ll find Brian soon, and there was no need to worry him. And he’s doing just great. I saw Dr. Crowley. He’s a happy camper about Dad.” She looked over Michael’s head at Officer Ortiz. “It’s been almost two hours,” she said quietly.

[299] He nodded. “Brian’s description will keep going out every hour to every cop and car in the area. Mrs. Dornan, Michael and I have been talking. He’s sure Brian wouldn’t deliberately wander away.”

[300] “No, he’s right. He wouldn’t.”

[301] “You talked to the people around you when you realized he was missing?”

“Yes.”

[302] “And no one noticed a kid being pulled or carried away?”

[303] “No. People remember seeing him, then they didn’t see him.”