If Angels Fall

FORTY

Two hours after she had given an emotional news conference on her front lawn, Nancy Nunnwas in her bedroom, sedated. Turgeon was still on the phone. Sydowski set hiscoffee aside, as he steadied himself to see Gabrielle’s brother, Ryan, aftersomebody told him the eight-year-old had questions.

Ryan was downstairs with Nancy Nunn’s friend WendySloane and her daughters, Charlotte and Elaine. The family room had therequisite paneling and indoor-outdoor carpeting. A small bar with three swivelstools stood empty at one end, with a Giants’ pennant and a neon beer signglowing from the wall behind it. Closed tonight. There was a well-worn couchand loveseat set before a big-screen TV. It was a room where a family couldsnuggle up in front of a movie, or play monopoly, or laugh, or be happy, oranything safe and mundane.

But not tonight.

Tonight it was a sanctuary for the three childrenhuddled on the floor watching a movie. The children were sitting on sleepingbags. Plastic bowls overflowing with popcorn were next to them, untouched.Wendy Sloane was on the sofa, dabbing her face with a crumpled tissue. She sawSydowski, then looked away. She had seen enough of police to last her the restof her life; moreover, she would never forgive herself for teasing Nancy abouther fears.

Sydowski grunted amicably as he sat with the childrenon the floor, introduced himself, and invited them to ask any questions thatmight be on their minds.

The girls were silent, watching the movie.

Ryan turned to Sydowski, his eyes cold and dry.

“Is my little sister dead?”

“We don’t know, Ryan. We just don’t know.”

“How come? You’re a detective right? You’re supposedto know.”

“We haven’t found anything, not a single piece ofanything you could think of that would prove Gabrielle has been hurt.”

“But the news said you found her hair and stuff.”

“We think the stranger cut her hair so people wouldn’trecognize her from her picture. We’re going to make a new picture of her. Itdoesn’t mean she has been hurt.”

Ryan’s face brightened a bit. “That means she couldstill be all right somewhere?”

“Exactly, but with shorter hair.”

“And that’s really why there’s going to be moresearching tomorrow with a helicopter and dogs and everything? Not becauseyou’re looking for her dead body, like the TV news said?”

“That’s right. We’re looking everywhere for yoursister and for anything to help us figure out what happened to her, so that wecan find her. So far, no matter what anybody else tells you, there is nothingto prove Gabrielle has been hurt. You got that straight from me. That’s my wordas a San Francisco Police Inspector. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Excuse me, Walt.” Special Agent Merle Rust took Sydowskiaside. “IDENT’s finished with her bedroom. Came up with nothing, zip. WE shouldgive it a quick once-over.”

Sydowski agreed, patted Ryan’s shoulder, then leftwith Rust.

It was like walking into the bedroom of a doll’shouse. The two men dwarfed it, casting huge shadows on the walls.

Rust squatted, examining the contents of Gabrielle’sdresser, while Sydowski sat on her bed. Soft pastel, patterned wallpaper withtiny bouquets covered the walls. The ceiling borders were painted a lilacshade. Beautiful, Sydowski thought. A framed piece of embroidery reading:“Gabrielle’s Room” hung above the bed. A multicolored crayon drawing of Jackson,Gabrielle’s puppy, hung on one wall. This was the room of a happy child, likethe rooms of Tanita and Danny.

As Rust sifted gingerly through Gabrielle’s dresserdrawers, Sydowski ran his fingers over the flowers printed on her comforter.She had been here hours ago. Sleeping, dreaming. Safe. He touched her pillow,traced the frills of the cotton pillow case, and picked up a stuffed pink bear.

“Snuffles,” Rust said.

“Huh?”

“Snuffles, Walt. According to her dad, it’s herfavorite possession, after her pup.”

Sydowski touched Snuffles to his nose, inhaling asweet child’s scent. Rust opened Gabrielle’s closet, crouched down, andinspected the items jammed into it, starting with Gabrielle’s shoes.

“Why in hell are you doing that?” Paul Nunn asked fromthe doorway. “What could you possibly hope to find?”

Rust and Sydowski exchanged looks.

Nunn’s eyes were still wet and he was exhausted fromhaving endured hours of police interviews. Rust stopped, but remained crouched.

“Paul,” Sydowski began, “everybody has secrets. Evenchildren.”

“Secrets? What secrets?”

“Gabrielle may have been approached by her abductorbefore. He may have tricked her into keeping it secret. He may have given hersomething, a little gift.” Sydowski nodded to Gabrielle’s drawing of her dog.“Maybe she hid a drawing, or wrote something.”

Nunn absorbed Sydowski’s rationale. “But we’ve toldher and Ryan never to talk to strangers.”

“He may not have been a stranger to her. He may havelearned something about you and Nancy to trick her. If he took her dog, thenhe’s working from a plan.”

Nunn rubbed his stubble, then the back of his neck.

“She’s a good girl, she always tells us everything.”

“You don’t know that,” Rust said.

“What about her hair? You found her braids and therewas blood.”

“Well,” Sydowski said, “it’s exactly like we’ve said.We suspect he cut her braids off to change her appearance. She may havestruggled and he likely cut himself. If he tossed her hair in the street likehe did, it means he was likely in a hurry or afraid he was being watched. It iscommon for the stranger to want to alter the child’s appearance right away.”

“Why didn’t you tell the press about the suspect?”

“What suspect?” Sydowski said.

“Virgil Shook. I heard some of the detectives talkingtonight.”

“He’s a loser we want to check out. We’re waiting forhis file from Canada-that’s where he’s from. We’re checking out a lot of peopleas fast as we can. You should keep his name to yourself.”

“Why? If he’s got my daughter, you should tell thewhole world and splash his face across the news.”

“We need every edge we can get. We don’t want thekidnapper to know what we may find out about him. It could blow up in ourfaces.”

“That what happened in the Donner case last year withthat guy who committed suicide?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“Is this Shook guy connected to that baby’s murder andmy girl?”

“There are similarities in all three cases. That’s allwe know.”

Paul took a deep breath, his shining gaze going aroundthe room tenderly. His little girl’s room, where he tucked her in, read herstories, brushed away her fears, promising to keep her safe. And now his littlegirl’s room was somehow violated by the presence of these men-these men who’dlooked upon corpses of children, and into the faces of killers. These men who’dtouched death, touched evil, were now touching his little girl’s privatethings. They had invaded a hallowed region and somehow fouled it.

“Do what you have to do.” Nunn left, bumping intoInspector Turgeon, who smiled at him before entering and closing the door.

“What’s the latest, Linda?” Sydowski said.

“IDENT picked up the prints of a pervert from one ofthe stalls in the girl’s bathroom at the Children’s Playground. Belong toDonald Barrons. He doesn’t look like the composite. We’ve got two people whocan put him there about one hour before the abduction. Vice is grabbing him.Barrons likes to expose himself to little girls.

I thought somebody checked him clean on Donner andBecker,” Sydowski said.

“Maybe we should be more thorough this time,” Turgeonsaid.

“Shook’s file arrive yet?” Rust asked.

“The Mounties promise it by tonight.”

Rust cursed.

“That’s it?” Sydowski said.

“IDENT’s back at daybreak to do the yard and theneighborhood. More searches with volunteers at Golden Gate. DMV’s still workingup a pool of suspect vehicles based on the partial plate.”

“What about the tip line?” Sydowski said.

“I called them. Hundreds of calls, kooks, crazies.They’re checking everything, but there aren’t enough bodies, so it’s going totake awhile.”

Sydowski nodded. No one spoke.

The room became quiet, except for Rust siftingdelicately through Gabrielle’s clothes. They had nothing. Two children stolenfrom their parents in broad daylight and they had nothing to give them a degreeof hope. Sydowski slipped a Tums into his mouth.