Six Seconds

62

Great Falls, Montana

The pope’s visit to Montana-the first in the state’s history-was a day away, according to the Great Falls Tribune.

It ran large photos and a huge headline that stretched across the front page.

The paper sat unread on the bed in Graham’s motel room.

He was in the shower and would read it when he finished, then meet Maggie for dinner, to figure out their next steps.

She was in the lobby using the motel’s complimen tary high-speed guest computer, trying to contact school officials, hoping they could search Logan’s birth date to determine if he was in their system.

It was late afternoon and she wasn’t making any headway. Time was working against both of them be cause Graham didn’t think Teale would get back to him today.

The pulsating hot water had nearly worked all of the tension from Graham’s neck and shoulders when his

Six Seconds 369 cell phone rang. He stopped the shower, wrapped a towel around himself, grabbed the phone from the towel rack hoping it was Teale.

It wasn’t.

“Let me get this straight,” Graham’s boss said.

“You’re in Great Falls?”

“That’s right.”

“What’re you doing? Taking a bus home?” “Mike, I’m making progress on the link to Tarver.” “Link? There’s no link.”

“Listen.”

“Dan, you have to stop this. From what I understand, you’re now traveling with the California woman and you’re entangled in her case, a parental abduction?”

“Maggie Conlin. It’s all linked to Tarver. The Conlin name and address were the last things Ray Tarver was checking.”

“You’re sinking deeper into trouble. It’s over. We’ve just got the autopsy on Raymond Tarver.”

“And?”

“And nothing. His death was just like his wife and kids. Head trauma consistent with a wilderness acci dent. Nothing suspicious. Case cleared.”

“No, that’s not right. I told you Emily Tarver spoke to me.”

“Dan, it was in the minutes before she died. The little girl was in shock.”

“It’s what she said, Mike. She spoke to me, and Nora spoke to me. ”

“Nora?”

“I know it’s weird, but I swear when I was in the water, I heard her.”

“Dan.”

Several long moments passed as Stotter absorbed the fact that one of his best investigators had just revealed that his dead wife was speaking to him on the case. In the silence, Stotter groped for a response before he exhaled slowly.

“Dan, at the outset I respected your suspicions on Tarver. They were valid. I thought letting you go after them would help the case. And I thought it would help you. You’ve been through hell and maybe it was too soon to throw you back in the mix. Maybe the Califor nia woman is some form of psychological compensa tion for what you’ve been through.”

“Mike, you’ve got to listen to me.”

“Dan, you’re a good detective, but you’ve still got some things to work through. It’s going to take time.”

“I’m not coming back until I’m done.”

“Dan, I’m giving you an order. If you’re not back here in twenty-four hours, I’m sending somebody to get you. Is that clear?”

Graham hung up then met himself in the mirror.

He’d just refused a direct order.

Everything was on the line now.