First Family

CHAPTER 14

LATER THAT EVENING they drove near the Duttons' home but didn't pull down the road they lived on because it was closed off to traffic by portable blockades. In front of the barriers police cruisers and FBI SUVs sat slant-parked. Behind the temporary walls, the road was still clogged with police and forensics vans.

Beyond the barrier zone they could see eager journalists running around with fat microphones clutched in hand, while their videographers trotted behind. News vans with electronic masts raised to the heavens were parked up and down the road. Gawkers were out in force as well, trying to get a peek of what was going on and becoming fodder for the reporters who had little else to do but seek out inane comments since the authorities weren't talking.

"Okay, so much for tripping through the forensics evidence," said Michelle.

Sean wasn't listening. He was staring down at the piece of paper on which he'd written the letters found on Pam Dutton's arms. He was trying to assemble them in a way that made sense.

"Chaffakan. Hatka and Tayyi?"

"Chaffakan? Like in Chaka Khan? Maybe they're fans of pop singers with cool names."

"Will you get serious?"

"Okay, Tayyi sounds like Japanese or Chinese. Either a martial art or a relaxation technique."

"Or how about a code?"

"If so we don't have the key."

Sean pulled out his phone and pecked on the digital screen.

"What are you doing?"

"What everybody does these days, I'm Googling it."

He waited for the search request to load and then started scrolling down the responses. He didn't look too confident.

"Hatka is either an actress or an entertainment company. And Tayyi has something to do with Arabs in the sixth century, apparently some tribal groups."

"Some terrorist thing?"

"Doesn't feel right. I'm going to try a few more combinations with these letters." He pecked at the digital keys and got more results until another entry caught his attention.

"Yi."

"What about it?"

"I typed in Yi instead of Tayyi and here's what it says." Sean read off the screen. "The Yi Syllabary's origins are lost in time but are thought to be influenced by the Chinese writing system. Each character represents one syllable. It was used mainly for religious and secret writings. It's spoken by millions of people in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan."

"So a secret Chinese religious society with a weird language is responsible for all this?" Michelle said skeptically. "But the letters are from the English alphabet, not Chinese."

"I don't know. I'm just trying to cop a lead." He punched in a number and held up a hand when Michelle started to say something.

"Hey, Phil, it's Sean King. Right, yeah, it's been a long time, I know. Look, I'm back in D.C. and I've got a question about a language. Right. No, I'm not trying to learn one, I'm trying to see if something is a language or not. Yeah, I guess I'm not making much sense. Look, do you know anyone at Georgetown who's familiar with a language called Yi? From China?"

Michelle tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while he talked.

"Yeah, I know it's not one of the major ones. But could you check and see if anyone in your department might know? Thanks, I owe you." He gave Phil his number and clicked off.

When Michelle looked at him questioningly he said, "Buddy of mine who's in the foreign language department at Georgetown. He's going to check and get back to me."

"Yi-pee."

He stared at her crossly. "You got any better ideas?"

She was about to answer when his phone rang. "Yeah?" He straightened up and then glanced out the window. "Now? Right, okay."

He clicked off and then looked puzzled.

"Who was it?"

"FBI Special Agent Waters. We've been officially invited to participate in the investigation."

Michelle slid the gearshift lever to drive. "Wow, Jane Cox really lived up to her billing."