Chapter 22 third quarter

During this period, the phone rang from time to time.I was vaguely aware that a policeman answered the call.Now, he handed me a list of callers, mostly journalists for interviews—television, radio.Tonight, these stories will spread throughout the state. "God, Kate's parents." I hurried away from Webb and Pedrenton in the living room.When I came to the kitchen, my bandaged hands trembled and I pressed a series of numbers on the phone. "Hello?" an old man's voice. "Ray..." I could barely speak. "Sit down, I have bad news for you." I had a hard time having to tell them their lives were going to change dramatically in a minute.

They are not in good health.Even so, they wanted to drive from Durango, three hundred miles away, through the mountains to Denver in no time.I had a hard time convincing them to stay home.After all, what could they do in Denver?Kate's father was short of breath and sounded like he was about to have a heart attack. "Don't go away," I said, "all we can do is wait." In my mind, I sadly pictured Kate's father rushing to Denver, the car lost control and fell into the valley. "Just relax and wait at home, and I will notify you as soon as I have news."

Putting the phone away, I took a deep breath and saw Webb and Ped Langton standing in the kitchen doorway. "What's the matter?" I asked. "We just got a call from the Wyoming State Police," Weber said. I stand myself. "A woman from Casper was reported missing. Saturday night, on her way home from a visit to her sister who lives in Sheridan, a hundred and fifty miles north of where she lives." "You think my brother kidnapped her?" "The timing fits. After dark, she'll be approaching the rest stop where the Wyoming State Police found your wife's Volvo. If the woman parked there..."

My heart clenched as I imagined Patty attacking the woman, the horror she must have suffered. "She was driving a 1994 Chevrolet Caprese," Pedlandon said. "Aside from the fact that she was driving alone, the hijackers probably picked her because that model had a big luggage. He was heading north. Montana police found Caprese at a rest stop on Interstate 90 near Billings, and the Wyoming State Police gave the Montana police his license number. " "My wife and son..." "With Caprese? Not." There was something in Pedrenton's tone that made me suspicious. "What about the woman who is the owner of the car?"

He didn't answer. "tell me." Paid Langton glanced at Weber, who nodded as if in agreement. "Her body is in the trunk." "Lovely God," I didn't want to know, yet I couldn't help asking, "How did Patty treat her?" "Her hands were bound and her mouth was taped. She—" Pedrenton's voice dropped, "had asthma. She suffocated." Thinking of the woman's desperate struggle for breath, I could barely pay attention to Webb's explanation that Patty drove a Caprex from Wyoming to Billings, Montana that same night, and that he might have been in the Another car was hijacked at a rest stop in Billings.As the driver got out to go to the bathroom, Patty burst out of the shadows.

I imagined the pain Kate and Jason were going through, squeezing the dying woman next to them in the dark, the polluted air, feeling her writhing, hearing the muffled voices from her gagged mouth, her madness. The movement, her suppressed panting slowly became weaker and finally stopped. "This thing will never end." I said it anyway. "No. We can get close enough to round him up," said Pedrenton. "You predicted it right. He's headed for Montana. Probably back to Bute. Billing on the interstate that leads there. The Regional Police Department doesn't have any criminal records for Peter Patty. But they're looking for someone with that feature, especially that scar on the chin. About his recent hijacking The driver of that car, someone will report it missing soon. Once the Bout police know the make and plate of that car, they will narrow down their search. In the meantime, they will search motels and everything else they can think of you Where brother can hide your wife and son. Bute isn't a big city. Believe me, if he shows up, he'll be spotted."

"But what if Patty feels danger and leaves?" "We thought about that. Montana State Troopers were searching unmarked cars along the interstate, watching out for every white male in his thirties who was driving alone. Once the FBI checked his fingerprints, we'd be more Know our adversary, his modus operandi, his record. He may have a criminal record, and if so, the FBI investigators will provide us with a mugshot for us to distribute."