Christine looked up at me and she smiled again. She looked so happy holding the Boy, our small son. “We’re fine for the moment,” she said. “Thank you. I’ll come in for coffee. Of course I will.” Of course. Christine had always been so sure about everything, and she hadn’t lost any of her confidence.

I stepped back inside and nearly bumped into Nana, who was watching from just beyond the screen door.

“Oh, Alex,” she whispered, and she didn’t have to say any more than that. I felt as if a knife had been plunged in my heart. It was the first twist, and just the first of many. I shut the front door and left them to have their private time.

Christine brought the baby inside after a while, and we all sat in the kitchen and drank coffee and she watched Alex with his bottle of apple juice. She talked about her life out in Seattle; mostly about work at a school out there, nothing too personal or revealing. I knew she had to be nervous and stressed, but I never saw it.

Then Christine showed the kind of warmth that could melt a heart. She was looking at Little Alex. “What a sweetheart he is,” she said. “What a sweet, darling little boy. Oh, Alex, my little Alex, how I missed you. You have no idea.”

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

CHRISTINE JOHNSON IN D.C. AGAIN.

Why had she come back now? What did she want with us?

The questions throbbed in my head, and also deep inside my heart. They made me afraid, even before I had a clear idea what to fear. Of course, I had a suspicion—Christine had changed her mind about Little Alex. That was it, had to be. Why else would she be here? She certainly hadn’t come back to see me. Or had she?

I was still on I-95, but just minutes away from Quantico, when Monnie Donnelley got through to me on my cell. Miles Davis played on the radio in the car. I’d been trying to chill before I got to work.

“You’re late again,” she said, and though I knew it was a joke, it still cut me some.

“I know, I know. I was out partying last night. You know how it is.”

Monnie got right to it. “Alex, did you know they grabbed a couple more suspects last night?”

Them again. I was so surprised that I didn’t answer Monnie right away. I hadn’t been told anything about a bust!

“I guess not.” Monnie answered her own question. “It took place in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Joe Namath’s hometown? Two UNSUBS in their forties, ran an adult bookstore, sort of named after the town. The press got ahold of it a few minutes ago.”

“Did they find any of the missing women?” I asked Monnie.