“It gives me something to work with. I figured you’d want to know.”

“What’s the next step?”

“Well, it hurts, but I turned over what I had to the local cops. The more people we have looking for old Jimmy, the better.”

Sebastian ran a hand over Psyche’s flank. “He’s about as far away from Monterey as you can get and still stay in the country.”

“Yeah, I figure he’s—”

“I don’t figure.” Sebastian turned those compelling eyes of his on her. “I know. He’s traveling in New England, too nervous to settle yet.”

“Look, Donovan …”

“When you searched his room, did you notice that the second drawer down on his dresser had a loose pull?”

She had, but she said nothing.

“I’m not playing parlor games with you, Mel,” Sebastian said impatiently. “I want to get that boy back, and quickly. Rose is losing hope. Once she loses it completely, she may very well do something drastic.”

Instant fear. It gripped Mel by the throat with vicious fingers. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. Use what influence you have. See that the Vermont and New Hampshire police look for him. He’s driving a Toyota now. Red. The plates are the same.”

She wanted to dismiss it, but she couldn’t. “I’m going to go see Rose.”

Before she could back away from the fence, Sebastian laid a hand over hers. “I called Rose a couple of hours ago. She’ll be all right for a while longer.”

“I told you I didn’t want you to feed her any of this business.”

“You work your way, I’ll work mine.” His hand tightened on Mel’s. “She needed something, a little something to hold on to, to get her through another night when she goes in and looks at an empty crib. I gave it to her.”

She felt something from him, something so akin to her own fear and frustration that she relented. “All right, maybe it was the thing to do. I can’t second-guess you there. But if you’re right about Parkland being in New England …”

“You won’t get first shot at him.” Sebastian smiled, relaxed now. “And that just burns the hell right out of you.”

“You hit that one dead on.” She hesitated, then let out a long breath and decided to tell it all. “I got hold of an associate in Georgia.”

“You have far-reaching connections, Sutherland.”

“I spent about twenty years knocking around the country. Anyway, there’s a lawyer there, and he put me on to an investigator he trusts. As a professional courtesy, he’s going to do some checking.”

“Does that mean you’re accepting the fact that David’s in Georgia?”

“It means I’m not taking any chances. If I was sure, I’d go myself.”

“When you are, and when you do, I’ll go with you.”