“It’s not your fault, it’s me, I’m so pathetic. I lie on the couch at night and imagine all these horrible things I want to do to Tony and his chick. At the same time, I’m terrified of seeing them together. I love him more now than I loved him when he was mine.” She had to stop herself. “What does it all mean?”

“It means your heart’s broken.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You’ll feel better with time. You’re strong—you’re going to get over this and have a great life.”

“I don’t want a great life. I just want my family back.”

“You still get to see Anna.”

“Hardly.” She looked out the window. “I wish I had never dialed nine-one-one.”

David and Amy Techer’s house had no FBI cars parked out front. The Bureau, when possible, tried not to announce to kidnappers that the tough guys had been called in. Charlie had received instructions to park a street over, and come in through a neighbor’s backyard. But when they did so they ran into twenty-five-year-old Agent Fred Lentil. He was supervising the dusting of an aluminum ladder they assumed the kidnapper had used to get into the Techer yard. Smart, stealth investigators, Kelly thought sarcastically, coming in the exact same way as the bastard.

“Any prints?” Charlie asked, gesturing to the ladder.

“Looks wiped clean,” Agent Lentil replied, staring at Kelly. She was a politically incorrect celebrity nowadays. She was admired by the rank and file, they just didn’t want to talk to her. Lentil looked like his name, only undercooked. He had the personality of cardboard. Charlie said he had to snort Viagra just to masturbate.

“We should find out who sells these ladders,” Charlie suggested.

“I’m on it,” Lentil said, and nodded to Kelly. “Vicki’s been looking for you. She wants you to interview the parents.”

“How do I fly over this wall?” Kelly asked.

Lentil had a ladder of his own, on the other side. Someone pushed it over and Charlie went to help Kelly up. She brushed his hand away. “I’m not a cripple,” she said.

The LAPD was not present. The mother of the missing child, Amy Techer, had originally called the cops but they had handed it over to the FBI because the kidnapping had national potential. The grandfather of the child—Carl) Techer of Techer Securities on Wall Street—had recently completed a hostile takeover of a huge office supply company. The deal had added cash to the stock price but had dumped ten thousand employees on the street, while leaving bad blood on the boardroom table. Vicki had already suggested that Carl Techer fly out to L.A. and be questioned. Their boss didn’t trust anyone who was worth more than a billion. Carl Techer had many enemies.