Dornick pressed his lips together. He hadn’t meant to tell me he was tracking Petra, but he didn’t compound the blunder by trying to deny it. “We didn’t get on it until early this morning, so we don’t know where she went after she ran out your back door.”

“Now that you have Hatfield’s acquiescence in letting the private sector handle the search, what are your plans?”

Dornick smiled thinly. “The first thing we’ll do, of course, is to sweat Merton.”

I was astonished. “You really think the Anacondas are involved in this, Georgie?”

He flushed at the nickname. “Don’t be naïve, Vicki … Vic. You know that even doing life at Stateville, Merton runs a big chunk of the South and West sides of this city. Drugs, whores, ID theft. We can squeeze him where it hurts.”

“And that would be where?” I asked politely. “He can’t do more time than he’s already doing.”

“He’s proud of his daughter. We can put pressure on her.”

“I didn’t think they were close,” I objected.

“That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be upset as hell if her law firm decided she was a security risk,” Dornick said.

“And if it turns out Merton had nothing to do with Petra’s disappearance, will you restore Dayo Merton’s reputation and make sure she gets another job as good as the one she has now?” I asked, adding to my uncle, “Is that how you’d want Petra treated?”

“If he’s behind her disappearance, he’s already treating her—”

“Okay. So you’ll start by sitting on the Hammer. And, at the same time, just in case …”

“We’ll pull in some of the Anacondas who hold a grudge against … well, let’s say, against your dad. People like this Steve Sawyer you’ve been looking for.”

“You know where he is?”

A little smile played around Dornick’s mouth, condescension mostly. “I feel pretty confident I can track him down.”

“And we’ll talk to you, Vic,” Strangwell said. “We need to know what Petra was doing for you.”

Peter was looking at Harvey Krumas with an odd, almost pleading expression. It seemed to me that the two men were holding their breath, waiting for my answer.

“Nothing, really.” I spoke slowly, studying their faces, trying to guess what they were hoping to hear. “When I was injured in the fire that killed Sister Frances, my eyes were damaged. They told me not to look at a computer for a few days, and Petra offered to look up an address in one of my databases. Then she told me Les here had sat on her and that she couldn’t do the search.”

“Are you telling the truth?” Harvey Krumas demanded.