“Your wife must have been a very beautiful woman when you met her.”

Burim looked at George and narrowed his eyes.

“You still in medical training?”

“Yes.”

“You becoming a shrink?”

“Hardly. No, I’m becoming a radiologist.”

“Then how do you know all this crap about Pia?”

“You don’t have to be a professional to appreciate what she had gone through growing up. The fact of the matter is she’s had a hard life, but she’s a remarkable person: intelligent to beat the band and beautiful. A lot of men are attracted to her, including myself, if you want to know. I’m really worried about her. I and this other doctor tried to get the Boulder police involved, but they are content to sit on their asses. There is no specific evidence that Pia was kidnapped. In fact they think they have evidence that Pia drove away, heading east, perhaps in a nonrequited funk, which is ridiculous. But the bottom line is that they are content to wait it out, saying that in most instances like this, the woman reappears. But I’m telling you, she is not going to reappear. This guy Berman took advantage of her, I’m convinced. I’m sure he kidnapped her. He may have molested her. Raped her. He may have killed her. This is Pia we’re talking about. Your daughter.”

George paused—he hoped to hell he wasn’t pushing too hard.

“If this Berman guy did kidnap her, where would he take her? Do you have any idea?”

“Not specifically. But the other doctor I mentioned has a friend who works out at the Boulder airport. Through him we found out that the Nano jet, presumably with Berman aboard, took off the morning Pia disappeared.”

“Where did it go?”

“The flight plan was to Italy. One of Milan’s airports.”

Burim stared out of the window a good minute.

“Flesh and blood,” Burim said quietly. “You wait here.”

Ten minutes passed, and George started to think Burim had walked out on him. Then he was back.

“What makes you think she has been killed?” he asked. “Or put another way, what do you think are the chances she’s already been killed?”

“I don’t think she has been killed. I think she is being held prisoner someplace, I guess in Italy.”

“The trouble is there are no Albanian clans in Denver. But that’s not a major problem.”

“What about in Italy?” George asked.

“No problem in Italy. I even lived there for a time on my way here to the States. It’s where I met and married my wife. We have a lot of people in Italy. Hell, it’s only fifty miles between Italy and Albania.”

“I hope to God you can find her and quick enough to save her.”