“Jesus. I can barely understand a word you’re saying. Just nod. Is this guy in Atlanta?… Good. Can you tell me where?… You don’t know? Okay, type what you do know. Remember. One lie and that finger goes, and I’m gonna love doing it.… Hospital. He’s at the hospital? The one you work at?… Excellent. If he’s there, I can find him. If he’s not, this knife and I are going to pay you another visit. Now, once more, type out his name.… Good. Now, grab anything you need because you won’t be coming back here for a long time. And don’t think for an instant that this Dr. Lou Welcome won’t turn your work over to me. Unless he’s as badly deformed as you are, he’ll have plenty of fingers for me to work on.”

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

When it comes to commitment, you are either fully engaged or not, for there is no gray area. Half measures will avail us nothing.

—LANCASTER R. HILL, 100 Neighbors, SAWYER RIVER BOOKS, 1939

His ringing cell phone roused Vaill from a dreamless sleep. Even before answering it, he began testing himself. Stiff sheets, unfamiliar mattress, LG TV propped up on the dresser at the foot of the bed. He was in a hotel—a Marriott in downtown Atlanta. The room curtains were like lead shields, and if the sun had already come up, it was impossible to tell. The ringing continued. Vaill fumbled for the phone, knocking over his bottle of Tylenol. His voice was sleep-drenched.

“Yeah, Vaill here.”

“Tim, it’s Chuck.”

Vaill brightened.

“Hey, buddy, what’s going on? What time is it?”

“Sorry to wake you, sleeping beauty. I actually thought you’d already be gone. It’s eight-thirty.”

“Shit.”

Vaill sat up and felt a twinge behind his eyes, but nothing materialized. He had planned to get Welcome to the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and the district court magistrate judge before nine. Now he’d be hard-pressed to make it there by ten. No big deal, he supposed.

“Don’t worry about it,” McCall said. “It’s probably just as well if Welcome’s not moved around too much.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“I just got a call from the team Snyder sent over with a warrant to Miller’s apartment. They found the place trashed, and a dead body in a pool of clotted blood in the middle of the floor. Humphrey’s gone. The guys are knocking on doors now, but so far no one saw or heard anything. The victim’s name is Cassie Bayard. She works for a company that provides home health services. Took two in the chest from close range.”

Burke!

“Shit,” Vaill muttered again. “What’s the T.O.D.?”