Free A Face at the Window by Sarah Graves Page A

about the guys who were asking about me?" she added. "Who had a picture of me?"
    This better be good,
their faces said as they all turned to her. Suddenly she was even more aware of how weak it all sounded."In the hardware store earlier. Tom Godley said two guys were in there with a photograph of me, asking questions about me."
    Her face burned under their skeptical looks. "Strangers," she added. "And then the calls. Two strange phone calls, and I'm sure I know who—"
    "Why don't I handle that, too?" Bob cut in smoothly as the rest moved toward the door, no longer listening.
    Bob was getting her off the hook, Jake realized, saving her from looking any more foolish than she already did. Jerrilyn was frowning oddly at her, as well.
    As if, Jake thought, the thin-sounding story about strangers and phone calls was an attempt to grab the spotlight, somehow. But clearly to the others Helen's violent boyfriend was the whole focus of the investigation, now; him and his friends.
    And maybe Helen's stepfather, Jody Pierce. "Jake," Bob said when the rest had gone outside, "I know you're upset. I am, too. But we're going to get Lee back. And Helen," he added hastily at Jerrilyn's sharp look.
    Last chance, Jake
thought. "Bob, he called me. Campbell… I can't prove it, but I know his voice."
    "Yeah," Bob said. "I heard you. Thing is, how
you feel
about it doesn't guarantee it
means
anything, does it? And we don't know where this Campbell guy's gotten to but what we do know is, he's not from around here."
    She took his point; she'd thought it herself, earlier. How would Campbell have even known about Lee, much less found her at Helen's secluded home? The street Helen lived on didn't even have a name, much less a sign.
    And Campbell was a big strapping guy with thinning blond hair, bushy eyebrows, and a face like a rotten orange, all swollen nose and blown red capillaries. She'd seen a brief New Yorknews clip of him that Sandy O’Neill had e-mailed to her, just after the indictment was handed down.
    No way did he resemble either of the two guys Tom Godley had seen. "You'll talk to Tom, though? At Wadsworth's, about the—?"
    "I will. I'm not ignoring you, Jake. But what I want from you now is phone numbers where you think we can maybe get hold of Ellie and George, in case the airline doesn't manage to."
    "Oh," Jerrilyn breathed sorrowfully, looking up from the table where she'd been cradling her face in her hands. "Oh, that poor little baby's mother and dad, they're going to be so—"
    Fresh misery swamped Jake. "Do we have to call them right away? Maybe it is just a mean trick, Tim Barnard getting back at Helen, and in a couple of hours they'll be—"
    Her voice trailed off. Ellie and George, away on the very first trip they'd taken alone together since Lee was born—
    To Italy, no less, George acting unimpressed but as excited as Ellie, really. Rome and a rented villa on the Riviera…jet- setting, Ellie had called it while she'd packed a pretty sundress and new swimsuit, more daringly cut than any she would wear here.
    Worrying all the while about leaving Lee.
I swear, Jacobia
had told her friend earnestly while they pored over pictures of the exotic destination.
Nothing bad will happen.
    And now…Jake tried to think what she would say to Ellie, how she could possibly break the news to her that her child had been taken.
    Bob shook his head. "We have to get them back here; they'll both have to be questioned," he said. "It could be someone with a grudge against George, or mad at Ellie—"
    Neither of which things Jake could imagine. "Get the numbers and call me and give ‘em to me. And that's all I want you to do," Bob finished firmly. "I've got squads of guys out there—"
    Jerrilyn frowned again. "—and girls, too," Bob said. "Women. And I don't want things going on that I don't know about, next thing you know I've got to spend a whole lot of time and energy, rescuing a rescuer. You catching my drift, here?" he added. "Stay home,