Free Private Screening by Richard North Patterson

larger.”
    â€œWorn or new?”
    â€œWe think worn. Also the typist wore gloves, and there don’t even seem to be prints for the boy. Of course, at his age he’s probably never been printed anyway.”
    Parnell looked back to McCarry. “If I follow that, there’s no doubt someone took him.”
    â€œPerhaps.” Parnell wondered if the agent’s voice seemed cooler. “Just how clever is he, Mr. Parnell?”
    â€œHe’s an imaginative boy—I really don’t know how clever.”
    â€œYou don’t seem to know Robert all that well.”
    â€œI wonder, Mr. McCarry, how many fathers really understand their sons?”
    McCarry did not seem to like the question. “Sooner or later, someone’s going to ask you for a million dollars. If it looks legitimate, you’ll have to decide whether to pay it.”
    â€œWhat should I be thinking about?”
    â€œBesides your son? Several things. A ransom drop’s usually our first clear shot at the kidnapper. But we can’t guarantee we’ll catch him or get back your million dollars. What would that kind of loss mean to you?”
    â€œI’d probably have to sell the newspaper. Do you ever use fake ransom?”
    â€œAt times. But the danger is that the kidnapper will stay pissed off and free long enough to take revenge on the victim.”
    â€œWhat other choices do I have?”
    â€œIf you announce up front you’re not going to pay it, at least they’ll have time to think about it rationally and release him. They also might have time to dispose of Robert where no one will ever find him.”
    Parnell rubbed his eyes. “I see.”
    McCarry’s tone softened. “Do you have other children?”
    â€œNo—only Alexis.”
    â€œStill, there’s one more thing I should say. You’re a wealthy man, Mr. Parnell—a mark. Once you pay ransom for your son, there’s no guarantee that this kidnapper or another won’t want more money for him next year.”
    â€œOr for Alexis?”
    â€œHer, too.”
    Parnell touched his ear. “I should call her. She doesn’t know yet.”
    â€œSay we’ll want to talk to her.”
    â€œIs that necessary? She doesn’t know anything more than I do.”
    â€œYou understand that we can’t be sure.”
    â€œI’ll tell her, then.” Parnell began trudging toward the car.
    â€œMr. Parnell.”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œWe’ll be receiving crank calls in the next few days. We’ll need a question that can only be answered by Robert, if he’s still alive. Then you can decide.”
    Parnell felt sick to his stomach. “Ask him—ask them what his mother called him when Robert was a little boy.”
    On the telephone, Alexis seemed unready to accept it. But he returned home to find her in the music room, strangely calm. “They’ve already been here,” she told him. “Two agents. I couldn’t tell them what happened.”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter. Unless he’s done this.”
    She began crying. As he knelt beside her, she shook her head, almost angrily. “He loved me.…”
    Alexis ran upstairs, near hysteria. The doctor gave her sedatives.
    Parnell called Danziger to ask advice. But he did not explain to the lawyer the reason that Alexis would not speak to him.
    For the next five days, their life became the focus of a drama, from which Alexis withdrew. Their front grounds were the scene of press conferences; strangers tapped their phones to screen the flood of hoax calls; Parnell and Danziger made contingency plans to borrow cash in large denominations. But until the evening of the fifth day, Parnell did not know if Robert lived, or what he would decide when the demands were made.
    He was in the library when McCarry phoned. “The kidnapper called me , by surprise—he must have caught my name on television. They want a