“Frank, the doctor?”
“He’s no doctor; he actually works in a medical laboratory in Olympia. No police record, but his name has appeared in several nasty cases. Sociopathic stuff. Not enough evidence to hold him on.”
“John, I heard Dora talking about… taking care of Hudson, with Frank. These are no dupes. They knew what was going on.”
“But Frank is the key.”
“His voice. It had no emotion… He’s an animal.”
“Harv says they soon discovered that. He and his wife also learned it wasn’t just `protection’ involved. Dora said Frank has some big deal going. When she realized she and Harv might be up for kidnapping and attempted murder, she gave us the rest. Scoggins never planned to return to that house. He’s on his way back East. She says she doesn’t know where, and I think this time I believe her. There was no reason for Frank to tell her anything. Almost certainly he’s headed for New England.”
“And Frank is the only one who knows where Hudson is.”
The way she said it was not lost on Krestinski. By the time the agent had met Hudson, Cilla was already in love with the former college wrestler and single sculls champion, but he’d heard stories of what she was like BH - Before Hudson. Various words had been used to describe her, cold and tough were the mildest. Hudson had changed that; a new, more peaceful Cilla had emerged, one able to function again in a world of men, because one of them had proven that the entire sex wasn’t rotten.
For the first time, Krestinski was seeing the old Cilla. He couldn’t put his finger on what had changed, but there was an untamed look about her, as though a jungle beast had taken over her body, ready to pounce without warning. It was also the eyes, like gazing into an arctic winter. He caught himself about to step back a pace.
“We find Frank.” A flat, unemotional statement that brooked no argument.
He nodded. “Yes. That’s the other way to Hudson.”
The eyes focused on him. “Have you talked to Loni?”
“Just about to.”
“Let me.”
All the agent’s instincts hollered, “no”. But he had seen the two together; noted the remarkable resemblance. And seen the way Cilla had put her arm around the other girl, protective, almost motherly. Time was a giant factor. Cilla had built a relationship with this girl who had good reason to distrust the FBI. He found himself saying, “All right.”
Loni looked drained. She was obviously in discomfort, but went willingly to talk with Cilla.
“Up in Olympia you said you’d talked with Hudson before he was drugged.”
“At White River. But only for a few minutes. We were planning to talk longer back at the house.”
“Tell me what was said.”
“Well...he wanted to know who Daddy was afraid of, and I told him about the people Daddy worked for.”
“And,” Cilla prompted.
“There was this guy we ran into in Boston. He was the only one I could remember. Mostly Daddy’s friends are pretty stiff and old fashioned. Some of the kids wear hats like that...”
“Hats like what?”
“Cowboy hats.”
“This guy in Boston you met when you were with your father was wearing a cowboy hat?”
“Yes, and I don’t know many guys who wear them back East and…”
“What was his voice like?”
“That’s so funny you should ask that! I think he had a cold; his voice was husky and very quiet. I had to listen hard to understand him.”
“I think I know what he looks like, but you tell me.”
“He was about my height, maybe a little taller. Old but not as old as Daddy. His name was Mr. Cabral. I can’t remember his first name. It was like Gregory, though shorter and foreign sounding. He was in a hurry, almost as though he was trying to get away from us.”
“Because of your father?”
“He’s...he was really my stepfather.”
“Did you feel he was trying to get away from you or your stepfather?”
Loni wrinkled her forehead.
“Me, I think. That’s funny, isn’t it? Most guys think I’m easy to look at, but he kept his face turned away from me.”
“Where in Boston did you meet him?”
“On Washington Street.”
“He was just walking along the street?”
“No, he was coming out of a store. I think it’s the one that sells outdoor sporting goods. I was in there once. You know the type; it has hiking boots, snowshoes, tents. Stuff like that. I got some sunglasses there, the kind that turn darker when you’re in the sun, and...”
“Did Mr. Cabral mention the name `Frank’?”
“You mean like the doctor? No.”
“What else did you tell Hudson?”
“That’s all, I think. I told you we only talked for a few minutes, and then he said he had to call Mr. Krestinski.”
“Did he?”
“Did he what?”
“Did he call Mr. Krestinski?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think he had time before he… got sick.”
“Loni, this is important. I’d like to go over everything that was said and its effect on Hudson.”
Loni glanced at Cilla out of the corner of her eye. “He didn’t hit on me or anything.”
“I know he didn’t, Loni. What I’m after is how he reacted to things you said.”
“Most men do, you know.”
“I’m sure they do. Start at the beginning. He followed you out from Olympia. Where did he catch up with you?”
“At White River. I had just let Daddy’s ashes fall into the water.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he could kill me anytime he wanted.”
Nice approach, Hudson. “Didn’t that scare you?”
“No. He said he was going to tickle me to death, and I cried.”
“Then what?”
“I told you. We talked about Mr. Cabral.”
“And that’s all? Then you went back?”
“Yes.”
“Think. There must have been something else.”
Loni sighed. “There really wasn’t. We talked about his Uncle Charles.”
“You’re sure? Hudson doesn’t have an Uncle Charles.”
“Then why did he say he did?”
“What about his Uncle?”
“He threw him in a river back East.”
“Threw...you mean his ashes?’
“Sure. I think it was just a line.”
“Could it have been the Charles River he was talking about?”
“Oh, yes! That’s what it was! He wanted to know if Daddy had asked me to put him in White River. I told him `no’. Right after that he said something I didn’t understand.”
“Do you remember what it was?”
“It sounded like, sockway seebow.”
“Sokwai sibo?”
“Yes! That’s what it was.”
“You’re sure?”
“You say it the same way he did. What does it mean?”
“Maybe nothing. That’s it?”
“Yeah. Then he said he had to call Mr. Krestinski, and we went back to Dora’s house cause he couldn’t call from the mountains.”
Cilla stood up. “Thanks, Loni. You’ve been a big help.”
“I have?”
Cilla nodded.
“What are you going to do?”
“What Hudson didn’t get to. Talk to John Krestinski.”
Krestinski listened attentively. “And your conclusion?”
“They’re going to do something to the rivers in New England.”
“Kind of a long leap, Cilla. Is that phrase Abenaki?”
“Sokwai sibo was their name for the Saco River.”
“I didn’t realize Hudson spoke it.”
“Studying it. He speaks more of it than I do; you know Hudson and languages.” For a brief moment she spoke of her husband just as though their lives hadn’t been torn apart by Frank. And the Fenders. And maybe a man in a cowboy hat.