“Oh, dear. And Lissy? And Victor?”

Savich said, “Yes. Two other men as well. Jennifer Smiley was shot dead in the middle of a bank robbery in Washington. Lissy and Victor escaped. We’re trying to locate them.”

“But this is a small town, nothing bad ever happens here; well, not like this. I haven’t heard anybody say anything. My husband won’t believe it. He liked Victor, said he was okay for a scruffy geek. I liked him too.”

She pursed her lips, did some thinking, and said, “I just can’t get over Victor. Lissy, now she’s a different story. I hate to say this about a sixteen-year-old girl, but I’m not at all surprised she’s involved. Lissy is…Well, I’m not sure quite how to say this…but she’s off, but it’s more than that. She’s strange in the head, and the way she sometimes looks at people, it’s frightening. The thing I finally realized was that she’s a chameleon, no other way to say it. She can charm you if she wants or look like she’s bored to tears.”

“How do you know all this about her, Ms. Schuster?” Sherlock asked.

“She dated my son for four months,” Carly said simply. “I saw her up close and personal. Of course Jason talked about her. I know she was having sex with him, and I’ll tell you, that scared me.”

Savich and Sherlock waited.

Carly drew in a deep breath. “He broke up with her last spring. Though he wouldn’t admit it, I think he was a little frightened of her. After the breakup, she threatened to kill him. That might sound like a melodramatic teenager, but I was afraid for him. She accused him of sleeping with another girl, though he hadn’t. A few days later, the girl, Lindy, was struck by a car while she was riding her bicycle, broke her leg. We never found out who hit her. Lissy didn’t ever hurt Jason, but someone slashed the tires on his old Honda.”

“Is Jason around, Carly?” Sherlock asked.

“No, I’m sorry. He’s in Spain with his father, my ex. He won’t be back until September. You know, I think Jason breathed a big sigh of relief when Lissy and her mother left town.”

25

THEY’D JUST CLIMBED INTO the Porsche when Céline Dion’s beautiful voice sang out the theme from Titanic on Savich’s cell phone.

“Savich.” He listened, then said, “I’m betting on a twenty-two and a Bren Ten, ten-millimeter auto ammo. Yeah, verify when you know.” He slipped his cell back into the pocket of his leather jacket. He met Sherlock’s eyes.

“You wanna know something fantastic? The deputy is alive, out of surgery, and we can head up to Overlook Hospital in Pamplin, try to speak to her. The hospital is filled with her family and cops. The sheriff said we’re to go directly to the ICU on the third floor. He’ll meet us there.”

“It had to be Victor and Lissy, on their way down here. I wonder why she’s alive?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure hoping she can tell us.”

Sherlock said, “The license number was off an old Impala, right?”

He nodded again.

Sherlock closed her eyes, remembering clearly getting shot herself, wondering if she would die. “What’s the deputy’s name?”

“Gail Lynd. She’s been in law enforcement for six years. She’s married, two small kids. As for the deputy they killed, he also had a family.”

“We’ve got to get them fast, Dillon, before they kill anyone else.”

“My gut keeps telling me Victor will head for home, for Winnett, North Carolina, though I know that doesn’t make sense. We were right about Fort Pessel, but they’re not stupid. Everyone and his mother are looking for them. But they’ve got to go under for a while before they try for me. Maybe Victor knows a place to hide in or near Winnett. I want to get home, though, after we speak to Gail at the hospital.”

When Savich pulled into the parking lot in front of the hospital, Galen called again, told him about the break-in at Kougar’s Pharmacy in Fort Pessel, and the couple dozen stolen Vicodin. “Maybe that’s why she fell asleep.”

Sherlock and Savich walked the long third-floor corridor. The walls were a light green, meant to be restful, she supposed, but it didn’t work for her. She felt itchy, jumpy. They passed some uniformed officers and what must have been family in the waiting room but didn’t slow or look in.

The sheriff wasn’t waiting for them.

Nurse Dolores Stark eyed them and their creds over her bifocals. “The sheriff had to leave on an emergency.”

Sherlock said, “Talk to us about Deputy Lynd.”