The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

Author:Tami Hoag
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2013-06-18T05:00:00+00:00

25

Kasselmann was the king of the press statement. He had the perfect look: as solid as a bull, as serious as a heart attack, handsomely groomed. He had the perfect authoritative voice. He was articulate and concise.

Kovac watched the live news feed on the television in the conference room. He had no desire to be questioned by the media. Reporters asked stupid questions, and they asked them over and over. He was more than happy to let Kasselmann take that spotlight.

Julia Gray stood beside the captain, looking stunned. She was as pale as a ghost, and the bruise on her cheek stood out despite her efforts to hide it with a clever hairstyle. When it was her turn to make her appeal for the return of her daughter, it seemed for an uncomfortable moment that she wasn’t going to say anything. She looked down at the podium, locked inside her own mind.

Kovac wondered if the good Dr. Warner had prescribed something for her nerves. Probably—and rightly so. Having dealt with more child abductions and disappearances than he cared to count, Kovac knew the terrible strain it put on the parents. They labored under a heavy burden of anxiety, fear, anger, uncertainty, and guilt. What could they have done to prevent this? Why couldn’t their child have been more careful, less headstrong? What was happening to their kid? Was she or he alive, dead, frightened, in pain?

Beside him in front of the television, John Quinn stood with his arms crossed and his brow set in concentration as he watched Julia Gray finally rouse herself to make the standard appeal for the return of her daughter or the revelation of any information that might shed light on her disappearance.

When they made the movie of Quinn’s life, George Clooney would be first in line to play him. He had that look about him—dark hair peppered with distinguished gray, dark eyes, strong jaw. He was the guy other guys wanted to be and the man every woman drooled over. He used those attributes to his advantage when he could but didn’t rely on them to carry him. He had a keen intellect, and he knew his subject as well as or better than anyone else in the business.

“What happened to her face?” he asked, not taking his eyes from the screen.

“She says she took a fall on the ice,” Elwood said. “Sprained her wrist too.”

“What does she do for living?”

“She’s a rep for a pharmaceutical company.”

“Where’s the husband?”

“They’ve been divorced for four years. He’s an odontologist. He remarried a younger woman who worked in his office.”

“Mom’s in a relationship with a shrink,” Kovac said.

“What’s he like?”

“Like a shrink. Dr. Know It All and Let Me Explain It to You Like You’re a Moron. Wears his sweaters tied around his neck,” Kovac added with disdain.

“I googled him,” Elwood said. “Turns out he’s fairly well-known in the metro area.”

Kovac scowled. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“Because you’re out of touch with the world around you,” Elwood pointed out.

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