Phần I
Nora's phone rang while she was still in the parking garage, keys in her hand.
Unknown number — Xenia, OH.
"It's Brennan," Walt said. He sounded wide awake, though it was past one in the morning in Ohio. "Where are you?"
"Going to meet Grace."
A pause. "Then you'd better hear this first."
She sat in the car with the engine off.
"Paul Grier, the lieutenant who took the case after me, retired to Columbus. Eighty-one years old and still sharp as a tack. I drove up there yesterday. Brought a bottle of Jameson." Walt cleared his throat. "Grier kept copies of everything. Said he always had a bad feeling about how Dolan ran that case. Including Grace's polygraph."
"I thought she passed."
"That's what Dolan told the newspapers. Whole exam ruled 'inconclusive,' case closed, poor grieving mother." Paper rustled on Walt's end. "Twelve questions. She passed eleven. She failed one. Badly. Examiner's note says 'deception strongly indicated.'"
"Which one?"
Walt read it slowly.
"'Did you know the person who took Emily?' Grace answered no."
Nora pressed her forehead against the cold steering wheel.
"Be careful, kid," Walt said quietly. "She's had twenty-seven years to practice her story."