Page 95 of The Family Cross

Bobby the night nurse said, “The speech pathologist did a swallowing eval on her and said she was good to try something more solid in small pieces.”

“That’s great,” I said, and Nana beamed at me before her gaze drifted.

“Wake me ready,” she said.

“Will do,” I promised. Bree put her hand on my forearm and made a motion with her head that we should leave the room. We went to the front hall. Ali and Damon were still absorbed in the baseball game.

She told me about her discussion with David Lear, then said, “Ned hasn’t gotten back to me on the registration on Volt’s plane yet, but he has to be swamped with the whole Hawk thing. Any sign of those kids?”

“None,” I said. “I’ll contact the cell carriers tomorrow to see if their phones can be tracked—or Boog’s phone, anyway. And we caught something of a break on CCTV footage around Rock Creek Park.”

Using her iPad, I signed into my department site and called up the footage of the Firebug.

“Big guy,” she said, watching. “Is Hawk this big?”

I nodded. “Give or take an inch. But then again, so is Colin ‘Bing Bang’ O’Hare. Both big ex–Special Forces operators with access to jet fuel. Problem is, we never get a good look at this guy’s face coming or going. He has the hood up when he leaves the park at three forty-two.”

I hit Play and we watched as the Firebug rushed out of the darkness of Rock Creek Park, hood still up, still carrying the gas can. He tossed it in the Malibu’s trunk, jumped in the driver’s seat, and left the picnic area with his headlights off and the visor down, covering his upper face.

For less than a second, though, his lower face was visible in the glare from one of the parking lot’s sodium lights. I froze it there.

“The image is somewhat distorted by the curvature of the windshield,” I said. “But distortion or not, this guy has a big square jaw. And so do Hawk and O’Hare.”

Bree said nothing for a moment. “I hate to complicate things for you, but Egon Bijan is also as big as this guy, with a cinder block for a noggin. And if Tatiana Volt owns a plane, then Mr. Bijan has access to avgas.”

82

AUNT HATTIE OUTDID HERSELF with dinner. And Nana Mama was alert and ate her entire meal on her own with a spoon, which pleased her and everyone else.

“You open… café,” Nana Mama said. “Hattie. Me first…”

“Customer?” Ali said.

“Mmm,” Nana said, gazing at me. “Jason come.”

“I heard that. Happy?”

She smiled. “Been while.”

“Too long,” I said.

I was looking forward to seeing my dad as well. I’d thought he was dead for many years, but after I’d found him, in a lot of ways, my dad had become one of my heroes.

“Too long,” Nana agreed. “Jannie?”

Damon said, “She’s training, Nana.”

She nodded. “Finals?”

“Next week,” I said.

“I go.”

I glanced at the night nurses. Bobby shrugged. “I guess she could if you charter an air ambulance. But that costs a lot of money.”

“Got it,” Nana said. “Lotto.”

Ali said, “She hit it a few years ago.”