CHAPTER 18
AN HOUR LATER they pulled into the parking lot of a two-story building at an office park in Loudon County.
“How’d you know where he worked?” asked Michelle.
“I’m a friend of the family.” He paused. “And I snitched a business card from Tuck’s bedroom.”
“So one of the kids was not Pam’s? Only which one?”
“Pam’s a redhead and Tuck has blond hair. Willa has really dark hair. The other two kids are towheads.”
“So even though it’s a recessive gene maybe the red hair was relevant.”
“And of interest.”
Inside, Sean and Michelle strolled up to the receptionist’s desk.
“I’m Sean King. This is my partner, Michelle Maxwell. We’re representing Tuck Dutton in this awful business with his family.”
The receptionist, a young woman with short brown hair and wide sad eyes, said, “Oh, God, I know, we’ve all heard. It’s horrible. How is he doing?”
“Not that well, actually. He asked us to come by his office and pick up some things.”
“I hope he’s not concerned about work at a time like this.”
Sean leaned in closer. “I think it’s the only thing keeping him going, actually. We just came from the hospital.”
“You say you’re representing him?” the woman said slowly. “Are you lawyers?”
Sean flashed his credentials. “Private investigators. We’re working to find out who did this and also to get Willa back.”
“Oh, God, I wish you luck. Willa came in here a few times. What a super little girl.”
“Absolutely,” said Michelle. “And in kidnapping cases time is of the essence. That’s why Tuck wanted us to look at anything he was working on that might tie into the case.”
She looked uncomfortable. “Oh, I see. Well, a lot of things Mr. Dutton’s working on are sort of, well, confidential. You know, proprietary stuff.”
Sean smiled. “I understand that completely. He told us as much. Maybe there’s someone here who can help us?”
The woman smiled, obviously grateful to pass the situation on to someone else. “Absolutely. Let me call Mr. Hilal.”
She picked up the phone and a few minutes later a tall, thin, balding man in his forties came into the lobby. “I’m David Hilal. Can I help you?”
Sean explained why they were there.
“I see.” Hilal rubbed his chin. “Come on back and let’s discuss this.”
They followed him to his office. He closed the door and sat across from them.
“How is Tuck?”
Sean answered. “Physically, he’ll recover. The emotional part is a different story.”
“It was horrible. I couldn’t believe it when I heard.”
&n
bsp; “I know your firm is involved in some sensitive biodefense work. Tuck said you were in the middle of trying to get a big government contract in that field?”