Page 106 of Grave Danger

Jack glanced toward the squad cars. “The AMBER Alert went out around one thirty. Cops have been sitting in their cars for almost an hour now. Just waiting for an arrest warrant to issue, I presume.”

“How soon will that happen?”

“Farid’s lawyer wants her arrested for child abduction. A bench warrant for contempt of court would be quicker. Zahra’s in flagrant violation of the judge’s order to transfer custody.”

“I’m so sorry it’s come to this,” she said.

A white sedan pulled to the driveway and stopped behind the squad cars. Jack recognized a “bucar” when he saw one—a term he’d heard Andie use for a bureau-issued vehicle. A van pulled up right behind the bucar.

“The FBI is here,” said Jack.

“For violation of a state court custody order?” asked Dr. Vestry. “Even if Zahra was there, it doesn’t make sense for the feds to be involved.”

“No, it doesn’t,” said Jack. “Except in this case, it does. I gotta go.”

A team of FBI agents climbed out of the van and started toward the town house. The MDPD officers exited their vehicles and met the leadagent at the edge of the driveway. Jack approached and introduced himself as Zahra’s attorney.

“Special Agent Logan, FBI,” the man responded. “We have a search warrant.”

Jack had been expecting an arrest, not a search. “Searching for what?”

“A seven-year-old girl, for starters,” the agent said.

Jack’s heart skipped a beat. A warrant to search for a person was unusual. Unless the “person” was a body.

“You don’t think Yasmin is—”

“We’re going in,” Agent Logan said.

There was a loud knock on the front door, followed by the announcement: “FBI! We have a warrant to search the premises. Open the door!”

No one was home, but it was Fourth Amendment protocol: knock and announce.

“I’d like to see the warrant,” Jack asked, “as her lawyer.”

Agent Logan showed it to him, and the front door was breached with a loud thud as Jack read. The search team entered. Jack continued up the front steps but stopped in the doorway.

“You can observe, but stand to the side,” said Agent Logan.

Thoughts of the worst kind raced through Jack’s mind. A mother so desperate as to decide that her daughter would be better off dead was almost inconceivable. A mother-daughter homicide-suicide wasn’t possible. But it occurred to Jack that he didn’t reallyknowZahra. Two weeks wasn’t long enough to know anyone.

Anything is possible.

Then Jack noticed something: no shoes by the door. He knew from previous visits that Zahra and Yasmin observed the Muslim custom of removing their shoes upon entering the home, and the absence of even a single pair at the door gave rise to a logical inference.

“They’re not here,” Jack said to Agent Logan.

Another agent emerged from the kitchen. “Hardly any food in the place,” he said to Agent Logan.

“Because they’re gone,” Jack said, answering for Logan. “They took their shoes, their food, and whatever else they needed.”

“Are you admitting that your client took flight?” asked Logan.

“I’m merely pointing out that the search warrant has been executed, and you didn’t find the one thing—theonlything—the FBI is authorized to look for. You can leave now.”

“I’ll decide when it’s time to leave,” said Logan.

Jack heard a commotion in the bedroom. He started down the hallway.

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