She had different young farm animals up as her screensavers. The calf was probably her favorite.
She quickly diagrammed on a piece of paper the one page she remembered from Eddie’s computer, with the odd countries and dates. Obviously he was conducting some sort of international business, but the page didn’t give any clue as to what kind. She’d run those by Angus later.
The computer blinked at her, and she typed a program into place. Where the heck was her dad? Before the last week, she would’ve bet anything he would return to the farm. Now, who knew?
Nari clipped inside and drew out a chair. Her hair was neatly held back in a cool sparkly clip, and her lipstick was a pretty pink today. She held a cup of peppermint-scented tea in her smooth hands. “Any luck finding your father?”
Brigid looked toward a computer displaying all traffic cams in the area. “Not yet. He hot-wired a blue truck from a Walmart, and I’m trying to find where he went from there.” Who knew her dad could hot-wire a car? She was oddly impressed.
Nari had donned a pair of glasses, making her look even more brilliant than usual. But she probably didn’t know that. Her voice remained soft and her gaze focused. “Is this difficult for you? Helping us find your dad?”
Brigid barely kept from rolling her eyes. “Don’t shrink me.”
“It’s my job.” Nari reached over and placed a cool hand on Brigid’s arm. “Plus, we’re friends. I want to help.”
Brigid looked at the psychiatrist. “This situation is difficult for me, because I think my dad is probably planning to kill Eddie Coonan, if this enforcer stuff is all true. Eddie is well armed, and he could hurt my dad.”
Nari eyed the other computers. “Sounds logical, Brigid.” She cocked her head. “What else do you have going on in here?”
Brigid turned toward the second screen. “Deep dive on Senator Scot Tyson to connect him with Eddie Coonan. So far, nothing. But I just got started.” The man was powerful, that was for sure.
Nari turned to the final screen. “That one?”
“Another search. I took info off Eddie’s computer and am trying to find out what he’s into now and why he’s trying to get ahold of my father. Say there is a journal, and my dad has it, why track Dad down now? But I need access to the computers in that bar outside of Boston. I can’t search them remotely.”
Nari pointed to an open laptop in the corner. “And that one?”
“The Lassiter case. Anything that could possibly prove the guy is alive,” Brigid said, wanting to return to her keyboards. “Nothing yet.”
Nari looked around. “We need to get something for your walls. Anything. A cork board and maybe a picture.”
Brigid didn’t much care about the walls. It was the hardware that mattered. “Fine by me.” Then she turned toward the shrink. “If we’re friends, why don’t you tell me something about youself? I mean, like, where are you from?”
Nari turned from the screen to Brigid. “I was born in Los Angles, and both of my parents are from Macau.” When Brigid kept staring at her, she crossed her legs. “All right. My mom owns a jewelry store in LA, and my dad is a lawyer. Corporate tax.”
That sounded like a nice background. “Are you close to them?”
Nari’s eyes softened. “Very. I miss them, being across the country now. But I love my job.”
“Why psychiatry with an emphasis in PTSD?” Brigid asked. The shrink was good at helping people and she seemed nice enough, but that was quite the field to study.
Nari just smiled. “There are reasons for everything we do, right?”
“Yes. And your reason?”
Nari exhaled. “I was kidnapped as a child and survived.” She held up a hand when Brigid gasped. “I was frightened but not physically harmed, but PTSD often doesn’t care about how trauma comes about.”
A chill clacked down Brigid’s spine. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Curiosity almost made Brigid ask questions, but it wasn’t right. If Nari wanted to share more, she would. The shrink didn’t say anything else.
“No worries. I hadn’t told you,” Nari said.
What was a lighter subject? They needed to get back to a comfortable situation. “How many languages do you speak?” Brigid only spoke English and computer nerd.
“Three. English, Chinese, and French.” Nari leaned closer to the first computer, her eyes widening. “Oh my. Is that your father?”
Brigid turned toward the monitor to see two uniformed police officers handcuffing her dad right beyond an intersection. He wasn’t fighting them and instead hung his head, letting them place him in a police car. How in the heck? Wait a minute. “I take it Force put out a BOLO?”
Nari chewed on her pink lipstick. “Apparently. Well, the good news is that you’ll see your dad soon.”
