Page 77 of Shadows Reel

“So it’s up to us,” he said.

“I’ll make coffee.”

—

“We have tolure them in and trap them,” Marybeth said as she returned to the table with two mugs. “They’re in the area. We know that. If we want to get them we’ve got to set them up.”

Joe looked at her a long time. “How?”

“Think about it,” she said, again tapping the album. “This is kind of a sensational story. Imagine the hook: ‘Nazi Photo Album Appears at Small Wyoming Library.’ The background of Julius Streicher is as salacious as it can get and right nowDer Stürmeris kind of a thing again with the extremists in our own country. Plus you’ve got the Band of Brothers angle. Thanksgiving is always a slow news weekend. If we spun it right, the story could go viral in a hurry.”

“How could we do that?” he asked.

She said, “We announce a press conference tomorrow at the library to reveal the contents of the photo album to the world.”

“Who will show up?” Joe asked, puzzled. Saddlestring was a long way from major media centers.

“Everyone, if we do it online,” Marybeth said. “We have all the technology we need at the library from the pandemic.”

“How do we get the word out?”

“I’m doing it now. And when the girls wake up, we’re going to enlist them to do something they won’t believe. We’ll ask them to bring their phones down to the table. We can have them take photos of the album and some of the photos inside. Between the four of them, they’re connected to every social network out there. Especially Lucy. Fong can post it on Asian networks, I’d guess. This story, if we package it right, could go around the world in no time.”

Joe took a deep breath. He knew she was on to something.

“And we’ve got a secret weapon,” Marybeth said. “Your new best pal: Steve-2 Price. I bet if you asked him he could make ittrend on ConFab and get it out to millions of his followers. One way or another, our bad guys will hear about it and be forced to act. That’s when we nail them.”

Price’s contact information was in Joe’s phone. He just hadn’t used it.

“ThenI’ll call the sheriff,” Joe said.

“That sounds like a plan,” she said, grinning. Then: “Joe, why are you looking at me like that?”

He reached out and grasped her hand, then stood up to lead her to their bedroom.

“Now?” she asked. “With all of our girls in the house?”

But she squeezed back and followed.

“I’ll try not to shout,” hesaid.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Brothers

László and Viktór exchanged looks inside the motel room when they heard a car pull up directly outside their door. Headlights bathed the outside of the window blinds and leaked through. When they heard a car door slam shut, Viktór launched himself off his bed and approached the window in stocking feet. Behind him, László grabbed the shotgun and checked the loads.

The football game was long over and local news flickered on the television screen in the dark room. A pizza box on the table yawned open, revealing two remaining slices. Empty beer cans from a twelve-pack of Miller Lite stood like chess pieces on the chest of drawers against the wall.

There was a half-inch opening on the right side of the closed blind and Viktór pressed his eye to it. When he saw who was out there, he moaned softly.

“Who is it? Is it that housekeeping guy again?” László whispered.

“No. It’s a cop. He’s walking around our car.”

“Szar!” “Shit” in Hungarian.

Viktór moved slightly to the side so he could keep his eye on the patrolman. The man wore a bulky open jacket over a brown uniform shirt and khaki trousers with a dark stripe down the legs. He had a flat-brimmed dark hat with a silver star-shaped badge on it.