Part 8 (2/2)

”I don't see a problem so far,” I told her.

”Seth Samuel and Naomi fell in love around December of last year,” she went on. ”Naomi was walking around with a starry-night look in her eyes, and that's not like her, as you know. He came to the dorm at first, but then she started staying at Seth's apartment in Durham.”

I was a little surprised that Naomi had fallen in love and hadn't mentioned it to Cilla. Why didn't she tell any of us about it? I still didn't understand the problem with the other girls at the dorm.

”I'm pretty sure Naomi wasn't the first coed to fall in love at Duke. Or to have a man over for tea and crumpets and whatever,” I said.

”She wasn't just having a man over for whatever, she was having a black man over for whatever. whatever. Seth would show up from the projects in his dusty overalls and dusty workboots, and his leather engineering jacket. Naomi started to wear an old sharecropper's straw hat around campus. Sometimes, Seth wore a hard hat with 'Slave Labor' written on it. He Seth would show up from the projects in his dusty overalls and dusty workboots, and his leather engineering jacket. Naomi started to wear an old sharecropper's straw hat around campus. Sometimes, Seth wore a hard hat with 'Slave Labor' written on it. He dared dared to be a little caustic and ironic about the sisters' social activity, and, heaven forbid, their social awareness. He scolded the black housekeepers when they tried to do their jobs.” to be a little caustic and ironic about the sisters' social activity, and, heaven forbid, their social awareness. He scolded the black housekeepers when they tried to do their jobs.”

”What do you you think about your cousin Seth?” I asked Florence. think about your cousin Seth?” I asked Florence.

”Seth has a definite chip on his shoulder. He's angry about racial injustice, to the point where it gets in the way of his ideas sometimes. Other than that, he's really great. He's a doer, not afraid to get his hands dirty. If he wasn't my distant distant cousin...,” Florence said with a wink. cousin...,” Florence said with a wink.

I had to smile at Florence's sneaky sense of humor. She was a little Mississippi-gawky, but she was a neat lady. I was even starting to like her high hairstyle.

”You and Naomi were fast friends?” I asked her.

”We weren't at first. I think we both felt we were competing for Law Review. Probably only one black woman could make it, you understand. But as our first year wore on, we got very close. I love love Naomi. She's the greatest.” Naomi. She's the greatest.”

I suddenly wondered if Naomi's disappearance might be connected to her boyfriend, and maybe had nothing to do with the killer loose in North Carolina.

”He's a real good person. Don't go hurting him,” Florence warned me. ”Don't even think about it.”

I nodded. ”I'll only break one one of his legs.” of his legs.”

”He's strong as an ox,” she came back at me.

”I am am an ox,” I told Florence Campbell, imparting a little secret of my own. an ox,” I told Florence Campbell, imparting a little secret of my own.

Chapter 30.

I STARED into the dark eyes of Seth Samuel Taylor. He stared back. I kept on staring. His eyes looked like jet black marbles set in almonds. STARED into the dark eyes of Seth Samuel Taylor. He stared back. I kept on staring. His eyes looked like jet black marbles set in almonds.

Naomi's boyfriend was tall, very muscular, and workingman-hard. He reminded me more of a young lion than an ox. He looked disconsolate, and it was hard for me to question him. I had the premonition that Naomi was gone forever.

Seth Taylor hadn't shaved, and I could tell that he hadn't slept in days. I don't think he had changed his clothes, either. He had on a badly wrinkled blue plaid s.h.i.+rt over a T-s.h.i.+rt, and holey 501s. He still wore his dusty workboots. Either he was very upset, or Seth Taylor was a shrewd actor.

I put out my hand, and his handshake was powerful. I felt as if I had put it into a carpenter's vise.

”You look like s.h.i.+t” were Seth Taylor's first words to me. Digital Underground was blaring out the ”Humpty Dance” somewhere in the neighborhood. Just like it was D.C., only a little behind the times.

”You do, too.”

”Well, f.u.c.k y'all,” he said. It was a familiar greeting on the streets, and we both knew it and laughed.

Seth's smile was warm, and somewhat contagious. He had an overconfident air about him, but it wasn't too obnoxious. Nothing I hadn't seen before.

I could see that his broad nose had been broken a few times, but he was still good-looking in a rough-hewn sort of way. His presence dominated a room as Naomi's did. The detective in me wondered about Seth Taylor.

Seth lived in an old working-cla.s.s area north of downtown Durham. At one time, the neighborhood had been filled with tobacco-factory workers. His apartment was a duplex in an old s.h.i.+ngled house that had been converted into two apartments. Posters of Arrested Development and Ice-T were up on the hallway walls. One poster read: Not since slavery has so much ongoing catastrophe been visited on black males. Not since slavery has so much ongoing catastrophe been visited on black males.

The living room was filled with his friends and neighborhood folks. Sad Smokey Robinson songs played from a blaster. The friends were there to help in the search for Naomi. Finally, maybe I had some allies in the South.

Everyone at the apartment was anxious to talk to me about Naomi. None of them had any suspicions about Seth Samuel.

I was struck in particular by a woman with wise, sensitive eyes and skin the color of coffee with cream. Keesha Bowie was in her early thirties, a postal worker in Durham. Naomi and Seth had apparently talked her into going back to college to get her degree in psychology. She and I hit it off right away.

”Naomi is educated, so articulate, but you already know that.” Keesha took me aside and talked seriously to me. ”But Naomi never ever uses her abilities or her education to belittle someone else, or make herself seem superior. That struck every one of us when we met her. She's so down-to-earth, Alex. She doesn't have a phony bone inside her. That this could happen to her is the saddest thing.”

I talked with Keesha some more, and I liked her very much. She was smart and pretty, but this wasn't the time for any of that stuff. I looked for Seth and found him off by himself on the second floor. The bedroom window was open, and he was sitting outside on the gently sloping roof. Robert Johnson was singing his haunting blues somewhere in the dark.

”Mind if I come out and join you? This old roof hold us both?” I said from the window.

Seth smiled. ”If it doesn't and we both crash through to the front porch, it'll be a good story for everybody. Worth the fall and the broken neck. C'mon out, you got a mind to.” He spoke in a sweet, almost musical, drawl. I could see why Naomi would like him.

I climbed out and sat with Seth Samuel in the darkness settling over Durham. We heard a smaller-town version of the police sirens and excited shouts of the inner city.

”We used to sit out here,” Seth muttered in a low voice. ”Naomi and I.”

”You okay?” I asked him.

”Nah. Never been any worse in my life. You?”

”Never worse.”

”After you called,” Seth said, ”I was thinking about this visit, about this talk that we'd eventually have. I tried to think the way that you might be thinking. You know, like a police detective. detective. Please, don't have any more thoughts that there's some chance that I could have anything to do with Naomi's disappearance. Don't waste time on that.” Please, don't have any more thoughts that there's some chance that I could have anything to do with Naomi's disappearance. Don't waste time on that.”

I looked over at Seth Samuel. He was hunched over, and his head rested on his chest. Even in the dark I could see that his eyes were s.h.i.+ny-wet. His grief was a palpable thing. I wanted to tell him that we were going to find her and that everything would work out, but I knew no such thing.

We finally held on to each other. We were both missing Naomi in our own way, mourning together, on the dark roof.

Chapter 31.

A FRIEND of mine from the FBI finally returned one of my phone calls that night. I was doing some reading when he called: FRIEND of mine from the FBI finally returned one of my phone calls that night. I was doing some reading when he called: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I was working on Casanova's profile and still not getting very far. I was working on Casanova's profile and still not getting very far.

I had originally met Special Agent Kyle Craig during the long, difficult manhunt for the serial kidnapper Gary Soneji. Kyle had always been a straight shooter. He wasn't territorial like most FBI agents, and not too uptight by Bureau standards, either. Sometimes I thought that he didn't belong belong in the FBI. He was too much of a human being. in the FBI. He was too much of a human being.

”Thanks for finally returning my calls, stranger,” I said over the phone. ”Where are you working out of these days?”

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