The young man smiled amiably. “I didn’t do anything to her, I swear. We drove around for a while, and then Laura asked me if I would drop her at Hardee’s in South Sioux City. That was about 8:15.”

这个年轻气旺的家伙装腔作势地一笑。“我没拿她怎么样，决没说谎。我们开了一段时间的车，然后，她问我是否愿意让她在南苏城的哈迪下车，当时大约是8点15分。”

Taylor smiled back. “Brian, I don’t want to say you’re a liar, but that Hardee’s is where state police hang out on their breaks. No one saw her. Now, you want to tell me where you really took her?”

泰勒以一笑回驳他。“布赖恩，不用我说，你谎话连篇，骗得了谁呢。哈迪这地方，警察一有空就都会出去转悠的，没有人见到过劳娜。听着，老实告诉我，你究竟把她带到哪了？”

Rage flared briefly behind Anderson’s smile. “I think I’d better talk to a lawyer first,” he said. “That’s my right, isn’t it?”

安德森的笑声里闪过一丝恼怒。“我想还是先跟我的律师谈谈，”他说，“这是法律赋予我的权利，不是吗？”

Monday morning, state police investigator Doug Johnson was getting ready for work when his wife called to him. “Doug, did you hear? Someone has been abducted at gunpoint in Wakefield.”

星期一早晨，州警察局探长道格·约翰逊正准备去上班，夫人对他说道：“道格，听说了吗？在威克费尔德，有人在枪口的威逼下遭劫持。”

As soon as he got to state police headquarters in South Sioux City, he phoned Donnie Taylor. The two men had worked together several times over the years, and respected and liked each other.

道格一到南苏城的州警察局总部，立马就给唐尼·泰勒打去电话。过去几年里，两位警官多次共事合作，相互尊重，互有好感。

Johnson agreed to help, and Taylor filled him in. Laura, carried off at gunpoint, had been missing for three days. There was no real question in either officer’s mind: Anderson had killed her. Their first obligation, they agreed, was to find Laura’s body and put an end to her family’s horrible wait.

约翰逊欣然答应出手相助，泰勒提供了详细情况。劳娜，在持枪者武力的威逼下被劫持，失踪已经三天。两位警官都深信不疑：劳娜已遭安德森杀害。他们的首要任务，就是尽快找到劳娜的尸体，从而结束她家人痛苦加恐怖的等待，对此两位意见完全一致。

Taylor and Johnson met with Anderson’s attorney, Douglas Luebe. With hunting and harvest seasons coming soon, they reminded him, it would be only a matter of time before someone found Laura Kucera. It would be better for Anderson if he agreed to lead police to her now.

泰勒和约翰逊与安德森的律师道格拉斯·卢贝进行了交涉。他们提醒律师，马上就到捕猎和秋收的季节了，迟早会有人发现劳娜·库希拉的，这只不过是个时间问题罢了。现在，安德森如能主动协助警方找到劳娜，这对他只会有好处。