Dead Wrong (13 page)

With a sigh of frustration, she slumped in her chair and bowed her head. Should she go back to the library and look for it? Should she let it go? Where the hell did she leave it? The restroom?

No. Before that.
After she’d checked the calls, she had set the phone beside the computer and returned to search the Internet for her own name. She couldn’t remember picking the phone up and putting it in her pocket.

She couldn’t let it go. These people, whoever they were, could contact her only by phone, specifically that phone. And their location could be traced the same way, once she turned the checks and cash over to the authorities. Could there be something on Sammy’s laptop as well?

She pulled the laptop closer and powered it on. There was no system password protection. A quick search of the word processing and spreadsheet software revealed no files. There were no photos, no calendars. She checked the recycle bin and found it empty.

What the hell did he use it for?
Did the laptop belong to the fat man, or did it belong to The Cuban? Why would anyone worry about a stupid laptop he could easily replace?

She opened the two browsers whose icons were prominently displayed, and found they brought up the same home page, already signed in with the greeting, Hello, SG, at the top. When Lynnette clicked on Mail, the user ID and password were remembered, but there were no emails in the Inbox or Sent files. No names or addresses were listed in the Contact files. Even the Spam folder was empty. Either Sammy Grick or someone else had scrubbed this computer before beginning his trip, or it was brand new. Now she had no alternative. She had to retrieve the fat man’s phone.

She looked at her watch. Blue could arrive at any moment. Lynnette took her trash to the waste bin, picked up her purse and the laptop, and went outside. She pulled her glasses in place, thankful the lenses were big enough to cover almost all of the bruises on her cheekbone and her discolored eye. The makeup on her nose did a decent job of masking the yellow marks.

Traffic was light, and there weren’t many students around. She’d have no trouble spotting Blue. The trick would be convincing Blue to leave the car and go into the library to find the cell phone. There might be someone looking for Lynnette, but he wouldn’t know Blue.

While she formulated her elaborate plan to drive around the block while Blue went inside, a little voice kept picking at her. “Wait,” it said. “The whole idea of sending Blue and Grace to Fort Collins was to get them out of harm’s way. Now you want to send Blue into the fray. Does this make sense to you?”

I need that phone.

The little voice had nothing more to say.

Lynnette strolled toward the bus stop at the corner. Before she turned to walk the other way, the Kia pulled to the curb across the street. Blue stuck her head out the window. “You need a ride?”

Lynnette ran across the street and opened the front door on the driver’s side. “I left the fat man’s phone in the library, but there might be a guy in there looking for me. Would you go ask at the desk?” She gave Blue the fat man’s phone number, just in case.

The back window slid open. “I’ll go!” yelled Grace. Before Lynnette or Blue could stop her, Grace jumped out and dashed toward the library.

“Oh, no,” Lynnette said. “She doesn’t even know what part of the library I was in.”

“Get in,” Blue ordered. “Hurry up. The kid’s resourceful. She’ll figure it out.”

Lynnette climbed inside and slammed the door. Blue handed her a baseball cap. “Put this on.”

“Where are you going?”

“Turn your back to the window and act like you’re talking to me. I’ll ease around the block to the parking meters. Grace will see us when she comes out.”

Blue left the engine running while they waited. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Who’s inside looking for you? The fat guy?”

“No. He’s dead. And I’m not sure this other guy is looking for me, but I think they somehow figured out where I am and followed—”

“Dead? How did he get dead?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we get out of here. For now, take my word for it. I saw a man go inside the library. He carried a case that looked like mine. He kept staring at people, like he searched for someone in particular. There’s him, and there’s The Cuban on the phone, and the lady at the downtown coffee shop who called the cops because I’m a person of interest in my husband’s murder.”

She stopped when she realized Blue was staring at her in horror. “Oh, sorry, I shouldn’t have blurted that out. It’s okay, Blue. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You never mentioned anything about your husband being murdered.”

“I didn’t know. I just read about it online in the library. Somebody cut his throat, but it happened after I left.”

“I don’t get any of this.” Blue looked at Lynnette’s jacket, the bulging purse, and the laptop. “What did you do with the fat man’s case? And your suitcase?”

“Later. I’ll tell you everything later.”

Lynnette stared out the window toward the front of the library, her nervousness increasing as the minutes ticked by. She twisted her watch and glanced at it repeatedly. “She’s been gone ten minutes. Maybe I should—”

“No way. We’ll wait five more, and then I’ll go. Don’t keep looking out the window. Look at me.”

Lynnette turned her back on the library and studied Blue’s expression. “You look a lot different without the black eye makeup.”

“Yeah? You look different too. Your nose is turning a very interesting shade of yellowish-greenish-purple. Ish. Your husband did that?”

“He did. One smack with his fist.”

“And you cut his throat. Remind me never to make you mad.”

“I didn’t, Blue. Believe me. I didn’t do it.”

“Not even in self-defense?”

That’s probably what the cops think.

Blue raised her eyebrows at Lynnette’s silence. “The fat man’s dead, too. You know, the more I think about it, driving here was stupid. Especially with Grace along.”

“Honest, I didn’t kill anybody, not even in self-defense.” Lynnette looked at her watch. “It’s time to get Grace.”

“Come around here and sit behind the wheel.” Blue got out of the car and held the door open for Lynnette. Then she jogged toward the building, ran up the steps, and disappeared inside.

The next few minutes passed so slowly, Lynnette thought her watch might have stopped. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, adjusted the heater fan, and compared the time on her watch to the clock on the dashboard. She was searching her purse for coins for the parking meter, preparing to leave the car parked while she looked for Blue and Grace, when she spotted them running down the library steps. Grace held Blue’s left hand and seemed to struggle to keep up with the older girl’s long stride. Blue held a cell phone in her right hand. She waved it at Lynnette as they raced across the lawn toward the car.

Lynnette threw the car door open and hopped out so Blue could drive. Grace and Lynnette scrambled in the passenger-side seats and slammed their doors. Blue jumped in the driver’s seat. “Seatbelts!” she yelled, shifting into Drive.

“What happened?” Lynnette turned as far to the left as she could and looked at Grace. “Are you okay?”

“Sure. Why?”

“You were gone a long time.”

“I had to pee. The janitor put a closed sign in front of the first-floor restroom, so I had to go downstairs.”

“This happened after you had the phone?”

“Yeah. That was easy. I saw a Lost and Found sign at the reference desk. I said my scatterbrained mom left her phone and did they have any turned in within the last hour or so. The lady still had this one sitting on the counter. We checked the number and it matched, so I took it. But then I had to go to the bathroom. I knew we had to ride all the way to Fort Collins, so—”

“Nothing bad happened? No one bothered you?”

“Not exactly. A guy had a case like yours, Lynnette, and he kept walking back and forth, looking around. When he saw me get the phone, he stopped and watched. Then he went to the big lobby and took out his phone. I went downstairs, and when I came out of the restroom, he was hanging around. He asked me who the cell phone belonged to, and I said it belonged to my dad and anyway I wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers. I told him I’m supposed to start yelling if anybody bothers me, so he’d better get out of my way.”

Blue laughed. “That’s cool, Grace. You’re something else, you know that?”

“That’s what I’m supposed to do. And I’m supposed to run like the wind to get away from anyone I don’t know.”

Lynnette raised her eyebrows. “Then why did you follow me off the airplane and all the way to the bus station?”

“You weren’t a stranger. The airplane lady introduced us, and you didn’t even want to talk to me, so I knew you weren’t weird or anything. Look, there’s the guy.” Grace ducked down and slid to the floor. “Is he looking this way?”

Lynnette kept her face turned away from the library, but Blue glanced toward the building as she crossed the intersection heading toward the interstate. “That guy with the case? Do you think that’s yours, Lynnette? Should I go back around? You could jump out and grab it.”

“And what if it’s not mine? And even if it is, he’d have your license plate and he’d see you and probably see Grace. Not a chance. Keep going.”

“Stop!” Grace screeched so loud that Lynnette slapped her hands over her ears.

Blue jerked the car toward the curb and slammed on the brakes. Grace opened the door. Blue reached out to grab her, but Grace jumped out and ran across the lawn.

Blue left the engine running and chased after Grace.

Without thinking, Lynnette opened her door and ran after them.

Grace caught up with the man first. She approached him from behind and grabbed for the handle of the case. She tried to yank it out of his hand, but he reacted too fast. He jerked the case toward his body, pulling Grace with it. With his free hand, he took hold of Grace’s wrist and held on. A man riding past on a bicycle applied his brakes, spotted Blue coming to the rescue and pedaled away.

Blue hit the man from behind with her full weight, knocking him off his feet. Unable to stop her forward momentum, she fell on top of him. Grace, now free, took the laptop case and ran toward Lynnette. The man struggled to his feet. He had Blue hugged to his chest. He craned his neck to see which way Grace had run. Waving Grace toward the car, Lynnette continued her dash toward Blue, whose legs flailed wildly as she fought to get away.

Out of breath and acting on pure instinct, Lynnette ran straight for the man and kicked him hard on one knee. He lost his balance and fell with Blue on top of him. Lynnette kicked him again, this time connecting with his elbow. He yelled and released Blue. She scrambled to her feet and raced toward the car. The man rolled to a sitting position, cradling his injured elbow as he eyed Lynnette. She backed away. He looked past her, in the direction of the car.

Lynnette glanced over her shoulder, saw Grace climb into the back seat with the laptop case, and Blue round the front of the car as she headed for the driver’s side. The man studied their faces. The thing Lynnette feared most—getting Blue and Grace involved in her troubles—was exactly what had happened.

“You can’t get away, Lynnette Foster,” the man called out as she inched backward. “We’ll find you.”

“Who are you? What do you want? The fat man’s laptop? I’ll get it now.”

“That would help. But you could save us all a lot of trouble by giving me everything you stole from Sammy Grick. It belongs to my boss, and he wants it all back.” The man scrambled to his feet and took a step toward her. “Get it. I’ll wait here.” He winced and seemed to hold his breath.

Lynnette ran to the car, grabbed the fat man’s laptop, and pulled the power cord from her purse. She held them up for the man to see, placed them on the curb, then got back in the car. Blue maneuvered into the street and shouted, “Seatbelts!” as she drove away. Lynnette looked over her shoulder and watched as the man crossed the grass to retrieve the laptop. Blue turned the corner and sped away before Lynnette could see what he did next.

Denver, Colorado
Thursday, January 23

Albert Getz knew his left elbow was dislocated, if not broken. He tried to keep his arm stiff. He held it close to his side to minimize the pain, but when he leaned over to pick up the laptop, he bumped his left hand. Sweat popped out on his forehead. He nearly cried out. There was no way to avoid it. He needed to go to the nearest emergency room and have his elbow X-rayed.

When he reached his car, he popped two of the prescription painkillers he always carried before jotting down the license number of the car in which Lynnette Foster and her young friends had escaped.

He put off the most important task until last. Retrieving his phone from his pocket, he dialed Benny Ortega’s number.

“I retrieved Grick’s laptop,” Albert said.

“I don’t give a fuck about the laptop. Where’s Sammy’s case?”

“As far as I know, the Foster woman still has it.”

“How did you get the laptop?”

Albert told Ortega what had happened at the library. The silence from Ortega would have been frightening if Albert feared the man. However, all Albert could think about was his elbow.

“They saw you,” Ortega said after the silence had lasted an uncomfortable thirty seconds.

“I’m afraid so.”

“Does she still have the phone?”

“I’m figuring that phone is the one the kid picked up in the library. If she hadn’t gone after it, we would have been screwed. I would have been looking for Foster inside the library while someone picked her up outside.”

“But you’d still have her case, laptop and papers.”

Albert acknowledged that with a silence of his own.

“You’ve lost our only bargaining tool.”

“We can trade your belongings for her life,” Albert said. He offered the idea to Ortega with the tone of a man who wouldn’t hesitate to carry out the threat, but Albert only killed killers and men who hired killers. The innocent women and the feisty kid were in no danger whatsoever, at least not from him.