CLAIRE: wtf
DENNIS: looking 4 me
CLAIRE: cops looking 4 u?
DENNIS: yeah
CLAIRE: y
DENNIS: cant say now y i ran off sudden. couldnt expln
CLAIRE: what u do?
DENNIS: nothin
CLAIRE: so y?
DENNIS: cant say now. have to c u. have to figure out what to do
CLAIRE: ok. so then com see me
DENNIS: not that simple
CLAIRE: not getting this
DENNIS: think cops watching u has nothing 2 do with your dad
CLAIRE: huh?
DENNIS: cops watching you bcause they think you’ll lead them to me
CLAIRE: no way
DENNIS: yeah so we can meet but you have to shake cops
CLAIRE: wtf did u do
DENNIS: nothin
CLAIRE: so cops following me to get to you bcause u did nothing
DENNIS: told u will explan l8r
CLAIRE: have to get back 2 u
There was a time gap indicated in the message stream. The following day the conversation resumed.
CLAIRE: where r u
DENNIS: not at home.
CLAIRE: figured that where are u now
DENNIS: remember jeremy’s cottage canoga springs
CLAIRE: on the lake?
DENNIS: yeah. it’s safe here
CLAIRE: safe from what
DENNIS: pls, will tell u when i c u, have you figured out way 2 get away from cops?
CLAIRE: hanna helping me have something worked out
DENNIS: what plan
CLAIRE: you still have car
DENNIS: yes
CLAIRE: will phone u when its the day
DENNIS: k
CLAIRE: park at back of iggy’s where no one can see you at 10
DENNIS: k. miss you. luv u so much
CLAIRE: luv u 2
Another time gap of a few hours. Then:
CLAIRE: u there?
DENNIS: here
CLAIRE: k. b there soon. at patchetts waiting for ride. sean coming hanna in position
DENNIS: k
CLAIRE: hungry?
DENNIS: lol. kinda
CLAIRE: wont have time to get anytng at igg
DENNIS: once we get on road
CLAIRE: k. i just wnt to eat you up
DENNIS: oh yeah
CLAIRE: shit
DENNIS: ?
CLAIRE: sean got pulled over.
DENNIS: what happen
CLAIRE: dont know black truck watching me
DENNIS: cant pick u up there not safe
CLAIRE: shit
DENNIS: hitch it
CLAIRE: looking for ride, b there soon i hope
DENNIS: k. luv u.
I said to Donna: “Laptop.”
She grabbed it off the kitchen table and set it in front of me. I went to Google maps and entered “Canoga Springs.”
“It’s in the Finger Lakes area,” I said. “Yeah, here we go. On the west side of Cayuga Lake. Couple hours’ drive, maybe. Not all that far from where Dennis’ dad lives. Good place to hide out.”
“You think they’re still there?” Donna asked.
“I’d bet yes.”
I went to Facebook, back to Claire Sanders’ page, entered the name “Jeremy” to see if she had a friend by that name. I found a Jeremy Finder, who lived in Rochester. Then I went to the online phone directory to see if there might be a Finder listed in the Cayuga Lake area, and found an M FINDER on North Parker Road. I went back to the map page and found the road.
“Ta-da,” I said, pointing to the screen.
I got out my cell and placed a call.
“Didn’t we just talk?” Augie said.
“Why are you looking for Dennis Mullavey?”
“Who?”
“Dennis Mullavey.”
“I have no idea who that is,” he said gruffly.
“You sent one of your people almost all the way to Rochester to try and find him.”
“I’m drawing a blank here, Cal.”
I was about to tell him what I’d found in my car, taped to the frame beneath the rear seat, but then held my tongue. He seemed to be playing straight with me lately. He’d gotten me out of a tight fix when I’d been in that interrogation room. He’d brought me up to speed on Quinn.
But the Griffon police were looking for Dennis Mullavey. And those text messages between Claire and Dennis seemed to confirm that they were following her in hopes that she would lead them to him.
Augie knew I was looking for Claire. Why not slap a GPS on my car and let me do the work for his department? Maybe that was why he’d lied to save my ass when Haines and Brindle had brought me in for threatening Russell Tapscott. Augie needed me out in the field.
“You still there?” Augie snapped.
“Yeah.”
“Was there something else?”
“Why’d you really lie to get me out of that mess, Augie?”
“What?”
“Because I’m family? Or did you need me to do your work for you?”
“By God, you’re a horse’s ass.”
Augie hung up.
When he and I had talked earlier, and he’d told me Quinn denied telling Brindle and Haines that the chief wanted my car towed in, I’d brilliantly deduced that someone had to be lying. I’d meant Quinn, or Brindle or Haines.
I’d left out someone.
“You didn’t tell my brother about that GPS thing,” Donna said.
“No,” I said. “Slipped my mind.”
Fifty-three
I decided against leaving right then and there for Canoga Springs, although I contemplated it. I’d be getting there after midnight, and I didn’t want to scare Dennis Mullavey and Claire Sanders to death. I just wanted to find them. Also, I didn’t have an exact address on North Parker Road for the cottage, so I’d need daylight to look for Dennis’ old Volvo station wagon.
Even though I set my alarm for five, I was waking up every half hour through the night to look at the clock radio to see what time it was. At four thirty I decided to just get up. I tried not to disturb Donna, but she was already awake.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You can turn on a light.”
“No, no, go back to sleep. You can get in another couple of hours before you have to get up for work.”
“It’s Saturday, Sherlock.”
Still, I left the bedroom lights off, and turned on the one in the bathroom only after I had closed the door. I showered and shaved. When I came back out, turning off the light first and figuring I could hunt up what I needed from the dresser in the dark, I realized Donna was not there. The smell of coffee wafted up from the kitchen.
I got dressed and went downstairs. Donna was in her blue bathrobe, sitting at the kitchen table, her index finger looped into the handle of a mug. There was a pencil in her other hand, and a sketch in front of her.
“It’s cold,” I said. “The furnace not cutting in?”
“It’s something with the thermostat. If you jiggle it, it comes on. I’m gonna have to call somebody. There’s two slices in the toaster. All you gotta do is push it down.”