“They have the same problem,” Barton explained. “If someone pulled that much power off one of their poles, the nearby buildings would notice. They’d have gotten calls before now.”
“Even if they’re drilling at night?” Alex asked.
“You know this city doesn’t sleep,” he said. “I’m sorry, Alex, but I don’t think the police are going to find my motor in the basement of a building next to a bank. Not unless the people who took it are using it as an enormous paperweight.”
Alex rubbed his eyes with his free hand. Callahan was not going to take this news well. In less than two days, he’d managed to burn every bridge he had with the police. He’d be lucky if they called him to consult on mugging now.
“Thanks, Mr. Barton,” he said, smiling to make his voice cheery. “I’ll call the police and let them know this is probably a wild goose chase.”
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Barton said, “but I thought you’d want to know. Cheer up though, you’ve still got the rest of the day to win our bet.”
Promising to get right on that, Alex hung up. He opened his desk drawer before he remembered that he was out of bourbon. Deciding he needed to be calm when he called Danny, he took out his last remaining cigarette and lit it.
The more he thought about his predicament the angrier he got, until he cocked his hand back to throw the cigarette across the room. He didn’t, of course. He couldn’t afford a new one. That thought just made him angrier.
“What’s wrong?” Leslie’s voice came from the doorway.
Alex hadn’t heard her open it; he must have been madder than he’d thought.
“What makes you think anything’s wrong?” he asked, trying to force a smile onto his face.
She raised an eyebrow at that.
“Never kid a kidder, Alex,” she said. “I heard you grinding your teeth all the way back at my desk.”
Alex took a deep breath and related his call with Barton.
“To make matters worse,” he concluded, “the only thing I can think to do about finding the ghost is to go back to the Watson house and try to figure out how he got in.”
“And you have to call Danny and warn him that you were wrong,” Leslie said. Alex had conveniently left that particularly unpleasant task out of the story.
“And I have to call Danny,” he admitted.
She looked him in the eye for a long moment.
“I guess you better get started,” she said in her matter-of-fact voice.
Alex knew she was right, but he really didn’t want to admit it. She just held his gaze for another moment, then turned to go back to her desk.
“Keep swinging, kid,” Leslie said. “You’re bound to hit one sooner or later.”
“Thanks,” Alex said, crushing out the stub of his cigarette and reaching for the phone.
He called back Anne Watson and arranged to meet her and get her house key. He didn’t have any new ideas about how to find Leroy Cunningham, but he could at least go after Duane King.
“And call Danny,” Leslie said from the waiting room after Alex hung up with Anne.
He bit back a retort and picked up the phone. Since Danny would still be out looking for bank robbers digging a tunnel, Alex intended to leave a message with the operator, but when she tried to connect him, Danny picked up his phone.
“Hey, I can’t talk right now,” Danny said. His voice was tense, and he clearly wanted to get off the phone.
“I was wrong about the bank robbery,” Alex said, speaking quickly. Callahan would be furious once he figured it out, to say nothing of Captain Rooney, and Alex had to make sure Danny was prepared for that.
“I know” Danny hissed. “Callahan is madder than a wet hen.”
“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “How much trouble are you in?”
“I’m the guy who led the search teams to half the basements in New York,” he said. “Callahan’s not mad at me. You, on the other hand, you’d better lay low for a while.”
“I’m already on Detweiler’s hit list,” Alex admitted. “I’ll make myself scarce for a few days. Can I call you later?”
“When I’m at home,” Danny whispered, then hung up abruptly.
Damn.
Alex managed to get his friend in trouble again. Callahan was probably sending officers over to Lockerby Investigations right now to haul him in.
That thought impelled Alex to action and he stood up. Taking a moment to get his kit from the vault, he headed out into the main office.
“Callahan’s probably going to send cops over to bring me in,” he said to Leslie as he headed for the door. “I’m going over to the Watson place to look for clues.”
“I’ll hold the fort and tell the cops I haven’t seen you,” Leslie said with a smile.
Six hours later, Alex had been over the Watson house from top to bottom.
Twice.
He’d had to refuel his ghostlight and silverlight burners but there was no part of the house from the cellar to the attic that he hadn’t checked.
All for nothing.
Once he’d finished with the house, Alex took to the streets and talked to the neighbors. All of them knew the Watsons and even though the police suspected the widow on account of her being fifteen years younger than David, none of the neighbors believed it. They all had stories and anecdotes about the Watsons but not one of them had seen anything suspicious, and definitely had not seen anyone lurking in the neighborhood watching the Watsons’ home.
If Duane King had staked out the Watsons’ house, he’d done it from his invisible car.
Frustrated and angry, Alex went back inside to pack up his gear. It had been a long and fruitless day, but at least his evening would be good. He’d pick up Jessica at seven and take her to the Lucky Dragon. All he had to do was shower off the grime of crawling through attics and cellars, and put on a clean shirt.
As he packed up his gear, he remembered Danny’s warning to lie low. He went back into David Watson’s office and called Iggy, just to be sure.
“I’m glad you called,” Iggy said. “Some police officers were here looking for you. There’s one in a car down the street and one watching the alley. I think Detweiler might have changed his mind about arresting you.”
“He might have,” Alex said, “but Callahan sent these guys.” He explained the call from Andrew Barton and what it meant for his theory.
“So what now?”
“Now I have a date,” Alex said.
“I mean about Leroy Cunningham,” Iggy said. “You can’t just leave him to whatever fate is waiting for him.”
“It’s the same story as the ghost,” Alex protested. “I know why he was taken. I know what they’re doing. It’s just not possible.”
“Some part of the impossible must be possible,” Iggy said.
“I know,” Alex said softly. “But damned if I can figure out what.”
Iggy sighed.
“All right,” he said. “You need to clear your head, get a fresh perspective on the problem. Go have your date, then call me when you’re done, and we’ll sneak you back in here.”
“I told Danny I’d call him later,” Alex said. “I’m pretty sure I can bunk with him tonight. That’s probably safer.”
“Do you need anything from here?” Iggy asked. “I mean for your date, do you have money?”
“The only thing I need is a shower and a clean shirt,” Alex said.
“How are you going to manage that?”
Alex actually smiled. For the fist time today, he actually had an answer.
“I’ve got a complete change of clothes in my vault,” he said. “And I don’t think Mr. Watson will mind if I borrow his shower.”
Alex was about to hang up, but Iggy was quiet. He knew that meant the old man was thinking.