Finley’s eyes went wide when he saw the knife. He must have been wondering whether Ottman intended to set him free or kill him. There must have been some relief as Ottman shouldered Finley’s body out of the way, allowing him access to the man’s wrists.
Finley said to me, “You’re in a lot of trouble, my friend.”
I said, “Soon as he cuts you free, get out of the building as fast as you can.”
“What?” He seemed to gulp. “Jesus, is there a bomb?”
“No,” Ottman said. He cut through the cuffs. “Go.”
The three of us started for the door, Ottman pausing long enough to pull a fire alarm switch on the wall. A high-pitched clanging commenced.
“There’re still some people in there,” he said.
We made it outside to the parking lot. I couldn’t say for the others, but my heart was pounding.
“Ottman,” I said. “Tell me.”
He took a couple of deep breaths. “I could be wrong about this, but I think what was on the floor there could be sodium azide.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A fucking catastrophe.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
CAL Weaver was looking for something to drink in his sister’s refrigerator when his cell phone rang. It was someone from the Promise Falls police who had seen the note he’d posted to the door of Lucy Brighton’s house. Cal had indicated that he had a key, and the police wanted to get inside.
“I have to go out,” Cal told Celeste.
“You taking Crystal with you?” she asked.
Cal shook his head. He definitely did not want Crystal to see her mother’s body being taken out of that house.
He went into the living room to talk to her.
“Does your sister have any paper I can draw on?” she asked, looking up from her clipboard.
“I think so. Why don’t you ask her?”
Crystal started to slide off the couch, but Cal put a hand on her knee to stop her. “In a second. I have to talk to you.”
“What about?”
“I have to let the police into your house. They just phoned me. They saw the note I left on the door.”
“Oh.”
“You can stay here, okay?”
“How long will you be gone?”
His shoulders went up and down. “I don’t know. I’m also going to go to my hotel and get my stuff so I can stay here. With you.”
She looked at him, her face devoid of emotion. He was trying to read her, trying to figure out what she might be thinking.
“Okay,” she said, then continued her slide off the couch and walked into the kitchen to ask for paper.
It took him ten minutes to get to Lucy Brighton’s house. There was a Promise Falls police car in the driveway, two cops in the front seat. Cal edged his car over to the curb, got out, and approached them.
“You Weaver?” the one behind the wheel asked.
Cal told them what he knew. The call from Crystal, where he found the body. He gave them Gerald Brighton’s number, but could not guarantee when, or if, the man would show up.
“The kid still with you?” the same cop asked.
He nodded.
There wasn’t anything else they needed from him at this time, so he got back in his car with the intention of heading to the highway that would take him south, out of town, to his temporary home. He figured he could be packed and checked out in less than twenty minutes, be back to his sister’s place by late afternoon.
His phone rang just as he was about to turn the key in the ignition.
“Weaver,” he said.
“Mr. Weaver, my name’s David Harwood?”
Making it sound like a question, as though Cal was supposed to ask, “Okay, is it really?” Instead, he said, “How can I help you?”
But then he realized he recognized the name. Harwood was the guy who’d rescued Carl Worthington when Ed Noble snatched him from his school at the end of the day. Sam had called Cal for help first, but when he couldn’t get there in time, she had called David Harwood.
“I’m a friend of Sam Worthington’s. I-”
“I know who you are. Thanks for getting to the school when I couldn’t.”
“Have you heard from her?”
“No. I mean, we spoke after what happened at her place of work a couple of times, but I haven’t heard from her lately.” The hairs on the back of Cal’s neck started to rise.
Sam and her boy drank the water.
“Shit,” Cal said. “Have you been by the house?”
“Yes,” David said. “It’s not about what’s going on. Not about the water. The house is empty-her car is gone.”
“Okay,” Cal said, his hairs settling down. “Then what’s this about?”
“Do you know about her ex-husband?”
“Just lay it out for me, David.”
David brought him up to speed. Brandon Worthington escaping custody. Sam not answering her phone. It was all news to Cal.
“Call the police,” he advised.
“I did that,” David said. “They’ve got their hands full at the moment.”
“So have I,” Cal said, then thought that sounded too dismissive. “Look, Sam probably got word that he was out, took off with her kid for a few days. Not telling anyone, not taking your call, that might be the smartest thing she could do.”
“Maybe,” David said. “But what if the reason she’s not answering is because he’s already found her? This guy, he was in for robbing a bank. And you already know his parents are lunatics, that they sent Ed Noble to kill her.”
“I was there.”
“I know. So you see what I’m saying? I’m not worrying for nothing.” The man’s voice was breaking. “There was a time, maybe, when I was able to handle this kind of stuff. But not anymore. I feel helpless. I want to help her, but I don’t know what to do.”
Cal closed his eyes, leaned his head up against the headrest, thought of Crystal. Until her father showed up, she was his responsibility. He couldn’t go charging off to help this Harwood guy find Sam. Not now.
“You said you’ve been to the house?”
“Yes,” David said quickly, sounding encouraged that Weaver was taking the time to ask questions.
“See if you can get inside, see if-”
“I did that. It looked like they’d packed up.”
“What did the neighbors say?”
David didn’t answer right away. “Shit,” he said finally. “I didn’t even talk to them.”
“Start there,” Cal said. “Let me know how it goes.”
He felt bad, ending the call, but there was only so much he could deal with. He’d promised Crystal he wouldn’t be long. Right now, he believed she needed him more than Harwood did. David had reason to be concerned about Samantha and her son, Cal knew, but he also knew Sam was no fool. If she’d heard her ex-husband was on the loose, then she’d have done what she had to do and gotten out of town.
Cal hoped David was wrong in thinking Sam wasn’t answering her cell because Brandon had already found her. But hadn’t Harwood been a reporter once? Cal recalled hearing that he was. So let him nose around, use the same basic skills Cal would have employed.
Cal turned on the engine. It was time to check out of his hotel. Before long, he was at a T intersection, about to make a right, when he saw a familiar vehicle approaching from the south.
It was Dwayne, in his pickup truck.
Cal’s brother-in-law blew past, Dwayne’s focus on the road ahead. He never glanced in Cal’s direction, didn’t notice the car.
Cal wasn’t sure what made him decide to turn left, in the opposite direction of the hotel.
He told himself he wasn’t actually following his brother-in-law. Not in any surveillance kind of way. It wasn’t as though he’d set out this afternoon to tail Dwayne.
It just happened.
Dwayne drove by, and Cal decided to see where he might be going. Told himself that if Dwayne pulled off the road to go into a 7-Eleven to buy a Slim Jim, he might just follow him in, strike up a conversation, see how the guy was doing. Maybe see if he wanted to go for a beer.