It was Lesley.
Ray Landry knocked on the door to the third floor apartment. A young blond woman wearing a bathrobe answered. Her hair was wet and combed straight back as if she had recently taken a shower.
“Sorry to bother you, ma’am,” Landry said. “Special Agent Labadie, FBI.”
He showed her the ID.
Landry smiled patiently while Kirsten studied the ID, comparing the picture with his altered appearance.
“And what can I do for the FBI this morning?” Kirsten said.
“We’re trying to locate Rob Donovan and we have information that he might have tried to contact you. Have you heard from him recently?”
She hesitated. Landry’s instincts went to full alert.
“As a matter of fact,” she said, “he was here last night.”
“But he’s gone now?”
“That’s right.”
“Mind if I take a look inside, ma’am?”
“Do you have a search warrant?”
“No.”
“Then I mind,” she said.
Kirsten’s eyes widened when Landry pulled the nine mil from under his jacket.
“I don’t need a warrant when I have reasonable cause to believe a fugitive felon might be inside. Now you can either stand aside or I will arrest you for obstruction of justice and then search the premises anyway.”
Kirsten backed away and let him in. Landry did a quick sweep of the apartment. It didn’t take long to determine Rob wasn’t there. He returned to the entryway to find Kirsten where he had left her.
“What time did he leave?” Landry asked.
She bit her lower lip and hugged herself tightly as if against a chill wind.
“Couple of hours ago,” she said.
She was lying. Landry wasn’t sure how he knew this but he was rarely wrong about such things.
“Any idea where he went?”
“Home, I guess.”
“I didn’t ask for a guess. I want to know if he said anything about where he was going.”
“Not really. Just that he had to go.”
“You say he showed up here last night.”
“That’s right,” she said.
“He stayed the night?”
Her jaw hardened at this one. “Yes.”
Lucky Rob, thought Landry. This one was definitely a looker.
“So where did he park his car for the night? In the driveway? On the street?” Landry knew perfectly well Rob’s vehicle was still parked at his apartment.
“He didn’t have his car. He had to call a cab when he left this morning.”
Oh well, it was worth a try. Landry stared at her and waited. Often the best interrogation technique was to say nothing, let the person ramble on of their own accord. Usually they would say too much just to fill up the awkward silence, give away information they really shouldn’t. As he hoped, Kirsten was the first to speak.
“Rob hasn’t been here in years before last night,” she said. “How did you know to look for him here?”
Landry raised one eyebrow. “Hasn’t been here in years, and then he just wanders in and spends the night?”
Her eyes took on a defiant look.
“We’re just old friends,” she said, “and you didn’t answer my question.”
“You expect him back?”
“No.”
“Oh come on. Good friends like you? Of course he’s coming back.”
She shrugged. “We didn’t talk about that.”
“Not even ‘I’ll call you’?”
“No.”
“Some friend,” Landry said.
Rob forgot all about talking to Dysart when he heard Lesley’s voice on the phone.
“I didn’t know you were there,” Rob said.
“Meaning you weren’t calling for me,” Lesley said.
Her voice had all the welcoming softness of rock salt.
“Well … no.”
“Aunt Sheila decided I should pick up the phone and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“You sure know how to make a guy feel good.”
“I wouldn’t want to do that.”
Rob’s stomach fluttered like a moth with half a wing missing.
“I’m sorry I acted like such a jerk yesterday,” he said.
Silence. He tried again. “I know this has been hard on you and … well, I understand how you feel.”
More silence. The stomach flutters progressed into a swarm of full-fledged gut knots.
“Look,” he said, “I’m trying here. The least you could do is talk to me.”
“How’s Kirsten?” Lesley said.
Rob felt his skin crawl. How on earth could she know he had been to see Kirsten?
“What?” he said, feeling stupid as he did so.
“I said … how’s Kirsten?”
She managed to make the words sound like a threat.
“Why would you ask that?”
“You went to see her last night, didn’t you?”
“I was kidnapped last night.”
“Oh, is that what she does now? Held you against your will, did she? Probably made you do all sorts of nasty things. Not your fault, though.”
“I’m serious. This guy pretended to be an FBI agent and when I went with him, he took me to this old garage and beat on me for a while. Wanted to know how to fix the computer problems at the bank.”
“Get real, Rob. Uncle Stan told me you called him for a drive last night.”
“Yeah, while I was trying to get away from that guy.”
“That’s quite a story. Ranks right up there with the one about the people at the bank who are trying to frame you. You know, the ones you asked Tim about.”
Rob’s breath caught in his throat.
“You’ve been talking to Tim?”
“He told me you were trying to blame someone at the bank for what you did.”
“I didn’t do any—” He caught himself and stopped. She had already heard his protestations of innocence. More whining was unlikely to help.
“That’s really messed up, Rob. It’s one thing to make a mistake but you shouldn’t try to get other people in trouble. I thought you were better than that.”
Rob ground his teeth. Yelling at her wouldn’t accomplish anything. He tried to keep his voice even. It wasn’t easy.
“What exactly did Tim tell you?”
“About how the two of you went for a bike ride last night — you know, when you were supposed to be kidnapped — and how you tried to get him to suggest someone at the bank who might have a reason to frame you. He was quite upset about it.”
I bet, Rob thought.
“When were you talking with him?” Rob said.
“He dropped by my place last night.”
“Just like that, huh? Since when does Tim just drop by your place?”
“Since his best friend went to jail. He knew I was upset and came over to check on me. It was a sweet thing to do.”
“So he made you feel better,” Rob said.
“A little, yeah.”
“And how did he do that exactly?”
“He … oh it’s none of your business.”
“No, tell me. He put the moves on you or what?”
“Don’t be crude,” she said. “Why would you even say a thing like that?”
“Just a feeling I’ve had for a while now, about Tim, wanting you.”
“You’re crazy. Next thing you’re going to tell me Tim is trying to frame you.”
Rob didn’t answer. He still didn’t know what to think on that score.
“You can’t be serious,” Lesley said. “You think that too?”
“Not really. I mean …” He sighed. “I don’t know what to think.”
“That’s sick, Rob. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Rob’s heart was pounding hard. He could feel her slipping away.
“I know things look bad, I really do. But I need you to listen for a few minutes. Can you do that?”