“I was hoping this would clear my head,” Lesley said, “help me figure out what to do.”
“Did it?”
Lesley picked up a towel and put it around the back of her neck like a scarf.
“Not really.”
The two of them started walking off the courts.
“Basically you got to decide whether to hang on or let go,” Shayna said.
“To Rob, you mean.”
“That’s the one.”
“I thought I already let go.”
“No you didn’t.”
“I gave the ring back.”
Shayna made a shooing gesture. “That doesn’t mean anything. You’re hanging on inside, where it counts.”
“Doesn’t feel like it,” Lesley said. “Feels like he’s gone.”
They reached Lesley’s Toyota.
“You want him to be?” Shayna said.
Lesley had a chance to think about that while she opened her door, got in, unlocked Shayna’s door and waited for her friend to get in.
“I don’t know what I want,” Lesley said.
“Yeah, you do. You’re just not ready to admit it to yourself.”
“Sometimes you’re full of it, you know that?”
Shayna smiled and shrugged impassively.
“What can I say? I’m no good at this Dr. Phil crap. Now when you need some help from an audio-visual technician, you just let me know.”
Lesley started the car, looked back over her shoulder and pulled into the street.
“What I can’t get by,” she said, “is how I could ever trust him again.”
“Don’t know. Got to be something left for you to figure out.”
“Oh, you mean after you’re done revealing all the secrets hidden deep down in my soul?”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, try this on for size. Tim came over to my place last night. He told me he was talking with Rob, and Rob wanted to figure out who he could put the blame on for attacking the bank.”
Shayna raised one quizzical eyebrow. “You’re seeing a lot of Tim lately.”
“So?”
“So maybe you have something else to grab onto if you let go of Rob.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Lesley said. “We’re both close to Rob, that’s all. Tim is shaken up about what’s going on too.”
“You dated Tim in high school, right?”
“Briefly.”
“You telling me you’d never consider a rematch if Rob was out of the picture?”
Lesley risked a sideways glance before returning her attention to the street ahead.
“Don’t you have any easy questions?”
Shayna flashed her a wide grin. “That’s not in my contract.”
Rob tried to look in every direction at once as he walked to Kirsten’s car outside Tim’s place. The street was lined with cars parked on both sides. He saw nothing unusual.
His heart hammered as he unlocked the car door and slid into the driver’s seat. Rob grimaced as he lifted his left leg into the car and pain flared in his swollen knee. He pulled out of the parking spot with his eyes glued to the rearview mirror, hardly taking the time to scan the street ahead. His breath caught when a green Volvo station wagon that had been parked halfway down the block pulled out behind him and started heading in his direction.
Rob swallowed hard and tried to tell himself it was just a coincidence. He barely slowed for the stop sign at the end of the block, rolling through a right turn and then zipping away as fast as the Saturn could manage. The Volvo mimicked his right turn and showed up in his rearview mirror again, several car lengths back. Three right turns later, Rob had completed what amounted to a full circle. The Volvo was still with him.
Rob’s hands were slick on the steering wheel. Was it the police? Or the guy who had kidnapped him? Could it be someone else? Rob hoped it was the police but didn’t want to get close enough to find out.
No way did the little Saturn have the power to outrun a Volvo. Besides, the stop-and-go city traffic made that idea a bit laughable. Rob decided his only chance was to try something crazy. With that in mind, he slowed as he approached a green light at the intersection with Washington Street. The car directly behind him blared his horn, then swung into the left lane to blast through the light. The next car followed suit. When the light turned red, Rob ended up first in line with the Volvo directly behind him. He nervously checked that his car doors were locked. Rob tried to make out the driver’s face in his mirror, but the sun reflected on the Volvo’s windshield so he couldn’t see inside.
Traffic moved through the intersection in front of Rob from both the left and right. He could tell that the line of cars from his left would clear out first. Looking to his right, he saw a U-Haul truck lumber to a slower start than the cars ahead of it. Sensing his chance, Rob waited until the truck was almost in the intersection, then bolted through the red light and shot into the gap in front of the truck. The truck jolted to a stop and emitted a long, angry horn blast. Once clear of the intersection, Rob risked a glance in the mirror. He saw the Volvo attempt to follow him, but the intersection was jammed with traffic again. Then the truck moved forward and blocked Rob’s view of the Volvo.
He drove like a maniac for the next five minutes, putting as much distance and as many turns as he could between himself and his pursuer. Finally he was convinced he had eluded the Volvo. He was also starting to think it was time to let someone help.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
If Neal Pettigrew was annoyed about meeting with Rob on a Saturday morning, he showed no sign of it. The lawyer looked resplendent in a thick burgundy crewneck sweater and black dress pants. His bald head gleamed with ebony richness as he sat behind the broad expanse of his desk and listened with rapt attention to Rob’s story. The expression on Pettigrew’s face remained impassive throughout. A yellow legal pad sat on the desk, half covered with notes that Pettigrew had scribbled while Rob spoke.
Rob’s hand shook slightly as he raised the crystal tumbler to his lips and took another sip of water before continuing.
“The final straw for me,” he said, “was when I called Kirsten to see how she was doing, and the FBI had been there. She was a total wreck. It’s one thing when they drag me through this crap, but I don’t want it to happen to my friends. I need you to help me sort out what’s going on.”
“From what you’ve told me,” Pettigrew said, “you should have called for help long before this. How you can be abducted and beaten like that and not report it is beyond me.”
“I’ve had my fill of the police lately, and there wasn’t much they could do for me after the fact.”
“No? How about they might catch the guy and put him away so he doesn’t do it again.”
“Based on the tiny glimpse I had of the guy after he lost the wig and mustache? I figured they’d have me looking at mug shots for hours and it would turn out to be a waste of time. I was too exhausted to face that.”
“Someone might have seen you on your way to or from that garage. There could be prints at the place. The garage owners might know something. I’ve seen cases cracked on less.”
Rob’s head felt heavy. It sounded so obvious when Pettigrew said it.
“I never thought of that,” he said.
“We need to talk to Steeves. He might refer us to Boston PD on the abduction charge, but we need to find out why the FBI is looking for you, so we might as well start with him. Have you violated the terms of your bail in any way?”
“Not that I know of.”
“This thing with Kirsten could be a tactic on their part to spook you, try to flush out information. Same with whoever was following you. If it is, it’s harassment and we’ll put a stop to it, I can assure you of that.”