‘More than a week ago. I knew for a good long while that there was something on his mind, something to do with his work, but he wouldn’t talk about it.’
‘Maybe he
She shrugged. ‘I guess so. Thing is, we’d planned on spending some time together when he got back from his last trip out. Instead he cancelled everything and told me he was heading off somewhere on his own. He wouldn’t tell me whygood long I could tell that something bad had happened.’
Saul finally lifted his foot off the floor, and shifted himself into a more comfortable position. He was curious, despite himself. ‘And you haven’t heard from him since?’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Here’s the thing, though. Two different people contacted me since he vanished, both desperate to find him. The way they talked made me sure he was in some kind of trouble.’
‘Olivia,’ he spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness, ‘I don’t mean to sound callous, but I’m not sure what any of this has to do with me.’
She gave him an angry look. ‘Jesus, Saul, he’s your friend.’
‘
She stared back at him in silence.
‘All right,’ he raised his hands, ‘I’m sorry. Don’t you have any idea where he might have gone?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘Before I tell you anything else, there’s something you need to see.’
Saul’s UP informed him that she had just sent him a video file.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘Just take a look.’ She rolled her eyes.
Saul pushed his glass to one side, then tapped the four corners of an imaginary square on the bar counter with one finger. His contacts responded by projecting the clip she had sent within the confines of the same square.
It turned out to be something snatched from one of the main news feeds. He saw men in diving suits falling backwards off a boat into the waters of a lake, snow-capped hills dense with pine visible beyond the shore.
He glanced at Olivia, as the video clip remained locked to the counter. ‘What is this?’ he asked.
‘They dredged Jeff’s body out of that lake yesterday morning. We have a cabin up in Montana, where we used to spend our summers. There was a local news report saying it was suicide.’
Saul swallowed. ‘Shit, Olivia, I’m so sorry.’
‘No, don’t be. I don’t believe it.’
‘Don’t believe what?’
‘That it was suicide.’
He gave her an appraising stare.
‘I’m not out of my head, all right?’ she snapped. ‘It just . . . not something he would do.’
‘You can’t possibly know that, Olivia.’
Tendons stood out on her neck as she replied. ‘I
‘Does this have anything to do with the people that were looking for him? Who exactly were they?’
‘One was a guy called Dan Rush who’d worked with Jeff. The other was Mitch.’
Saul shook his head. ‘Mitch?’
‘Mitchell Stone.’ She peered at him like he’d lost his mind. ‘We were just talking about him, remember?’
Saul froze, with one hand clasped around his second Drambuie. He nodded slowly, his expression impassive.
‘He called you during the last couple of days? What day was it exactly?’
She thought for a moment. ‘It would have been the 29th.’
‘Of January?’
She nodded. ‘The other man, Rush, called me a few days before that.’
She gave him a reproachful glare. ‘Jesus, Saul, of course I’m sure.’
He picked up his drink and took his time with it in order to give himself some more room to think. Donohue and Sanders had told him about Mitchell’s supposed death on the 20th – which was more than a week ago.
‘This guy, Rush, you ever met him?’
‘Just once, not long after I and Jeff got back together. So I already knew they were colleagues. When he called, he told me Jeff was in some kind of trouble.’ She pushed her hair back from her face. ‘I had a feeling Jeff might have gone up to the cabin, but he never replied to my messages. I was going to drive up there to try and see if I could find him for myself, but then I heard about him on the news.’
‘About Mitchell,’ said Saul, ‘I don’t want to sound like I’m doubting you, but are you sure it was really him?’
