peeled off the West Side Highway and gone over to Seventh Avenue, where she had a straight shot downtown. She passed the old St Vincent's Hospital, and the notorious six-way intersection that caused so many accidents, and hung a right on West Eleventh.
She was approaching the corner at Bleecker Street when a huge black Lincoln Navigator lumbered in front of her, at an angle that cut her off and blocked the street. Then the vehicle abruptly slammed to a halt.
'What-!'
She hit her own brakes and managed to slide to a stop just before she collided with the Lincoln's rear bumper. At first she thought they'd deliberately cut her off, but then she realized the move had nothing to do with her. A man and a woman were piling out. He was muscular and balding, with dark hair and sunglasses, and he was dressed in black. She had red hair streaked with white and was dressed in a nurse's whites. They were in a major hurry.
That was when she recognized the man she'd met at Gramercy Park, the Japanese sidekick Bartlett had called Ken.
Then she realized that a thirtyish woman was running down West Eleventh Street toward them, carrying a dark green backpack in her left hand. They were gesturing for her to come to them and get into the vehicle, though she didn't appear to see them yet. Halfway down the block behind her, a man in a tan flight jacket was running, calling out.
'Kristen, wait I just want to talk-'
The running woman glanced over her shoulder at him and, at that moment collided with Bartlett's flunky. As she recoiled from the impact the red-haired woman seized her left arm.
'Kirby, come,' the woman said. 'You're not well. We'll take you back.'
'No!' she yelled, and twisted free of the woman's grasp. But now the Japanese guy had grabbed her other arm.
'It's going to be all right,' he said as he caught the top of her head and started shoving her through the open door of the Navigator. 'You shouldn't go out alone.'
At that moment the man in the tan flight jacket reached the scene. It was Stone, but he'd been moments too late.
He stretched his arm into the Lincoln and tried to take the girl's hand. 'Kristen, don't go with them. I just need to talk-'
'You don't need to do anything, pal,' the man called Ken declared. 'Except get out of the way.'
He chopped the side of Stone's neck with an open hand, sending him sprawling backwards onto the pavement, flight jacket askew.
Now something odd was going on. Another girl was running down the sidewalk. 'Kristy, wait. Don't. .'
But the redheaded woman had already gotten into the back seat of the SUV, beside the girl, and the Japanese man was heading around the front. Three seconds later, he was behind the wheel and peeling out. They were gone.
Ally sat watching, stunned. But now a Chevy sedan was departing a parking space three cars down from where she was and she quickly pulled in.
By then Stone Aimes had picked himself up off the sidewalk and was gazing wistfully in the direction of the vanishing Lincoln. The girl who'd been behind him stopped and was talking to him.
Ally quickly locked the Toyota and went over.
'But why did she run?' Stone Aimes was asking. He was disheveled but then being slugged and knocked to the sidewalk takes a toll on anybody's poise.
'She didn't know who you were,' the girl replied She looked like she would have been more at home in the East Village than here: late twenties, tattoo on one bicep, eyebrows pierced blue jeans, hair needing a better day. She had serious acne scars on her cheeks. 'I think she thought you were
Ally looked Stone over and felt a surge of admiration. In spite of the fact he just got decked, there was an athletic feeling about the way he carried his body, as though he was ready to pounce on a news source. Only he just didn't pounce quite fast enough this time.
She walked up and gave him a hug. For a lot of reasons.
'Hey, we can't go on meeting like this.'
'My God, how humiliating.' He winced.
'What in heaven's name just happened? That was Kristen, all right. But why was she running from you?'
'I saw this woman walking very fast up the street carrying a backpack and I just took a shot and called out 'Kristen.' She glanced back at me, then took off like a rabbit. All I accomplished was to drive her directly into the grasp of those goons.'
'You scared her,' the girl with the pierced eyebrows shouted, gazing angrily at Stone. 'Who are you? Why did you-?'
'I'm a newspaper reporter,' he said. 'Who are you?'
'I sublet the garden apartment from her. I met her when I was doing her makeup at the E! channel. I mentioned I was looking for a place and she said she liked me and wanted somebody she liked to be her subtenant. The rent is really low. Then they canceled her show and she had a mental meltdown and went to a spa somewhere to regroup. Or at least that's what everybody at E! says.'
'So that's definitely Kristen Starr?' Ally asked.
'I hadn't seen her in over five months, not even to pay the rent, and I couldn't believe it was her when she rang my bell and asked if she could borrow my copy of her key. At first I almost didn't recognize her. She looked. . different somehow. The odd part was, I got the impression that she didn't recognize me either, at least for a minute or two. When I asked her if she wanted the rent, she just looked at me funny. A few minutes later, she brought the key back and she had a half-open backpack stuffed with clothes and papers. She seemed nervous and disoriented. I was going to try and help her get a cab. But then you showed up.'
'Hey, look, I had no idea I was going to freak her out like that,' Stone said.
'What's your name?' Ally asked and then she introduced herself.
'My named is Cindy Dobbs. And you know something? Kristen didn't seem like the same person, in a lot of ways. She looked really different. I don't know how to explain it. But something was really, really wrong with her. And she kept saying her name wasn't Kristen, that it's something else-I can't remember what now. All I know is, she was totally spooked.'
'Talk about bad timing,' Stone said.
'She was so paranoid she kept babbling about how 'they' knew she was here in her apartment and were coming to get her and she had to get away real quick. I don't know who she was talking about. Some guy used to come by and his white stretch limo would be double-parked for a couple of hours while he went in. But other than him, nobody ever came here.'
'Cindy, the truth is, I was talking to her this very morning on the phone,' Ally said. 'I'm the one who called her. I also met her mother today, who just got a crazy letter from her and was walking around with a pistol because of it. I'm getting to be deeply invested in Kristen Starr. Something bizarre seems to have happened to her and I need to find out what it is.'
Ally didn't want to confess that she felt indirectly responsible for what had just occurred. If she hadn't phoned. . She stood thinking a minute, then, 'Did you say you had a key to her place?'
Cindy shrugged. 'I've had it since I moved in. We had copies of each other's keys. Just in case, you know.' She reached into her ragged jeans and pulled it out and stared at it. It was attached to a blue plastic tab,Greenwich locksmiths.
'Then could we borrow it long enough to go in and take a look around? Maybe we could find some clue to what's going on.'
'Hey, if you want the key, and you think it can help you find her, you can just have it.' She was holding it out. 'I don't want to go in there, ever. With my luck, those people would show up again and take me away. But let me know if you find out anything, okay? I really thought of her as a friend, even though we actually didn't know each other that well. She didn't ever introduce me to that older guy who came around. Probably because he was married, at least that's my guess.'
