take a little longer if you want his actual license number. The state computers are a little tougher than the credit bureaus.”
Kevin shook his head. “The social security number and address are good enough.”
Two minutes later, Kevin was looking at the credit record of his professor, complete with card numbers, outstanding loans, and personal information.
“Holy shit!” said Kevin. “Erica…”
“I see it.”
Kevin couldn’t believe it. On top of payments on a Mercedes and a Lexus, Ward was three months into a home loan worth $750,000. He was already a month behind.
“Man, you guys must be in some serious shit.”
Kevin recoiled. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s none of my business, but you must either be desperate, greedy, or weird to be impersonating a guy who died yesterday. And the last two don’t fit Erica. Besides, a college professor doesn’t make that kind of money.”
Kevin and Erica exchanged worried looks.
“You’ll still help us, won’t you?” she asked.
“Hey, I’m not throwing any stones. Look around. I was just making an observation.”
“We don’t want to get you involved,” said Kevin, his tension easing. “What I mean is, we
“No problem. I’m not sure I’d want to know anyway.”
“Can you print that out for me?” Kevin said, pointing at the credit report on the monitor.
“It’s already in the printer. So’s your ID. All we need to do is have you sign it, and then laminate it.”
“I’d like to ask another favor from you, Daryl,” said Kevin, as he signed the fake license.
“Shoot.” A homemade lamination heater gobbled up the paper license inserted into the holographic plastic sleeve.
“We were thinking earlier that we shouldn’t be using our credit cards because the records might be available to the people that are after us.”
“Smart move. If they have a halfway decent hacker, they can get into your credit card company’s database as easily as I accessed the credit bureau. Tracking you that way would be a cinch if you weren’t careful.”
Kevin looked at Erica, who furrowed her eyebrows in a puzzled expression. “Then maybe you can help us get a little breathing room.”
CHAPTER 14
After they finished their business with Daryl, Kevin and Erica needed to get supplies so they could hole up for the night. Kevin would have to treat his contacts, but his lens storage case and cleansers were at the apartment. They found a Wal-Mart and bought his supplies as well as a change of clothes for the two of them.
They’d decided not to call their friends, not only because they didn’t want to endanger them, but also because they didn’t want to go anywhere they might logically be found. That meant they had to lie low for the next day and a half. They would retrieve whatever was in the safe deposit box when the bank opened on Monday morning.
Erica wheeled the Honda into the back parking lot of the seedy-looking Tidal Moon motel. They would have stayed at a nicer place, but this was the first one they’d found that didn’t require identification. The grimy man at the registration desk made them pay cash up front.
While Erica dumped their meager belongings on the bed, Kevin locked the door behind them, then peeked through the torn and spotted drapes. From their first floor viewpoint, he could see that it would be difficult to spot the car from the road. Satisfied, he pulled the drapes so they were completely closed. Although it was safe for now, he didn’t want to get complacent.
Erica announced that she wanted to take a shower before she ate and began running water in the bathroom. Ravenous, Kevin opened the bag from Antone’s and began munching on a shrimp po-boy.
As he ate and sipped his drink, he watched TV to see if he could find any more news on Dr. Ward or Herbert Stein. He saw stories about each of them, but nothing more than they had learned earlier. Apparently the police were still treating the fire as an accident without ruling out the possibility of arson.
Kevin sat dejected, listening to the water run in the bathroom. He tried to understand the reason for what was going on, but the more he thought about it, the more confused he got. He could now reasonably assume that Dr. Ward and his wife were murdered. But why? What was in the safe deposit box that somebody would kill for? How did Dr. Ward get the money to buy that house and car? And why did he write that email to Kevin? They wouldn’t find out the answers to any of the questions until Monday morning.
The worst part was that he had dragged Erica into this with him. He thought about leaving, doing the rest of it himself, but how would that help? Erica was already involved up to the hilt. She wouldn’t be any safer without him than she would be by staying with him. Besides, once they had more proof — whatever that was — together their story would be much more convincing than from either of them alone.
The water shut off, and Kevin heard Erica take the towel and begin to dry herself.
“Any news?” she said from the bathroom.
“No, nothing new.”
She came out with a towel wrapped tightly around her, accentuating her figure. It barely reached her legs. Despite being exhausted, both mentally and physically, by the day’s events, Kevin couldn’t help feeling both turned-on and embarrassed at the same time. She grabbed the extra-long T-shirt she had bought and retreated to the bathroom.
“I’m starving,” she said. “I hope the sandwiches are good.”
“Of course they are. Haven’t you ever had a po-boy?”
Erica came out of the bathroom, her hair still wet. The T-shirt was almost as revealing as the towel. “You forget. I didn’t grow up in Texas.” Using the wrapper as a place mat on the stained table, she sat and began to eat one of the sandwiches. “Hey, these are good.”
“See. You should trust me.”
“I’ll take that under advisement.”
“Good. Now it’s my turn.” Kevin took his shower while Erica finished her po-boy. After he was done, he put on a T-shirt and boxers from their stop at the store.
When he came out of the bathroom, Erica was lying in bed holding the remote.
“Now I remember why I stopped watching TV,” she said, turning it off and putting the remote on the nightstand.
“I thought it was because of med school.” Kevin pulled a pillow off the bed and walked over to the chair.
“That too. What are you doing?”
“Getting ready to go to sleep.”
“Over there?”
“Yeah. Well, you know, one bed…” He shrugged. “I thought…”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going to make you sleep in that chair.”
“You sure?”
“I just took a shower, so I can’t smell too bad. Are you afraid I’m going to bite you?”
“No, just trying to be chivalrous.”
“Well, stop it. We’re both adults. Now come on.”
Kevin climbed into bed as Erica switched off the lamp. The bed seemed even smaller now that he was in it. Erica was only a foot away.
“Isn’t that more comfortable?” she said.
“Mm-hm,” Kevin responded, although he felt extremely uncomfortable. She was turned towards him, her light breathing raising the hairs on his neck, the warmth of her body flowing to his.
“Do you think we’ll get out of this?” she said, her voice groggy with fatigue.
