A phone call came through for Lucas on his cell. He took it, responding to Jana North at the other end, his face showing his disappointment. 'All right…all right, Jana. No, not a whole lot here either. Disappointing overall, but we'll find this guy. Only a matter of time now that we know both their names, and we know the type vehicle and a license plate thanks to your snooping there. Cars, plates, and people don't just disappear into thin air. Yes…yes, do that update on the APB-BOLO. I agree, go ahead and upgrade the search. No, already done… planes, trains, and buses. Dogs… three dogs? No, none this location, no.'
Lucas hung up, exchanging a look with Meredyth, his shake of the head telling her nothing useful had come of the search of Belkvin's home. No tools, no table, no deadly workbench drenched in blood. 'They're trying to locate his dogs at a nearby kennel, but no one there has seen the doctor or the dogs.'
'Pongo?' asked Ms. Jones. 'Pongo's with me. Dr. B asked me if I could take him for a while.'
'When was this?'
'A couple weeks ago.'
'That same Thursday night?'
'Right.'
Lucas took a deep breath. Interrogating MariLouise might have been easier with a lawyer present, he thought, exasperated. 'Other than his home and the school where he teaches, Ms. Jones, do you have any idea where he might have disappeared to and why he didn't take Pongo?'
'He took his other two dogs with him, Desperado Pete- Petie, and Lupe Fritz, his two old, retired greyhounds.'
'Weird dog names,' commented Meredyth.
'They were one-time racers, you know, on a track in Abilene, I think. They had names to bet on, you know, like racehorse names, Sea biscuit, Xtra Heet, What Up…all that.'
'Two other dogs he took with him?' pressed Lucas.
'They were all three here at the kennel for a time. Said he was having his place fumigated. Next thing I know, he's asking if I could take Pongo for a week while he took the other two.'
'But you have no idea where he was going?'
'I thought he was going home.'
'But he disappeared instead…with two dogs in tow.'
Meredyth asked, 'Where do you think he is now, Ms. Jones? I mean if you wanted to find him, where would you start?'
She at first hesitated answering, considering, as if she thought it a trick question. Then MariLouise's eyes widened and she dropped her right shoulder, followed by her left. 'I'd put in calls to the casinos in the Gulf…try the race tracks-horses and dogs.'
Outside the clinic, they watched soon-to-be-disappointed dog and cat owners parking and coming toward the veterinary with pets in hand and on leashes. Lucas and Meredyth took a moment to speak with a few of Belkvin's customers and to pet their animals. They got the same reluctance as Jones had exhibited from the regulars when confronted with the likeness between Belkvin and the artist's sketch.
'Good God, man! He's a coach in the Pee-Wee League, damn good one,' complained one man who voiced his fear that they could ruin Arthur's reputation with such lies and innuendo.
Another pet owner, a woman, said, 'Dr. Arthur saved my Coochee's life! He's a saint.'
'No way he's capable of what you're implying,' screeched a blue-haired parakeet-toting matron. 'This persecuting of Dr. Arthur ought to be against the law. Have you a permit to picket his clinic in this fashion?'
It was time to leave the clinic altogether. At the car, Harry Jorganson had stood watching and listening. 'I take it you found nothing,' he said to Lucas.
'But we will. I called in Chang's people. They'll find proof.'
'And this Dr. Belkvin? Who's going to find him?'
'We'll get him, Harry, and we'll find the missing operating table too.'
'Missing operating table?' Harry asked, his features pinched in confusion.
'Ask Chang about it,' Lucas called out as he and Meredyth pulled out of the lot. As they did so, they waved to Chang's CSI unit van as it arrived, followed by Steve Perelli's car. In his rearview, Lucas saw the D.A. going for Chang as the Chinese M.E. leaped from the passenger side of the van. Lynn Nielsen climbed from the rear.
'If anyone can find evidence of Mira Lourdes ever having been here,' said Lucas, allowing the thought to float on the air.
'Funny,' replied Meredyth.
'What's that?'
'The depth of Mother Elizabeth's naivete toward Lauralie has been matched!'
'By our Ms. Jones?'
'And her sheer gullibility toward her boss, yes.'
Disappointed at Jana North's news, and the fact the two raids had not revealed the whereabouts of either Belkvin or Lauralie Blodgett, Lucas and Meredyth wound up at a Greek restaurant called Plato's. They were enjoying a full-course meal and a bottle of Greek wine when Lucas's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He asked Meredyth for her forbearance, taking the call that originated from the precinct house.
Lucas found himself talking to Stan Kelton, who wanted to know his whereabouts, adding that he had an antsy lady claiming to have rented a farmhouse out to a young couple fitting the description of Arthur Belkvin and Lauralie Blodgett.
'Hold onto her, Stan.'
'Easier said than done. She's hinky.'
'If you have to sit on her, hold onto her. We're on our way.' He hung up and slapped cash onto the table, sipped a final bit of wine, grabbed Meredyth by the wrist, and said, 'Come on. We may have a break in die case. Jane Q. Public, claiming to have had dealings with Belkvin and Blodgett.'
Lucas reestablished contact with Stan over the car radio as they drove for the 31st Precinct. 'How reliable is this woman, Stan?'
'Lucas, her story sounds credible. She's a realtor and she freaked when she saw the images we posted of the fugitives. In the meantime, there's been a call for you from an inspector in the Mounted Police in Manitoba, Canada. Wants a call back, something to do with an APB you posted on the web for a Lyle Eaton, once of Houston and Seattle? They have good news for you. Seems he's doing time there as a sex offender of some sort, but his sentence is up in six months.'
'That's damn good news, Stan! I want the prick on murder one.'
'Closing down a Cold Case, are you, Lieutenant?' Stan asked. 'Congrats. I ran into Remo when he was here, and he gave up some of the particulars. Bet you didn't know Muarice was my TO when I rookied here in '79.'
Lucas imagined getting departmental funds to fly up to Manitoba with Maurice Remo, and the two of them laying out their case before this creep Eaton in his cell. The opportunity to sit across a table from the bastard who killed Yolanda Sims, to unnerve him and watch him come apart, to see him fold under the preponderance of evidence they would bring to bear… taking him through every step, every bruising blow, every soldering-iron burn, and finally the rape and murder would convince Eaton that he had no choice but to plead out in the case of a little girl whose ghost had pursued him all these fifty-odd years. Even if they could not get the death penalty for Eaton, they could nail him for a life sentence.
'You're likely to face extradition problems with Canada if you're bringing him back for execution,' Meredyth said, hearing the news.
'No problem, so long as we promise Canadian officials we won't be seeking the death penalty against the creep. At his advanced age, life in prison'll suit Yolanda Sims, Remo, and me just fine. Eaton's got to be in his mid to upper sixties.'
'A letter of assurance from Harry Jorganson that the State of Texas will not seek the death penalty, Lucas, would go a long way to assure your seeing him tuned over to Texas authorities.'
'It'll culminate in a deal that'll please everyone except Eaton.'
'Canada will rid herself of him,' she added.
'We'll have closed a Cold Case, Remo will've been vindicated, and Yolanda Sims will finally rest in peace.' Lucas smiled at the prospect.
