“Listen,” she whispered.
He cocked his head and immediately registered a noise that shouldn’t have been there.
“Is that the shower?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Don’t tell me there’s someone in it.”
“I don’t know for sure. I went in to check, but as soon as I saw the mirror, I ran out.”
“The mirror?”
“You have to see.”
Cautiously Wes stepped farther into the room, his gaze sweeping the space to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Anna was right behind him.
“Go back outside,” he told her, keeping his voice low.
“I’m not letting you do this alone. What if someone’s in there?”
Frowning, Wes turned back to the bathroom. Though the door was half open, he knocked on the jamb. “Hello?”
No response.
Wes eased into the room, then put a hand on the plastic shower curtain. His other hand he balled into a fist, just in case.
“Hello?” he said again.
When there was still no answer, he yanked the curtain back and glanced inside.
He shrugged. “Empty.”
Anna relaxed a little, but not completely. “The mirror.”
Wes swiveled around so he could see the mirror that covered the wall behind the sinks. It was fogged up from the steam of the shower. Clearly visible across the surface, someone had written:
HE IS NOT WHO HE SAYS HE IS
Despite the warmth of the bathroom, a chill ran through Wes.
“This wasn’t here before?” he asked.
“If I’d seen it earlier, don’t you think I would have said something?”
“I mean did you ever steam up the mirror enough for this to appear?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember it getting that foggy.”
He reached out toward the final
“Don’t,” Anna said. “We should call the police.”
“I just want to check something.”
Wes could feel her tense behind him, but she said nothing more.
He touched the nail of his index finger to the bottom of the letter, then pulled it back. There was a small bit of whatever had been on the mirror now on his nail. He wiped it onto the pad of his thumb and rubbed it around.
“It feels like Vaseline,” he said. “Did you use the bathroom this morning?”
She’d only had fifteen minutes from after she’d left Wes’s room until they met up again at the SUVs.
“I took a quick shower.”
“So you’re sure this wasn’t here then.”
“Wes, it wasn’t there,” she snapped. She took a deep breath. “What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know,” Wes said.
“Maybe it’s about the pilot,” she said. “You know how you said the guy in the paper wasn’t the same guy you saw? Maybe that’s what this means.”
“Maybe,” he said. “Come on. I’ll call the police.”
18
The on-duty manager of the motel was A pudgy, balding man named Harold Barber. He had already come by and expressed his apologies. He offered to move Anna to a new room-offer accepted, with the request that it be near Wes’s. He also said he would comp her stay-offer also accepted on behalf of Dione, who, in addition to Monroe, had gone back to L.A. until Sunday night.
The police had sent more people than necessary for what amounted to a little act of vandalism. But it was still early on Friday night, so there probably wasn’t much else going on.
After a detective named Stevens asked Wes and Anna several questions and then ascertained that nothing was missing, he allowed them to take Anna’s things to her new room. They dropped most of the stuff off, then grabbed what Anna needed for the next morning and left.
“If I remember correctly, you said something earlier about room service,” she said.
“No night on the town?”
She shook her head.
“How about a movie instead? We can check pay-per-view.”
“Perfect.”
He opened the door to his room and let her pass inside.
“You pick the movie, and I’ll order the food,” he said.
“Chinese?”
“Will do.”
Once they were both inside, he started to close the door, but stopped and looked out toward the parking lot.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
Wes scanned the lot, then shook his head. It must have just been his nerves.
“Nothing,” he said, then shut the door.
19
The man sitting in the blue sedan across the parking lot lowered his binoculars and picked up the phone lying beside him on the empty passenger seat.
Once the call was connected, he said, “Looks like she’s moved to the room next to his.… Just dropped her suitcases off there, but they’ve gone to his place.… If I had a guess, I’d say they’re in for the night.… I can’t, police are still here.” There was a long pause as he listened. “Okay, so not tonight. What do you want me to do, then? … Got it.”
He disconnected the call, put the phone on the seat, then settled back to wait and make sure the couple didn’t leave unexpectedly.
20
Wes’seyes popped open at just after 6 A.M. on Saturday morning. With no shoot that day, he tried to go back to sleep, but that wasn’t happening. So he rolled onto his side and stared at Anna for several minutes, hoping she might sense his gaze and wake up. That, apparently, wasn’t happening, either.
With a groan, he flipped over, crawled out of bed, and shuffled to his computer. He knew what he’d seen out at the Pinnacles, and it wasn’t the guy the Navy was trying to force-feed everyone. If he could only find a little more proof, then maybe he could convince Lars of that.
The first thing he did was fire off an email to Casey back in L.A., then he opened Google Images in his
