She had escaped for the moment, but there could still be cops waiting for her. She had the strangest feeling that an angel had guided her steps. She would call Rush again as soon as she was near a phone.
The envelope was tucked inside her pants, hidden by the thick, hooded gray Tulane sweatshirt. Carrying the negatives and photocopies around was too risky. She needed to hide them somewhere safe. She only had eight hours until Horace Pond was going to die.
Without any plan in mind, she closed her eyes and prayed silently. She was aware that several teenagers had joined the crowd at the bow. She looked around and saw that the boys and girls were obviously not related, and they had all come from a stretched GMC passenger van parked thirty feet away. The side door of the vehicle said UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI. There were luggage cases in an aluminum cage on the van's roof and a ladder leading up from the rear bumper.
Faith Ann picked out a boy close to her own age and sidled over to him. “Hi there. You guys on a field trip?”
“Nah. A stupid Bible bee contest in Barataria, Louisiana.”
“Bible bee?”
“Like a spelling bee, but only with words from the Bible.” He shrugged. “Some trip to New Orleans. Like we go right to the French Quarter, and instead of going to see Bourbon Street or something cool, they march us through some church, get us some lame powdered doughnuts, then drag us to see a bunch of stupid fish. Now we're crossing the Big Muddy to enjoy some dumb scenery before the contest.”
“That's messed up,” Faith Ann said sympathetically.
“Tell me about it.”
“Can you do me a favor, you think?”
The boy eyed Faith Ann suspiciously. “Is it anything I could catch grief over?”
Faith Ann shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe.”
“Cool,” the boy said, smiling.
69
Winter knew Faith Ann would beat Nicky to Algiers Point by a good ten minutes, but since the girl was on foot there was a chance he might spot her on the sidewalks.
As long as the cops didn't know she was on the ferry, Nicky had an advantage.
Winter and Adams returned to find Gale waiting with his dog.
“She exit?” Gale asked.
“She didn't go that way,” Adams said with certainty.
Winter nodded his agreement. “Guy who's been there for the last fifteen minutes said nobody came through the lobby from here.”
“Nobody saw her?” Gale asked. “She went into the hotel, right? I'm sure Beaux-Beaux can track her.”
“I said she didn't go that way,” Adams snapped.
The K-9 officer didn't protest when Winter suggested that they go back the way they'd come, to see where she'd pulled the last double-back on them.
Before they got to the parking deck, however, Adams stopped.
“Officer Gale,” he said. “You did a great job. I'm going to see that you get an FBI commendation for your effort. A nice letter from my director won't hurt your career.”
“She got away,” Gale said. “I'm sure she went into the hotel.”
“I am going to ask you to do me a favor,” Adams said.
“What's that?”
“Unless your superiors ask you directly, don't go into specific detail about the tracking.”
“Sir?”
“For your and Beaux-Beaux's sake.”
“I'm sorry?”
“It's just that if it comes down to a question of whether we screwed up, or if Beaux-Beaux here isn't up to the job, or whether your handling was questionable… you know what we're going to put in our reports. And if we do, the Director won't be sending any letters or issuing any glowing commendations.”
“But it was the bleach,” Gale said defensively. “It killed the trail for a few seconds.”
“I smelled it before we opened that last door,” Adams said.
“Me too,” Winter agreed. “We thought you'd pull the dog back to save his nose, but you went straight through the door.” He knelt to pat the dog's head. “Tell you what, Gale. Let's just agree that the trail looped back in on itself, which isn't a lie. We'll forget your mistakes, or whatever.”
Gale stared down at Winter.
“She just outfoxed us,” Winter said.
Gale stood listening, his eyes unreadable.
“You can keep tracking. Start over and follow the trail from scratch. Try and pick up her scent around the building, while we do a search on our own. Maybe she went back through the atrium and through some shops or something. Radio when you find her. You can be the hero. It's fine with us. That way our asses will all be covered.”
“But…”
“Go on. We'll buy you and Beaux-Beaux some time. We'll tell Suggs you're still looking.”
“You sure?” Gale asked suspiciously.
Adams and Winter nodded.
“I'll just take that swing through and see if we can scare her up.”
Winter and Adams watched as K-9 Officer Gale and Beaux-Beaux strode back up the ramp.
“That should buy us some time,” Adams said.
“I'm glad you're on my side,” Winter said. “Let's see how fast we can get across the bridge.”
Even though they had taken Suggs by surprise and bluffed their way into holding back twenty itchy-fingered cops, there was no real proof that Suggs was intending to harm Faith Ann and nothing to tie Suggs into Bennett other than Bennett's words. Suggs knew he was under suspicion, but for the moment Winter needed to keep him and his Tin Man team guessing. Whoever the couple was, they were only tied into Tinnerino and Doyle and Bennett. Until he knew who they were, there was nothing to be gained in mentioning them.
When Winter and Adams came out, Manseur was standing near Suggs's car, between Suggs and Tinnerino. He didn't smile when he saw Winter and Adams.
“Well?” Suggs said. Winter thought he saw something akin to relief in his eyes.
“We lost her trail. Officer Gale is trying to find it,” Adams said.
“So she's still in there?”
“If she is, she didn't hear me calling.”
“Or maybe she isn't as innocent as you think,” Suggs said.
“I believe she is innocent,” Winter said. He turned to Manseur, whose face remained unreadable. “Detective, I'm sorry I didn't level with you and tell you Trammel and Porter were related.”
“So am I,” Manseur said sourly. He was a good actor, but all good cops are.
“Well, I'm going to remedy that. Since you are here,” Winter said as he handed Manseur his card, “she'll be in good hands. I need to check on Hank and talk to some people. The K-9 officer will find her. When you find her I expect a call, and Commander Suggs has her lawyer's name. Call him too.”
Manseur turned his eyes to Suggs. Suggs nodded.
“I suppose I can do that,” Manseur said. “I'm sorry you don't trust us to do the right thing.”
“We'll see what happens. You're alerted to our presence and we are going to be watching you.”
Adams looked into Suggs's eyes and straightened the knot of his tie as though Suggs's round face was a mirror. “Captain, are you familiar with a man named Jerry Bennett?”
Suggs flashed a pained grin. “Mr. Bennett is very well-known in the community. Why?”
Adams smiled. “No reason in particular. Massey and I visited with him earlier. I'd be willing to bet you he's
