“Where did you work before?”
“Admin support for a construction company. Like the worst possible job to have in this economy. I was just an expense item, generated no revenue. I was one of the first to go even though I’d been there twelve years. No severance, no health care, nothing. Salary stopped but the bills sure didn’t. Then my unemployment benefits ran out. I fought to keep my home for a year. Then my husband got sick. That sucked what little savings we had and left a whole ton of bills. Then he gets better and off he goes. For better pastures, he told me. Can you believe that shit? What happened to the marriage vows for better or worse?”
She glanced up at him, looking ashamed. “I know you don’t need to hear this.”
“I can understand how you might need to get it off your chest.”
“I’ve already vented plenty, thanks.” She finished her breakfast and pushed the plate away.
She took a few moments to collect her thoughts. “I saw the bus come down the street. It was really noisy so it woke me up. I don’t sleep well on the street. Concrete isn’t too comfortable. And it’s just not… well, safe. I get scared.”
“I can see that.”
“And then the bus stopped, right there in the middle of the street. I remember sitting up and leaning around the Dumpster and wondering why it had stopped. I’ve been over to that bus terminal going through the trash cans. It wasn’t a city bus. It goes up to New York. Leaves same time every night. Seen it before. Sometimes I wish I were on it.”
Not that night you don’t, thought Robie.
“What side of the street were you on? Side facing the bus door or the other side?”
“The door was on the other side.”
“Okay, go on.”
“Well, it just blew up. Scared the hell out of me. Saw stuff flying everywhere. Seats, body parts, tires. It was horrible. I thought I was in the middle of a war zone.”
“Did you see anything that might have caused the bus to explode?”
“I just assumed it was a bomb on the bus. You mean it wasn’t?”
“We’re still trying to figure it out,” said Robie. “But if you saw something, anything impact the bus, that could be important. A shot fired into the gas tank, maybe? Did you see or hear anything like that?”
Jordison shook her head slowly. “I know I didn’t hear a shot.”
“Did you see anyone?”
Robie stared directly at her but hid the tension he was feeling.
“After the bus blew up, I saw two people on the other side of the street. Before the bus was blocking my view. But then there wasn’t any more bus. A man and what looked to be a girl, maybe a teenager.”
Robie sat back but kept staring at her. “Can you describe them?”
Better it come out now, he thought.
“The girl was short, wearing a hooded coat, so I didn’t see her face.”
“What were they doing?”
“Getting up. Well, the guy was. The blast must’ve knocked them both down. Maybe knocked them out. I guess I was far enough away and the Dumpster I guess acted as a barrier. But they must’ve been closer. They were on the other side of some parked cars.”
“What happened next?”
“The guy came to first and then he went over and helped the girl up. They spoke for a few moments and then the guy started looking around the parked cars. That’s when the old guy back there started dancing around yelling about s’mores. Then the guy and girl took off.”
“Any idea where they came from?”
“No.”
“What did the guy look like?”
She stared at him pointedly. “He actually looked a lot like you.”
Robie smiled. “I guess I look like a lot of people. Can you be more specific?”
“I’ve got great eyesight. Had eye surgery done before my life fell apart.”
“But there were flames and smoke between you and the man. And it was dark.”
“That’s true. I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, if that’s what you mean. But the fire really turned night to day.”
“But my height, build, age roughly?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re sure you saw nothing hit the bus before it blew up?”
“Well, I was pretty wide awake by that time. But I didn’t see or hear anything that would have made that bus detonate.”
“Thanks, Diana. If I need to get back in touch with you, will you be around here?”
“I really don’t have any other place to go,” she said, her gaze downcast.
Robie handed her a card. “I’ll see what I can do to get you off the streets.”
Jordison’s voice shook as she looked down at the card. “Whatever you can do, mister, I’d really appreciate it. There was a time when I didn’t take charity. Figured I could get it done by myself. Those days are long gone.”
“I understand.”
Robie drove back to Donnelly’s and was getting out of his car when Vance spotted him.
“We got a break in the case,” she said after hurrying over to him.
“What?”
“ATF guys found the source of the detonation.”
“Where?” Robie asked sharply.
“Wheel well of the bus, left side. Had a motion sensor. Bus starts going, engages the timer. A few minutes later, boom.”
Robie stared at her, his mind racing.
The guy after Julie certainly wouldn’t have gotten on a bus he had just rigged to explode.
That left only one explanation.
I was the target.
CHAPTER
50
Robie spent an hour with Vance going over the ATF findings and then he slipped away and made a call to Blue Man.
“Her name is Diane Jordison.” Robie described her. “She’ll be hanging around the area where the bus detonated. She was very helpful and I think she might be more helpful down the road. But she needs to get off the streets. Too risky otherwise.”
Blue Man said he would take care of it and Robie had to trust that he would. At least for now. He planned to check on that later. At the end of the day Robie could not trust anyone.
“I also want you to run down whatever you can find on a Leo Broome. Works somewhere on Capitol Hill.”
“How does he figure into this?” asked Blue Man.
“I don’t know if he does. But I have to cover that angle.”
“That briefing, Robie. I want it soon.”
Blue Man clicked off.
I want a lot of things, thought Robie. I want a way out of this nightmare.
An hour later he was back at his apartment. He took a shower and changed his clothes. He put his gun in a belt holster centered on his back and climbed in the Volvo, then texted Julie and received a response a few seconds later confirming that she was okay. He sent her another text saying he would be by to see her later and would
