“Put them back?” Shahla looked perplexed.
“I’m going to tip off the police. But we’ve got to leave the evidence here, where they can find it. If we take it to them it may be tainted, somehow.”
Shahla reluctantly put the items back in the drawer, but on top of the T-shirts so that there would be no question about the police finding them. Tony returned to the other room. There was a telephone sitting on the counter between the living room and the kitchen. He picked up the receiver and listened. He heard a dial tone.
“It works.” He punched in the number of the Bonita Beach Police. He gave his name to the desk officer, who recognized it in connection with the chase. He asked whether the kidnapper’s car had been spotted. Negative. He said he had more information on Joy’s murder and Tina’s kidnapping. He gave Nathan’s full name and address and said he had reason to believe that Nathan was the kidnapper. He said he thought the police would find evidence in Nathan’s apartment. He didn’t say that Nathan expected to ascend into heaven tonight. He figured that would require too long an explanation.
“We’ll have to get a search warrant,” the officer said.
“Nathan has moved out so I suspect all you need is the manager’s permission,” Tony said. He had a thought. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll get you the manager’s phone number.”
He hung up and said to Shahla, “The manager is in the first apartment on the right as we came into the courtyard.” They went to the front door. “Wait. Let’s see if anybody is about.” They peeked through the drapes and saw no sign of life. They went out the door and shut it behind them.
As they walked to the manager’s apartment, Shahla said, “If the manager is a woman you do the talking. If he’s a man, let me talk.”
“Who died and left you boss?” Tony asked. When Shahla looked ready to retort, he raised his arms and said, “Just kidding. We’ll go with that.”
They knocked on the manager’s door. A small, elderly woman opened it. She was bent over, which made her look even shorter than she was. Tony had the nod.
“Good morning, ma’am,” he said. “My name is Tony and this is my sister, Sally. “We are friends of Nathan Watson.”
The woman looked at them without speaking for a moment. Then she said, “Friends of Nathan? Then why did you break into his apartment?”
“Break in?” Her drapes were open. She had seen them through the window. “Er…we were trying to find Nathan.”
“Nathan is gone. He moved out two days ago. So I’m sure you didn’t get anything. But I’ve called the police, anyway, in case you caused some damage.”
“ You called the police?” This was a reversal. Tony couldn’t think straight. “What police?”
“LAPD, of course. They’ll be here shortly.”
Shahla was tugging on Tony’s arm. “Let’s go.”
“Do you know what Nathan is going to do?” he asked.
The woman stared at him coldly, without speaking. Considering her small stature, she looked formidable.
Shahla tugged harder. “Let’s go,” she said again.
Tony went with her. They moved swiftly through the outside gate and along the street to his car. He looked back when they reached the car. She wasn’t watching them. He suspected she had stayed within the safety of her apartment. They got into the car.
“Drive,” Shahla said. “If we get detained by the police, we’ll never find Nathan.”
Tony drove. He wound through the largely residential streets for a mile or so and then, figuring they were safe, he parked again.
“It’s a good thing they didn’t respond faster,” he said, “or we would have been trapped like a fox in the henhouse. I’d better call Bonita Beach and give them an update.” He got out his cell phone.
“Don’t tell them we broke into the apartment.”
“I won’t.” He told the desk officer that LAPD was going to the apartment building and suggested that this was a good time to coordinate with them to search Nathan’s apartment.
“How do you know this?” the officer asked.
Tony disconnected.
“I hope it doesn’t get screwed up and the evidence lost,” Shahla said.
“We can’t worry about that,” Tony said. “We’ve got to find Nathan.” His shoulders slumped. “But how do we find him?”
“Give me his cell phone number,” Shahla said.
“Why?”
“I’m going to call him.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m going to call him. What else can we do? We have to keep Nathan from killing Tina.”
Shahla took the cell phone and the piece of paper with Nathan’s address and telephone numbers on it from Tony. Her mind was moving faster than his. And it was going to take speed if they were going to save Tina. But before she tried to call Nathan, she had to call the Bonita Beach Police one more time.
She called, using redial. The desk officer answered after two rings and said, “Bonita Beach Police.”
“This is Shahla.”
“Where are you?”
She wasn’t falling into that trap. “I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully. We believe that Nathan Watson has kidnapped Tina. He belongs to the Church of the Risen Lord. The church is on…” she looked at Tony and he said, “Brora Street.” She repeated, “Brora Street, in LA. The minister is Luther Hodgkins. The members think that they are going to ascend into heaven tonight at midnight. We don’t know the location where they are gathering, but it’s probably a local hilltop. We know it’s somewhere near a bus line. We are hoping that Nathan is going to take Tina there so that she will ascend with them.”
“Spell the name of the minister.”
Shahla spelled it. “Have you got that?”
“Where are you now?”
“Have you got all the information?”
“I want you two to come to the station and stop playing detective. You’re going to mess this whole thing up. Or get yourselves killed.”
Shahla disconnected and said, “He wants us to come to the station.”
“You did that better than I could have,” Tony said.
Shahla was pleased with Tony’s compliment. But the hardest part was yet to come. She punched in Nathan’s cell phone number. As it rang, she wondered if he still had the phone with him. Or whether the number was disconnected. She should at least get some kind of a message. Finally, voice mail came on. It was Nathan’s voice. Shahla felt some relief.
“Nathan, this is Shahla,” she said after the beep. “I-I have changed my mind. I feel in my heart now that you are correct. The website of the church says that the ascent into heaven is going to be tonight. I want to go with you, Nathan. Please. Give me a call.” She recited Tony’s cell phone number.
“Did I put enough passion into my voice?” she asked after she disconnected.
“That will get him if anything can. What should we do while we wait for him to call back?”
“I saw a McDonald’s a couple of blocks from here. Let’s get something to eat.”
Shahla ate her Big Mac with gusto and popped each ketchup-drenched French fry into her mouth, separately, in order to fully savor it. Since her brush with hunger, yesterday, food had risen in her scale of importance. She hoped that this newfound appetite wouldn’t make her fat. Tony was eating a more sensible fish sandwich.
