“No purchases on the American Express- not much on any of them. Looks like she doesn’t buy much.”
“No need to,” said Anger. “We take care of everything.”
“Kind of like being a kid,” said Milo.
“Beg pardon?”
“The way she lives. Like being a little kid. Getting an allowance, having all her needs taken care of, no fuss, no muss.”
Anger’s hand clawed above the keyboard. “I’m sure it’s amusing to ridicule the rich, Mr. Sturgis, but I’ve noticed you’re not immune to material amusements.”
“That so?”
“Your Porsche. You chose it because of what it means to you.”
“Oh, that,” said Milo, rising. “That’s borrowed. My regular transportation’s much less meaningful.”
“Really,” said Anger.
Milo looked at me. “Tell him.”
“He drives a moped,” I said. “Better for stakeouts.”
“Except when it rains,” said Milo. “Then I take an umbrella.”
Back in the Porsche, he said, “Looks like little Melissa may have been wrong about Stepdaddy’s intentions.”
“True love?” I said. “Yet they don’t sleep together.”
Shrug. “Maybe Ramp loves her for the purity of her soul.”
“Or maybe he intends one day to contest the prenuptial.”
“What a suspicious guy,” he said. “In the meantime, there’s all that allowance money to wonder about.”
“Two million?” I said. “Chump change. Don’t get staggered by a few zeroes, Mr. Sturgis.”
“Heaven forfend.”
He got back on Cathcart, drove slowly. “Thing is, he’s got a point. Her kind of income, a hundred twenty a year,
“Could be that’s where the money for the Cassatt came from- both Cassatts.”
“Possible,” he said. “But that still leaves plenty. If she did deposit it in another bank, we’d be hard-pressed to find it any time soon.”
“How could she deal with another bank without leaving the house?”
“That kind of money at stake, plenty of banks would come to her.”
“Neither Ramp nor Melissa mentioned any visits from bankers.”
“True,” he said. “So maybe she just stashed it. For a rainy day. And maybe the rainy day came and she’s got it clutched in her hot little hand right now.”
I thought about that.
He said, “What?”
“Rich lady hauling megabucks in a Rolls. It spells victim.”
He nodded. “In a hundred goddam languages.”
We drove back to Sussex Knoll to get my car. The gates were closed but two floodlights above them had been switched on. Welcome Home lights. A stretch at optimism that seemed pitiful in the stillness of the early morning hours.
I said, “Forget the car. I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
Without a word, Milo turned around and headed back toward Cathcart, putting on speed and handling the Porsche better than I’d ever seen. We sped west onto California, made the transition to Arroyo Seco in what seemed like seconds. Then the freeway, barren and dark and wind-lashed.
But Milo kept searching anyway, turning his head from side to side, checking the rearview. Waiting until we’d hit the downtown interchange before cranking the volume up on the scanner and listening to the hurts people were choosing to inflict on one another as a new day began.
19
When I got home I was still wound up. I went down to the pond and found clusters of spawn clinging bravely to some of the plants at the edge of the water. Heartened, I climbed back up to the house and wrote. Made myself drowsy in fifteen minutes and barely got my clothes off before tumbling into bed.
I awoke at six-forty A.M. Friday and called Melissa an hour later.
“Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed it was me. “I already talked to Mr. Sturgis. Nothing new.”
“Sorry.”
“I did exactly as he said, Dr. Delaware. Called every airline at every airport- even San Francisco and San Jose, which he didn’t mention. Because she could have headed north, right? Then I phoned every hotel and motel I could find in the Yellow Pages, but no one had any record of her checking in. I think he’s starting to realize it might be serious.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because he agreed to talk to McCloskey.”
“I see.”
“Is he really good, Dr. Delaware? As a detective?”
“Best I know.”
“I think he is, too. I actually like him better than when I first met him. But I’ve really got to be sure. Because no one else seems to care. The police aren’t doing anything- Chickering acts as if I’m wasting his time by calling. And
“What are you doing?”
“Staying right here and waiting. And praying- I haven’t prayed since I was a little kid. Before you helped me.” Pause. “I keep going back and forth between expecting her to walk in at any moment and feeling really sick to my stomach when I realize she could be- I’ve got to stay here. I don’t want her coming home to an empty house.”
“Makes sense.”
“In the meantime, I think I’m going to try some hotels up north. Maybe Nevada, too, because that really isn’t very far by car, is it? Can you think of anywhere else that would be logical?”
“I guess any of the bordering states,” I said.
“Good idea.”
“Is there anything you need, Melissa? Anything I can do for you?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No, thanks.”
“I’ll be coming out there today anyway. To get my car.”
“Oh. Sure. Whatever.”
“If you want to talk, just let me know.”
“Sure.”
“Take care, Melissa.”
“I will, Dr. Delaware. Better keep this line open, just in case. Bye.”
