“Yeah, well, like I would just stroll into my bank at three in the afternoon and ask for that much in cash. Talk about calling attention to a problem.”
“That was yesterday afternoon?”
“Right.”
“I tell you, Kev, if I’d’ve been in your position, I’d’ve done exactly what you did.”
“What I did?”
“Tiegs is dead. Probably murdered. It was on the evening news.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“His wife said he was meeting you at ten-thirty last night at the pier in Cayucos.”
“That fat, silly bitch? You believe her?”
“I do, and as soon as they question her, so will the cops.”
“They haven’t talked with her yet?”
“Haven’t been able to; when she got the news, she collapsed.”
Silence. His eyes moved quickly from side to side as he assessed his situation.
I said, “Kev, I don’t blame you for killing Tiegs, but-”
“I didn’t kill anybody!”
I went on as if he hadn’t interrupted. “But what about his seeing-eye dog-Blake?”
“… The dog? What about it?”
“What happened to him? I can understand Tiegs, but a
I’d pushed the right button; Daniel’s face reddened. “Shit, I wouldn’t hurt a dog! Or a person-intentionally. What kind of a man d’you think I am?”
“I don’t know. Tell me what happened.”
I watched him struggle with himself. His need to justify his actions won.
“It was an accident. I told Tiegs he wasn’t getting any money, and if he kept bothering me I’d go to the authorities. He attacked me and I defended myself.”
“Tiegs attacked you? A
“Damn right, a blind man. A guy with a white cane or a seeing-eye dog, you think he’s weak, but a lot of them’re stronger than people who can see. Have a better sense of what’s going on around them, too. That dog-it went crazy, started jumping and barking. Tiegs and I tussled, he went over the railing, fell, and hit his head on something. The sound it made, I knew he was bad off. Dog kept after me, so I kicked it good a couple of times, and it staggered away.”
Beads of sweat appeared on Daniel’s upper lip and forehead. “I’m not saying anything else till I talk to my lawyer. If you repeat any of this to the cops, I’ll deny it. I’ll say you came into the house acting like a crazy woman, scared my girlfriend, and I had to bring you in here to calm you down. She’ll back me up.”
“I’m sure she will. But in case you aren’t aware of it, I have a damned good reputation as an investigator. And plenty of your guests saw me come into the house, looking sane and sober. No matter who your attorney is, you’ll have a tough time proving it-or your accident story.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Take it any way you want to.”
“Look, you bitch, you may have a good reputation up north, but down here you’re nothing. Nothing!”
I stood, slipping my hand into the pocket of my shoulderbag and onto the.357.
“No, Daniel,
He gripped the arms of his chair until his knuckles went white. The cords in his neck bulged, and he made an inarticulate sound as he tensed. I slid the Magnum out just before he started to get up.
“Don’t even think about it, Kev.”
His eyes, focusing on the gun, turned dull and glassy. Then he sagged back onto the chair.
“Whitmore,” I said into the wire, “you’ve got your confession. Come get your man. And be thankful I didn’t follow your orders about coming in here unarmed.”
Saturday
Hours later when I got back to the Oaks Lodge, I had two messages on my room’s voice mail. The first was from Hy: “Why don’t you ever turn your cellular on? I give up. Call me in the morning.”
The second, from Patrick, said, “I think I’m closing in on Laurel Greenwood, but I need your help.”
The number he’d left was again in the 707 area code. I punched it in, and after several rings a voice said, “Econo Lodge, Crescent City.”
The northernmost coastal town in the state, on the Oregon border. Now, that was interesting. I asked for Patrick.
“Neilan,” his sleepy voice said.
“What the hell’re you doing in Crescent City?” I demanded. “You’re supposed to be coordinating this investigation in the office.”
“Shar… What time is it?”
“After three in the morning. What’re you doing there? And what were you doing in Santa Rosa?”
“Uhhh.” A short silence as he fully woke up. “The other day, after Rae told me that Laurel Greenwood was Josie Smith’s heir and executor, I got this idea about how Greenwood might’ve pulled her disappearing act, and I talked to a friend of mine who’s a nurse. She dug up some information that led me to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she had a contact, and that contact pointed me toward Sutter Coast Hospital up here. But I’m running into difficulties.”
“You figured out that Greenwood assumed her cousin Josie Smith’s identity and used her nursing credentials to start a new life.”
Long silence this time. When Patrick spoke, he sounded crestfallen. “You figured it out, too?”
“Yes-but I had quite a bit more help than you did.”
“Well, I could sure use your help now. Can you come up here?”
“Of course. I’ve been awake forever, though, and I need a few hours’ sleep-”
“Shar?” Patrick said.
“I’ll need to rearrange my schedule.”
“Okay, but how soon can you be here?”
I considered the flying time, the possible delays if the fog moved inland. “Tomorrow afternoon, earliest. I’ll call you with my ETA, and you can meet me at the airport.”
“Thanks, Shar. I think we’re really close to locating her. This idea I had-”
“We’ll talk about it when I get there.”
I was almost asleep when there was a knock on the door. Dammit, it had better not be Jim Whitmore or any of the other people from the SLO County Sheriff’s Department. I’d more than done my duty for local law enforcement.
I crawled out of bed, felt my way across the room, looked through the peephole. The amber-shaded bulb outside showed shining eyes, a hawk nose, and an extravagant mustache. Quickly I opened the door and stepped into Hy’s arms. God, it felt good to hold him!
“How did you get here?” I asked into his well-worn leather flight jacket, breathing in its rich, familiar odor.
“Dan Kessel flew out to El Centro in one of the company’s jets. I borrowed it.”
