I wondered if his phone was turned off because he had been killed. But why was hers turned off, when I was convinced she was still alive? Was I seeing this all wrong, and she was actually dead too?
“You just need that one person to come forward who had seen or talked to him,” Carolina said. “That could be your break.”
“Someone definitely saw him, and someone definitely talked to him. And that someone obviously doesn’t want us to know that.”
By the time the waiters had come to clear our plates, we had already decided on dessert. Carolina chose the key lime pie, and I chose the german chocolate cake. The red tufted banquets in the main dining room were completely full as the restaurant swung into overdrive. The conversations were robust, drinks were poured generously, and the bar was packed three deep. I was content being on the patio alone with Carolina under the lights of the city and warmth of our heat lamp.
“What are you going to do about the Hertz rental car?” Carolina asked. “I tried to access their database, but we don’t have an arrangement with them. I’d have to submit official paperwork to get some answers.”
“I can’t make it out, but there’s something suspicious about that truck. Shows up earlier in the day, then shows up later that night. Doesn’t compute.”
“How did the PODs miss it?”
“Because it never drove all the way down South Wallace to Sixty-Ninth Street. It turned into South Wallace, then backed up on Seventieth, and drove away going east. All of the POD cameras are on Sixty-Ninth and Seventy-First. The church’s camera got the driver but couldn’t get the face behind the dark glass.”
“What’s your plan to get the rental company to give you the driver’s information?”
“Still working on it,” I said. “But it’s also possible that it wasn’t a rental at all. An employee could’ve been driving it.”
“Employees are allowed to drive rental cars off property?”
“That’s what I intend on finding out tomorrow morning.”
Dessert was placed in front of us, and our attack was instantaneous.
“You have plans for later tonight?” I asked.
“Maybe running ten miles to burn off this dinner.” She smiled.
“There’s a treadmill and elliptical in my building.”
“But I don’t have a change of clothes.”
“Then I can think of another way to burn off the calories. Doesn’t require any clothes at all.”
48
THE NEXT MORNING, I set out early for the Hertz lot at O’Hare Airport. All the city locations were closed on Sunday, but the one at the airport was open around the clock. I parked my car in the visitor lot and looked through the windows of the mostly deserted office. It was important that I not make my move until I found the right employee. I probably had only one chance to get this right. After ten minutes of carefully observing workers who entered and left the office, I found my mark. He was an older man with fair skin, average height, shoulders slightly hunched, and his blue baseball cap tilted nonchalantly to the side. He had come in several times to drop off keys to the agents sitting behind the counter. He moved like someone who had all the time in the world. I imagined he enjoyed sitting in a barbershop watching ESPN and debating who would win the next Super Bowl or NBA championship. He looked affable enough.
I cut through the office and out the side door to the parking lot where all the cars were stored. I met my mark as he was about to get into a shiny black Chrysler sedan.
“Nice car,” I said, approaching the driver’s side. He had just opened the door. His name tag said CLIFF. “Is that the new three hundred?”
“Brand spanking,” Cliff replied. “Less than a hundred miles on it. Floor mats still in the plastic.”
“I like what they did with the body,” I said. “The lines are nicer, not as boxy as it used to be. Real slick.”
“She drives as nice as she looks,” he said, taking a cloth from his back pocket and wiping down the chrome along the window. He stood back and admired with me. “Can’t even feel the road underneath the tires. Like she’s floating on air.”
“I haven’t driven one in a while,” I said. “My father used to own one. He wouldn’t let me touch it.”
“I got my first one the year after I got married. White exterior, leather red interior, a set of whitewall tires. They used to come out the houses when they heard I was coming down the street. Prettiest car I ever owned.”
“Have you gotten a chance to get one of these new ones out on the open road?” I asked.
“Just a little,” he said. “Only on the access road between here and the airport terminals. We can’t take the cars on the highway. Insurance regulations.”
“I might have to change my car and give this a try.”
“What they put you in?”
“Something like a Hyundai or a Kia.”
“No comparison,” Cliff said, shaking his head. “Different class altogether. Compared to this, riding one of them is like riding a go-kart. My money’s not what it needs to be right now, but the minute I get myself together, I’m gonna pick up one of these bad boys. That you can believe.”
“Too bad they never let you guys take these cars home overnight.”
“Never,” Cliff said, shaking his head. “Corporate don’t want no liability with employees getting into an accident with one of their cars.”
“That’s too bad,” I said. “You can’t even sneak it home late at night when no one’s looking?”
“Not a chance in hell,” he said. “We used to do that back in the day—wait till the managers left for the day, then drive out the back lot. Didn’t have no cameras back then. But they got hip to us. Now they put cameras around the entire property and buried a computer chip in all the cars. Every time a car leaves the lot, the chip
