Living with the Dead
Page 35

The message had been read, but didn't look as if it had been forwarded. So Portia had sent the photo to Robyn's cell and Robyn had forwarded it to her e-mail, where she could compile a message for her tabloid contacts. But she'd never gotten that far.
Adele let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief and pressed her hands to her stomach.
We're safe.
Their future wasn't entirely secured yet. There was still a lot to do, including one task regarding the photo: getting it off Robyn's cell phone. There was a good chance she'd already deleted it, and hadn't sent it anywhere except her laptop, but there was still that second picture – the one of Adele in the alley.
She needed that cell phone. Preferably without killing Robyn. Not that she minded the killing, but it complicated things unnecessarily. A simple theft should finish this. And if Robyn had forwarded the second photo, Adele might need her alive to question and figure out what she'd done with it and how to proceed. But she'd worry about that when the time came.
Adele deleted the e-mail.
Would that be enough or should she take the laptop? No. With all that had happened Robyn had probably forgotten the photo. If her laptop vanished, though, she'd know someone had broken in and that something on it had been valuable, probably linked to Portia's death –
A rap at the door.
"Housekeeping!"
Adele shot to her feet. "I'm – "
The rattle of a key in the lock drowned her out. She wheeled toward the bathroom, but the door swung open and an old woman with a nut-brown face and a shock of white hair peered in.
"Is okay? Clean now?"
Adele checked her watch, ready to make some excuse.
"You say after three," the woman said. "Okay now?"
It was 2:45. The woman's timekeeping was as lousy as her English. But the bigger a deal Adele made of it, the more likely the woman was to remember her, maybe report it to her boss.
"Sure," Adele said. "Now's good."
She cast one longing look around the room, wishing she'd searched it before getting sucked in by that damned computer. Other than a trash can overflowing with take-out cartons, the room was as neat as a pin. Even the beds were made. There was no way she could start hunting now and mess things up with the cleaner watching, and the longer she stayed, the more of an impression she'd make.
"I'll just... head out," she said as the woman wheeled her cart in. "Let you work in peace."
Adele got as far as the neighboring room when the door clicked open behind her.
"Miss? Miss?"
Adele turned, her lips smiling, legs tensing, ready to bolt. "Yes?"
"Phone ringing."
"Oh, that's okay. They can leave a message."
She waited until the door had almost closed, then darted back and caught it before it locked. "On second thought, I'd better get that."
She walked slowly to the silent phone, giving the person time to finish his message. When the light flashed, she picked up the receiver and retrieved the message. As she listened, her smile grew.
When she hung up, the light continued to flash, message delivery incomplete. That was fine. She'd heard what she needed to know. Better if there was no sign someone had already listened to the message.
 
HOPE
 
When Hope reached the rear of the ice cream stand, she slowed her jog to a more respectable fast walk. Her gaze was already on the horizon, scouring the strip malls for stores selling shirts. If the same store sold moist towelettes for Karl to clean up, all the better. She just needed –
Hope stopped. While her gaze was focused beyond the ice cream stand umbrella tables, something about those tables pulled her attention back. Before she left, six of the eight had been occupied. Now, only two were, and Robyn was at neither.
Their two cups were still at their table. At the ice cream stand a single patron waited – a round-faced teenage girl.
No cause for panic. Robyn might have needed to use the bathroom or decided to grab a magazine.
Hope called Karl. He answered on the first ring.
"Small delay." She walked toward their table. "Rob stepped away. Looks like she'll be back in a sec. She left her drink – " She stopped, staring down at Robyn's cup.
"Hope?"
"Her milkshake melted."
"What?"
"She was drinking a milkshake and it doesn't look as if she touched it since I left. It's melted, with a puddle of condensation under it." Hope shook her head. "Probably because she wasn't that interested in it in the first place. Just buying an excuse to sit down. Sorry, I'll stop worrying."
 
"Do you see a place to buy a shirt?"
"Not from here, but I'll go across the road and take a better look."
"Just grab anything. I'm going to start heading that way."
"You think something happened?"
"No, but I think you'll feel better buying my shirt rather than sitting around waiting."
 
Hope bought Karl a shirt and pack of wipes and hurried across the road. An elderly man was clearing their table, shaking his head at the nearly full cups.
"Excuse me," she said. "That's my – My friend was sitting there."
"Not now," he said, wiping the table.
"You work here, right?"
That made him glance up, watery blue eyes meeting hers. "No, I just like clearing tables. A good hobby for an old –
"
"Has this one been vacant long?"
"Long enough." He shuffled off.
One last look for Robyn, then Hope strode around the ice cream stand and broke into a jog.
 
Hope handed Karl a t-shirt advertising Coors Light and a box of baby diaper wipes. He didn't comment, just shucked his shirt, wiped himself down and pulled on the new one as she trashed the old shirt and the bloodied cloths.
By the time they arrived back at the tables, they were almost full again. There was still no sign of Robyn. Hope's racing heart hit full gallop. Robyn shouldn't be gone this long. Something had happened.
"He didn't circle back," Karl said as they wove through the tables.
She glanced at him.
"Gilchrist. He didn't come back."
That was what she'd been worried about, that while they were recuperating in the office complex, the werewolf had returned and lured Robyn away. Whether he'd connected Robyn with Karl, Hope didn't know, but if he did, he might return for her as a way to get at Karl.