Part 82 (1/2)
”I'm going to be out of town the next couple days. Work stuff.”
”So that's why you needed to meet today?”
”You caught me.”
”I thought you were a mechanic?”
”Client needs me to do some work on his bike, and he needs it done yesterday. I know the guy, and I know he's willing to pay, so I'm going to be going down to Arizona. Call it a house-call. But I think it'll take a couple days to get the bike in real good condition.”
”Okay.”
She didn't need a lie detector test to know that he was hiding something. He might be establis.h.i.+ng an alibi for himself. If he suspected that she was on to him, it would be smart to be out of town for the third murder. That way, she wouldn't be able to accuse him of doing it. After all-he was four hours away.
But if he wasn't, and he really had some business to take care of down south, then what was it, and should she really be letting him go to take care of it?
The answer came before she took even a minute to think about it. She couldn't afford to tip her hand like that. She'd have to let him do whatever he wanted, even if what he wanted was to run roughshod over the law with abandon.
She had no other choice, not right now. So she'd keep her doubts to herself and wait for the right opportunity to arise. Then she'd nail him on whatever she could find.
Twenty-Nine.
Erin put the phone to her ear and forced her voice to sound normal. ”Russo.”
”Hey, did everything go alright?”
”Everything's fine.”
”Is this a bad time?”
She looked straight ahead, not letting the question get to her. ”No, I have time. I can talk plenty. No problem.”
”You sound strange. Are you sure that everything is alright?”
”I said it was fine, didn't I?”
”Sure. Sorry I asked.”
”Thank you.”
Erin laid back in the bed and waited to feel normal again. She'd been waiting for a long time, and she suspected that she'd be waiting much longer than the phone call was going to take.
”I was just worried about you. I know that things like this situation, the one with Hutchinson-it can go bad fast.”
”Well, everything's fine. You pick up the blue-and-white truck?”
”Sure we did. Everything checks out with him. He's the one from Minnesota, just like you said.”
”Well, that's what I figured. I didn't remember his face, not exactly, but from the cap and the fact that I knew he was on that sheet, I guessed.”
”Well, it was a good guess.”
She suppressed the pride at the compliment. No time for them, and no time to feel good about herself over nothing.
”Just get him dead to rights. Find Juanita Rodrigues, see if she recognizes him. She probably won't, but you never know.”
”Maybe he had the window down, right?”
”Right.”
The conversation wasn't going anywhere, and she wasn't sure that she wanted it to. Erin let out another breath.
”Are you sure you're okay? You sound kinda down in the dumps, Erin. Do you want to grab lunch?”
”No.” She knew that she was doing a bad job of making herself sound anything close to alright, but it was hard to put aside the knowledge that no matter how much work she put into the relations.h.i.+p, it didn't much G.o.d d.a.m.ned matter.
”Are you at the hotel?”
She didn't answer. She wasn't sure she wanted him knowing where she was.
”Say I was.”
”Stay there. I'm coming over.”
”Don't.”
”Erin, I swear-”
”Stop worrying about me, Schafer. I can take care of myself.”
”Are you sure?”
”f.u.c.k you, that's my answer. Am I sure, f.u.c.k you.”
”I'm sorry-did I do something to p.i.s.s in your cheerios?”
”Honestly? I don't need this right now. Just-go do whatever you F.B.I. people do.”
She hung up the phone.
She could hear it in her own voice. That inner b.i.t.c.h that she'd never been able to shake. Why was it so easy to play the part with Craig, but the minute that someone might have taken a legitimate interest in her- She quieted that thought. He hadn't taken a legitimate interest in her. She wasn't going to be with him, not long-term. There was no long-term for them, not really. Regardless of what either one of them wanted. No amount of trying hard was going to make up for a five-hour plane ride.
She wouldn't find the time to go to Virginia. Not the way she attacked work. He wouldn't find the time to come to California, either. Not with the short leash that the F.B.I. kept him on. Karen let out a breath.
It was smarter, and it would be easier, to just get it all out of her system now. Stop worrying about any of it, Just get used to the idea that she was going to have to get over him, and the sooner she could manage it, the less painful it would be when it happened.