Part 30 (2/2)
”My phone's at home.” She held out a tremulous hand. ”Give me yours.”
He took it from his jacket and handed it to her. She dialed Amy Tang's cell. Shepard stopped at the corner, signaled, and turned onto Fulton. Jo glanced over her shoulder to see if the imposter was on their tail, but the night was a solid white wall.
”Where have you been since Ian chased us this afternoon?” she said.
”Staying out of sight.” He cut his eyes at her. ”I wasn't sure whether he found me by following you to the restaurant.”
”Me neither.”
Amy answered the phone, crisp and rushed. ”Tang.”
”It's Jo. Send a unit back to Ian Kanan's house.”
”What's wrong?”
”The woman we thought was Misty Kanan is an imposter. She just tried to kill me.”
”Beckett?”
”Putting you on speaker.”
Jo set the phone on the center console and, trying to compose herself, told Tang and Shepard the short form. The Mercedes rolled east on Fulton. Golden Gate Park scrolled past on their right. The trees were a depthless black that absorbed even the fog.
”You in one piece?” Tang said.
”Yeah, but never ask me to take part in an extreme ironing compet.i.tion.”
”You got it.” Tang's voice was as sharp as a diamond. ”Why is another woman impersonating Kanan's wife?”
Shepard looked at her. Behind the salt-and-cinnamon beard, his face was taut.
”Is the fake working with Kanan?” Tang said.
”Maybe. Maybe she's working against him-for the people he's hunting. And...” A thought rose in Jo's head like clear air. ”Kanan knows her.”
Shepard looked at her sharply. ”What are you talking about?”
”Your brother knows the imposter. In the E.R. at San Francisco General, she walked right up to him.”
Jo recalled it clearly-the woman's att.i.tude, her familiarity, her close familiarity. ”He put his hand on her shoulder. He knows her well.”
Tang said, ”So she's on his team.”
”Maybe.” Jo swept her hair off her face, thinking about it. ”But that feels wrong.”
What had happened between Kanan and the imposter in the E.R.?
She turned to Shepard. ”Where's Misty?”
”I don't know.”
”When did you last see her?”
He raised his shoulders. ”Maybe six weeks ago.”
”How's Ian and Misty's marriage?” Jo said.
”Solid. Totally.”
”Does Misty wear a white jacket? Tartan skirt with chunky boots?”
”Yeah.”
”Drive a Chevy Tahoe?”
Worry creased his face. ”Yeah.”
”The imposter has her car, her clothes, her keys, her house. So where's Misty?” She raised her voice, making sure Tang heard. ”The house has been shut. n.o.body's been there for days. Where's the dog? Where's Seth?”
The Mercedes thrummed along the street, smothered in fog.
”Jo?” Tang said.
”G.o.d.”
She remembered Kanan holding her against the wall in the elevator, telling her to listen to him. She remembered his every word, all his threats. But they weren't threats.
”Amy, something bad has happened to Kanan's family. They're gone.”
* 25 *
”The Kanan family is gone? Where?” Tang said.
Shepard stared out the winds.h.i.+eld at the fog. In the dim interior of the car, his face was etched with the frosty blue lights of the dashboard instruments. A red streak reflected in his eyes.
”Something has happened to them,” Jo said. ”d.a.m.n it, we've been looking at everything backward.”
”Explain,” Tang said.
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