Part 25 (2/2)
”Goodbye and thank you again.”
Pollard walked out to the car, but Holman hesitated. He felt awkward just leaving.
Mrs. Marchenko said, ”Anton was trying to give up. Put in your story how they murdered my son.”
Pollard was waving for him to join her, but here was this old woman with her pleading eyes, thinking they were going to help her and they were going to leave her with nothing. Holman felt ashamed of himself. He looked at the broken fan.
”You couldn't fix it?”
”How could I get it fixed? My Anton is dead. How could I get it fixed until I sue and get the money?”
Pollard beeped the horn. Holman glanced at her, then turned back to Mrs. Marchenko.
”Let me take a look.”
Holman went back into the house and examined the fan. The safety cage was supposed to be attached at the back of the motor by a little screw, but the screw was broken. It had probably snapped when the cops knocked over the fan. The head of the screw had popped off and the body of the screw was still in the hole. It would have to be drilled and rethreaded. It would be cheaper to buy a new fan.
”I can't fix it, Mrs. Marchenko. I'm sorry.”
”This is outrageous, what they did to my son. I am going to sue them.”
The horn beeped.
Holman went back to the door and saw Pollard waving, but he still didn't leave. Here was this woman with her son who had robbed thirteen banks, murdered three people, and wounded four others; her little boy who had modified semiautomatic rifles to fire like machine guns, dressed up like a lunatic, and shot it out with the police, but here she was, defending her son to the last.
Holman said, ”Was he a good son?”
”He came and we watched the TV.”
”Then that's all you need to know. You hang on to that.”
Holman left her then and went to join Pollard.
Chapter 30.
WHEN HOLMAN pulled the door closed, Pollard roared back toward Union station.
”What were you doing? Why'd you go back inside?”
”To see if I could fix her fan.”
”We have something important here and you're wasting time with that?”
”The woman thinks we're helping her. I didn't feel right just leaving.”
Holman felt so bad he didn't notice that Pollard had gone silent. When he finally glanced over, her mouth was a hard line and her brow was cut by a vertical line.
He said, ”What?”
”It might not have dawned on you, but I did not enjoy that. I don't like lying to some poor woman who lost her son and I don't like sneaking around pretending to be something I'm not. This kind of thing was easier and simpler when I was on the Feeb, but I'm not, so this is what we have. I don't need you making me feel even worse.”
Holman stared at her. He had spent much of the night regretting he had gotten her involved, and now he felt like a moron.
”I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that.”
”Forget it. I know you didn't.”
She was clearly in a bad mood now, but Holman didn't know what to say. The more he thought about everything she was doing for him, the more he felt like an idiot.
”I'm sorry.”
Her mouth tightened, so he decided not to apologize again. He decided to change the subject.
”Hey, I know this Allie thing is important. Can you find her with a disconnected number?”
”I'll have a friend of mine at the Feeb do it. They can run the number through a database that will show prior subscribers even though it's no longer in use.”
”How long will it take?”
”It's computers. Milliseconds.”
”Why wasn't she on the witness list?”
”Because they didn't know about her, Holman. Duh.”
”Sorry.”
”That's why this is important. They didn't know about her, but Fowler did. That means he learned about her from some other source.”
”Fowler and the new guy.”
Pollard glanced over at him.
”Yeah, and the new guy. I'm looking forward to talking with this girl, Holman. I want to find out what she told them.”
Holman grew thoughtful. They were driving west on Main Street toward the river. He was thinking about what she might have told them, too.
”Maybe she told them to meet her under the bridge to cut up the money.”
Pollard didn't look at him. She was silent for a moment and then she shrugged.
”We'll see. I'll go back through his phone bills to see if and when they made contact, and I'll see if we can find her. I'll call you later with whatever I find.”
Holman watched her drive, feeling even more guilty that she would be spending her afternoon with this.
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