Disappearance (31 page)

CHAPTER 31

It was to be Lisa's final night at home.  She was out of excuses and forced to inform her parents her survey was complete and that she was heading back to New York.

In her three weeks there she had once again become closer with her mom and felt a real change in attitude.  Her mother had opened up, becoming less cynical, and had found renewed interest in some of her old hobbies.   She took to painting again and listening to jazz.  Alber
t’
s presence had ceased to disturb her.  She had come to realize it was wrong for her mother to be spending her life alone and in the shadow of a harsh man such as her father. If Albert made her happy, so be it. Her mother deserved to be made happy.

Her father had raised an eyebrow or two as he kept seeing her around.   She had been careful to keep him
appraised of why she had remained, but she knew she was reaching his limit.

She notified him she was leaving the day he arrived back from Paris.   Her report was ready and she was ready to go.   Her travel arrangements had been made and she was booked on a flight to New York that weekend.

Her mother informed her they were planning a special going away dinner for her on her last evening, surprising Lisa when she mentioned her father insisted on participating and was bringing home a guest.  It must have been at least three years since the three of them had sociable dinner together, and Lisa couldn't recall the last time they had a guest.

The afternoon before the dinner she met Mikki at the inn.  It was to be his last night there and he was all packed and ready to go.  They were splitting up.  She was going back to New York to hook up with Eckert who had been systematically collecting pertinent information regarding the case.  Mikki was driving up the coast to San Jose to meet a friend of Eckert's who had promised additional information regarding Langone. The so called friend, who served as an accountant for one of the largest high tech firms in Silicon Valley,
had been an independent stock broker who was badly burned by Langone, lost  everything  he  owned,  and  was  looking  for  payback. Eckert had dug him out, lulled him, and promised a nice reward if his information turned out valuable.  The ex-broker promised dirt and Mikki was being sent to retrieve it with an open check.

When her father arrived with his guest that evening, Lisa nearly swallowed one of the ice cubes floating in her glass of soda and Scotch.  He was introduced as Mr. Campour, an associate of her father's on business in LA.

Lisa recognized him as the dark man from Sarah's Paris photos.

He was Indian, or so he said, living in London, representing American companies in Europe, PhotonTek among them. Lisa immediately detected deceptive behavior and forced body language.  He displayed a keen interest and had commendable knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, yet everything about him seemed synthetic.  It was as if he had rehearsed his lines.

Her father was acting quite oddly in his presence.  He seemed wary of him, almost intimidated. She could not recall her father ever being intimidated by anyone, certainly not by anyone who looked half his age.  The entire scenario was odd, she thought - her father insisting on having dinner with them; inviting a guest over for the first time ages.  The guest turning out to be someone he had just met under questionable circumstances in Paris.  Her father had never invited any of his business associates who came to LA home as his guests.  Why was this one suddenly invited? Why now?

The question pounded in her head all through dinner.  She could not shake the feeling this strange visit was a silent message to them and the Indian was the deliverer.  She decided to try and force the issue out in the open.  When dinner was concluded and they were withdrawing for more drinks in the living room, she went ahead and stood by one of the shelves next to her sister's photo. Acting as nonchalantly as she could, she carefully watched for any reaction.

The Indian came in from the kitchen looking directly at her. Then his eyes shifted to the photo and back to her.

"Is that you?" he asked pleasantly.

"No," she said, directing her gaze at him, "it's my sister."

He didn't flinch but looked around the room waiting for further clarifications.

"She… is not with us," Martha said hesitantly.

"Oh, living somewhere else, is she?" he remarked.

"No," Martha said almost angrily, "she has been missing for the last three years. We don't know where she is."

The atmosphere in the room tensed up a notch.

"My God," the Indian said in a startled tone, but Lisa thought she noticed him eyeing her father.

"It's a long and very difficult affair for us, Mr. Campour," Glass said. "I wouldn't want to burden you with it."

"I'm deeply sorry for prying Mrs. Glass," the Indian addressed Martha, almost ignoring Glass. "I had no idea."

"Nobody has, outside this family," Martha said.  "We try to deal with it ourselves. It's no one else's problem."

He looked at Lisa. "Never stops hurting, does it?" he said.

"More than you'll ever know," Lisa said.

"Oh I know," he said and his look seemed genuine for the first time.  "My father was killed in India ten years ago.  I carry this pain with me everywhere."

"I'm sorry," Lisa said, a little embarrassed.

"No need," he said glancing at Karen's photo again, then straightening his gaze back at Lisa.  "How tragic for you," he added and swallowed the rest of his scotch.

-------

Lisa excused herself to go to the bathroom.  She needed to think. Campour was conveying something.  She was certain of that.  There was a hidden agenda with him being there tonight, important enough to make the trip all the way from Paris.

Then she had a disheartening thought.  They had been found out.  Campour and whoever he represented, knew about their little scheme.  The dark man in the living room was there warning her.  Why else would he be there, she thought, beginning to feel her stomach knot and a touch of hysteria begin to paralyze her body.

She needed to talk to Mikki.

She dialed his room at the inn using the phone in the bathroom, letting it ring twice before hanging up.  Then she went back into the living room.  She steadied herself against the door frame and tried to keep her voice from wavering as she asked to use her mother's car to fetch something she promised a friend to take to New York.  She thought they were looking at her a bit curiously, but she ignored it.

Ten minutes later she met Mikki at their usual rendezvous by a small playground near the inn.

"The dark man, from Sarah's photos," she said, almost out of breath, "he's at the house!"

"Oh," Mikki murmured, not entirely comprehending the significance of what she was saying.

"I think he knows, Mikki!  I think he knows we're following my dad! I think he's here to threaten us!"

"What are you telling me Lisa? Would you calm down?"

She stopped talking as if slapped across the face, her chest heaving; her legs weak.  She realized she was being incoherent but it felt impossible to collect
herself.  She raised her dress over her knees and sat down on a low wooden balance beam. She had grabbed her woolen sweater coming over but still felt shivers.  Mikki sat down beside her.

It took her more than a minute to pull herself together,
then she looked up at him again and spoke softly.  "Our dinner guest is the dark man in the fancy suit Sarah photographed meeting my dad in Paris.  I believe he came out here to warn us to lay off trying to find Karen."

"How can you be sure? Did he say anything?"

"I just know Mikki.  His body language; his manners; his eyes. I just know!"

"He could be anybody, Lisa."

"No!" She exclaimed. "He's not just anybody.  He's here for a reason.  Think of it Mikki.  My father insisting on dinner with us? Inviting a guest over?  We haven't had dinner together in over three years and I don't remember ever having one with one of his business associates."

She paused, letting out a disheartened sigh, then continued.  "I show up out of nowhere with a dimwitted story about a ridiculous study I'm conducting about my father's business, snoop around his house and factory, stick around forever. You hang around close by...d’you think they are that stupid Mikki? Do you honestly believe they wouldn't have put appropriate safeguards to keep threats away?"

In the ensuing silence that engulfed the darkened playground with its miniature swings swaying gently in the light breeze, Mikki considered what she said, but was not convinced.

"If they know what we're doing, then how come they haven't done anything to stop us?"

"So far we've been quite reckless, thinking the other side was not aware of what we were up to," Lisa asserted.

"
Well , yeah, but…"

"And we have no idea if and how long they've been on to us, do we?" 
she reasoned, interrupting him.  "They could still be fishing and may not be entirely aware of everything we know, but I'm convinced the man in my house is not there for a social visit."

She hugged her exposed knees with her arms and looked down at the ground.  Then she looked at him again.  It was dark but she could make out his eyes studying her.

"If you're right Lisa, do you realize what this means?"

She just stared at him in the dark.

"It means we may have put Karen's life in danger," he said.

She shook her head making her curls bounce. 

"If she's alive, Mikki, it's a life not worth living."

"You think she's alive?" he asked gently.

"If someone finds it necessary to go to this much trouble, she may very well be."

"They could be covering up a cold-blooded murder," he said and instantly regretted having said it.

"That too," Lisa said.

They were silent again.  The only sound coming from the creaking chains of the miniature swings that gained momentum in the wind.

"Mikki," Lisa whispered, "I need to get back.  They're expecting me."

"What do you think we should do?" he asked.

"I think you should follow the man when he leaves the house. See where he's heading. We may learn something."

Mikki got up. "It's a long shot Lisa, but you're right, we can't underestimate these people."

"He's got an Oldsmobile Cutlass from Avis," she said standing close to him, "I suggest you wait for him by the access road to the house. There's no other way he can take."

"When do you think he'll be leaving?"

"Won't take long.  I left them having post dinner drinks."

"You OK?" he asked.

"Better now," she said and turned to go, then turned to him again.

"One more thing Mikki," she said.

"What's that?"

"Watch your back from now on."

He smiled to himself in the dark.

-------

Mikki did watch his back when he walked back to the inn.  It felt eerie.  He thought of the times he had followed Glass and wondered whether it was he who had actually been the one followed.  He stopped to check his perimeter a few times but could see nothing.

He trotted up to his room to fetch the car keys.  The night attendant at the registration counter nodded wearily at him. They had gotten to know each other quite well.  He grabbed a jacket and trotted back down to his car which was parked outside on the street.  His headlights came on as he turned on the ignition.  In his rear view mirror he saw another pair of headlights come on.  He put his car in gear and pulled out slowly.  The car in back of him was pulling out as
well. He turned left at the first intersection and noticed the other car behind him.  He pulled over to the curb and stopped.  The car drove by slowly.  He watched it turn and disappear into the next street.  He waited then turned back toward the inn watching his rear view mirror closely.  A car appeared on the street where the other had disappeared, turning in his direction.   He couldn't tell if it was the same one.  He continued ahead past the entrance to the inn.  The other car was on his heels.  He drove on, turning in and out of random streets until he reached the boulevard.  The other car stayed right behind.

He pulled into a gas station, got out of the car and watched the other car park not far in back on the boulevard, turning off its headlights.  He fumbled with the fuel pump, stretching it out to his car then walked around to the driver side pretending to have forgotten something.  He stooped into his car, switched on the ignition, jumped in and roared away, shooting up a small street that flanked the other side of the gas station.   He floored the accelerator up the hill, made several hasty turns and stopped at a dead-end side street, shutting off the engine.  He thought he heard a car shoot by somewhere nearby but he never saw it.  He waited in the dark for a few minutes then drove toward the house realizing Lisa had been right again and their pursuers had had, up to this juncture, an easy time keeping them well within their sights.