Lost But Not Forgotten (20 page)

Noreen opened the door and stuck her head inside in
time to hear Mitch. “I came to announce supper. Pat can’t come to the table, so if it’s all right with everyone, I’ll serve trays in here. If you two would like to wash up, I’ll point you to the bathrooms. I, um, there’s a part of being laid up that Pat hates to deal with. He grumbles, but it must be done,” she said, producing a bed pan from a cupboard in the room. “Feel free to stroll around the patio and watch the golfers. I’ll call you when we’re finished.”

“Dammit, Noreen.” The old man’s face turned florid shades of purple. “It’s bad enough you have to witness the loss of a man’s dignity. No need to announce my incapacities to the world.”

Mitch held up a hand. “Been there, done that, man. I swore about having to use that damned thing until one day the nurses were tied up and were very late getting around to help me. Can truthfully say I never complained again.”

“You’d do well to listen to his advice, Patrick. Oh, and Mitch, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation as I walked in. The need you have for a hideaway,” she added when a look of puzzlement crossed his face. “I may have a solution. We’ll discuss it at supper.”

Mitch was the first to make his way to the patio. He placed a booted foot on the low brick wall and scanned the deep green fanning out from the tenth tee. “Do you play golf?” he asked as Gillian exited the house.

“No. Soil this rich should be used for growing flowers, in my opinion. Do you play?”

“Nope. But I could stand having all this behind my house. It’d make a fantastic pasture.”

“Noreen must golf. Why else would she pay the exorbitant association fees? I know that communities like this share in the greens upkeep.”

“They’re a pair, aren’t they?”

“Do you trust Patrick now?”

“Don’t see any reason not to. He didn’t have to give me those names. I still want to swing by the precinct and match up their mug shots. I’ll know in a flash if we’ve got the right guys.”

“We could leave now.” Gillian glanced toward the house. “I hate putting Noreen out by staying to eat.”

“I’d say her feelings will be hurt if we leave. Besides, I want to hear her suggestion about a safe house. I’d also like to kick a few ideas around with Malone on where he suspects Daryl might have hidden a key.”

“I don’t think Patrick has any clue.”

“He might if we brainstorm. Daryl lived with him as a kid. When it comes to putting stuff away for safekeeping, boys develop hard-to-break habits.”

“Is that right?” She sent him a curious glance. “Where would you hide something?”

He gave a sheepish grin. “You’ve been in my house. I tend to leave things lying out in plain sight. So if it were me, I’d probably have tossed it in your purse.”

“Well, we know Daryl didn’t do that.”

Noreen waved from the window.

Mitch stood aside and let Gillian precede him into the house. “I like your view from the patio,” he told Noreen politely.

“So do I. Until I moved Pat in, I played golf at ten o’clock every day. And I will again after he’s able to go home.”

Gillian slowed her steps. “It’s nice that you have each other. I’m an only child. I’ve always envied siblings. Especially large families.”

“The Malones had one,” the older woman said with a chuckle. “Twelve in all. We’re scattered hither and
yon. Patrick’s the eldest son. I’m the eldest daughter. We spent a lot of time caring for the ten who came after us, and I think that’s the biggest reason neither of us married.” She shook her head. “Our siblings thought if we weren’t going to marry, we should have dedicated our lives to the church. We both enjoy our freedom too much, I’m afraid.”

“I’ve never thought in terms of a dozen when I imagined a
large
family,” Gillian exclaimed.

“That’s good.” Mitch stopped dead in his tracks, not having the vaguest idea why he’d felt compelled to make a remark like that.

The women simply laughed at his stunned expression.

“I’ll help Noreen prepare the trays,” Gillian informed Mitch. “Didn’t you say you had something else you wanted to discuss with Sergeant Malone?”

“Yeah. Okay, I get the message. You ladies want to gossip.” Mitch turned and disappeared into the den.

“Ah, Valetti. What happened to Noelle…uh, Gillian— Damned if I can remember her new name.”

“Both names are hers. Noelle’s her middle name.”

“That a fact? I got their wedding invitation. I must’ve known it then. Daryl rang me up a couple of times a month. Noelle’s all I ever heard him call her.”

“Gilly said he liked that name better. From the time they met, he insisted she drop Gillian. I figure he must have been pretty scared to phony an ID for her the way he did.”

Pain flashed in the old man’s eyes. “I keep thinking if maybe I hadn’t been so busy looking down the road at retirement, he might’ve opened up to me earlier.”

“Sounds to me as if he came to you when he was ready. Gilly said Daryl didn’t do anything on the spur of the moment.”

“True. He was methodical as a kid. Used to drive me nuts. Noreen, too. That boy wasn’t to be rushed.”

“Since you knew him so well, do you have any thoughts on what he might have done with the all-important key?”

“I guess Noelle told you we searched the car and everything she owned. In fact, we’d finished a thorough shakedown of her car and suitcases a few minutes before Capputo and Turpin ran me down.”

“She told me. She traded the car because she was afraid they’d track her through the one they’d been following.”

“Smart gal, ain’t she?”

“Very. Are you avoiding my question about the key?”

“Not at all. I’m blamed if I have any idea what the boy did with the damn thing. I spent some time thinking it over while I was flat on my back in the hospital. Especially as the days wore on and the department didn’t bring me word of any Jane Does matching her description.”

They sat for a moment, eyeing one another.

“Of course, I wasn’t looking for a redhead with short hair,” Malone admitted.

“There’s always the possibility Daryl never had time to hide the documents, and then return to where he stored the automobile. Or maybe he died with the key on him.”

“Could be. Only Daryl was precise. According to his e-mail, his wife had the key. I was left with the feeling that it wouldn’t be easy to find unless we knew where to look. Daryl said he thought the client was on to him. He said he’d be in touch through a safer channel and that he’d give me all the information then. Next thing, Noelle shows up at the station, in a panic, saying people were after her and Daryl had been shot down on his porch.”

Mitch continued to mull over the situation in his head. He usually tried to put himself in a victim’s shoes. Now he wondered how Daryl McGrath would think, what steps he’d take. To do a credible job, Mitch needed to know a lot more about Gilly’s ex.

At that moment, she appeared in the doorway carrying two trays of piping hot stew. Thick pieces of buttered bread sat on side plates next to frosty glasses of iced tea. She handed one tray to Mitch, then eased the hospital table across Patrick’s bed. Gillian unwrapped his silverware and tucked the napkin securely under his chin.

“Aren’t you going to tuck my napkin in?” Mitch teased.

Gillian danced across the floor on her toes, batting her eyes like a caricature of a ditzy waitress. “Certainly, sir. If you’d break your arm, I’d be happy to oblige.”

Patrick guffawed. “Being in this contraption does have some advantages.”

“What might those be?” Noreen asked her brother as she whisked through the room bearing her tray and Gillian’s.

“Noelle spread out my napkin nice and neat, and placed my spoon right in my hand. You could take some lessons, wench.”

“I’ll wench you,” his sister muttered. “If I start giving you the royal treatment you’ll be wanting to move in permanently.”

“Tell her, Mitch. A man would sooner be locked up in prison than spend his days lazing about in bed.”

Mitch clapped a hand over his heart. “I try never to argue with a pretty woman. But,” he drawled, letting Noreen preen a bit, “in this instance, I have to vouch for what Patrick says.”

“Enough baloney,” Noreen chided. “Eat.”

Mitch noted that the banter had cheered the older couple, who were obviously getting weary of each other’s constant company.

“This stew is excellent,” Gillian praised when everyone had fallen silent. “It’s even better than Bert’s, isn’t it, Mitch?”

“If you ever tell Bert I said so, you’ll be toast. But, yes, it’s great, and I’m a stew connoisseur.”

Noreen snapped Mitch’s leg with her napkin. “I know you’re trying to get back in my good graces. It might work, young man, but you’ll have to compliment my homemade bread, too.”

“Yum,” was all Mitch said.

“Well, that’ll do. Now, about your situation… I’d like to offer you and Gilly the use of my condominium in Sedona as a hideout.” She smiled fleetingly. “I suppose with all those words of flattery about my stew—which, I might add, one person in this room doesn’t appreciate— I’ll have to toss in my biweekly visits to the spa, as well. That, my dears, is pampering at its best.”

Mitch’s eyebrows shot straight up.

Leaning toward Patrick, Gillian whispered, “Where’s Sedona?”

“Are you kidding?” Mitch yelped. “Sedona is the heart of the Red Rock Country. In other words, one step down from heaven.”

Noreen had obviously decided earlier to make them the offer. She took a key out of her apron pocket, and a hand-drawn map. She passed both to Mitch.

He accepted them eagerly, and began at once to scan the map.

Gillian stiffened primly. “A few minutes ago, I made up my mind. I’m not running again,” she said, setting her tray aside.

Mitch glanced up and saw she was serious. “Gilly, this condo is the answer to a prayer. Sedona teems with tourists. You’ll be able to get lost in the crowd. It won’t be for more than a couple of weeks. With the information Patrick supplied, Ethan will nab those bastards in short order.”

“They’re slippery,” Patrick added. “The number-one question is, can your friend hold them for any length of time after he nabs them?”

“Long enough to place a bug in the ear of the New Orleans police. If there’s even one solid bit of proof that they’re involved in Daryl’s murder—” Mitch snapped his fingers “—they’ll be extradited like that.”

In spite of the fact that everyone in the room seemed to agree, Gillian stubbornly dug in her heels. “A minute ago we were all laughing,” she said wistfully. “I want to live like that again. I simply can’t face spending the rest of my life looking over one shoulder. I want what I haven’t had in a long time. A normal life. I won’t get that hiding in a borrowed condominium. Not only that, if the leader in all this has the power you and Patrick say he has, what’s to prevent him from sending another team of assassins after me? And then another?”

“She has a point,” Patrick admitted hesitantly.

Mitch raked his fingers through his hair. “Your plan would be to do what, Gilly?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.” She shrugged. “Why put anyone else at risk? What if I sent word that I wanted to meet with them?”

“Oh, great. So they could blow you away in a park or something?”

“No.” Gillian pursed her lips, and swung one foot rapidly, a sure sign she was irritated. “Surely they wouldn’t shoot me in…say, a busy coffee house.”

Patrick was already shaking his head. “Are you forgetting they gunned Daryl down in a residential district with neighbors looking on? And tried to run you down in a police parking lot, getting me by accident? I don’t like it. Furthermore, where would that get you? You don’t have what they want, so you have no bargaining chip.”

“Amen.” Mitch stood, looming over Gillian. “You aren’t dealing with rational human beings, Gilly. These people have no ethics.”

“Then I’ll just have to find the key. Maybe I missed it in my old car. I’ll explain to the man I sold it to. I’ll buy it back. If need be, we can tear the whole automobile apart.”

“Okay, I concede to that. We’ll buy it back and drive it to Sedona. A week, Gilly, give me a week to make some headway cracking this case. If seven days go by and Ethan and I haven’t made any progress, we talk about trying it your way.”

She nibbled on a fingernail. Tension all but crackled in the room. Ultimately, Noreen injected the deciding factor.

“Take a good look at how Mitch limps. Stop and consider how long Patrick’s been attached to those ropes and weights. And they’re walking in clover compared to Daryl. Ask yourself if a week is too much time to invest in your health and well-being. Your
future.
”

Gillian flipped a red curl out of her eyes. “Thank you. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Mitch, I’m going to listen to you and Patrick. After all, you two are experts in these matters. I think I’ve just been on the run for so many weeks, I’m ready to disregard caution and take back my life. Since you’re all sure that no one else will be injured on my account, I’ll agree to hibernate for a week.”

“A week.” Mitch slowly let out the breath he’d been holding. Although he and the seasoned cop swapped looks of dismay, they both pasted on sunny smiles for Gillian’s benefit.

“Noreen. Patrick.” Mitch took first one wrinkled hand, then the other. “I hate to eat and run, but I’ve got a lot of holes to plug. I’d better get started.”

“Noreen will see you out. If I think of anything else that’ll be of help, I’ll give you a jingle at the condo.”

Mitch snapped his fingers. “Glad you reminded me.” He pulled a card out of his wallet. “Ignore the title. The cell phone’s a good number and less traceable.”

Gillian kissed Patrick’s forehead and Noreen’s cheek. “You’ve been so kind. Daryl knew he was lucky to have you step in for his folks. I’m sorry we never managed to get together while he and I were married, and before…before…” Her voice broke.

“It’s all right, Noelle. Lord willing, we’ll all be around a week from now and we’ll see each other then. You two take care, okay?”

“We will, sir, and thanks for everything.” Mitch handed Gilly his handkerchief to blot her eyes as they walked out.

“Mitch,” Gillian murmured in the dark confines of the car some time later. They were well on their way back to Desert City. “If anything happens, if this doesn’t work out, I want you to know—”