Brett Battles - No Return

“Yes.”

“He also says that you and Miss Mendes are an item.”

An item. The term sounded ridiculous to Wes. “Yes.”

“And though you had separate rooms, you’ve stated you often shared the same room.”

Wes nodded. “Everything I told the officer earlier is accurate.”

“I’m sure it is,” Stevens said. “We’re just trying to be thorough. You understand.”

Wes looked around the room, and tried to relax.

“It says here that you went out for a little bit last night while Miss Mendes remained in your room. But when you got back, she was no longer there.”

“Again, correct.”

“Is there a reason you didn’t check her room at that time?”

“It was late. We had an early start this morning, so I thought I’d let her sleep.”

“So the first time you realized something was wrong was when she didn’t show up this morning?”

“Not exactly,” Wes said. “At first I just thought that maybe she’d overslept. I didn’t realize something was wrong until I went into her room.”

“With the spare key she’d given you.”

“Yes.”

Stevens nodded. “And where did you go last night?”

“I’m sorry?”

“When you left Miss Mendes here at the motel. Where did you go?”

“I wasn’t tired,” Wes said. He’d prepped for this question. “So I decided to go for a walk.”

“Do you do that often?”

“Sometimes.”

“Once a week? Twice a week? Every other night?”

“Just when I feel like it.”

Stevens eyed him for a moment. “All right. So you just went for a walk. How long?”

“Ended up being a few hours,” he said. Alison’s mention of security cameras earlier made him want to keep things close to reality time-wise in case the motel had them, too.

“That’s some walk. Where did you go?”

Wes shrugged. “Just around. Looking for places I used to know when I lived here.” He paused. “Ended up at a friend’s house, but he wasn’t there. Waited around for a while, but he didn’t show up.”

“So no one saw you?”

“Could have,” Wes said. “But if you’re asking me if I spoke to anyone, then no.”

“Who was the friend?” Detective Andrews asked. “Lars Andersen. We grew up together.”

“And his address?”

“It’s west of here. On Randall. I don’t remember the street number.”

“It is kind of curious, isn’t it?” Stevens said.

“What is?”

Stevens leaned back. “Just one more thing where you’re the common denominator.”

Wes looked from one detective to the other. “I told you before, the only thing I have to do with any of this is that I’m one of the victims. It’s asinine to be wasting time on this. Anna and Tony are in trouble. They need our help.”

“We don’t know for sure if they’re in trouble or not,” Andrews said. “If you had nothing to do with it, maybe they ran off together?”

Wes was momentarily speechless. “Are you kidding me?”

“It’s another possibility, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s not.”

“Mr. Stewart,” Stevens said, “there’s no reason to get upset.”

Wes almost said something more, but cut himself off. It was clear the police weren’t going to be any help. He needed to get this over with so he could find Anna and Tony himself.

“I’m sorry,” Wes said, then took a deep breath. “As far as I know, there was absolutely nothing between Anna and Tony. She and I have a very good relationship. She’s not the kind of person who would have been messing around with someone else behind my back. She’s the kind of person who would have just told me.”

“If that’s the case, then you’re a lucky man,” Stevens said.

“Yes. I am,” Wes said, not feeling lucky at all.

Everyone but Monroe was gathered in Dione’s room. According to Danny, the host of Close to Home was in her room on the phone with her agent.

Dione was just finishing up a call of her own as she let Wes in.

“Well, that’s official,” she said as soon as she’d hung up. “Production on our ‘High Desert’ episode is suspended.”

“It wasn’t like we could shoot anything right now anyway,” Danny said.

There were murmurs of ascent.

“Did the police tell you anything?” Dione asked Wes.

Wes shook his head. “Just asked me questions.”

“So now what?” Alison asked. “We just stay here and wait?”

“I think as long as we stay within city limits, we’re fine,” Dione said.

Alison folded her arms across her chest. “Well, that makes a huge difference.”

“I’m getting hungry,” Danny said. “Anyone interested in getting something to eat? Wes?”

“I think I’m going to pass,” Wes said. “I’ll check back with you all later.”

He started for the door, anxious to take a look at Lars’s papers.

“Where are you going?” Alison asked.

“I don’t know. Out. I just need some air.”

Alison started to get up. “I’ll go with you.”

“No. I kind of want to be alone. Okay?” His words came out sharper than he’d expected, so it wasn’t surprising Alison looked like she’d been slapped. He knew he should tell her he was sorry, but he just needed to get out of there.

He headed for his room, but when he got there he found it still full of police.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the cop at the door said. “I can’t let you in.”

“It’s my room.”

“The crime techs are still looking around. You’ll have to come back later.”

Dammit . Wes thought for a moment. “Can I at least grab a clean shirt? I hadn’t expected to spend all day in this one.”

The cop looked back into the room, then said, “Where is it?”

Wes pointed at the pile of clothes on the dresser. “It’d be easier if I just grabbed it.”

The cop frowned, then jerked his head toward the pile. “Make it quick.”

“Thank you.”

At the dresser, Wes made a show of going through the clothes. As he did, he moved a black T-shirt out so that it completely covered Lars’s papers. Then he bundled it all up and walked back across the room.

Though his instinct was to race out and find someplace where he could look at the pages undisturbed, he didn’t want to raise any red flags. At the door he asked the cop, “When do you think I can get back in for good?”

“I’d give it a few hours,” the officer said. “Probably around two.”

“Great.” Wes lifted the shirt. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome.”

Wes walked over to the Triumph and stuck the shirt and the pages into the storage compartment behind the seat, then hopped on. There was every chance Detective Andrews would see him on it, but he didn’t care. Not today.

As he pulled onto China Lake Boulevard his mind was so focused on his concern about Anna he almost didn’t notice the sedan that pulled out of the Desert Rose parking lot a few seconds after he did. It was dark blue and, except for the color, looked very much like one of the cars that had cornered Lars the night before.

Wes decreased his speed a little to see if the sedan would pass him, but it also slowed, and kept pace about ten car lengths back.

Wes could feel his anger growing. Forman again. Watching him. He was sure of it. But as much as he would have liked to confront the driver, he needed to know what was in Lars’s papers more.

He eyed the road ahead, all the while keeping tabs on the sedan.

Then, at the last possible second, he took a sharp right, and hit the accelerator. He checked his mirror again and grimaced. The sedan had made the turn behind him.

If he had any doubts he was being followed, they were gone now.