John Lutz - Mister X

He entered the office and caught a glimpse of Addie over by the coffee brewer, but he didn't look directly at her. Fedderman was at his desk, going over something in a file folder. Pearl was seated at her computer, staring past it at Quinn. There was a gleam of curiosity in her eyes. Pearl sensing that something had shifted in some subtle way, but she didn't yet know what, how, or why.

"Anything?" Quinn asked. His standard question.

"Nobody else has been murdered and had her nipples cut off," Fedderman said. "That's the good news."

"And the bad news?"

"Everything else."

Both women were silent.

"I had Sellers wait till tomorrow morning's edition before planting the info about Keller's presence in the city, and at the Belington," Quinn said. "She promised to do it subtly enough that it won't seem an obvious trap."

"Can she bring that off?" Addie asked.

"She's an artist at that kind of thing," Quinn said. "She-"

He was interrupted by the door flying open and banging against the wall.

Lisa Bolt staggered in. Her left eye was swollen, and she was limping with one foot cocked out at an odd angle.

Fedderman jumped up and kept her from falling. He led her to his desk chair and sat her down.

Quinn had picked up the phone and was about to peck out 911. Lisa shook her head violently from side to side and held up a hand in a signal for him to stop.

He placed the receiver back in its cradle.

"I'm not hurt that bad," she said. "Nothing's broken. Not like the accident."

But the way she was wincing and holding herself, it obviously pained her to talk.

"You've been beaten," Quinn said.

She nodded and then whispered something no one understood.

Quinn moved closer and bent low so he could hear. She turned her head so her lips were close to his ear.

"Archer."

"You mean Keller," Quinn said.

Lisa shook her head no again. Her breathing was ragged. "He's here in New York, been here a while, under the name Archer. You called him on his cell phone thinking he was in Detroit. He's been here, and he must have found me somehow, maybe followed me from the hospital."

Addie arrived with a glass of water and handed it to Quinn, who held it in front of Lisa. Her throat worked noisily as she took half a dozen swallows, spilling most of the glass's contents onto her blouse. Quinn saw what might have been specks of blood on her blouse along with the water.

"Take your time," he said, still holding the water close. "Tell us about it when you're ready."

She pushed the glass away. "He approached me on the street near my hotel. I didn't recognize him at first, but Chrissie'd told me about him, shown me some of the old family photos."

"You're sure it was Keller?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah. No doubt about it. He's been in New York trying to find Chrissie, and he figured I'd know where she is. He didn't believe me when I told him I didn't know, so he tried scaring me into telling him. Then he tried to beat it out of me, kept hitting me and asking over and over."

"You told him?" Quinn asked.

"I couldn't. I didn't know Chrissie's whereabouts. Still don't know. Keller's afraid that if she's taken alive, not only will his dual identities come out, but so will his darker secrets. He'll be professionally, politically, and personally ruined."

She made a fish mouth and strained to move her head forward. Quinn tilted the glass so she could slurp down more water, feeling some of it slosh coolly over his thumb.

"I'm sure Keller intends to kill Chrissie," Lisa said. "He has to. She's the only eyewitness to what he did back in Ohio. He wants to short-circuit any investigation or testimony that will substantiate Tiffany's childhood molestation."

"Makes sense," Fedderman said, giving Quinn a look.

Quinn didn't have to be told. "While you were shadowing our investigation so you could get prior information to Chrissie, Keller was shadowing you so he could locate Chrissie."

"Right," Lisa said. "I knew somebody was tailing me, but I didn't know who. It wasn't a pro, so I ruled out anybody here, and Vitali or Mishkin. I wouldn't have known I was being shadowed at all if it was someone like that. I also had no idea what my shadow wanted."

"But now you do."

"Yeah. I'm sure I always shook him; it was easy. And I never led him to Chrissie. He must have gotten frustrated and decided to confront me. But I couldn't give him what he wanted."

"Of course not." Quinn patted her arm.

Lisa drew in a deep, harsh breath and braced herself with her hands on the chair arms. She stood up, swayed, and then remained steady. She smoothed her clothes, brushing futilely at the stains on her blouse.

"I had to come here and tell you," she said. "I thought you should know about Archer putting one over on you."

"Keller," Quinn said.

"Whatever. Long as we're talking about the same creep. Long as you know his real purpose is to see that Chrissie's killed before she can talk about him. About the past. He'll tell you he has her best interests at heart, that he wants to keep her safe. But he's lying."

"Everyone seems to be," Quinn said. "Are you sure you don't know where Chrissie is?"

Lisa's blood-rimmed eyes met and held Quinn's gaze. "I do not know."

"And we believe you."

She shuffled toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Addie asked in alarm.

"My hotel. Gotta rest."

"You shouldn't be alone," Quinn said.

"I'll be all right. Archer-Keller-finally believed me when I said I didn't know where Chrissie was. In my job, I've been beat up before. I'd know if I was hurt bad. If I just get some rest I'll be okay. Company's the last thing I need."

"We can't force you," Fedderman said.

Lisa managed a painful grin. "I always hear that, then damned if somebody doesn't try."

"If you say you're not badly hurt, we'll take your word for it," Quinn said. "But at least let one of us drive you to your hotel."

"No, I'll take a cab."

"We can call one."

"They're easy to hail down at the corner."

Quinn knew that was true. Lisa could walk to the corner, and within minutes she'd be gone. "That address you gave the hospital," he said, "it isn't accurate."

"I was afraid of whoever was shadowing me. It turned out I was right to be scared."

"You surely were. What's your hotel?"

"The Middleton Towers on Eighth Avenue."

She made her way to the door, moving normally now except for a slight limp. She turned and smiled. "Thanks, all of you. And I'm sorry for any trouble I've caused you."

A few seconds after she went out the office door, Quinn heard the street door open and close.

"Follow her, Pearl," he said. "And do a fine job of it."

"Always do," Pearl said, and went to the door and then stood for a few seconds, playing out some time and distance for Lisa Bolt.

When Pearl was gone, Quinn phoned the Middleton Towers and asked to be connected to Lisa Bolt's room.

The desk clerk told him there was no Lisa Bolt registered.

Quinn hung up the phone and gave a grin that was more of a grimace. "Is there no one in this screwed-up world who isn't a liar?" he asked the room in general.

"No one," Addie said.

True to her word, Lisa limped to the corner and waved a cab over to the curb. By that time, Pearl was sitting behind the steering wheel in the unmarked with the engine running.

Traffic was heavy, and from time to time Pearl lost sight of the cab. Once she thought she'd lost it completely. But she'd memorized its number, and after easing the car around vehicles stalled at a traffic signal, she was able to find the cab again. It was traffic-locked as she was.

The familiar silhouette of Lisa's head and shoulders was still in the cab's rear window. Lisa didn't once turn around to check and see if she'd been followed. Pearl guessed the beleaguered woman figured nothing worse could happen to her and was all out of apprehension. That could happen sometimes. It was actually a kind of surrender.