Harlan Coben - Just One Look

“I’m trying to get some information on Bob Dodd.”

“Who is this?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“You’re kidding, right? Look, sweetheart, I’m going to hang up now-”

“Wait a second. I can’t go into details, but if it turns into a major scoop-”

“Major scoop? Did you just say major scoop?”

“Yes.”

The man started cackling. “And what, you think I’m like Pavlov’s dog or something. Say major scoop and I’ll salivate.”

“I just need to know about Bob Dodd.”

“Why?”

“Because my husband is missing and I think it might have something to do with his murder.”

That made him pause. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No,” Grace said. “Look, I just need to find someone who knew Bob Dodd.”

The voice was softer now. “I knew him.”

“Did you know him well?”

“Well enough. What do you want?”

“Do you know what he was working on?”

“Look, lady, do you have information on Bob’s murder? Because if you do, forget the major scoop crap and tell the police.”

“Nothing like that.”

“Then what?”

“I was going through some old phone bills. My husband talked to Bob Dodd not long before he was murdered.”

“And your husband is?”

“I’m not going to tell you that. It’s probably just a coincidence.”

“But you said your husband is missing?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re concerned enough to be following up on this old phone call?”

“I’ve got nothing else,” Grace said.

There was a pause. “You’re going to have to do better than that,” the man said.

“I don’t think I can.”

Silence.

“Ah, what’s the harm? I don’t know anything. Bob didn’t confide in me.”

“Who would he confide in?”

“You can try his wife.”

Grace almost slapped herself in the head. How could she not have thought of something so obvious? Man, she was over her head here. “Do you know how I can locate her?”

“Not sure. I only met her, what, once, maybe twice.”

“What’s her name?”

“Jillian. That’s with a J, I think.”

“Jillian Dodd?”

“I guess.”

She wrote it down.

“There’s another person you might try. Bob’s father, Robert Senior. He must be in his eighties, but I think they were pretty close.”

“Do you have an address for him?”

“Yeah, he’s in some nursing home in Connecticut. We shipped Bob’s stuff there.”

“Stuff?”

“Cleaned out his desk myself. Put the stuff in a cardboard box for him.”

Grace frowned. “And you sent it to his father’s nursing home?”

“Yup.”

“Why not to Jillian, the wife?”

There was a brief pause. “Don’t know actually. I think she freaked after the murder. She was there, you know. Hold on a second, let me find the number of the nursing home. You can ask yourself.”

Charlaine wanted to sit next to the hospital bed.

You always see that in movies and on TV-doting wives sitting bedside, holding the hand of their beloved-but in this room there was no chair made for that. The one chair in the room was too low to the ground, the sort of thing that opened up into a sleeper, and yes, that might come in handy later, but now, right now, Charlaine just wanted to sit and hold her husband’s hand.

She stood instead. Every once in a while she sat on the bed’s edge, but she feared that might disturb Mike. So she’d stand again. And maybe that was good. Maybe that felt a little like penance.

The door behind her opened. Her back was to it. She did not bother turning around. A man’s voice, one she hadn’t heard before, said, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“You were lucky.”

She nodded. “I feel like I won the lottery.”

Charlaine reached up and touched the bandage on her forehead. A few stitches and possible slight concussion. That was all she had suffered during the accident. Scrapes, bruises, a few stitches.

“How is your husband?”

She did not bother replying. The bullet had hit Mike in the neck. He still had not regained consciousness, though the doctors had informed her that they believed “the worst was over,” whatever that meant.

“Mr. Sykes is going to live,” the man behind her said. “Because of you. He owes you his life. A few more hours in that tub…”

The man-she assumed that he was yet another police officer-let his voice drift off. She finally turned and faced him. Yep, a cop. In uniform nonetheless. The patch on his arm said he was from the Kasselton Police Department.

“I already talked to the Ho-Ho-Kus detectives,” she said.

“I know that.”

“I really don’t know any more, Officer…?”

“Perlmutter,” he said. “Captain Stuart Perlmutter.”

She turned back toward the bed. Mike had his shirt off. His belly rose and fell as if it were being inflated at a gas station. He was overweight, Mike, and the act of breathing, just breathing, seemed to put undue stress on him. He should have taken better care of his health. She should have insisted on it.

“Who’s with your kids?” Perlmutter asked.

“Mike’s brother and sister-in-law.”

“Anything I can get you?”

“No.”

Charlaine changed her grip on Mike’s hand.

“I was going over your statement.”

She did not reply.

“Do you mind if I ask you a few follow-up questions?”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Charlaine said.

“Pardon?”

“I live in Ho-Ho-Kus. What does Kasselton have to do with it?”

“I’m just helping out.”

She nodded, though she had no idea why. “I see.”

“According to your statement, you were looking out your bedroom window when you saw the hide-a-key on Mr. Sykes’s back path. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s why you called the police?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know Mr. Sykes?”

She shrugged, keeping her eyes on that rising and falling stomach. “To say hello.”

“You mean like a neighbor?”

“Yes.”

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

“I didn’t. I mean, I never really talked to him.”

“Just the neighborly hellos.”

She nodded.

“And the last time you did that?”

“Waved hello?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know. A week ago maybe.”

“I’m a little confused, Mrs. Swain, so maybe you can help me out here. You saw a hide-a-key on the path and just decided to call the police-”

“I also saw movement.”

“Pardon?”

“Movement. I saw something move in the house.”

“Like someone was inside?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know it wasn’t Mr. Sykes?”

She turned around. “I didn’t. But I also saw the hide-a-key.”

“Lying there. In plain sight.”

“Yes.”

“I see. And you put two and two together?”

“Right.”

Perlmutter nodded as if suddenly understanding. “And if Mr. Sykes had been the one to use the hide-a-key, he wouldn’t have just tossed it onto the path. Was that your thinking?”

Charlaine said nothing.

“Because, see, that’s what’s weird to me, Mrs. Swain. This guy who broke into the house and assaulted Mr. Sykes. Why would he have left the hide-a-key out in plain sight like that? Wouldn’t he have hidden it or taken it inside with him?”

Silence.

“And there’s something else. Mr. Sykes sustained his injuries at least twenty-four hours before we found him. Do you think the hide-a-key was out on that path the whole time?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t. It’s not like you stare at his backyard or anything.”