Бентли Литтл - The Disappearance

“I’m still going over there,” Gary said.

Williams nodded. “I thought you might say that. And, frankly, I’m glad. I told Sheriff Stewart that there was every possibility you would not be deterred, and he promised he’d look the other way. No matter what you might try.” The detective paused. “I hate to say this—and I’ll deny I ever did—but it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if you got into trouble somehow and did something that required the sheriff to come to your assistance. If you find Ms. Madison or Ms. Daniels, that is.”

“What about you?” Stacy asked. “This is your case. Aren’t you going to come?”

“No.” Williams looked embarrassed.

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated.”

Gary didn’t care why, didn’t care whether it was lack of money, a jurisdictional problem or something else entirely. Like Brian, he was glad the detectives weren’t coming along. They’d been no help at all up to this point, and the idea of them hogging the glory and claiming success after their mishandling of the investigation into Joan’s disappearance set his teeth on edge. Let the local law enforcement guys in Texas get all the credit. It didn’t matter to him, as long as Joan was free and safe.

Williams copied something onto a yellow Post-it and handed it to Gary. “Here’s the sheriff’s direct number. You can keep in contact with him at all times. If you have any problems, if anything happens that you can’t handle, the sheriff’s men will be there.”

“Thanks,” Gary said.

“All right. Let’s go.” Brian was already walking away from the detective’s desk toward the stairwell.

It was clear that Williams had more to say and that Stacy wanted to stay and listen, but time was wasting, and Gary started after Brian. “Yeah. I need to get moving.”

Reyn and Stacy followed behind them, but Gary didn’t turn to look back until they were on the first floor. It gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction to ignore the police, and his only regret was that Tucker hadn’t been there as well. The other detective would have gotten much angrier, and it would have been great to just blow him off.

Still, he was in an odd position. Despite Stacy’s fears of vigilante justice, Williams and the sheriff in Texas had basically signed off on exactly that, encouraging him to go after Joan on his own, though he had absolutely no idea how. On the one hand, he resented the idea of the police jumping on the bandwagon this late in the game and suddenly getting involved when they’d been completely useless until now. On the other hand, he resented the fact that they were opting out on some technicality and leaving everything to him when he was in way over his head.

Nothing was working out the way it should.

And he was still suspicious of the fact that Ape Arms had provided the address so readily. He and his partner had been sent out here to California to capture Gary again—he was sure of it—and the way they’d practically invited him to go after Joan made him sure that his arrival was expected and that a trap had been set for him.

The uniformed officer at the desk buzzed them out, and they stepped through the security gate and through the lobby. Outside, the air felt cool and good.

“We’re renting a car this time,” Brian announced. “I don’t trust any of your raggedy-ass jalopies. Mine, either, for that matter.”

Gary shook his head. “I can’t. I’m still off the grid. My credit card won’t work.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Brian told him. “I have a MasterCard that I never use. I think there’s a balance of zero on it.”

“When the bill comes in, we’ll split it,” Reyn said. “Three ways. Me, you and Gary.”

“Four ways,” Stacy stated. Reyn turned toward her. “I’m contributing, too,” she said.

“I already said we are.”

“ I’m going to.”

“I wasn’t trying to disenfranchise you. I just think of us as one entity, one unit. I figured that would be our contribution.”

“You’re a cheap bastard who wants Gary and Brian to pay more.” She looked at Gary. “Four ways.”

He didn’t know how to express his gratitude. Not only for helping to defray expenses but for offering to come along in the first place. He honestly hadn’t expected any of them to accompany him. Yes, they were his friends, but they’d already gone far above and beyond. Besides, this wasn’t their fight.

Looking from one to another, he actually started to tear up.

Reyn clapped a hand on his back. “We’ll get her, don’t worry.”

“Everybody get a change of clothes, toiletries and whatever,” Stacy suggested as they reached the car.

“I’m good,” Brian told her.

She ignored him. “We’ll meet back at… where? Gary’s?”

“You’re forgetting something,” Reyn said. “It’s nearly midnight. All of the rental car places are closed.”

“Then we’ll—” Gary began.

Reyn cut him off. “We’ll go back to our rooms, catch a few hours of much-needed sleep, then head out bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning.”

“No.” Gary shook his head in firm disagreement.

“Do you want a repeat of last time? Breaking down in Asswipe, Arizona, while we spend hours waiting for some Homer to find the part that’ll fix our alternator? We get some sleep, wait until morning, then rent a car and drive nonstop until we’re there.”

“We could fly,” Brian suggested.

“Yes!” Gary said.

Brian already had his BlackBerry out and was moving his fingers over the screen, tapping the keypad. They waited patiently while he accessed different sites and saved specific information. At the conclusion of it all, he looked up and said, “The earliest flight we could get would be a Southwest leaving LA for Austin tomorrow night at eight. The problem is, we’d have to rent a car for the rest of the trip, which would be a good four hours more. But since we’d be landing in the middle of the night, we’d have the same problem we have right now: we’d have to wait until morning for the car. And find a place to sleep.”

There was no way Gary was going to wait around all day tomorrow until a night flight—that could very well be delayed—took them to Austin, Texas, where they would have to wait for ten hours for a rental car. His muscles were tense again, and he had to force himself to unclench his fists. “Okay. We’ll go in the morning.”

“And get some sleep,” Reyn said.

Reluctantly, Gary nodded. “And get some sleep.”

They were on the road in a new silver Nissan Altima by nine thirty the next morning. Stacy had brought textbooks and schoolwork to keep her occupied on the trip. Reyn and Brian were lugging their laptops, Brian also bringing along his ever-present BlackBerry, while Gary had packed… nothing. It was stupid and shortsighted, he knew. They were going to be in the car for a long time, and a book or a game would have helped while away the hours—only he knew that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything extraneous. Joan was the only thing on his mind, and nothing could distract him from thinking about where they were going and what they were going to do when they got there.

He hadn’t even brought a weapon, and that felt like a mistake to him the second they left. He remembered all too clearly that battle-to-the-death he’d had with the gas station attendant in New Mexico, and that should have taught him a lesson: he ought to be prepared at all times. A sledgehammer was not always going to be nearby when he needed it.

“The sun barfed heat onto the desert,” Brian said to no one in particular as they passed one of the Palm Springs exits.

Stacy frowned at him. “What?”