“Doesn’t matter where I am,” he said. “What are you doing on my boat?”
“Why don’t you come here and we’ll talk about it?”
“No, I want to talk about it now. I’m a suspect? That’s what this is about?”
“Look, Terry, don’t make this more complicated than it has to be. Why don’t you-”
“Is there an arrest warrant? Just answer me that.”
“No, Terry, there isn’t.”
“But I am a suspect.”
“Terry, why didn’t you tell me you have a black Cherokee?”
McCaleb was stunned as he suddenly realized how things fit together with him in the middle.
“You never asked. Listen to what you are saying, what you are thinking. Would I get involved in all of this, the investigation, bring the bureau in, all of it, if I was the shooter? Are you serious?”
“You got to our only witness.”
“What?”
“You got to Noone. You got inside the investigation and got to the only witness. You hypnotized him, Terry. Now he’s no good to us. The one person who might have been able to make the ID and we lost him. He-”
She stopped as there was a click as another phone was picked up.
“McCaleb? This is Nevins. What’s your location?”
“Nevins, I’m not talking to you. You’ve got your head up your ass. I’m only-”
“Listen to me, I’m trying to be civil. We can do this easy and quiet or we can go big time. You decide, my friend. You have to come in and we’ll talk about it and let the chips fall.”
McCaleb’s mind quickly went over the facts. Nevins and the others had come to the same conclusion that he had come to. They had made the blood work connection. The fact that McCaleb was a direct beneficiary of the Torres killing made him a suspect. He imagined them running his name on the computer and coming up with the registration of the Cherokee. It was probably the piece that sent them over the top. They got a search warrant and went to the boat.
McCaleb felt the cold hand of fear clasp his neck. The intruder from the night before. It began to dawn on him that it wasn’t a question of what he had wanted. It was
“Nevins, I’ll come in. But you tell me first, what have you got there? What have you found?”
“No, Terry, we don’t play it like that. You come in and then we talk about all of this.”
“I’m hanging up, Nevins. Last chance.”
“Don’t go in any post offices, McCaleb. Your picture’s going to be on the wall. As soon as we get the package together.”
McCaleb hung up, held his hand on the phone and leaned his forehead against it. He wasn’t sure what was going on or what to do. What had they found? What had the intruder hidden in the boat?
“You okay?”
He jerked around and it was the girl with the pierced nose and lip.
“Fine. You?”
“I am now. I just had to talk to somebody.”
“I know the feeling.”
She left the phone alcove then and McCaleb picked up the receiver again and dropped another quarter. Buddy picked up on half a ring.
“All right, listen,” McCaleb said. “I want you to come get me. But you’re not going to be able to just walk out of there.”
“How come? It’s a free-”
“Because I just talked to them and they know someone tipped me that they were there. So this is what I want you to do. Take off your shoes and put your keys and wallet inside them. Then get your laundry basket and stick your shoes in it and cover them up with clothes. Then carry the basket out of there and make-”
“I don’t have any laundry in the basket, Terry. I did laundry this morning, before any of these people showed up.”
“Fine, Buddy. Take some clothes-clean clothes-and put them in the basket so it looks like you’ve got dirty clothes. Hide your shoes. Make it look like you are only going over to the laundry. Don’t close the hatch on your boat and make sure you are carrying four quarters in your hand. They’ll stop you but if you play it right, they’ll believe you and let you go. Then get in your car and come get me.”
“They might follow me.”
“No. They probably won’t even watch you once they let you go to the laundry. Maybe you should go to the laundry first, then to your car.”
“Okay. So where do I find you?”
McCaleb didn’t hesitate. He had grown to trust Lockridge. Besides, he knew he could take precautions on his end.
After hanging up, McCaleb called Tony Banks and told him that he would be coming by. Banks said he would be there.
