End Game (Will Robie #5)(41)

“JC was my friend. I called him from rehab and told him about what Clément had said. Next thing I know, this Walton guy shows up.”

“So presumably Parry talked to Walton and asked him to come and talk to you about it?” said Robie.

“Yeah, I guess so. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“What about your sister?” pointed out Robie. “She’s the law out here.”

“I . . . I didn’t think she’d believe me.”

Robie studied her and decided she was telling the truth. “Did you tell Walton what Clément had told you?”

“Yes, everything.”

“And what did he say to that?”

“That he would look into it.”

“We know he only visited you once while you were in rehab. Did you talk to him again by phone?”

“No. And then I got out of rehab and then, I guess, Mr. Walton had disappeared.”

Robie looked at Reel.

“Parry has disappeared too,” he told Holly.

“Oh shit. Do you, I mean, do you think I’m . . . ?” She couldn’t seem to finish.

“In danger? If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say, yeah, you are.”

“Where do you plan to go with Luke Miller?” asked Reel.

“California. Start over. I know I’ve screwed up big-time, but I graduated from college early, and I’m still only twenty-five. I want to get my master’s and Ph.D. at Stanford, prove myself again. I want to teach.”

“Where’s Luke now?”

“The police released him this morning. We’re supposed to hook up tonight and then head out.”

“Hook up where?”

“There’s this place we used to go to. We’re the only ones who know about it.”

“Like last night, you mean?” said Robie.

Holly looked indecisive. “You’re really scaring me.”

“Then I’m really doing my job,” countered Robie.

Reel said, “And if you really want to start over, do you want to take Luke with you for the ride?”

“I told you, he’s not a bad guy. Hell, he has marketing and computer science degrees from Northwestern and has designed mobile phone apps. He just got kind of burned out like me, came out to the middle of nowhere, and basically wasted years of his life. He’s going to get on with a really successful company out in Silicon Valley when we get to California. He’s already interviewed and everything and they made him an offer. He didn’t tell them what he’s been doing out here, of course. He’s only been hanging out with those idiots for a few months anyway. He’s never even been arrested. He’s going to support us while I go to school and get back on my feet. We’re going to get married and we want to have kids.”

Robie said, “Well, that sounds like a plan. I never would have guessed he was like that just by looking at him. But, like a book cover, you shouldn’t judge.”

Holly said pleadingly, “I have to get to Luke. And I have to get the hell out of here. Can you help me do that? We just want to have a life together.”

Robie looked at Reel. “Hey, people in love, right? They deserve a shot.”

Reel said nothing to this. She just stared stonily at Robie.

He returned his gaze to Holly.

She said tearfully, “So you can help me?”

“Yeah, I think we can,” he answered.





CHAPTER





26


The night was as dark as it was going to get. There was no ambient light here, which meant it should have been an amazing night for stargazing. However, a storm system had moved in over the Rockies and marched its way to eastern Colorado. The rain had not started yet, but it was not far off.

Robie, Reel, and Holly Malloy sat in their Yukon, its lights off, and watched the road. There was a shack up here, long abandoned, that Luke and Holly had used as a meeting place. It was remote, just like everything was remote here. One road in and one road out.

Robie, in the driver’s seat, looked back at Holly in the second row of seats. Just beyond that, in the rear cargo area was their hard-sided case with the weaponry they had picked up after landing in Colorado.

“I hope he’s not coming on the motorcycle, or else you two are going to be drowned before you get to Denver.”

“He rented a car. He sold his bike.”

Robie nodded, but something was nagging at him. They had gotten here a couple hours early just in case.

But still.

“Were you two planning to leave that night at the B and B?”

“Yes.”

“But you took time out to have sex? How stupid was that? You should have just hit the road. Then they never would have been able to find you.”

“I’m not sure about that. We would have for sure run into them on the way out of town.”

“It was still stupid,” said Robie.

“But we’d never been to that place before. And Luke said no one knew that he was leaving. We met up at the B and B because no one would expect us to go there. It’s been shut down for over a year now.”

“But still,” persisted Robie.

Holly looked sheepish. “Shit, Luke got horny, okay? He’s a guy, what can I say? And he was insistent that they had no idea where he was. So I thought it was okay. It wasn’t like it was going to take long,” she added, her gaze averted from Robie.