And then it all came flooding back. Usually he was faster on the uptake, but his memory was vivid now as he remembered spotting the elusive Dr. Eisenhower in the parking lot as he was heading toward his room. He’d walked right up to her, pulled his piece without thinking and that had been stupid. There were two of them in the Fred Meyer store. He should’ve scoped out the situation.
But he hadn’t.
And that other woman had gotten the drop on him.
He limped to the bed, head a muddle. He assumed whatever drug he’d been shot with was messing with his thinking ability, because instead of calling it in, he was actually thinking about doing as he’d promised. Going home and forgetting about the two women.
But he banished that thought after he’d called Peeps.
“ Where are you?” his partner asked him without even saying hello.
“ At the Marriott Suites, in Medford, came back for a shower.”
“ You’ll never believe what’s happened.” Peeps sounded like a kid who’d just gotten what he’d wanted for his birthday.
“ Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“ Remember I told you Manny Wayne and I were friends?”
“ Yeah,” Mouledoux said.
“ He wants to meet you and trust me, you want to meet him.” Now Peeps Friday sounded even more enthusiastic, as if that were possible. “He’s been on top of this Isadora Eisenhower thing from the get go and now he’s got the means to catch her.”
Oh Christ, Peeps, what have you done, Mouledoux thought, but instead he said, “Tell me.”
“ We’ve got her granddaughter and her friend up at Mansfield’s place.” He sounded smug now and Mouledoux didn’t like where this conversation was going.
“ And why are you where you are and not at the station?” Mouledoux was afraid of the answer.
“ Because Manny Wayne just made me rich as God and he wants to do the same for you.” There it was. Peeps had sold out, was trying to trade Eisenhower for money. Obviously, Mansfield Wayne was chasing the Fountain of Youth. He had half a mind to tell Peeps just what he thought about him and his pal Mansfield, but he held his tongue.
“ Why me? What does he want with me?” he said, instead.
“ Because, with the exception of me and Manny’s hit woman Lila Booth, nobody else knows about what happened to Eisenhower and Manny wants to keep it that way.”
“ Can Wayne hear you now?” Mouledoux thought so, but he wanted to be sure.
“ Yes, he didn’t want me to tell you at first, but I told him you’re our kind of person, that you’d come on board.”
“ What’s he offering?” Mouledoux said, remembering the dead doctors and that dead lawyer. Maybe it wasn’t Eisenhower who’d killed them. If Peeps thought he was on easy street, maybe was dead wrong.
“ More money than you ever dreamed of and an eternity to spend it.”
Again, he thought about telling Peeps where to shove it, but he was a cop and he needed to see it through to the end. And, if at all possible, he needed to keep his word to Eisenhower’s protector, who must be this Lila Booth hit woman Peeps just told him about. But again he said the opposite of what he’d wanted to.
“ Tell Mr. Wayne I’m his man.” He bit his lower lip. He hated betraying his badge, even if only in a lie. “After all, who wouldn’t want to live forever.” He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he was going to get those girls free, without involving the cops or the feds. He’d given his word to this Lila Booth person and Dr. Eisenhower and when he gave his word, he kept it. Besides, Peeps was his partner. The last thing Mouledoux wanted was to see him arrested, tried and sent to prison. He sighed. He’d promised those women he’d stay out of it, but under the circumstances, he reasoned, they’d forgive his continued involvement.
“ That’s my boy,” Peeps said. “I knew we could count on you. How fast can you get up here?”
“ I’m five hours away, maybe a bit more.” He looked at his watch, 4:30. “Give me the address and I should be getting there around 11:00 or so.”
“ Great, let me put Manny on the phone.”
Showered and rested, Lila sipped at her tea. It wasn’t the Earl Grey she was used to, but in a pinch Lipton would do. She thought about her future as she took a second sip. This was the life; a wooden rocker in front of a fireplace, tea with cream, well, evaporated milk, but it was a good substitute, and not a care in the world.
Her house in Reno was secure, but even if it weren’t, there wasn’t anything there she couldn’t walk away from. Her savings were stashed away in Switzerland and the Caymans and that’s really all she needed. That, and the passports in her bag. With those, she could travel anywhere, start over anywhere.
She got out of the rocker.
“ Okay, I’m going down to the lake.”
“ We’ll be here.” Black was engrossed in a camera magazine. She said she’d taken up photography a year or so ago and was getting good at it, but she hadn’t felt she’d had enough years left to be great. Now, it looks like she did.
“ You wanna come, Dr. Eisenhower?”
“ No, but can you take the dog? He could use a little exercise. And for the last time, call me Izzy.”
“ Alright, Izzy.” Then, “Are you sure you don’t wanna come, a walk in the fresh air might do you some good, might clear your head.”
“ My head’s pretty clear. Besides, I want to keep trying my son’s. I’m starting to get worried.” She’d called several times, despite the fact that the voicemail message said to call after 6:00. She was worried and that worried Lila, because Izzy Eisenhower was one cool customer.
“ You got twenty minutes. If he doesn’t answer then, then you can start to worry. Right now, it’s pointless.” She went to the door, turned to the dog. “Coming?”
At the lake, Lila reveled in the solitude as Hunter ran ahead and she wondered what it would be like, to be old, thinking your life was almost over, then to wind up with a second chance. Izzy made the most of her first go round, but it looked like Black maybe hadn’t.
She hadn’t either, but fortunately she didn’t have to wait till she was at death’s door to turn her life around. She’d done some bad things in her life, but that was all over now. No more killing. When winter was through, she’d find someplace to settle and she’d do something worthwhile with her life, make something of the new person she planned on becoming.
“ Lila!” Izzy’s shout sounded desperate, distressed. Lila started for the cabin at a full run. The dog did, too. She saw Izzy and Black on the front porch. They looked okay. A quick look around, everything seemed normal, no black Suburbans. Lila slowed to a jog. It must’ve been the phone call. Amy Eisenhower must be in some kind of trouble.
At the cabin, Lila caught her breath, said, “Your granddaughter?”
“ They have her,” Izzy said. “I have to go.”
“ Tell me.”
“ When my son got home from the prison-”
“ Whoa, stop!” Lila said. “The prison?”
“ He’s the warden.”
“ At the prison in Susanville?” Lila said.
“ Yes.”
“ Ah, okay, go on.”
“ When he got home, he found his wife tied up in the bedroom with a note telling him to have me call Mansfield Wayne and nobody else if I want my granddaughter back.”
“ Of course you called,” Lila said.
“ He says if I come up to his home outside of Reno and give him some of my blood, that he’ll let her go. He says he won’t harm me, Amy or her friend. All he wants is some of my blood.”
“ He’s lying.”
“ I know, but I have to go.”
“ I’ll get my gear.” Lila went inside, got her duster from the closet where she’d hung it, put it on. In the bedroom that had been assigned her, she got the dart gun and the envelope with her cash and papers out of her bag. She took her passports and additional driver’s licenses out of the envelope, put them in the bag, then she zipped it up, slung it over her shoulder. She found a pen on the nightstand, she took the pink slip to the Jag out of the envelope, signed it, put it back in the envelope.