Michael said, “You need me here?”
Guidry shook his head and Michael walked toward his kitchen door. He was flinging his punching hand from his wrist to get the blood circulating, but otherwise he looked as if he had more important things on his mind.
Guidry said, “What’s your connection to the girl?”
The marshal looked up at me as if he’d prefer not to speak in front of me, then made a what-the-hell shrug. “She was a witness to a drive-by killing in L.A. Right now she’s the only witness.”
Guidry said, “You’ve got her in the Witness Protection Program?”
“That’s correct.”
Guidry said, “I guess that explains why you’re paying an exorbitant rate to keep her at the Key Royale.”
“It’s the safest place we could find. Guards at the gate, lots of security on the premises. Room service, maid service, unlimited movies on big-screen TV. It wasn’t going to be forever, just until the trial next month.”
With a surly glance at me, he said, “She stayed there until this woman and her friend interfered. After that, I believe she has been sneaking away. With all the security there, I don’t know how she managed it, but I suspect she’s left more than once.”
Guidry said, “The manager at the Key Royale says they gave you a special off-season rate.”
The man and I both stared at Guidry. I was surprised he’d got the Key Royale people to give up a detail like that, and I suppose the marshal was surprised they’d talked at all.
The man rubbed his face again. “One kid is more trouble than an entire Mafia family. Kids don’t understand the danger they’re in, they don’t have any self-discipline, you have to watch them every minute or they’ll call their old friends and give away their location.”
I said, “Did Jaz call those boys who’re looking for her?”
His face sagged. “I didn’t know any boys were looking for her.”
I said, “Three boys came in a house where I was working. One of them was named Paulie. They asked for Jaz by name.”
Guidry said, “We got latents from that boy and identified him. Name was Paul Vanderson, one of the three charged with the drive-by killing in L.A.”
The marshal said, “She wouldn’t have called them. She’s scared to death of them.”
I said, “I think she gave somebody a description of the honeymoon cottage she was staying in at the Key Royale. The boys just went looking for a house that fit the description.”
The man scowled. “I gave her a phone so she could call me if she needed anything, but I took it away from her because she was making calls to L.A. She claimed she only called a girl from her school, but if she told where she was, the girl could have spread it around.”
I thought about going over and kicking him. I said, “What is it with you government people? Are you all dead from the neck up? You leave a girl that young alone, of course she’ll call a friend! And of course the friend will talk about it! What were you thinking?”
For the first time, he looked faintly ashamed. “Look, terrorism is the focus now, and we’re spread all over the place. We don’t have the personnel to babysit teenagers. In the beginning, we assigned a female marshal to her, and the two of them holed up in a hotel room in Kansas. But the trial date got changed, that marshal got reassigned, and we brought her here where she’d have more freedom. I know it’s not an ideal situation, but I checked on her twice a day. I brought her comic books and candy bars. I even took her to Target a couple of times for shampoo and stuff. It wasn’t like she was in jail.”
“Couldn’t you have put her with a family someplace?”
He met my angry glare with dull eyes. “Until the murder trial is over, putting her with a family would expose them to grave danger.”
I said, “What about Jaz’s parents? Why aren’t they with her?”
“Her mother split when she was a baby, father took off a few years later. She lived with a grandmother, but the old lady died a few months ago. She was in a foster home when she saw the shooting. Everybody on the street scattered, nobody will talk. She’s the only one we’ve got.”
His voice was gruff, but tension around his lips said he felt sadness along with his frustration and anger.
Guidry said, “How long has she been missing?”
“She wasn’t at the hotel when I went to check on her last night. I checked again this morning and nothing had changed.”
His eyes shifted to me, as if he still hoped I knew where Jaz was.
Guidry said, “Could she have run away?”
“Her things were all there. If she’d run away, she would have taken her personal things.”
Guilt was pouring over me like hot oil. I hadn’t encouraged Hetty to give Jaz sanctuary, but I hadn’t discouraged it, either. With the best of intentions, Hetty and I had given Jaz an escape from boredom and loneliness, but the escape may have caused her to be killed.
I said, “I followed Jaz yesterday morning when she was on her way back to the hotel. She ran into the nature preserve behind the hotel, right at a spot where a Hummer was waiting at the curb. I think the guys from L.A. were in that Hummer. If I hadn’t been on the street, they would have grabbed Jaz then. They probably went back yesterday afternoon and caught her when she was on the way back to Hetty’s house.”
We all fell silent, each of us knowing the worst might already have happened.
The marshal took out a card and handed it to Guidry. “We’ll cooperate with any local investigation involving one of our charges, Lieutenant, but I doubt you’ll find the girl alive.” Bitterly, he added, “Without her, those guys will walk.”
With a barely civil nod to me, he walked to his car and drove away.
I still didn’t know his name and I still didn’t like him. On the other hand, he had tried to keep Jaz safe. At least he got credit for that.
I said, “How did you know he was here?”
“I didn’t. I came to talk to you about something else.”
Even with my heart heavy because of Jaz, a little bubble like a champagne blip rose through the sorrow.
He said, “I’d like to talk to you about the murder of Victor Salazar.”
I should have known. Now that Victor was dead, the investigation was no longer just a kidnapping but also a homicide. Guidry wasn’t here for any personal reason. He was here strictly as a homicide detective.
The little bubble took on feet, and one of its feet was mired in quicksand. I could almost hear the sucking sound it made as it pulled its foot up and got ready to stand its ground.
I said, “You’d better come upstairs.”
22
I went up the stairs ahead of Guidry. I felt like a bear with a thorn in its paw. Guidry could just ask me his detective questions and leave. If the only thing he was interested in was what I knew about homicides, that’s all he would get.
I opened the french doors and pushed into my hot apartment. Ella was gone, which meant that Michael had come home earlier, moved her to his house, and then left again.
I said, “Sit down, I’ll turn on the air conditioner.”
He dropped to the love seat while I scooted into the bedroom and switched on the AC unit installed in the wall. I tossed my bag on the bed and went into the living room to face the music.
I said, “Let me save you some time. I knew all along about Victor Salazar being kidnapped. His wife is an old friend of mine, and she came right after she got the call from the kidnappers and told me. She said they’d demanded a million dollars in cash. They wanted it left in the gazebo at Maureen’s boat dock. Maureen refused to let me call any law enforcement agency, and she asked me to go with her to deliver the money. I agreed to do it, and she came here and got me. After we drove to her house, she asked me to carry the money to the gazebo alone. I did what she asked, and she brought me home.”