Next to the door, two windows with white curtains lined the doorsill. She could hear more men running by outside and saw their shadows as they clopped down the side street and disappeared, turning into the alley to meet the others. Adriana turned the dead bolt and pulled back the edge of one curtain to make sure the street was clear. No one else was out there. Not yet anyway. She had to make a break for it.
She turned the doorknob and wedged through the opening, pulling the door closed quietly behind her. Her head snapped back to the right just to make sure all the cops were gone. She heard a splash echo through the corridor. One of them had probably tried to jump aboard the moving boat and missed the landing. Her lips parted in a thin smile, but she knew it wasn’t time to celebrate just yet. Only one option now. Adriana pulled the door shut and sprinted back the way she’d come earlier.
When she reached one of the main streets, she dashed across it and over the bridge near where the black sedan struck her a few minutes before. Arriving at the scene of the hit-and-run, she veered right and ran back in the direction of the hotel. Even though it had been from a distance, the cop Allyson shot in the leg had seen her. And the arresting officer, while not having seen her face, did see her from behind. She was going to need a change of clothes. And worse, she was going to have to change her hair. They’d be looking for a young woman with brown hair in a ponytail.
On the way to Monique’s, she’d passed a salon in a strip of cafes and bars. Changing her appearance was one of the hazards of being in her line of work. Coloring her hair wasn’t so bad. This time, however, she’d have to cut it too.
She reached an intersection and gave a quick look in both directions to make sure she didn’t repeat the previous mistake with the black sedan. The last thing she needed was to be hit by another car.
The thought renewed the pain in her left shoulder. Adrenaline had been coursing through her for the last ten to fifteen minutes,and now it was beginning to wear off. After all, the human body only had so much of it. She cut across the street and slowed her pace to a jog as she entered an area where the residential district merged with a more commercial area. When she reached the next street, she reduced her movement to a brisk walk and tried to blend in with the crowd of tourists, shoppers, and commuters. She saw the salon up ahead on the left, just a few blocks from her hotel. Hopefully, the place wouldn’t require a reservation.
Adriana walked behind a group of Japanese and American tourists as they crossed the street at the light. The mass of people was halfway across when she noticed a policeman stroll up to the stoplight and halt. He stood tall,and his head pivoted back and forth as he surveyed the surrounding area. She hoped he wasn’t looking for her, but she knew that had to be the case. By now, the police would have stopped the boat she’d used as a diversion and were on their radios to the rest of the cops in town. Shooting a policeman was a universally unforgivable crime to men and women in uniform. While Adriana hadn’t been the one to shoot him, they didn’t know that. And if they hadn’t found Allyson, the authorities would be more than happy to slap the charges on her. Instinctively, she reached up and took the band out of her hair, letting it fall loosely around her face, covering the side the officer could see.
Through the strands of brunette hair, she watched as the policeman’s eyes passed over her and the other pedestrians. She stayed tucked in behind the tourists, keeping tightly to the group, desperately trying to blend in.
The cop’s eyes came back around for another pass and stopped on her for more than a second, which meant he probably realized she was the person they were looking for. Her hair covering her face had bought her a few extra seconds, but she was still wearing the same clothes and it wouldn’t take them long to realize what she’d done.
Suddenly, someone’s voice rang out over the noise of the traffic and the hundreds of people. The man was saying something in Dutch, and from the volume, he sounded angry. She glanced at the corner cafe and saw the source of the issue. A server in a red shirt and white apron was yelling at another man, who turned back and then took off running. The server noticed the cop by the light and shouted at him, something about the man walking out on his bill, from what she could tell. Most of that assertion was due to the fact that the waiter was violently waving the check around in a raised hand.
The officer clenched his teeth, made a split-second decision, and took off on foot after the freeloader.
Adriana watched him disappear into the horde of people,and she sighed deeply. Momentary relief spilled over her, but she knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Up ahead, the salon called to her. She broke away from the tourists and picked up the pace again, walking hurriedly to the front door and swinging it open.
Inside, three women and a man turned to see who had just opened their door so abruptly. Two of the women and the man were busily working on other customers. One was standing by her station, checking her smartphone.
Adriana reached into her back pocket and fished out a fold of money. She looked at the free stylist, who had a streak of blue through her platinum blonde hair, and held up the money. “Want to make a quick two hundred?”
The girl raised an eyebrow and smiled.
13
The two police officers checked every room in the boat as well as the sides and the little deck on the front end. They found no sign of either suspect. By now, Allyson was certain the cop she’d shot had alerted the others to the fact that there were two women on the loose, not just one. If she could have hit him in the head with a round instead of just the leg, the authorities would only be on the lookout for the other woman.
She listened closely from her hiding place as the two policemen finished up their search. Their footsteps echoed through the houseboat as they clomped to the front door. A few seconds later, she heard them close the door, their voices fading until they were finally gone.
Allyson yanked the sheets, pillow, and blanket from over her face and took several deep breaths. She’d given herself a little space with which to breathe, but even so, her hiding spot would make even the bravest person claustrophobic.
She sat up and climbed out of the hole, finally able to relax a little. A piece of foam stuffing stuck to her face, and she swiped it off unconsciously.
Criminals either tried to run from a crime scene too soon, or they picked a terrible hiding place. In this case, Allyson had created her own.
Time was short, so she’d been forced to hurry. She’d grabbed the largest kitchen knife she could find and speedily but carefully cut into the mattress. It was one of the newer springless styles, so cutting out the innards was much easier than she'd expected. It was a good thing too, because no sooner had she wedged herself into the hole and pulled up the sheets than she heard the policemen’s voices outside on the patio.
She’d made use of as much space as possible to dispose of the mattress cushioning. The boxes in the closet were stuffed with it, as was the toilet and the cabinet in the kitchen. With no chance of someone hiding in such small areas, the cops had bypassed them completely, choosing instead to check out the more obvious hiding places: shower, closet, and a big storage box on the deck. As they were looking in the closet, she feared they would hear her heart pounding; knowing the police were only inches away from the boxes that would give away what she’d done was an unsettling moment.