CHAPTER 26
Maria
Maria was sleeping on the couch when she felt Colin kiss her good-bye and whisper that he’d be back by eight o’clock. She was dimly aware of him slipping out the garage door. Surprising herself, she was able to get a few more hours of sleep before the sounds of the household roused her.
Over coffee, she shared Colin’s plans with her family. They listened with surprise. Her parents would have preferred that she stay where they could keep an eye on her, but they understood Colin’s reasoning and accepted her decision, asking only that she stay in touch.
Colin showed up at her parents’ house around eight with a disposable cell phone and followed Maria back to her condo. There, she showered, changed into jeans and a white T-shirt and black pumps, and packed an overnight bag. By nine, they were at the courthouse, where Maria completed and filed the necessary paperwork for the 50C. Margolis had been good to his word again; the clerk said that they’d get it before the judge to sign before the court convened for the day.
Using the disposable phone, Maria texted Margolis her number and asked that he keep her informed as to any progress regarding Lester Manning.
To her surprise, Margolis called less than half an hour later and asked to meet with her at a coffee shop. “It’s a couple of blocks from the courthouse, and we’ll be able to talk in private,” he said cryptically. She felt good about the fact that she’d filed the paperwork and decided to go with Colin’s idea. For the first time since all this had started, she’d acted instead of reacted. While there was no guarantee that they’d be able to serve Lester with the court order, taking the initiative made her feel as though she had some semblance of control.
At the coffee shop, she and Colin sat in a corner booth where they could watch for Margolis’s arrival.
When he finally walked through the door half an hour late, it took only a second for him to spot them. As he wove his way between tables, Maria noticed the way the fabric of his ill-fitting blazer tightened around his biceps. Like Colin, Margolis seemed to spend a lot of time in the gym.
He paused near the register to order a cup of coffee and then slid into the booth across from Maria and Colin. When he glanced at Colin, she thought she detected a trace less of his usual animosity.
Or then again, maybe she was just imagining it.
“Any problems with the Fifty-C this morning?”
“No,” Maria said. “And thank you for your help. It’s clear they were expecting me.”
He nodded. “Judge Carson will be in court today. I left word with his clerk, so there shouldn’t be any holdup. If you don’t hear from them, let me know.”
“Sure,” she said.
The waiter came by, dropping off the cup of coffee. Margolis waited until he left before speaking again.
“How did you hold up last night?” he asked Maria.
“I didn’t sleep well, if that’s what you’re asking. But at least Lester didn’t come back.”
He nodded. “I checked this morning and he wasn’t spotted on any of the patrols, either. But he’ll turn up. A guy like that tends to stand out and make people nervous, which means that calls come in. I’m confident someone will let us know when he shows up.”
“If he’s still in town,” she said. “For all we know, he could be back in Charlotte by now. Or God knows where else.”
“If he is, he’s not in the hospital. I checked this morning. No sign of him. You should also know that I had my friend drive past the Manning place this morning. No sign of him there, either in the garage apartment or the house.”
She nodded.
“On another note,” he went on, “I spoke with the sheriff’s department, and they’re okay with me serving Lester when we do find him. That’s actually good news. It’s not always that easy. But I’d hate for Lester to be located and then not get served because there are no sheriffs readily available and he disappears again before they can.”
“So that’s the plan?” Maria asked. “To wait until he shows himself?”
“I’m not sure there’s another option. I’m just trying to make the best out of a bad situation.”
“Is that why you wanted to meet with me this morning? To tell me you couldn’t find him?”
“No,” Margolis said. “A couple of interesting bits of information turned up and I wanted to get your take on them.”
“I thought you weren’t at liberty to talk about the investigation.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Which means I’ll have to limit some of what I tell you. Still, I wanted to talk to you because I need your help.”
“Why?”
“Because the more I look into this situation, the less it seems to add up. I’m hoping that you can help me put the pieces together.”
Welcome to my world, Maria thought.
Margolis went on. “Regarding the situation last night. I told you I was looking into possible weapons violations. But like everything else in this case, what seemed obvious isn’t. So let’s start with this: Lester does not have a gun permit. Nor has he legally purchased a weapon, which I thought was great news for you. However, it turns out that Avery Manning, the father, does have a permit for a handgun purchased about a year ago.”
“And?”
“The problem is that Lester and Avery, father and son, live at the same address. It’s not illegal to borrow someone’s gun if the weapon is properly permitted. So I can’t make a case on that, unless Avery Manning didn’t give permission. But there are even more complications.”
“Such as?”
“Avery Manning came to see me this morning.” He let those words hang before continuing. “That’s why I was late getting here, by the way. I figured it was better to meet with him before I talked to you. The story took yet another twist.”
“What?”
“The gun may not have been real.”
“Excuse me?”
Margolis picked up his spoon and stirred his coffee as he went on. “Let me start from the beginning, okay? We sit down and the first thing I think is that Dr. Manning looks like crap, which made sense as soon as he told me he’d just driven in from Tennessee. He was clearly upset. He must have mowed through an entire pack of gum while we were sitting there, chewing and spitting out one piece after another. Although he didn’t attempt to control the conversation, which surprised me based on the way you’d described him. But anyway, I ask him what I can do for him, and he immediately says that Lester has left Plainview, and that he was worried Lester might come to see you. He begged me to warn you and to tell you that if he showed up you should call the police. He went on to say that Lester was in an acute delusional phase, and that he’d been struggling with this disorder for years, yada yada yada… pretty much all the same things he’d told me before.”
“But yesterday, he wasn’t even sure if his son was in the hospital.”
Margolis took a sip of his coffee. “He said the hospital called him as soon as the staff realized that Lester was missing, as he’s the emergency contact. Apparently, when Lester didn’t show up for his appointment with the social worker, the staff spent a couple of hours searching the hospital before they realized he must have left the grounds. That’s when they called Dr. Manning.”
“How is that even possible? It’s a psychiatric hospital. Don’t they watch their patients?”
“According to Dr. Manning, Lester’s been there regularly enough to understand the routines and he’s familiar with the staff. The administrator also emphasized that there was no reason not to trust Lester. Lester had entered the hospital voluntarily and he’d never run off before. So free time comes along and they’re guessing that Lester just… slipped away. After that, he either has use of someone’s car, or someone picked him up, and he made his way to Wilmington. And he obviously had a gun stashed somewhere along the way.” Margolis shrugged. “What can I say, he’s paranoid.”
“If he wanted to warn me, why didn’t Dr. Manning call you as soon as he found out?”
“He did,” Margolis said, his expression letting her know he was just as surprised as she was. “He left me a voice mail last night, but unfortunately, I didn’t get around to listening to it until this morning, after I’d already met with him. Even then, I’m not sure how much good it would have done. The call came in after Lester had already been at your place.”
Maria nodded.
“Anyway, after we went over those things, I told Dr. Manning that Lester had not only shown up at your parents’ last night and confronted you, but that he had a gun. At that point, Dr. Manning became even more upset. Then, after he’d seemed to calm down, he insisted to me that Lester’s gun couldn’t have been real.”
“Of course he’d say that.”
“That’s what I thought, too. I asked him how he could be so sure. He said that he owned only two guns: an old shotgun he’s had since he was a kid that he said might not even work, and the handgun I told you about, which he keeps in a locked case in the trunk of his car. He added that there was no way he’d ever leave it at the house where Lester could get his hands on it.”
“I know what I saw!”
“I don’t doubt that, but let me finish,” Margolis said. “Dr. Manning told me that while Lester didn’t have a real gun, he owned a pellet gun. He said he bought it for Lester when he was a teenager, and he’d assumed that it was in one of the boxes in the attic with Lester’s other things. It’s possible, he said, that his son may have retrieved it at some point in the past. So my question to you is whether it’s possible that Lester may have been holding a pellet gun.”
Maria tried to recall the gun but couldn’t conjure up the necessary detail. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It looked real to me.”
“That’s not surprising. Same color, same size, it was dark out, and you were terrified. Who knows? But it might explain why Lester never raised it. Because he thought you may have noticed that the muzzle was too small.”
Maria thought about it before finally shaking her head. “It still doesn’t mean that Lester’s gun wasn’t real. He could have bought it at a gun show. Or bought it on the street. It’s not impossible.”
“True enough,” Margolis conceded. “As of now, I’m not ruling anything out.”
“And how do you know that Dr. Manning was telling the truth about his gun in the first place?”
“Because he showed it to me after the interview, when he was leaving. And yes, it was in a locked case in his trunk.” When Maria didn’t respond, Margolis went on. “There’s something else you should know.”
“What’s that?”
Margolis reached into the file and pulled out an admission form from Plainview Psychiatric Hospital. He slid it across the table to Maria.
“Lester Manning was in the hospital the night your tires were slashed. I received this fax from Plainview this morning. You can see the date he entered the hospital.”
Even as Maria stared at the document in front of her, she didn’t quite believe it.
“Are you sure this is real?”
“Yes. Dr. Manning made the request while I was there, and the fax arrived a few minutes later, directly from the hospital.”
“Couldn’t Lester have sneaked out? Like he did yesterday?”
“Not that night. According to their records, he was in his room all night. Staff checked on him every thirty minutes.” Maria said nothing. In the silence, Margolis took a sip of his coffee. “Which is part of the reason I wanted to meet with you. If someone else slashed your tires, who could it be? When I posed that question to Dr. Manning, he told me to look into Mark Atkinson.”
“Why?”
“Because Atkinson might be trying to frame Lester.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe… unless Atkinson knew Lester and had a possible reason. And it just so happens that it might be the case. Lester was the one who introduced Cassie to Atkinson in the first place.”
It took a few beats for Maria to absorb this. “Lester and Atkinson knew each other?”
“They both work for the same janitorial company. Or used to, anyway. According to Dr. Manning, after Cassie died, Lester and Atkinson had a falling-out. Lester confronted Atkinson about failing to protect Cassie when Laws showed up, called him a coward, and they got into a fight. There’s no record of it, but that doesn’t mean anything. Most of the time, in situations like this, the police are never called. Long story short, according to Dr. Manning, Atkinson was pissed.”
“And you know that for certain?”
“Not about the fight. But it’s true that Lester and Atkinson worked together. After we talked yesterday, I spoke to Atkinson’s mother again, and then a supervisor at the janitorial company. That’s what I meant, by the way, when I said that I was looking into different angles. Because something about the way Atkinson just up and left town bothered me as soon as I learned about it. I can kind of accept the idea that he ran off to meet the woman of his dreams or whatever—guys can be stupid like that—but no contact with his mom except for a couple of letters? That had been printed from a computer? No calls or texts to his mom or his friends? When all this with you just happens to be going on? It didn’t sit right with me.”
“I still don’t understand why Atkinson would come after me, though. Like I told you, I’ve never met the man.”
“Is it possible that he’s angry for the same reason you think Lester is? Because Laws got out of prison and killed Cassie? And he blames you?”
“Maybe,” she said slowly. “But… Lester’s been the one following me. He sent the flowers and sent over the drink. Lester’s the one who showed up at my house last night…”
“Exactly,” Margolis agreed. “And all of this has made me wonder whether Dr. Manning was wrong about the relationship between Lester and Atkinson. If he’s right, and Atkinson is trying to frame Lester, then how did he get Lester to play along so perfectly? Especially when you take last night into account? If you throw that idea out, however, it leaves us with a couple of other possibilities. The first is that Lester somehow knew that Atkinson was going to go after you, and he decided to join in. Of course, that raises the question as to how Lester would know what Atkinson was planning, which opens a whole new can of worms. If we put aside that idea, too, however, there’s also a third possibility.”
Maria looked across the table at Margolis, almost afraid to hear what he was going to say next.
“What if,” he finally offered, “Lester and Atkinson are working together? And they’re providing alibis for each other?”
Maria, trying to absorb Margolis’s questions, said nothing.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Margolis said. “And it sounds crazy to me, too, but of the three explanations, it’s the only one that seems to make any sense at all.”
“I’m still not sure why you think Atkinson might be involved in the first place. Maybe Lester had some homeless guy or kid slash my tires and leave the note because he knew he’d have the perfect alibi. Because everything else points to the fact that Lester’s probably working alone.”
“Not everything,” Margolis said. “See, the thing is, I ran the registrations on the cars near the park, just like Colin suggested. And one of them brought up a serious red flag.”
“Why?”
“Because the car in question is registered to Mark Atkinson.”
“Does that make sense to you?” Maria asked Colin after Margolis had left. “About Lester and Atkinson working together?”
“I don’t know,” Colin admitted.
She shook her head. “It’s Lester. Alone. It has to be.” Even to her ears, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “And if they are working together, why is Atkinson’s car at the park? How did they get away? Lester doesn’t have a car.”
“Like Margolis suggested last night, maybe he stole one.”
She shook her head. “It’s just so confusing. This whole thing is like one of those Russian nesting dolls. Open up one doll, and there’s another one inside, and on and on. And what am I supposed to do now? What if the detective finds something that implicates Atkinson? Am I supposed to get a Fifty-C on Atkinson, too?”
“It might come to that.”
“And what if they can’t find Atkinson, either? Even his mother can’t find him. What good would a Fifty-C do if they can’t serve it right away?”
Colin didn’t answer, but he sensed that Maria didn’t need him to. Her thoughts continued to spin, words tumbling out. “God only knows where Lester is, but it’s the same situation. What good can the Fifty-C do if they can’t find him, either?”
“They will.”
“How?”
Instead of answering, Colin reached for her hand. “For now, I think our best bet is to stick with the plan, especially since there might be two of them.”
“Because you think it’s easier for two people to follow me?”
“Yes. And because until we really know what’s going on, keeping you safe is the only thing we can do.”
After dropping off Maria’s car at her place, Colin and Maria drove to Independence Mall in the Camaro, taking a circuitous route that included side roads and sudden turns. Though neither of them saw anyone in the rearview mirrors, they took no chances.
At the mall, they spent forty minutes walking through different stores, holding hands and examining various things. They backtracked every now and then, studying the faces of those who’d been behind them, but Maria wasn’t certain how much good it was actually doing. While she knew what Lester looked like, Atkinson was a mystery. Colin had logged into her computer with her password that morning and pulled up Pinterest, and she’d found herself scrutinizing Atkinson’s missing persons photo, wondering how accurate it was. He had an unremarkable face, the kind that naturally blended into a crowd, and for all she knew, he could have changed his hair color. Or grown a mustache, or shaved his head. Through it all, Margolis’s theories continued to chase each other through her brain.
Atkinson trying to frame Lester. Lester trying to frame Atkinson. Lester and Atkinson working together. Or was Lester working alone while Atkinson ran off with a girl, and in that case, was the car just a coincidence?
Who knew? Every possibility, when followed logically, broke down somewhere along the way.
Eventually, and according to plan, they made their way to a women’s apparel store. There, Maria pulled a few blouses from the racks, not really caring how they looked but pretending to. Colin stood beside her and casually commented on the items. At noon exactly, she told Colin that she wanted to try the outfits on and walked toward the dressing rooms.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes, Colin,” she called out. As soon as she entered the bank of changing rooms, Lily peeked out from one of the stalls. Maria scooted into the same stall, noting Lily’s outfit: red pumps, jeans, red blouse, and a carnation in her hair. In her hand were a pair of oversized sunglasses and a set of keys; on the floor was a navy-blue tote and a department store bag.
“Oh, sugar. Bless your heart,” Lily said, reaching for her hands. “I know this is a terribly stressful situation for you and I can’t imagine how you’re able to keep your wits about you, let alone remain as gorgeous as you were the first time I saw you. Why, if it was me, my skin would already be breaking out.”
I doubt that, Maria thought. Lily was the kind of girl who’d probably never had a pimple in her life. But it was a sweet thing to say.
“Thank you,” Maria said. “And I know that I’m asking a lot…”
“You’re doing no such thing,” Lily said, “and I do not want to hear another word about it. I’m your friend, and this is what friends do for each other, especially in a situation as frightening as this.”
“I didn’t see Evan,” Maria commented.
“He went to the food court a couple of minutes ago. Probably eating something absolutely unhealthy, but considering he’s been a sweetheart about all of this, I have vowed to say nothing at all to him about his dietary habits.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“Of course it will work,” Lily said. “People usually see what they expect to see. I learned that in my drama class. I had the most marvelous teacher, by the way. But we’ll talk about that later. Let’s get started, okay? Colin and Evan are watching the clock as we speak.” She handed Maria the tote bag, along with the sunglasses and keys to her car. “Your wig and outfit are in here,” she said. “I’m sure what I got will fit perfectly. I suspect that we’re the same size.”
Not quite, but close enough, Maria thought. “Where did you get the wigs so quickly?”
“From a wig shop. Where else? And though they’re not perfect—such a thing would be impossible on such short notice—they’ll both be more than adequate for our purposes.”
Maria sorted through the tote bag. “I can pay you back for all of this…”
“No, you most certainly will not. And though what I’m about to say will likely sound awful, all the cloak-and-dagger activity this morning has been a tiny bit exciting. It reminds me of the masquerade ball at my parents’ country club. Now let’s get started… and don’t forget the carnation. That’s the kind of detail that people focus on. I’m going to text Evan, and he’ll be here in just a few minutes.”
Maria left Lily’s dressing room, slipping into the adjoining one. In the tote bag was an outfit that matched the one Lily had been wearing, along with a blond wig and a red carnation. Maria put the outfit on along with the wig and spent a minute adjusting it to her liking. She tucked the carnation into the wig in approximately the same spot Lily had been wearing hers, then put on the sunglasses.
Up close, she still looked nothing like Lily. But from a distance, maybe…
She slid on the red pumps and at exactly a quarter past twelve left the dressing room. Evan strode toward her. “Hey, Lily,” he said as he approached. “Did you find anything you liked?” In the corner, she saw Colin feigning interest in whatever was on his phone.
Maria shook her head. Evan leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before reaching for her hand. They exited the store at a leisurely pace, then cut into a department store, making for the exit doors.
Lily’s car was two spaces in. Maria pressed the button on Lily’s key chain, unlocking the doors, and got behind the wheel while Evan got in beside her. She checked her watch.
In the apparel store, Maria knew that Lily would exit in two more minutes, dressed as Maria had been, wearing a dark wig. Colin would take her hand and lead her to another store and dressing room, where Lily would change back into her original outfit. Lily would eventually exit the mall with Evan. Colin, meanwhile, would head to his car alone, as if Maria had never been at the mall at all.
All of which was probably unnecessary, Maria thought. But the key word, she knew, was probably. With two people possibly following her, neither she nor Colin wanted to take any chances, and both of them wanted her someplace where no one would ever think to look for her, someplace she’d never been before.
Lily’s house.
Maria started the car and pulled out. No one exited the store behind her, nor did any other cars pull out. She circled the mall, following Evan’s directions, and then pulled over as Evan hopped out at another entrance to the mall.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Glad to do it,” Evan said. “And remember, you’ll be absolutely safe. Lily and I will be there in a bit with your things, okay?”
She nodded, still feeling on edge. Exiting the mall lot a minute later, she turned onto the main road. As she’d done way too frequently lately, she made a few random turns and continually glanced into her rearview mirror, feeling her nervousness finally begin to subside.
No one could have possibly followed her. She was certain about it.
Well, mostly certain.
Lately, nothing had seemed certain at all.
Lily’s condo was less than a mile from Crabby Pete’s, with private gated parking and living room windows that showcased a spectacular ocean view. It was tastefully decorated in whites, yellows, and blues—no surprise there—and felt both welcoming and comfortable. Maria spent a few minutes staring out over the beach without going outside and finally drew the shades before making her way to the couch.
She stretched out with a sigh, thinking a short nap was just what she needed. At that moment, the phone that Colin had given her rang, and answering it, she recognized Margolis’s voice on the other end.
“A couple of things. I called my detective friend in Charlotte and left a message for him to see what he can scrounge up on Atkinson, either with his mom or at Atkinson’s place, so that part is now in motion. More importantly, I also wanted to let you know the Fifty-C was granted. I’m waiting for the paperwork now.”
“Thank you,” she said, leaving the obvious unspoken; that they still needed to find Lester to serve it. And maybe get a second one for Atkinson. When she hung up, she called Colin to tell him, then updated her parents as well. It took a few minutes to get her worried mother off the phone, and when she finally hung up, she realized again how worn out she felt. Like she’d been running nonstop for days, which, in a way, she realized, she had been.
She closed her eyes again, but sleep didn’t come right away. The call with Margolis, as short as it was, had triggered another round of questions. In the end, though, exhaustion eventually won out and she felt herself finally, thankfully, drifting off.