The Innocent (24 page)

“Are you going to pick the lock?”

“Just turn around.”

It took Robie all of five seconds. The lock was not a deadbolt. One slender piece of metal did the trick as opposed to two.

They stepped inside and he closed the door behind them.

“I guess this makes us felons,” said Julie.

“It might.”

The place smelled of fried foods. It was furnished sparingly, the rooms were few, and there was no one there. They stood in the middle of the living room. Robie surveyed the area.

“It’s a little too clean, don’t you think?” he said.

“Maybe they’re neatniks.”

He shook his head. “This place has been scrubbed.”

Julie looked up at him. “You mean?”

“I don’t know if anything happened to the Broomes, Julie. Maybe they’re okay. But someone has wiped this place down, and whoever did it knew what he was doing.”

Julie gazed around the space. “Should we check for prints or something?”

“Waste of time. We need to find out what Leo Broome did.”

“We can go to the hair salon and ask around.”

“I have a better idea.
You
can go to the hair salon and ask around. I don’t want to tip anyone off to what we’re doing. Folks are less likely to suspect a kid.”

“I’m not a kid. I’m practically old enough to drive.”

“But they’ll open up to you. They know you, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve been there lots of times.”

They left the building and drove off in the Volvo.

“You think the Broomes are dead, don’t you?” she asked.

“Based on what happened to your parents and the condition of the Broomes’ apartment, yeah, I think they’re probably dead. But then again, if Ida Broome is at the hair salon, I’ll be proved wrong.”

“I hope you’re wrong, Will.”

“Me too.”

W
HILE
R
OBIE WAITED
outside in the car, Julie entered the hair salon. It was full of customers and her gaze darted around, noting the stylists working there today.

Ida Broome was not among them.

The smells of hair care products and perming solutions filled her lungs as she walked over to the reception desk. A constant chatter also permeated the place as stylists and patrons discussed the latest gossip.

“Julie, right?” said the young woman behind the counter. She looked college-age and wore black slacks and a low-cut top that revealed a flower tat near the top of her left breast. Her haircut, understandably, was very hip.

“Yep. Is Ida in today? I was hoping to get my bangs trimmed.”

Julie was praying that Ida was in the back, or maybe taking a smoke break in the alley behind the salon, but the woman shook her head. “She was supposed to be in at ten, but she never showed. I called her place, but no one answered. Really put us behind. She had seven cuts, two perms and a coloring scheduled today. Her clients were not happy when I called them to cancel.”

“I wonder what happened,” said Julie.

“Maybe some emergency came up.”

“Maybe it did,” said Julie slowly.

“I might be able to get Maria to do your bangs. She has an open slot after the lady she’s working on now.”

“That would be great.”

Maria was a Latina in her mid-twenties with short dark hair that
was cut in precise lines around her angular face. She greeted Julie with a toothy smile.

“Look at you girl. You need your bangs cut, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’m a professional, okay?”

The stylist next to her chuckled as she clipped away at the thinning hair of a young man.

“No school today?” asked Maria.

“Teacher conference.”

“How’s your mom?”

Julie didn’t blink. She’d been expecting this question.

“She’s fine.”

Julie settled in the chair and Maria swept a black smock over her and tightened it down around her neck.

Maria said, “You know, you’d look real cute with, like, a Zooey Deschanel cut. It’s so chic with glasses.”

“My eyesight is perfect,” said Julie.

“That’s not the point. It’s the look.”

“Have you seen Ida lately? The girl at the front told me she didn’t come in today.”

“I know. Surprised me. She never misses work and she had a full slate today. The boss is pissed. The economy still sucks and every dollar counts.”

“Business looks pretty good today.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like this every day.”

Julie said, “
Apreciar todo lo bueno que viene su manera
.”

Maria laughed and bopped Julie lightly on the head with her scissors. “You know I don’t speak Spanish.”

“I wonder where Ida is?” asked Julie.

“Don’t know. She was acting kind of funny day before yesterday.”

“Funny ha-ha or funny weird?”

“Definitely funny weird. She messed up a lady’s perm and then took two inches off a client instead of the one inch she wanted. Talk about a lady being pissed. You know how we women are about our hair. It’s like a religion. That and shoes.”

“Did you ask her what was up?”

“Yeah, but she wouldn’t say much. Just that it had something to do with Leo.”

“Her husband? Did he lose his job or something?”

“I doubt it. He works for the government. They don’t lose their jobs.”

“I don’t know about that. Lots of governments are cutting back now.”

“Well, anyway, I don’t think Leo got canned.”

“What does he do?”

“Something with the government, like I said.”

“Yeah, but what? And what government? D.C.? Feds?”

“Well, aren’t you just the nosy one today?”

“Just naturally curious. All teenagers are.”

“Right. My youngest sister is seventeen and she could give a crap about anything or anybody other than herself.”

“I’m an only child. We tend to be more observant.”

“Well, I’m not sure where Leo works. But Ida told me one time that his job was pretty important. Down on Capitol Hill somewhere.”

“Then maybe he works for the federal government.”

“Maybe he does.”

“So Ida wasn’t in yesterday either?”

“Nope, but that’s okay. It was her day off. But today is a whole different story.”

Maria had been working this whole time and said, “Okay, we are done and looking sharp. But think about those glasses, okay?”

Julie admired her hair in the mirror. “Thanks, Maria.”

Maria took the smock off and Julie pulled out some cash. Maria waved it off.

“No, this one is on me.”

“But you should get paid.”

“I tell you what, you can start teaching me some Spanish when you come in. My mother is really ragging me to learn it.”

Julie smiled. “Deal.”

R
OBIE HAD NOT STAYED
in the Volvo the entire time he was waiting for Julie. He was roaming. And watching. He knew there were eyes out there somewhere. He just wanted to find them before they found him.

And he had things to think about.

He had two cases going simultaneously.

Jane Wind was dead along with her young son. She was with the Defense Department. She’d traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan and probably other hot spots. Robie’s handler had been turned and had ordered Robie to kill her. Now the handler was missing and Robie was investigating murders that had occurred when he’d been present. Nicole Vance was sharp and Robie had to be extra careful he didn’t slip up around her. Rick Wind had been found with his tongue cut out and hanging upside down in his pawnshop. No leads there either.

And then he had Julie Getty. Parents murdered and the crime scene policed. Killer on the bus to finish the job. Bus blows up. Robie’s gun was found at the scene, which made the Feds believe the cases were connected. And the guy who’d attacked them in the alley had disappeared. The Broomes’ apartment had been scrubbed too, and Robie didn’t know where they were. Or if they were still alive.

He glanced at the salon and saw through the window that Julie was getting ready to leave. If he were a betting man he would wager that Ida Broome had not been in there.

He met her at the car and they both climbed in.

“Talk to me,” he said.

Julie spent a few minutes filling him in.

“So we still don’t know what Leo does,” said Robie.

“Can’t you find that out on some government database?”

“Probably. I’ll check it out.”

“The Broomes are most likely dead,” she said.

“Or they could be in hiding,” said Robie. “That would be best case.”

“If Mr. Broome has some important job in the government do you think he’s the reason for all this?”

“It’s certainly a possibility.”

“But why would that involve my parents?”

“They were friends. They met for meals. He might have let something slip.”

“Great,” she said, her voice catching slightly. “My parents might have been killed because they had a meatloaf dinner with the guy?”

“Stranger things have happened.”

“What now?” she asked.

“I drop you back off. I have to get going.”

“Right. To see special super agent Vance.”

“Just Special Agent Vance.”

“But she was super, wasn’t she?”

“You won’t let it rest, will you?”

“Does this mean I go back to the apartment and die of boredom?”

“Don’t you have homework to do?”

“Going from investigating murder to doing calculus, wow.”

“You’re only fourteen and you’re already doing calculus?”

“G and T, Will, like I said. I actually don’t like math very much. But I’m good at it.”

“Education is the key to success.”

“You sound like somebody’s grandfather.”

“You disagree?”

“I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

“Not a bad philosophy.”

“My classmates’ parents have their whole lives planned out for them. Top colleges. Top graduate programs. Wall Street, medical
school, law firms. The next Steve Jobs, the next Warren Buffett. Makes me want to gag.”

“Nothing wrong with getting ahead.”

“You mean there’s nothing wrong with making as much money as possible at the expense of everyone else? The planet has over seven billion people and too many of them live in poverty. Me coming up with an algorithm to make a fortune on Wall Street and tank the economy in the process, which in turn creates a lot more poor people, doesn’t exactly rock my career boat.”

“Then do something else. Something that helps people.”

She gave him a sideways look. “You mean like you?”

He glanced away.

No, not like me
, he thought.

A
FTER DROPPING
J
ULIE OFF
, Robie navigated traffic until he arrived at Donnelly’s about twenty-five minutes later. The bodies were gone but the street was filled with police cars, forensics vans, and Bureau sedans. Smack in the middle of the sidewalk was a mobile FBI command post that had probably been dropped off last night.

On the other side of the wooden police barriers was an army of reporters. Media trucks with communication masts raised to the sky lined the street behind the jostling journalists. Robie flashed his creds and was passed through the barriers as the reporters with deadlines and a never-ending news cycle to service screamed questions at him.