Someone's Watching (15 page)

“It’s not usually this busy during the week.”

“You know the guy who was sitting here? The one with the dumb cap that you’ve been talking to all night?”

“Not all night.”

“Anyway, what’s his deal?”

“He’s been in a few times.”

“Oh yeah? Do you know his name?”

“Puck. I don’t know his last name.”

“Puck?”

“It’s a nickname, I guess.”

“Can you do me a favor?” Brett asked. “Actually it’s for Mike.

Mike would do it, but it’s awkward for him to approach this guy directly. Can you invite him to BURN tomorrow night?”

“Invite Puck to BURN?”

“That’s right.

“So you know him?”

“Mike sort of does. Would you do it? Invite him to BURN?”

“I don’t think he’s the type.”

“It looks like he’d go if you were there.”

“But I won’t be there.” Robbie picked up a shot glass and started polishing it.

“Can you tell him you might?”

“Why?”

“Mike wants to meet him there, to talk to him.”

“Why doesn’t he talk to him here?”

“This is a hangout kind of place,” Brett said. “I don’t think Puck came here to talk business.”

“Well, he wouldn’t be going to BURN to talk business either.”

Brett put his elbow down on the bar and leaned closer. “Right, but at least Mike would be on his home turf. You know, where he has the advantage.”

“Who is he?” Robbie put the glass down and picked up another. “Why does Mike want to talk to him?”

“I don’t know. You know Mike. He always has something going on. Would you do this for me, Robbie? It’s no big deal, really, is it? And it means a lot to my job.”

“I don’t like to misrepresent myself.”

“Fine. Then I’ll take you to BURN tomorrow night. So you won’t be misrepresenting. It’s the least I can do for you after last night’s bust.”

“Thanks. But I’ve had my fill of BURN.”

Puck was coming toward them.

“Two more martinis,” Brett said.

Puck sat down on the stool and picked up the glass of Scotch Robbie had left for him.

Robbie fixed Brett’s drinks and put them down on the bar in front of him. If Brett knew she was annoyed, he gave no indication. He grinned broadly. “You’re the best.”

She watched him carry the drinks high in the air, swinging his hips, in a parody of a gay cocktail waiter. A few people laughed as he passed. He sat down next to Mike, who was leaning his chair back against the wall beneath an enlarged photo of a junkyard.

She hated being in this situation. When friends asked you for a favor, it wasn’t cool to say no, especially something that was important to Brett for his job. And was what he wanted her to do such a big deal?

“Busy night for you,” Puck said.

“Do you ever go out to the clubs?”

“Not my scene.”

“I know what you mean.”

He sipped his drink. “Why? Do you?”

“Sometimes.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m thinking of going to BURN tomorrow night.” God, she hated doing this, especially after him telling her about his problems with his wife.

“Oh yeah?”

“They have a great DJ on Sundays and it’s not as crazy as Friday or Saturday night.” She didn’t know this for a fact, but it sounded right.

“That sounds interesting.” He looked pleased, as though she’d invited him out.

Damn. Why had she gone along with Brett? Now Puck would
show up and she wouldn’t be there. She almost told him never mind, but that would only make things worse.

She felt Brett watching her from across the room. She turned and caught him leaning closer to Mike, saying something to him.

No. She wasn’t going to do this. It wasn’t right to mislead people. “I’m probably not going to be able to make it tomorrow,” she said to Puck. “It was just an idea.”

“Hey.” He held up his hands. “Not a problem. I’m a big boy. If you’re there, great. If not, I understand.”

The door to the bar opened. Within minutes the place was crawling with people.

Robbie worked without a break. Occasionally, Puck would ask for another drink, but she didn’t talk to him again the rest of the night. All of her attention was focused on fixing drinks and making sure she rang up all the charges properly. Leonard worked with frenzied concentration beside her.

Finally, closing time. Last call was announced and the security guard ushered the last few people out of the bar. Exhaustion hit Robbie like a dump truck. She leaned against the bar and took in the scene as the busboys cleaned up and Leonard settled up the tips. Cigarette butts and napkins littered the floor. One of the bucket seat chairs had broken loose from its base and was lying on its side. The tables were covered with overflowing ashtrays, beer bottles, empty pitchers, and glasses with cigarette butts floating in amber liquid.

Brett and Mike were long gone. Brett had said goodbye to her and whispered thanks, a couple of hours ago. She’d been too busy to tell him what a shitty thing he’d asked her to do.

The stool where Puck had been sitting was empty. His Bud N’ Mary’s cap was on the bar. Beneath it was more than enough money to cover his drinks and a paper napkin with something scribbled on it. A phone number. And next to it, a hand-drawn picture of a rose.

Robbie had promised herself she wouldn’t wake up until eleven at the earliest, figuring five hours of sleep wasn’t too much to ask for, but her internal clock had her up at eight a.m. Jesus, it was unnatural—eight a.m. on a Sunday morning. She covered her head with a pillow and tried to fall back asleep, but it was hopeless. She was so angry with herself over last night. How could she have allowed Brett to manipulate her like that? Ooooooo. She shuddered in self-disgust. It wasn’t just the fact she had lied to Puck. What infuriated her most was that she hadn’t had the guts to tell Brett “no.”

She finally got out of bed a little before nine and put on jogging shorts, a tank top, and sneakers to go for a run. She stuck a bottle of water and an energy bar into her waist pack with her cell phone, fed Matilda, and stepped outside.

The air was heavy with ocean water and the piquant smell of plants whose names she didn’t know. In another hour, it would be too hot to run. She trotted down to the bottom of the stairs to stretch her legs. She pressed her sneakered foot straight up against the second step and leaned forward.

A movement came from the shrubs near the pool. A possum? A bird? She stretched out her other calf, and listened, her sleep-deprived body hypersensitive to her surroundings. A slight shuffling sound. Someone was watching her.

Robbie came to a standing position and began walking rapidly
toward a street with car traffic. She could hear footsteps behind her. She broke into a run.

“Roberta,” a familiar man’s voice called. “Roberta, wait.”

She stopped and let her father catch up. What did he want now?

His navy shorts and golf shirt looked recycled, and his penny loafers had lost their shine. She hadn’t seen him since Friday afternoon when he’d left the raw bar in such a huff.

Her annoyance turned to apprehension. “Is everything okay?” she said. “Is there news about Kate?”

“No. No news.” He was a little breathless and his lined face and his arms were covered with a film of perspiration. “The detective has some new information. Not much.” He wiped the sweat on his forehead with a tissue. There was stubble on his cheeks, as though he’d missed a day of shaving. “I’ve been waiting at the pool. I didn’t want to call and bother you.”

Robbie felt herself soften. This had to be incredibly difficult for him. Yes—he’d acted stupidly at the marina, but it was now almost ten days since his younger daughter had disappeared.

“We can sit somewhere and talk if you’d like,” she said.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to interfere with your run.”

“It’s okay. I can go later. If you don’t mind walking a little, there’s a park not too far from here.”

They stayed on the shaded side of the street, and she walked slower than usual so he could keep up.

“What did Lieber say?” she asked.

“They found Joanne’s car. The white Volvo.”

Robbie stopped. “On Miami Beach?”

He nodded.

She was afraid to ask, but if Kate’s body or blood had been found, he would have been more upset. “Did they find anything suspicious?”

“Nothing obvious. They’ve towed the car off somewhere so the experts can check it out.”

They continued past several old apartment complexes much like Robbie’s. The trees were denser when they got to Meridian. Oaks and banyans lined both sides of the street. They crossed to the park and sat down on a shaded bench. Yellow and green leaves blanketed the dirt and thin grass. Robbie remembered reading about an infestation that was causing certain trees to lose their leaves. She glanced up at the ficus tree with its massive trunk growing in sinewy cords. A few small leaves drifted down. Something seemed familiar. Autumn leaves falling all around. Her mother.
Nothing is forever
.

Her father dabbed at his forehead with his wadded-up tissue. He was still sweating profusely.

She took out her water bottle and held it out for him. “Want some?”

“That’s okay. You’ll need it for your run.”

She pressed it into his hand.

“Thank you.” He gulped down the water.

A golden retriever charged past them after a Frisbee.

“How long were you waiting for me to come down?” Robbie asked.

“Maybe an hour. Not much else for me to do.”

“Why don’t you go back home? Lieber will call you if she has any news.”

“I can’t do that. What if Kaitlin needs me? I can’t be five hours away.”

“I understand.” She took out the energy bar, broke it down the middle and gave a half to her father.

He hesitated. “Thank you,” he said, taking it. He seemed to be studying it. “I want to apologize about the other day. I behaved like an angry child stomping off like that.”

“You’re under a lot of stress.”

“That’s no excuse.” He turned the energy bar over in his hand. “Here you were nice enough to meet with me and the detective.
You’d even done some research about Kaitlin on your own. And instead of being grateful, I attacked you and your theories because I didn’t want to hear anything negative about Kaitlin.”

A German shepherd joined the retriever and the two dogs trotted after each other kicking up leaves.

“I hardly know anything about her,” Robbie said. Her voice came out small.

Her father shifted closer to her on the bench. How she wanted him to put his arm around her. Several yellow and green leaves drifted down.

“When she was younger, Kaitlin reminded me of you as a little girl.”

He remembered what Robbie was like?

“She was curious about everything. My medical instruments, microscope, giving injections.”

Robbie remembered the plastic skeleton he’d kept in a corner of his office. How it had fascinated her.

“And she loved physical activities; still does—rollerblading, biking, swimming, running. She’s on the track team at school.”

Track? Like Robbie. She wondered if Kate had been running from something, too.

“She used to be quite the gymnast,” he said. “But then she had a little accident and never wanted to get back up on the bars. And that was the end of gymnastics.”

“An accident?”

“She slipped and fell during a competition. Was more scared than injured, but wasn’t interested in competing after that. I guess she was embarrassed or her pride was hurt.”

Robbie was turning her emerald ring around and around on her finger. She slid her hand under her thigh. “What do the two of you do together?”

“Ordinary stuff. Food shopping on Saturdays. Home Depot.
Maybe a movie. Kaitlin’s often busy with her friends, but we usually have dinner together during the week. After her mother died, Kaitlin started cooking. Nothing fancy. A hamburger. Tuna salad. Sometimes we go out to a restaurant.”

“Where?”

“Where?” He frowned, his eyes a dark blue from the shade of the towering ficus.

“Where do you go for dinner?” This was what life with her father would have been like had their family remained a family.

“Kaitlin likes this little place on the river. They have great fried shrimp and hush puppies.”

She could almost imagine being there with them. “What do you talk about?”

“School, her classes, her friends. What it’s going to be like at college next year.” He looked at the energy bar he was still holding and put it down on the bench next to him. “How much I’m going to miss her.”

Robbie touched his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

Tears ran down his unshaven cheeks. He brought his arms around Robbie and pulled her close. Robbie wasn’t sure what to do. His smell was so damn familiar. She relaxed into his arms as he cried silently against her, an occasional shudder passing through him.

She remembered again the day he said goodbye. He’d been crying then, too.

He took a deep, uneven breath and pulled away. “What a mess I’ve made of things.” He reached into his pocket for a tissue and blew his nose.

“What do you mean?” Was he talking about Kate? About Robbie?

“I don’t know what your mother told you, but I hope you’ll let me tell you my side.”

His side? Did she want to hear this? She thought about her childhood
fantasy where he’d been held in a dungeon against his will, unable to reach out to her.

The retriever and German shepherd lay down in the shade, panting. A plump young woman set down a large bowl filled with water, and the dogs lapped at it.

“My mom didn’t say anything. And I was afraid to ask. Afraid it would upset her. I thought—” Robbie’s throat tightened. “I thought you didn’t want us anymore.”

He closed his eyes as though in pain, then opened them. “I always wanted you.”

“Then why didn’t you call or come see me?”

“Your mother was very angry. She wanted to punish me for the divorce. She took you to Boston and told me never to get in touch with you.”

No. Her mother wouldn’t have done that. Or was it possible? She pictured her mother pressing her lips against Robbie’s forehead as though to suck out all her pain.
We have each other, baby. We don’t need anyone else
.