Page 54 of Holmes Is Missing

“If I tell you something,” said Robinson, “will you let me be?”

“Depends on what you tell me.”

Robinson rubbed her hands together slowly and lowered her eyes. “I didn’t talk to anybody but my sister.”

“Your sister. What’s her name?” asked Marple.

“Megan.”

“Older? Younger?”

“Older. Two years.”

“And Megan is where?”

“Somewhere in New York City,” said Robinson. Her voice softened. “Maybe you can find her—keep her from trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Like what happened here,” said Robinson.

Marple leaned in even closer. “What hospital does Megan work for?”

Robinson shook her head and scoffed. “Megan doesn’t have the noggin for that. She’s just a fancy child minder, like a nanny.”

“A nanny for whom?”

“She wouldn’t tell me.”

Marple tapped Robinson’s cell phone. “Call her.”

Robinson pulled the phone toward her but didn’t pick it up. “She won’t answer. Her mobile is off. She said no texting or chatting until the job is done.”

CHAPTER58

POE WAS LYINGon his bed, a half-empty tumbler of Scotch resting on his chest. He was thinking about Helene and where she might have gone. As he’d predicted, she had disabled her cell phone. So, against his better judgment, he’d traced the car. He’d only caught the first three letters of the plate as she drove off, but it was enough. The car was a rental, turned in at midnight at a lot near Grove City, Pennsylvania. Beyond that, nothing. As he’d suspected, Helene had the skills to evaporate.

Poe’s cell phone buzzed on the bedside table. He grabbed for it, heart pounding. He glanced at the ID.

It was Marple.

Poe exhaled slowly and put down his drink. “Hello, Margaret. How’s London?”

“Auguste! Where are you right now?”

“In bed.”

“It’s not even noon there.”

“I’m having a challenging day.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Not legally.”

Marple’s voice was thin and broken slightly by static. “Listen to me,” she said. “You need to get to Duff.”

“Already saw him,” said Poe. “We nearly came to blows.”

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