Page 79 of Girl, Empty
‘Tell Liam I won’t be long.It’s probably just the network crashing.’
‘Less techno speak, more fixing.Go.’
Kevin found his keys in the ceramic bowl by the front door.He walked out into the cold and got in his car, annoyed but not worried.It was a glitch.A loose wire.An idiot.All things he knew how to fix.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
The speedometer needle hit ninety as Ella tore down I-74.Her mind wasn’t on the road; it was on newspaper clippings in a teenager’s bedroom and the lucid words of a sick old woman.Ella had one hand on the wheel, the other on her cell.If any cops saw her now, she wouldn’t be an FBI agent by tomorrow morning.
Ripley's number rang once, twice, three times.
'Pick up, pick up, pick up'
Winter had stolen afternoon and called it evening.It was coming up to 2 PM and it was already dark.The flat, gray landscape was a meaningless blur outside the window.
Fourth ring.Fifth.
‘Jesus, Ripley, answer your goddamn-’
‘Dark?What did you find?’
‘Everything.Listen to me.’Ella switched to speaker and dropped the phone in the cup holder, needing both hands as she wove between a semi and a minivan doing sixty in the fast lane.‘There's a company called Elan, about fifteen miles northeast of the city, off Route 37.Big glass tower, can't miss it.That's where Calvin Roth is going to kill Kevin Wolfe.’
‘Slow down.Who the hell is Kevin Wolfe?’
‘The man Calvin thinks murdered his father.Old business rival, used to date Susan Roth before Dennis stole her away.Calvin's spent fifteen years planning revenge on the wrong man.’
Silence on the other end, then: ‘Christ.You're sure?’
‘Sure as I can be without a signed confession.Elan is the building where it all happened.Kevin Wolfe worked there years ago, and owns the place now.Calvin’s been building to this.’
‘How do you know?What if he targets someone else entirely?’
‘He might do, but put yourself in his head.Amanda Pierce foiled his plan, so he’s going to be eager to finish this whole operation real quickly.You know how killers like this get when things don’t go to plan.’
‘They panic.’
‘Exactly.And if this is about revenge, the final victim in revenge sprees is always the seed.Kevin Wolfe is the seed.’
‘How’d you find all of this out?’
‘His mother told me.Sort of.She was at the house.’
‘Isn’t she a dementia patient?’
‘Yes.But she talked like she knows exactly what’s going on.She probably knows that this is her son’s work.She just wouldn’t admit it directly.’
‘So we’re basing this on the ramblings of an old, demented woman?’
‘Yes we are.Got any better ideas?’
‘No.I’m pulling up the info for Elan now.Found it online.This place looks like it’s going to have the same kind of security measures as the other buildings.Biometrics, retinals, all that nonsense.’
‘All of which means exactly jack shit to Calvin Roth.He's been inside these systems for months, maybe years.We need to warn Wolfe.Can you find his number?Tell Wolfe to stay the hell away from that building.I’m hoping the place is empty because of the holiday, but we know how our killer works.He lures them there.He might do the same to Wolfe.’
‘Already on it.What's your ETA?’
‘Maybe an hour if I don’t wrap myself around a pole.Need you to meet me there with backup.’
