“What do you mean?”
Andy sighed. “I’m not sure. We need to have a strategy powwow. And Lizzy should move out of the hotel. If it was Mortensen who picked up Castillo, she would know you’re at Penn U Hospital, and it would have been easy for her to follow me and Lizzy from there to the hotel. I’d recommend Lizzy go to Ruby’s house. As far as we know, Ruby’s the only one who no one suspects is playing for Team Lizzy.”
“Yes, that makes sense.”
“Can Ruby pick Lizzy up somewhere near the hotel? Ideally without someone seeing Lizzy get into Ruby’s car?”
“I’ll call her and find out.”
“By the time Lizzy and Ruby get to Ruby’s place, I’ll be at the hospital and we can call them.”
“What if the police follow you?”
“I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen. No need to lead them right to Mr. Owen McNally.”
“And then we’ll scatter the wagons?”
“We might want to send Lizzy away, and maybe even Ruby, but I’m staying here. You’re stuck with me, bro.”
19
The sound of the car door opening roused Philip and he opened his eyes to see the man from the videoconference standing outside.
“Welcome, Mr. Castillo.”
Philip tried to push himself out of the seat, but a bolt of pain shot from his shoulder straight to his brain.
“This may help,” said Viklund. He gestured to a portly man dressed in a suit and tie, a black leather bag on the ground at his side. The man stepped forward, holding a sling. “If you’ll allow the doctor to put on the sling, I believe you’ll be more comfortable.”
Philip hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.”
The doctor leaned into the car and fastened the sling carefully around Philip’s arm. Just having a moment to orient himself made him feel better.
Once the sling was in place, Viklund gestured to the chauffeur, who had been hovering in the background. He stepped forward with an elegant wooden cane.
“You have been sitting for some time and might be lightheaded. This will help you maintain your balance.” He took the cane from the chauffeur and held it out to Philip.
Philip swung his legs out of the car and levered himself up, the doctor lending a discreet assist with a hand on his good elbow.
They were standing in a circular drive in front of a low building of metal and glass sunk into the landscape.
“Thank you, doctor,” said Viklund. The portly man stepped back and Viklund took his place at Philip’s elbow. “Your guest room is not too far,” he said to Philip.
Leaning as little as possible on the cane, Philip made his way across the flagstone terrace that led to the front door. He noticed a wheelchair parked unobtrusively off to one side and felt a grudging pang of gratitude to Theo Viklund that he had given him the chance to make it to the guest room under his own power.
They passed through the door into a large entrance hall, and then continued straight back down a long corridor, their footsteps muffled by the carpet that ran its length. They passed a number of closed doors, and Philip was wondering how far back the building went, and if he would in fact be able to make it to the guest room, when Viklund stopped at one of the doors, pushed it open, and stepped aside to let Philip enter.
Philip nodded toward the door. “After you.”
Viklund smiled. “Certainly.” He stepped into the room and Philip followed. The chauffeur and doctor stayed in the corridor.
The colors were the reds and tans of the desert southwest, the rug a Wide Ruins pattern, the bed’s headboard fashioned from unfinished wood. A Navajo wedding basket hung on the wall, the undyed pathway from the basket’s center to its rim correctly oriented, as far as Philip could tell, toward the east. In the absence of any windows, rustic iron lamps cast a warm glow.
“I regret that our more fully appointed guest quarters are not available at the moment,” said Viklund. “They are either presently occupied or being prepared for other occupants.”
Philip crossed the room and eased himself down on the bed. He would have preferred to remain standing, but he sensed he would be pushing his luck. “And who might that be?”
“I will fill you in once you’re rested.”
“I’m going to need to let some people know that I’m okay,” said Philip. “They’re going to wonder what the hell’s going on if I just disappear from the hospital and they don’t hear from me.”
“You can call them on the mobile phone I used to text you.”
“I’m not calling them with a phone you gave me.”
Viklund smiled again. “So suspicious. But of course I can hardly blame you.” He appeared to consider. “We know that Andrew McNally has been visiting you in the hospital, and we know how to find him if we need to, so you’d not be giving anything away if you were to call him.”
Philip tried to find a flaw in this reasoning and couldn’t. “That would work great if I knew what his number was.”
“You’ll find it programmed into the phone,” said Viklund. “I’ll step out so you can make the call. When you’re done, just press zero and the doctor will come in to see if there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable. Then you can get some rest.”
Philip nodded.
Viklund stepped out of the room and closed the door.
Philip got the phone out of his pocket, opened the Contacts, and pressed the entry for Andrew McNally. He was relieved when it rang to voicemail.
“Andy, it’s Philip. As you probably know by now, someone sprung me from the hospital. Sounds like the police were getting close to connecting me with what happened in Pocopson. I’m fine—it looks like I’ll have a chance to rest up where I am now. I’m calling from a phone that this person gave me and I have every expectation that the calls are being monitored, so don’t call me back on this number. I’ll be in touch again as soon as I can.” He hesitated. “Please make sure you’ve conveyed the message I gave you, and do everything you can to make sure the recipient takes it seriously. And it’s a good idea for me not to know where that person is.” He ended the call and put the phone on the bedside table.
He expected the trio in the hallway, no doubt listening in to his conversation, to come in as soon as his call was done, but when a minute ticked by with no arrivals, he remembered Viklund’s instructions and hit zero on the phone.
The doctor entered almost immediately. He rebandaged Philip’s shoulder, took his pulse and blood pressure, and offered him a pain pill, which Philip declined. When the door closed after him, Philip heard a click. He pushed himself to his feet and crossed to the door. It was, not surprisingly, locked.
He returned to the bed and lay back on the mound of pillows. If he was going to be locked in, he might as well make good use of the time.
He closed his eyes and slept.
20
Lizzy slipped out of the hotel via a service entrance leading to the hotel’s loading dock. She texted her location to Ruby and pretty soon a white van turned into the back street and pulled up to where she stood.
Lizzy slid open the van’s side door and hoisted her suitcase into the back. “Hey, Ruby. Thanks for coming.”
“I thought it would look more appropriate pulling up to the back of a hotel in a van than in my car,” said Ruby DiMano in her usual brisk tone, “and it will be easier for you to hide in back.”
Lizzy clambered into the back of the van and slid the door closed, then tried to get comfortable on the hard metal floor. “Where are we going?”
“To my apartment.”
“What’s happening?” she asked. Ruby had told her nothing during their brief phone call, other than the fact that Owen and Andy thought it was best that she leave the hotel.
“Hold on, I want to make sure no one’s following us.”
When Ruby DiMano had first met Lizzy, she was an informer for Louise Mortensen’s husband, Gerard Bonnay. But when Bonnay had had Lizzy’s father killed—a hit made to look like a muggi
ng—Ruby had switched sides and helped Owen and Andy spirit Lizzy away from the Pocopson house where Gerard and Louise were holding her.
It should have been a quick drive from the hotel to Ruby’s apartment in Overbrook, but Ruby wended her way around the streets of West Philly for fifteen nerve-jangling minutes before declaring them free of any tails.
“So, what’s happening?” repeated Lizzy from the back of the van.
“Mr. Castillo left the hospital.”
“He did? I thought he wasn’t going to be able to leave for at least a couple of days.”
“That’s what we all thought. A limo showed up and picked him up at the entrance.”
“A limo?” asked Lizzy, shocked. “Was it Louise?”
“She’s the first person who occurred to me,” said Ruby, “but no one knows. Maybe the McNallys will have more information when we talk to them.”
They had just reached Overbrook and were sitting in the tiny apartment when Ruby’s phone rang.
She activated the speaker. “Hello. We’re both here.”
“Hi, it’s Andy and Owen,” they heard Owen say. “Were you guys able to get away from the hotel without being seen?”
“I think so,” said Ruby.
“Ruby should join the Secret Service,” said Lizzy.
“Heaven forbid,” said Ruby.
“You know about Philip?” Owen asked.
“We know he left the hospital,” said Ruby.
“I got a message from him,” said Andy.
“Really? That’s great!” said Lizzy. “Where is he?”
“He wouldn’t say, just that he was somewhere where he would be able to rest up.”
“Did he tell you who picked him up?”
“No. He said that someone was probably monitoring the phone he used to leave me the message, so I wasn’t supposed to call him back.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Lizzy, casting a worried glance at Ruby.
“I know, but he didn’t sound panicked or upset, just tired, which would be totally understandable,” said Andy. “I’m not thrilled about the situation, but for the time being I think we need to assume he’s okay. He did say, though, that it was best that he not know where you are, Lizzy.”
“That makes it sound like he’s afraid of Mitchell reading his mind again,” Lizzy replied.
“Possibly. Or Louise may have other mind-reading Vivantem offspring working for her. Or it may be for an entirely different reason—there are other ways than mind reading to get information out of a person.”
“Andy,” Owen admonished.
“Sorry.” Andy cleared his throat. “In any case,” he continued, “I think we should take a tip from Philip and start a policy from here on out that we not share any information among ourselves that would be useful to Louise if one of us were to fall into her hands. Lizzy, I hate to say it, but I think you’re going to have to disappear, at least for a little while, until things blow over. Ruby, how about a return trip to the Keys with Liz?”
“I’m afraid I can’t, Dr. McNally. I need to be here to help out with my brother-in-law.”
“How about you, Andy?” asked Owen. “Maybe you can take Lizzy somewhere.”
“Uncle Owen,” said Lizzy, “Andy has to be here to keep an eye on your parents.”
“Right, right,” he replied. After a pause, he said, “Maybe I—”
“Absolutely not,” interrupted Andy. “The doctors said you need plenty of rest, otherwise you risk causing even more damage to your heart.”
“I can go off somewhere by myself,” said Lizzy. “Lots of seventeen-year-olds go on trips by themselves.”
“Like who?” said Andy.
“I don’t know any personally, Andy,” she retorted. “I don’t know any other seventeen-year-olds.”
Andy was silent for a moment, then said, “Maybe it’s not a bad idea. Lizzy could go somewhere by train or bus.”
“The disadvantage of any mode of transportation that runs on a schedule,” said Owen, “is its predictability. If they found out Lizzy was on a particular train, all they’d need to do would be to wait for her at the destination. It’s limiting and doesn’t provide much flexibility.”
“I could borrow your SUV,” said Lizzy.
“You don’t know how to drive,” said Owen.
“I do so,” she said. “Dad used to let me drive around Parkesburg. Sometimes I would drive him to the train station in the mornings and drive Ruby back to the house. Or the other way around in the evenings.”
“But,” said Owen, “that’s illegal.”
There was silence on the line for a moment, then Lizzy heard the first honest laughter she had heard from Andy since she had returned to Pennsylvania. After a moment, Owen joined in, sounding a bit sheepish. She and Ruby exchanged smiles. Finally, Andy said, “Well, Dudley Do-Right, you can make a citizen’s arrest when all this other stuff blows over.”
“Okay,” said Owen, “I agree that comparatively speaking it barely registers on our current scale of illegality—and, in fact, is probably a big help.” He paused. “But if you can drive, why didn’t you drive Philip away from Pocopson yourself, rather than getting Mitchell Pieda to help you?”
“I’ve never driven in the dark,” said Lizzy, “and it didn’t seem like the best time to try it for the first time. Plus, I had to let Mitchell go anyway so he wouldn’t spill his guts to the police about us.”
“Very sensible,” agreed Owen. “However, if we’re trying to limit any connections between me and Andy and you, my SUV is probably not the right choice for a getaway vehicle.”
“You could use the van,” said Ruby.
“I can’t take your van. How will you drive your brother-in-law around?”
Ruby hesitated, then said, “He’s declining. I don’t think he’s going to need the van anymore.”
“Oh, Ruby, I’m so sorry,” she said, taking Ruby’s bony hand in hers.
They were all silent for a moment, then Andy said, “I hate that the circumstances make it an option, but it would solve the problem. Even if the cops know that Ruby has been visiting Owen in the hospital, there’s no reason for them to connect her with Lizzy or Lizzy’s disappearance. Plus,” he added, “Owen must have had two dozen visitors, and the cops can’t check them all out.”
“It’s very generous of you to offer the use of your van, Ruby,” said Owen, “and, Lizzy, it’s convenient that you’ve driven around Parkesburg before, but your driving experience is pretty limited.”
“I can practice on back roads,” said Lizzy.
“I could go with Lizzy for the first day,” added Ruby, “just to get her used to the van.”
“That would be great,” replied Andy.
“There are other logistical challenges,” said Owen. “What about money? Using a credit card to pay for a hotel room might alert someone to your location.”
“I can stay in the van—it’s big enough,” said Lizzy.
“What about buying gas?” said Owen, beginning to sound desperate.
“We can give her cash,” said Andy.
“And you don’t have a driver’s license,” said Owen. “If you’re going to be driving anywhere other than to and from the Parkesburg train station, you should have a driver’s license, and it would be tricky to get you one, especially on short notice.”
“I don’t have one now, but I should have one soon—tomorrow or the day after.”
Lizzy described her conversation with Philip’s friend, trying her best to make it sound like a straightforward business transaction. When she was finished, she glanced over at Ruby. Ruby actually had a somewhat pleased expression on her face. “So, I’m set with the license,” Lizzy concluded in the face of Uncle Owen and Andy’s silence.
Then there was some noise in the background on the other end of the call, and Owen said, “Hello, Doctor—would you mind giving us a few more minutes?”
“Actually, I think we’re almost done,” said Andy. “Owen, why don’t we let t
he doctor poke and prod you for a few minutes, and I’ll just step into the hallway and wrap up any last details with the ladies.”
They heard some faint protest from Owen, but Andy had evidently taken the phone off speaker. In a moment, he continued, a background hum of other voices and the muffled squawk of a PA system suggesting that he had moved from the room to the hallway. “I guess we just need to wait until the license shows up, load you up with some cash, and get you on the road.”
“Sounds good,” said Lizzy.
“I just have one quick message for you, Liz.”
Ruby stood up. “I’ll let the two of you speak privately, while I put on some tea.” She stepped through the door that led to the bathroom that separated the living room from the kitchen in the tiny apartment.
“What’s up?” Lizzy asked. Her stomach was knotted—what else could Andy need to tell her privately other than some ominous update on Uncle Owen’s condition?
“Philip gave me a message for you,” he said.
“Oh? What is it?”
“He says you don’t need to do the favor he asked you to do after all.”
After a moment, Lizzy said, “Really?”
“That’s what he said.” He waited a beat, then continued. “I’m going to ask even though I know it’s none of my business. What favor did he ask you to do?”
“I can’t say. It’s a secret.”
Andy sighed. “I know you don’t want to hear this, Lizzy, but we really don’t know much about Philip. He seems like a nice guy, and I know that you and Owen both benefited from his … counseling services, but to be blunt, his willingness to go to Pocopson with you and break into Mortensen’s home is part of the reason we’re in this situation. We have to be super careful about anyone who knows what’s going on.”
“I know that,” she said shortly.
“I know you do. Anyway, I didn’t want Owen to know about this favor Philip had asked for because it’s the kind of thing he would stress about, and stress is the last thing he needs at the moment.” She heard him sigh. “Well, in any case, whatever the favor was, you don’t have to do it anymore, so I guess it’s a moot point.”
The Iron Ring Page 8
