“Hard to tell,” Holly says. What’s easy to tell is when someone is riding a hobbyhorse. Pete is currently aboard his. “Maybe the Delta variant will mutate into something weaker.”
“We’ll find out, won’t we? When the next one comes along. Which it will. In the meantime, shelve Penny Dahl and find something to watch on Netflix. It’s what I’m going to do.”
“Probably good advice. Take care, Pete.” With that she ends the call.
She doesn’t want to watch anything on Netflix (Holly thinks most of their movies, even those with big budgets, are weirdly mediocre) but her stomach is making tiny, tentative growls and she decides to pay attention. Something comforting. Maybe tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Pete’s ideas about viruses are probably Internet bullpoop, but his advice about leaving Penelope “Penny” Dahl alone is undoubtedly good.
She heats the soup, she makes the grilled cheese with plenty of mustard and just a dab of relish, the way she likes it, and she doesn’t call Penelope Dahl.
3
At least not until seven that night. What keeps gnawing at her is the note taped to the seat of Bonnie Dahl’s bicycle: I’ve had enough. There were lots of times when Holly thought of leaving a similar note and getting out of Dodge, but she never did. And there were times when she thought of ending it all—pulling the pin, Bill would have said—but she never thought of it seriously.
Well… maybe once or twice.
She calls Ms. Dahl from her study, and the woman answers on the first ring. Eager and a little out of breath. “Hello? Is this Finders Keepers?”
“Yes. Holly Gibney. How can I help, Ms. Dahl?”
“Thank God you called. I thought you and Mr. Huntley must be on vacation or something.”
As if, Holly thinks. “Can you come to my office tomorrow, Ms. Dahl? It’s in—”
“The Frederick Building, I know. Of course. The police have been no help at all. Not at all. What time?”
“Would nine o’clock suit you?”
“Perfect. Thank you so much. My daughter was last seen at four minutes past eight on July first. There’s video of her in a store where she—”
“We’ll discuss all that tomorrow,” Holly says. “But no guarantees, Ms. Dahl. It’s just me, I’m afraid. My partner is ill.”
“Oh my God, not Covid?”
“Yes, but a mild case.” Holly hopes it’s mild. “I only have a few questions for you now. You said on your message that Bonnie was last seen at a Jet Mart. There are quite a few of them around the city. Which of them was it?”
“The one near the park. On Red Bank Avenue. Do you know that area?”
“I do.” Holly has even gotten gas at that Jet Mart a time or two. “And was that where her bike was found?”
“No, further down Red Bank. There’s an empty building—well, there’s a lot of empty buildings on that side of the park—but this one used to be a car repair shop, or something. Her bike was on its kickstand, out in front.”
“No attempt to hide it?”
“No, no, nothing like that. The police detective I talked to, the Jaynes woman, said Bonnie might have wanted it found. She also said the bus and train depot is only a mile further along, right about where you get into downtown? But I said Bonnie wouldn’t leave her bike and then walk the rest of the way, why would she? I mean it stands to reason.”
She’s ramping up, getting into a hysterical rhythm Holly knows well. If she doesn’t stop the woman now, Holly will be on the phone for an hour or more.
“Let me stop you right there, Ms. Dahl—”
“Penny. Call me Penny.”
“Okay, Penny. We’ll get into it tomorrow. Our rates are four hundred dollars a day, three-day minimum, plus expenses. Which I will itemize. I can take Master or Visa or your personal check. No Amex, they’re—” Poopy is the word that comes naturally to Holly’s mind. “They’re difficult to deal with. Are you willing to proceed on that basis?”
“Yes, absolutely.” No hesitation at all. “The Jaynes woman asked if Bonnie was feeling depressed, I know what she was thinking about, suicide is what she was thinking about, but Bonnie is a cheerful soul, even after her breakup with that dope she was so crazy about she got back on the sunny side after the first two or three weeks, well, maybe it was more like a month, but—”
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Holly repeats. “You can tell me all about it. Fifth floor. And Penny?”
“Yes?”
“Wear a mask. An N95, if you have one. I can’t help you if I get sick.”
“I will, I absolutely will. May I call you Holly?”
Holly tells Penny that would be fine and finally extracts herself from the call.
4
Mindful of Pete’s suggestion, Holly tries a Netflix movie called Blood Red Sky, but when the scary stuff starts she turns it off. She has followed all the bloody exploits of Jason and Michael and Freddy, she can tell you the names of every movie in which Christopher Lee played the sanguinary Count, but after Brady Hartsfield and Chet Ondowsky—especially Ondowsky—she thinks she may have lost her taste for horror films.
She goes to the window and stands there looking out at the latening day, ashtray in one hand, cigarette in the other. What a nasty habit it is! She’s already thinking about how much she’ll want one during her meeting with Penny Dahl, because meeting new clients is always stressful for her. She’s a good detective, has decided it’s what she was born to do, her calling, but she leaves the initial meet-and-greets to Pete whenever possible. No way she can do that tomorrow. She thinks about asking Jerome Robinson to be there, but he’s working on the editor’s draft of a book about his great-grandfather, who was quite a character. Jerome would come if she asked, but she won’t interrupt him. Time to suck it up.
No smoking in the building, either. I’ll have to go out to the alley on the side once the Dahl woman’s gone.
Holly knows this is how addicts think and behave: they rearrange the furniture of their lives to make room for their bad habits. Smoking is rotten and dangerous… but there’s nothing more comforting than one of these deadly little tubes of paper and tobacco.
If the girl took the train, there’ll be a record even if she paid cash. Same with Greyhound, Peter Pan, Magic Carpet, and Lux. But there are two fly-by-nighters on the next block that specialize in transient travel. Tri-State, and what’s the other one?
She can’t remember and she doesn’t want to do an Internet search tonight. Plus who’s to say that Bonnie Dahl left on a bus or Amtrak? She could have hitchhiked. Holly thinks of It Happened One Night, and how Claudette Colbert gets a ride for her and Clark Gable by hiking up her skirt and adjusting a stocking. Things don’t change that much… only Bonnie Dahl didn’t have a big strong man to protect her. Unless, of course, she’d reconnected with the old boyfriend her mom had mentioned.
No point picking at this now. There will probably be plenty to pick at tomorrow. She hopes so, anyway. Penny Dahl’s problem will give her something to think about besides her mother’s pointless, politics-driven death.