Shell Game – Chapter 38 – Goose Chase

Evan ran the four blocks south on Commercial until he reached the front door of The Walnut Grove Apartments. Before opening the door, he stopped and took a breath in the vain hope of composing himself and not raising suspicion.

He nodded at the desk clerk as he hit the stairs and climbed up to Claire’s floor. If Claire was in trouble, the activity had not raised the attention of anyone in the lobby. He took the stairs by twos, ran the hall to her door, and knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again.

Still no answer.

He tried the knob. Locked. But the effort nudged the door open a little. Evan paused a moment before barging into the apartment. Something was up. His mind was running on overdrive, trying to see where the facts headed. If he could just see it all clearly, he told himself, he would be able to guess their endgame. He didn’t see Claire or anyone else. He called her name. No answer. He did a quick search and found no trace of Claire anywhere. The place had almost been swept clean. All he saw were two spent glass syringes resting on the bedroom side table. Next to the syringes, he also spied traces of a white powder. For the first time, Evan got scared for Claire’s safety. Was she drugged? Was she kidnapped? If so, who did it, and where would they have taken her?

Evan ran to the bedroom window to see if maybe he could see anyone who looked like they were taking her away from the building. He saw nothing of the kind, but what he did see put his stomach in knots. Through the thickening fog, he spied the shape of a sedan parked across the street. The car’s lights turned off, and two men got out of the car, heading like a freight train toward The Walnut Grove. Based on their walks and sizes, Evan guessed them to be Lts. Abrams and Short. By the time the detectives entered the lobby, Evan had pulled up the window sash, slipped out the window, climbed onto the fire escape, and closed the window behind him.

Through the grate of the fire escape, he noticed uniformed officers taking positions at both ends of the alleyway. Evan saw only one option. He placed his hands on the nearby metal ladder and started his climb to the roof. Once there, Evan hunched down to stay below the roofline as possible while still moving quickly. He wasn’t sure what could or couldn’t be seen through the fog, and he didn’t want to tip his hand to the police. Especially since Evan didn’t know what was going on and since the syringes and powder started to feel like a trap he’d just avoided. If he got caught now, he had almost no believable defense. He had to keep moving. He had to find out where all these con artists were.
Evan scooted across the top of several buildings till he found an open roof-access door, made his way down through the building’s stairwell and out a side door out to the street. Evan stopped and checked to see if he’d been followed. The fog was so thick it was impossible to know. It took him half a minute to reorient to where in Athens he was and once again zigzagged through some alleys and shops till he made it to the sandwich counter at the back of the Red X Pharmacy.

He ordered a reuben and an iced tea even though he was not the least bit hungry. He hoped he could look like he belonged and become invisible to the people working there if the police came asking. Evan sat at the counter and rubbed his face with both hands attempting to reorient his thoughts. Next to the counter, Evan noticed the phone booth. The wooden stall with its bi-fold door was the perfect hideout while he made and executed some plans. So, while Evan waited on his food, he enclosed himself in the booth, dropped a dime in the phone, and dialed back to his office. Sophie picked up.

“Can you talk?”

“Yes,” Sophie said.

“Are you alone?”

“Yes. How’s our girl?”

“M.I.A.,” Evan grumbled. “I’m pretty sure it was a trap.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure, but it was certainly a setup for something. I got out of there, but now the place is crawling with cops. My guess is they all think I did whatever they assume happened there. I’m a man out of time. I need to wrap this up, and quick.” Evan eyed the pharmacy to see if anyone suspicious was casing the place. He saw in the sparsely populated store only the occasional person perusing the colognes and the other bric-a-brac. “How is it going on your end,” he asked.

“Fine,” Sophie said.

“The police show up?”

“Mm-hmm. They want me to go down to the station later and give a statement.”

“Uh-huh,” Evan grunted. Then, “Did you see anyone that looked out of place?”

“Yeah. I was going to tell you. Lauren, or Margo, or whatever her name is, was sniffing around the edges. I don’t think she saw me notice her. She hung around in the back of the crowd for a few minutes. I looked up after a while and noticed she was gone.”

“Good thing the police got there first. I tell you, something’s not right with that woman. You might have joined the conductor in his fate if things had worked out another way.”

“Oh, I’m worried for you, Evan,” Sophie whimpered softly into the phone. “I know you’re going to tell me you can handle yourself, but this is getting way out of control. I’m worried we won’t make it.”

It pained Evan that he was bringing all the people he even remotely cared about into danger. If he made it out of this scrape in one piece, he would have to do something nice for her.

They ended their phone call, and Evan returned to his sandwich and tea. He lingered there a long while, thinking. He checked his watch. Eight fifteen. He stood, paid his tab, and left the Red X.

Again, Evan took a path to his apartment that not even a wild goose could follow. If he was going to be on the lamb for a few days, he thought he should get some things out of his apartment. The fog was impossibly thick. Evan assumed that if the police had him in their sights, they would be staking out the front door. He couldn’t see if anyone was outside, so he decided to risk coming in through the back entrance. As Evan approached the corner of the building, he felt someone approach from the shadows. He stopped and spun in the direction of the steps. Evan tensed his muscles and readied himself for what was to come. The person who emerged from the mist was Claire Porter. She embraced Evan and buried her face in his shoulder. When she looked up into his eyes, Evan could see the trail of tears glistening in the light of the streetlamp. Claire’s eyes were wide and fearful.

“Evan,” she whispered and held onto him. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been waiting so long for you.”

Evan pulled her back to see if she was feeling any effects from the drugs at her apartment. Her eyes seemed clear enough. “Did they do anything to you?”

“It’s been awful,” she whimpered, “ever since I left your office.”

“Why didn’t you do what I told you? Why didn’t you go to Sophie’s place?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m not very bright. Can we go upstairs? I don’t feel safe out here. I knew if I could just find you, you would know what I needed to do next. I’m scared.”

“Sure,” Evan said, “but we’ll have to try the back way. I don’t know who all might be watching for you and me. He placed his arm around his client. They made their way up the back stairs, all the while Claire’s head rested on Evan’s shoulder. He opened the stairwell door to his floor and looked to see if anyone camped by his apartment. Seeing no one, Evan guided Claire to his door. After he fished out his keys, he unlocked the door, tossed his keys on the little table by the door, and flipped on the lights.

In the living room, sitting as comfortably as if he owned the place, sat the man dressed in all black. His eye patch seemed particularly reflective. A moment later, Margo entered the living room from the kitchen, her gun already drawn and aimed at Evan. Evan noticed that her weapon did not look like any gun he was familiar with, however. Then, Harold Huber exited the bedroom with a second gun drawn. Eye Patch laughed satisfactorily.

“Welcome home, Mr. Gold,” he said. “Won’t you come in and sit down?”