Daniel Da Cruz by Mixed Doubles

Author:Mixed Doubles [Doubles, Mixed]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Angelica Hunter had gone to police headquarters for the second time that day in the late afternoon. She had been asked to come by Detective Lieutenant Rivers, who questioned her about possible places a figure as well known as Justin Pope could hide. Angelica Hunter could offer the lieutenant no enlightenment. For five hours he quizzed her, sure she was holding something back.

She was: her temper. She wanted to know how Justin had disappeared and where he had gone, and she was furious because Rivers refused to take her denials seriously and, instead of grilling her, get on to the job of finding Justin. She was certain something had happened to him, since he seemed to have vanished into the San Francisco fog.

The police had put out an APB on the van within five minutes of its disappearance. Since they had not found a trace of it, they assumed that Justin Pope must still be in possession of the van, so Rivers refrained from putting out an APB on him as well. It would not look good for the department to have the media laughing at him for letting Pope get away—if Pope was a criminal—or being harassed by the police if Pope proved not to be. He decided to give the search until the morning and then let the press have it.

At nine o’clock that night Rivers finally told her she could go. She went. Paying off the cab, she proceeded to the desk, where she asked the concierge if there had been any messages.

“No, Miss Hunter,” he said, his voice tense from the thought of the coming confrontation. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right.” She walked dejectedly to the elevator. At the bronze doors, a security man blocked the way. “Kindly get out of my way,” she said.

“Sorry, ma’am. No visitors to the penthouse.”

“I’m not a visitor,” she blazed. “I live here. Get the hell out of the way.”

“Orders, Miss Hunter,” the security man said. “I’m really sorry.”

“Orders? Whose orders?”

“Mr. Pope’s.”

“Is that right?” she said, her lip curling.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And when did Mr. Pope give these ‘orders’?”

“About an hour and a half ago.”

Hope flashed in her eyes. “Do you mean he’s here?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And he said he didn’t want to see anybody?”

“That’s right.”

“But of course he’d say that. He didn’t want to see anybody except me.”

“Anybody. We’ve even had instructions to keep his staff away, to send his meals up and make sure that the waiter left the building before being notified that his meal had arrived.”

“We are, I presume, speaking about the same Justin Pope?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You saw him?”

“I saw him. I see him practically every day. It’s Mr. Pope, all right.”

“And you won’t let me into my apartment?”

The security man shrugged apologetically.

Angelica Hunter marched to the concierge’s desk and asked to be connected with the penthouse.

The concierge shook his head miserably. “I’m afraid I cannot, Miss Hunter. No incoming calls. Orders.”

“I see,” she said quietly. “Very well.” She turned, went out the revolving doors, and hailed a cab.

Twenty minutes later a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.