This Old Souse by Mary Daheim

Author:Mary Daheim [Mary Daheim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061753947
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

JUDITH WAS FLUMMOXED. There was no Caller ID feature on the phone she’d been given. She hurried back to the maître d’, but he was showing a couple to their table. She tried hitting *69 on the cordless phone, but the call had been blocked. Then she looked at the main console on the desk. It did have Caller ID, so she pressed the button. An Eastside number came up. That couldn’t be Anna; the area code was outside the city. Judith figured that another customer had phoned the restaurant after Anna called. Going on to the next listing, she saw “Security Screen—000-000-0000.” The time of the call was nine thirty-one. It was now nine thirty-six. The screened call must have come from Anna. Judith swore under her breath, then wondered if she should contact the police.

But what could she tell them? That a dark-haired five-foot-six well-dressed woman in her forties was somewhere downtown and thought she was being followed? That wouldn’t do.

Judith had her purse with her. She had gotten her valet parking stub out of her wallet when the maître d’ returned.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “There’s been an emergency and we’ll have to cancel.”

The maître d’ nodded in understanding and was about to say something when Judith bolted through the front door. She handed the parking stub and a ten-dollar bill to the young attendant on duty.

“Hurry, if you can,” she said. “It’s an emergency.”

Judith had no idea where the MG had been parked, but it careened around the corner and to the restaurant entrance in less than a minute. Thanking the attendant, she jumped into the car and headed uptown to the large underground parking garage across the street from Nordquist’s.

The garage had four floors, each marked by a different Pacific Northwest symbol—a salmon, a deer, a spotted owl, and a wild rhododendron. It was the logical place for Anna to park, since the four-story shopping plaza aboveground was connected to the store by a sky bridge. Anna had mentioned that she wanted to eat at Julio’s because it was on the street that led directly to her Hamilton Park neighborhood. Thus, Judith figured, she’d planned to move her car to the restaurant so she could head straight home.

But had Anna called from the parking garage by Nordquist’s or from somewhere along the six-block route to the restaurant? Judith had no idea what kind of car Anna drove. Going on ten o’clock, traffic was light, but Judith still couldn’t have spotted Anna’s vehicle even if she’d known what it looked like. It might be the longest day of the year, but darkness had almost settled in over the city. Judith’s only chance was to ask someone at the garage if they’d seen Ms. French drive out. She must be a regular; somebody ought to have recognized her leaving.

Judith pulled into the valet parking lane. Two attendants were chatting near the curb. The younger one, a Hispanic with a name tag that read TOMAS, hurried over to the MG.

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