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He pulled a small flashlight from the policeman’s belt and switched it on. He shone the beam down at their feet, but he could see her in the ambient light.
“Laura. Is there really a baby?”
CHAPTER
31
JUDGING FROM THE LOOK ON HER FACE, THE QUESTION HAD TAKEN her completely by surprise. She stared at him for several seconds, then made a small motion with her head.
He felt an expanding pressure inside his chest. He’d never felt anything like it before, so he couldn’t put a name to it. It was a strange feeling, and yet a good one. Like supreme satisfaction. Like the total opposite of what he’d been feeling the other day in the motel when he’d reviewed his life history.
He looked down at her abdomen but couldn’t detect any change. Of course there wouldn’t be any yet.
He wondered if she was thinking, like he was, about their last afternoon together, when he’d reached around her and closed the front door. How could they have foreseen the cataclysmic impact that simple motion would have? Because of it, one life had ended. And another had begun.
His gaze tracked back up to her face. Their eyes met and held. This warm, closed space in which they were standing seemed suddenly to be very small and airless. He didn’t dare take a deep breath for fear of breaking the silence that pressed in on them, teeming with implication.
He knew there must be something appropriate to say to a woman who had your baby inside her, but damned if he could think of what it might be, so he didn’t say anything, just continued staring into her eyes, until she finally looked away.
He touched her chin and brought her head back around to face him. “I’ll go to death row unless I find Manuelo Ruiz. Do you understand?”
She shook her head, slowly and then more adamantly. “No, I don’t. It’s not possible. Manuelo worshiped Foster. He wouldn’t—”
“But I would?”
She searched his eyes, then made a motion with her head and shoulders that could have meant either yes or no. But even if she had the slightest doubt, it was crushing to him.
He dropped his hand. “I don’t know why I hoped you would believe me when my own lawyer didn’t even bother to ask whether or not I had killed your husband. He just assumed I had. I didn’t. Manuelo did.”
“He couldn’t.”
“It was a bizarre accident. Seeing what he’d done, the guy wigged out. He bolted. He’s scared and may be halfway to El Salvador by now. But without him, I’m sunk.”
He shone the flashlight beam on his wristwatch. They’d driven away from the hotel twenty-seven minutes ago. Thomas and Lane and the rest of them were probably catching hell from Rodarte by now. Soon a posse would be dispatched.
“My time’s running out.” He motioned her up the staircase.
On their way, she said, “If Manuelo is running, this is the last place he would be.”
“Officially, there’s no record of the man beyond a social security number, which was fake, and a Texas driver’s license with a phony address.”
“How do you know this?”
“Rodarte. He was quoted in the newspaper.”
“If the police can’t find him, how do you hope to?” By now she had reached the door at the top of the stairs. It was unlocked. Griff switched off the flashlight and followed Laura into the apartment.
“Where are the windows?”
“There aren’t any. Only skylights on the back side of the roof.”
Trusting her to be telling the truth, he turned the flashlight back on but kept it aimed at the floor. It was a spacious single room which, Griff estimated, covered half of the garage below. It was equipped with a small kitchen area with dormitory-size appliances, and a TV in a cabinet opposite the bed. The bathroom was compact.
The apartment had already been tossed by the police. Bureau drawers had been left open, the closet door stood ajar. The twin bed had been stripped. The mattress was askew.
“Hold the light.” Griff passed her the flashlight, then started his search with the TV cabinet. “How did Manuelo come to be Foster’s aide?”
“He was a janitor at the rehab center. Foster was there for several months after he got out of the hospital. One day after a strenuous therapy session, he experienced respiratory distress. He was no longer hooked to monitors, he couldn’t reach the call button. Manuelo happened by. He didn’t summon help but came in, lifted Foster out of bed, and carried him to the nurses’ station. Foster credited him with saving his life. I think Manuelo felt the same about Foster. His life improved dramatically when Foster took him in.”
