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“He said it himself. I don’t think he was lying.”
Harris swallowed, and Cassie wondered if she was having the same trouble as she was. “That’s good to know. We should, uh, call someone to go check out the body. If he really was a hitman, they might be able to close a lot of cases now that he’s dead.”
“Maybe we should just forget Reed,” Cassie suggested. “Go home, take this one day at a time.”
Harris shook her head. “Zbirak might’ve pulled the trigger, but someone hired him. We have to prove it’s Aguilar. Then we can rest. Then we can try to move on.”
Cassie wasn’t so sure. Learning that David’s killer was dead should’ve been a relief to Harris, but Cassie could tell she was more determined than ever to push forward. Even if they got to Reed, and eventually to Aguilar, what would it change? David would still be dead, and Harris would still carry the guilt of his death on her conscience, warranted or not.
“I think Reed might be heading to California.”
Harris finally looked at her, and Cassie didn’t miss the tears that had pooled in her eyes. “What makes you think that?”
Cassie relayed what happened in the basement with the shadow person. Still unable to construct all the images the spirit had tried to pass on, her gut was saying they were on the right track. “If Reed’s running, he’s trying to make sure no one uncovers the skeletons in his closet. He'll go there first. I can’t tell you why, I just—”
“You just know it’s true?” Harris smirked, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, you say that a lot. I’ve stopped questioning it.”
“Really?”
“Out loud, anyway.”
Less than ten minutes later, they pulled into the long-term parking at O’Hare International airport, and Cassie jogged to keep up with Harris after exiting the car. By the time they made it to the ticket counter, Cassie was out of breath. She pretended to go through her duffel while she returned her heart rate to normal. Harris had told her they weren’t going to get on a plane tonight, but the detective had insisted they bring their bags, just in case.
Harris slapped her ID and credit card down on the counter. “We need to get on the next flight to L.A.”
The woman behind the desk didn’t look alarmed. She tapped away on her computer, asked Harris a couple questions, took their IDs, and swiped the credit card. A few minutes later, they had their tickets in hand and headed toward the security gate.
“What about your gun?” Cassie whispered before they approached the guards.
“Left it in the car,” Harris said. “We’ll need to get Jason’s guys to hold onto it for me. And return the rental.” She grimaced. “I’m not risking any late fees. They’re ridiculous.”
On the other side of security, they stopped in front of the departure screens. There were five flights heading to L.A. within the next hour. Harris pointed to the two leaving from Concourse B. “You look for Reed at those two gates.” She pointed to the three leaving from Concourse C. “I’ll look at these three. Let’s meet back here in an hour.”
“And what if we spot him? We can’t hold him against his will.”
“Whoever finds him first calls the other one. Then we make a scene.”
“Make a scene?” Cassie’s throat constricted. “And do what?”
“Say you saw him acting weird. They’ll hold him until they figure it out. We’ll call the cops. Explain what’s been going on. It’ll be enough for them to look into what he’s been up to.”
“And what we’ve been up to.”
“That’s a risk we’ll have to take.” She pulled out her cell. “I’ll call in Zbirak’s body. There’ll be enough physical evidence to back up your side of the story. Especially when Bob pulls through.”
Cassie didn’t know what else to say, so she nodded her head, shouldered her bag, and headed toward Concourse B. She’d flown through O’Hare a couple of times over the years, and despite its size, the airport was easy to navigate. What wasn’t easy was looking for a needle in a haystack.
And that’s exactly what Reed was.
It only took a few minutes to get to the first gate, which had just started boarding. Unless Reed had gotten on first, he wasn’t here. Cassie hung around for a few minutes to make sure he didn’t show up late.
It took another couple of minutes to walk the length of the concourse to get to her second gate. Every few seconds, Cassie checked her phone to see if Harris had called. It had been frustratingly silent. Did that mean she hadn’t found him, or was she too busy causing a scene?
The crowd thinned as she approached the second gate. There was just a single person waiting to scan their ticket at the desk. The woman behind the counter had bright orange hair and a bored look on her face. The man standing in front of her was short and fat.
Cassie recognized him instantly.
“Hey!” A few heads turned, but the woman with the orange hair didn’t pay any attention to her. Reed gathered his ticket and shuffled through the door. Cassie called out again. “Hey!”
