“She got a phone call that upset her, and she called a taxi and left. Something wrong?”
“How long ago?”
“Maybe ten minutes,” she said as she left. “Twenty?”
Griffin rubbed his hair. He still couldn’t reconcile the Lana he thought he saw with the Lana who’d sold those stories. He didn’t usually read people wrong. Was he blinded because he so wanted to believe she was as genuine as she seemed?
He called her number, but it went to voicemail. He hung up, and his phone rang right away. Not Lana—Estelle.
“So,” Estelle began, “my guys found the security camera—outside a laundromat down the street. The owner said Darnellfound two frames that caught his interest—the one of Vivien’s car going into the hospital…”
“The one I found, yeah.”
“And also one of her car leaving.”
“So shedidleave?”
“Not quite. I’ll send it to you.”
She hung up. A minute later his phone beeped with a text. The still from the camera showed the car leaving, but with another woman driving—the nurse he’d just been talking to. He dashed into the corridor, but she was gone. A pap was there, phone in hand, camera around his neck—one of the regulars.
“Not now, please,” Griffin said, walking past. He could feel his expression going into neutral. “How the hell did you get let in?”
“I’m not here to take photos,” the guy said, jogging to keep up. “Not this time. This nurse let me in, okay? Couple of hours ago. She even told me this was Darnell Lascelles’ room, in case I wanted to get photos of you and your girlfriend.”
“Oh great.” Griffin stopped. “Did you happen to see her nametag—the nurse?”
“Yeah, weird name, like Octavia.”
“Ophelia?”
“Could have been.”
“Did you see her a few minutes ago, right here?”
“I only just got here. But I gotta tell you, it was weird—like a set-up.”
“How so?”
“Usually, people who give you tipoffs or sneak you in, they expect cash in return, but she never asked. But then, as soon as I start taking photos, she pulls the girl away and calls security on me.”
“She took Lana? Where?”
“I don’t know, man. I took off. But I saw your girl again later, in the stairwell. Pale as anything. She told me to give you a message.”
“Lana toldyouto give me a message.”
“I’m not making it up, I swear. I told her you wouldn’t listen to me. She said, ‘Room 341.’”
“That’s it? That’s the message?”
“That’s it. I didn’t even take a photo of her, okay? You know how much I could get for that? She has currency! Where-is-Griffin-Hart-dot-com is like fifty percent about tracking her right now.Andshe stole my cap! Vintage eighties Broncos Orange Crush—that’s worth real money!” He raised his chin. “She promised me an exclusive if I gave you the message.”
“What exclusive?”
“She didn’t say, but she said it’d be big.”
Griffin stared at the guy’s pink, sweaty face. He did appear to be telling the truth—if that was possible for a bottom feeder, if Griffin’s instincts hadn’t fully deserted him. So Lana was promising a pap a story now? Room 341 had to be on the same floor as Franklin Ross. If the nurse was lying about Lana leaving, was that where she’d gone?
