“Mitch!” John shouted, “We’re not done. Come back in here.”
Mitch didn’t acknowledge John’s angry shout, or close the office door behind himself, or slow down as he headed for the exit.
Andgoddammit, there stood Clarence blocking his path again. “What, Clarence?”
“Are you mad at me for telling—”
“No, forget it.” Mitch tried to go around him, but he wouldn’t move. “Look, we’re cool, okay?”
“Okay,” Clarence said, “but, uh, I was having lunch at EATS?”
“Yeah. And?”
“Dodi says hi.”
“Thanks for telling me. Now, I’m in a hurry,” he said, finallygetting around him.
“Are you on your way to check on Dr. Reede?”
Mitch stopped and turned halfway around. “Check on her? What are you talking about?”
“Well, she’s in there all alone and—”
“In where?”
“Her office.”
“No. She’s not there today. It’s Saturday. The building is closed.”
“Yeah, I know. She let herself in through the employee entrance in back.”
Mitch came fully around. “Clarence, whoever you saw, it wasn’t Dr. Reede.”
“I’m positive it was her. She’s hard to mistake.”
Mitch’s breath was beginning to hitch unevenly. His heart began to thud the ominous and dreadful way it had on the night he’d entered his house half an hour late, calling Angela’s name and being greeted only by the low hum of the car’s motor inside the garage.
He began walking backward toward the exit. “When was this?”
“As I left the diner,” Clarence said, coming toward him to maintain the short distance between them. “I drove around the corner and passed the parking lot. Caught her just as she went inside.”
“Was she by herself?”
“Except for the repairman. That’s what kinda bothered me. Her being—”
“What repairman?”
“I watched him from the booth at EATS. He was working on a window on the third floor.”
“On the fire escape?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
Because he’d broken that window last Monday night.
“He must’ve got it fixed. He managed to squeeze through.”
Mitch spun around and knocked aside chairs, trash cans, personnel, anything that got in his way as he bolted toward the exit. He lunged down the stairs, jumping over several at a time.
