He followed that corridor to a corner where it intersected with another long hallway lined with offices. Midway down that hall was the door to the outside through which he’d entered. It was unmarked, but he’d located it when he’d seen Dylan’s patient using it to exit. The lock had been easy enough to pick, but the door was made of solid metal. There was no way to see what waited beyond it except to open it.
He pushed it open an inch and put his eye to the crack.
EATS’s neon sign was dark. All the surrounding offices and businesses were also closed for the night. The city street was vacant except for the car he had spotted as he’d left Gus’s bar. It had been parked halfway down the block on the other side of the street. He hadn’t been at all surprised that he was being tailed, but he’d pretended not to notice.
Evidently, he’d been followed to the medical building. Through the window blinds in Dylan’s office, he’d seen the same car on the street, and it was still there. Unfortunately it was parked facing this exit door. He couldn’t go out this waywithout being seen, and he wanted to take the driver of that car by surprise.
He pulled the door closed and walked along the dim hallway until he reached the entrance to the fire stairs. He took the treads two at a time up to the third floor landing where there was a window that opened onto an exterior fire escape. He’d made note of it while studying the building from his booth in the diner.
The lock on the window had been painted over so many times that it wouldn’t budge until he applied his pocketknife to it. It finally gave way, but also cracked the glass pane and splintered the wood frame. He didn’t worry about the damage overmuch. It wouldn’t be that noticeable.
He raised the window only high enough for him to climb through and then conscientiously closed it once he was out. The fire escape was rusty, creaky, and loosely attached to the building, but he reached the bottom without mishap and made the ten-foot drop to the sidewalk without difficulty. He then jogged to the corner of the building and peered around.
He was now behind the car.
He started toward it, walking stealthily but quickly in the shadow of the building. As he approached the car, he slowed, slid his pistol from its holster at the small of his back, and held it down at his side as he crept up to the car.
The driver’s window was down. The driver was talking on a cell phone. Mitch heard him say, “No, not a sign of him since he went in.”
Mitch lurched forward, simultaneously pounding on the driver’s door with his left fist, raising the pistol with his right hand, and aiming it through the open window.
The driver nearly jumped out of his skin and whipped his head around.
“Clarence!” Mitch exclaimed. “Jesus!”
Staring bug-eyed into the bore of the pistol, the young patrol officer who’d arrested him on Saturday night was gasping. When able, he said, “Hi, Mitch.”
“‘Hi, Mitch’? Why the fuck are you following me? Who are you talking to?”
“B… Bowie.”
“You gotta be shittin’ me. Give me that.” He reached through the open window with his left hand and snatched the phone from Clarence. He brought it up to his ear and said with exaggerated congeniality, “A pleasant evening to you, John. How’s it hanging?”
“What were you doing in the medical building?”
“I’ve got this fungus on my scrotum.”
“Oh, you’re funny.”
“Okay, I had a session with Dr. Reede. Isn’t that what you dictated?”
“Your next appointment wasn’t until Thursday.”
“What, you’re my personal assistant now? You keep my day planner?”
“Don’t turn this around on me, Mitch. If you were in some kind of emergency situation and needed—”
“No emergency. Relax. I just needed to talk through some things with the doc.”
“What things?”
“Privatethings.”
“She agreed to see you after office hours even though it wasn’t an emergency?”
“Well, she didn’t kick me out.” It didn’t count that she had tried. “But we’re getting off the subject here. I could’ve fired abullet into Clarence’s ear canal, and he never would have seen it coming. Why’d you send him to follow me?”
“I was worried about you.”
