“Maybe, but the police report didn’t have my name either. It said the victim was taken to Lenox Health. That’s where I was when I woke up.”
“When the police questioned you, you couldn’t remember anything, so they had no leads.”
“Yeah, well, I also went through the traffic-cam footage from that night.”
“You can do that?” Kara wasn’t sure if she was impressed or shocked.
“Yes, but I’m not supposed to. And right now I don’t care if I hacked into their system. I needed to find out for myself.”
“I didn’t realize they kept that footage for such a long time.” Kara was intrigued.
“It’s digital, so it doesn’t require a lot of storage space, the way it did when they used videotapes. They’ve found that keeping archives for seven years has helped solve some cold cases.”
“You sound like you work for CSI or something.” Kara was amazed. “But why would Rick steal your purse?”
“I’m pretty sure he grabbed the strap as I was falling backward.”
“So, he didn’t push you on purpose?” Kara asked.
“I can’t really be sure. But he definitely left me there. And I could have died—would have if someone hadn’t found me and called nine-one-one. So he might as well have pushed me. Obviously, he could not have cared less if I lived or died. What does that tell you?”
“It tells me that he’s scum,” Kara answered, without hesitation.
“Kara, I need to find out where he is, just in case he’s looking to finish the job, or even prevent me from filing charges against him.”
“Do you think Rick has the guts to do something like that?” Kara asked.
“Maybe not himself, but he could hire someone to do it for him.”
Kara gasped. “Oh my God. Do you think that’s what the money is for?”
“Possibly. I need Christian to send it to him. Once I know where he is, I might be able to find him on my own.”
“You mean in person?” Kara was aghast.
“Nope. I’ll find him the way most cyber-sleuths find people. I have a lot of connections, and I’m pretty good at it myself.” She took another deep breath.
“Next time Rick calls, have Christian send a check to the FedEx location of Rick’s choice. Rick will most likely be somewhere near a casino.”
“Wow. That’s exactly what Chris and I said!”
“Some people are quite predictable. He’ll ask the casino to cash the check for him, but before it can clear, you guys stop payment on it. That ought to get the casino in a snit. If he bolts, I’m sure the casino will send their goons to get him—unless I don’t find him first.”
“Once you locate him, what will you do?” Kara asked.
“Call the NYPD and speak to the captain of the precinct where it happened. I’ll let him know it’s a cold case, but I finally remember details of that night. I’ll tell him that Rick tried to kill me. I hope that will be enough for them to get a warrant for his arrest and possibly extradite him when he’s found.”
“You sure sound like a detective, Libby,” Kara remarked.
“About that.”
“About what?” Kara asked.
“I’ve been using an alias since I moved.”
“Wait. Explain. What do you mean when you moved?” Kara’s curiosity was on the rise.
“Listen, there is a lot I cannot tell you right now, so you’re just going to have to trust that I’m safe where I am.”
“But what if he’s looking for you?”
“I don’t think he’ll find my alias. I was careful about creating a new identity. A driver’s license was all I really needed. Faking one of those was easy.
“So, do we have a plan? Christian will send him the check. As soon as he gets the address of the FedEx location, you e-mail it to me. Got it?”
“Got it. Be careful, Libby. Love you!” Kara hung up and immediately called Christian and told him that when Rick called, he should send him the money. She said she didn’t want to explain over the phone but would discuss it when he got home.
Like clockwork, Rick called Christian later that afternoon for one more round of begging.
“Kara and I discussed this, Rick. I’m going to need a couple of things from you. The IOU I mentioned earlier and a letter of intent to pay me twenty percent of your profits. This way, you can leave your other partners out of it.”
Rick was stupefied. “Seriously, man?”
“Yes, if you think it’s a good investment, what’s twenty percent of your earnings to you? It’s a win-win for both of us.”
Rick continued the lie. “You got it. How soon can you send it?”
“I’ll overnight it by the end of the day, so it should arrive in the morning. Just tell me where to send it. And I need a phone number for the label. They require that.”
Rick thought fast and gave Christian a bogus phone number and told him to send it to the FedEx office at the Denver airport. Rick figured he could get there around the same time as the envelope.
“I can’t thank you enough.” Rick was ecstatic.
“Let’s hope everything goes the way you want. Good luck.”
Christian called Kara and told her the plan was in motion. Kara e-mailed Libby on her personal computer.
Denver Airport FedEx. Should arrive tomorrow.
Libby e-mailed her back.
Tks. Talk soon.
Rick figured his timeline. He’d arrive in Denver around 8:00 in the morning. It would take under an hour to get to Black Hawk. He put in a call to the concierge, letting him know he was planning to check into the hotel-casino and would there be any comps available? Rick was told he could have a room for three nights.
Perfect. That would give him time to get in touch with his connection. Finding Libby was finally within reach.
* * *
Libby, known to her neighbors as Ellie for the past two years, resumed pounding on the keys of her computer. She scoured the Denver area, looking for casinos. Black Hawk had several. She’d call each of them, asking if Richard Barnes was registered or expected. After the third attempt, she spoke to a perky young woman at Ameristar. “Hi, thank you for calling Ameristar. This is Angelica; how may I help you?”
“Hello, Angelica. I’m hoping you can help me. My boyfriend is supposed to be arriving sometime today, and I wanted to surprise him with a bottle of champagne.”
“That’s so sweet. What’s his name?”
“Richard Barnes.”
“Let me see. Yes, his reservation is for today, but he hasn’t checked in yet. Did you have anything particular in mind?”
“Can I put you on hold for a moment? I have another call coming through.” Then Libby hung up. She had learned where he would be, and hoped that he would stay for a couple of days.
A wave of relief washed over her. She contacted the captain of the precinct where the incident had occurred and explained that she now remembered what had happened and that she knew the whereabouts of her assailant, Richard Barnes. He took down her information but could not promise anything. “Things like this take time.”
Libby was afraid that would be his response, but now it was on record. Meanwhile, she had to make sure Rick would not be able to ambush her. She checked and rechecked all her security systems, Taser, baseball bat, and pepper spray. She was counting on Buddy to restrain him should Rick get past the fortress she had erected.
She checked the time. It was almost 3:30. Jackson and Colleen would be arriving soon. She was anxious to find out how the hearing had gone.
At exactly 3:30, the buzzer at the side gate rang. “Come around front,” she said through the intercom.
Jackson led the way as they walked through the front gate. Colleen was carrying a loaf of her famous zucchini bread. She heard the bolts and locks clicking and got a little jumpy.
Libby swung the front door open. “Please come in. It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.” She shook Colleen’s hand, then Jackson’s. Buddy was woofing and w
agging his tail. “Why don’t you boys go out back? I know Buddy has been waiting. He’ll show you the way.” Buddy headed for the laundry-room door, and Jackson was about to follow him through the doggie door. Both women burst out laughing. “You can open the door, Jackson,” Libby informed him. “The porch door, too.” Jackson blushed. He was excited to be in the mysterious lady’s house.
“Your house is pretty cool,” he said as he was shutting the porch door.
“Please, come and sit.” Libby motioned to the dining-room table that overlooked the yard.
“You have a lovely place. And the garden is beautiful,” Colleen said with awe. Her mind was going a mile a minute.
What should she say next? Should she ask her any questions? “It was so nice of you to invite me over. I feel honored.” Colleen’s face flushed.
Libby chuckled. “Honored to be invited to the ‘crazy lady’s’ house?” She used air quotes for “crazy lady.”
“You’re not a crazy lady.” Colleen leaned in a bit. “Are you?” Both women gave out a guffaw.
“I certainly don’t think so, but there may be others who would disagree.” Libby was very comfortable with the situation and was considering telling Colleen her story. She felt it was some kind of insurance in case something happened to her, or if she were in distress.
“Do you prefer tea or coffee?”
“Tea. Herbal, if you have it.”
“I do. Chamomile? Red zinger? Lemon zinger? I think I have every zinger flavor.”
“Red zinger, please. Thank you,” Colleen replied. “I brought you a zucchini bread. Jackson says ‘yuck’ because of the zucchini, but he loves the bread. He thinks I’m kidding when I say that there are vegetables in it.”
Libby put the kettle on and took two dessert plates from the cabinet, along with two mugs. “Honey?”
“Yes, please.”
They made small talk about the garden as they watched Jackson toss the ball to Buddy and Buddy return it. Then they started to run around the perimeter of the yard.
Colleen sipped her tea. “So that’s what they do all afternoon?”
“Yes. It’s exhausting to watch.” Libby smiled. She took a deep breath.
“Colleen, there’s something I must confide in you.”
Colleen was taken aback. “What is it?”
Libby took a moment. “Where do I begin? OK. Here goes. My name is not Ellie Bowman. It’s Libby Gannon.”
“Oh?” Colleen tried to act nonchalant.
“I came here after a terrible accident. Although now we don’t know if it was truly an accident.” Ellie proceeded to tell her the story and how she was found at the bottom of a set of steps that led to the front door of a brownstone in Greenwich Village. She went on to describe being in the hospital and not having any recollection of what had happened except for feeling anxiety and fear. Because she could not remember the incident, she was terrified to remain in New York and had moved to Hibbing under an assumed name.
Colleen’s mouth was agape. “Oh my word. So you’ve been sequestered here because of the accident, and you had amnesia?”
“At first, the therapist said it was due to the concussion and that many people who have traumatic experiences suppress the memory. I had hoped I would remember something sooner than now.”
“What do you mean?” Colleen was unclear as to Ellie’s, Libby’s, timeline.
“My boyfriend at the time left the city abruptly. Never visited me or called my family.”
“Now that is what I would call scummy,” Colleen said.
“No one had heard from him for two years until last week.”
Libby took a sip of her tea.
“He called my best friend’s husband, asking for $5,000.”
“That is rather audacious, wouldn’t you say?” Colleen was disgusted.
“I could think of a lot of words, but I’ll keep it clean.” Libby chuckled.
“Did they send him the money?”
“Christian is going to send it overnight to Denver.”
“But why?”
“Because it was the only way we could find out what city or town he was sliming his way through.”
“How will that do anything?”
“First off, I will know where he is, for at least a couple of days. I already found out where he’ll be staying. At the Ameristar in Black Hawk.”
“How did you find out?”
“Deduction, my friend.” Libby continued to explain how she had narrowed it down to an area where there was a casino, which was most likely where he would go. She then went on to tell her about calling the casinos to ask if he had checked in because she wanted to surprise him with champagne. If the concierge told her he didn’t have a reservation, she moved on to the next casino until she found the one where he planned to stay.
“What are you going to do now?” Colleen was beyond intrigued.
“I notified the NYPD, for whom it was a cold case, and told them that I had my memory back, was assaulted by my boyfriend, and knew his whereabouts, at least for the next couple of days.”
“What did they say?”
“It would take time.” Libby sighed.
“Are you going to be all right?”
“Besides the security system, I have a Taser, a baseball bat, and pepper spray, so I should be. And I’m counting on Buddy to keep him at bay. But I also keep the pepper spray handy. I have a canister in every room. What, me paranoid?” Libby laughed.
“I don’t blame you. No wonder you’ve never left the house. If you need anything, let me know. Officer Pedone has been wonderful.”
Libby could sense a bit of a crush from the tone of Colleen’s voice.
“I noticed he’s stopped by a few times.”
Colleen couldn’t hide her excitement. “He’s taking me to dinner on Saturday.”
“How nice for you.” Libby was genuinely pleased and relieved that someone close by knew her deep, dark secret.
It was getting close to five, and the women noticed Andy driving his blue Lincoln toward his house and gently pulling it into the driveway. He got out of the car slowly.
“God bless him,” Colleen said. “He’s quite a trouper.”
But before Libby could respond, Andy took a tumble.
“Oh my gosh!” Colleen cried out. “I’ll go see if he’s OK. You call nine-one-one.”
“Got it.” Libby punched the three numbers into the phone.
She gave the dispatcher the address and was told an ambulance would be there in five minutes.
Libby watched Colleen try to help Andy off the ground, but he was too tall and wobbly. Libby opened the door, and called out, “How is he?”
“A few scrapes, but he may have sprained his arm.”
“An ambulance is on the way,” Libby shouted across the yard.
Andy started to protest. “I’m fine. Really.” But Colleen was having none of it.
“Andy, you need to be checked out. And don’t give me any arguments.”
A few minutes later, the screaming sound of an EMS vehicle was heard turning onto Birchwood Lane.
Jackson and Buddy came running to the front. Jeanne and Frank were on the front lawn, and the new neighbors peered out the window.
Frank jogged over as they were strapping Andy onto the stretcher. “I’ll go with him,” he said, and hopped into the back.
When they got to the hospital, Andy insisted he was fine, but they wouldn’t release him until they did some X-rays to be sure he hadn’t broken anything. They admitted him and informed him that he had to stay overnight, if not longer, depending on his contusions. He vehemently protested, but the doctor told him that, considering his age, they did not want to take any chances.
Knowing Andy lived alone, they assigned a social worker to help him with the paperwork. When she informed him that they wanted to do a safety check of his home, he turned paler than when he had arrived. “No. I don’t want anyone going into my house.” Andy was vehement.
The social wo
rker said that it was for his own safety. Andy almost started to cry.
Frank stepped in and addressed the social worker. “Can you give us a moment?”
Once the social worker left the room, Frank turned to Andy. “Talk to me.”
Andy was trembling as tears ran down his cheeks. “They can’t go in there. If they do, they’ll never let me back in.”
“Why not?” Frank was gentle with the frail man.
“It’s piled high with . . . with so much that you can’t really walk around. You can’t even turn around. Please, Frank, don’t let them in.”
Frank had an idea. “This is what we’re going to do. You will stay here for three days. Make something up.”
“But I don’t want to stay here.” Andy was close to having a tantrum.
“Andy, if they go to your house, they almost certainly won’t let you back in there. Listen to me. We are going to get a storage space and clear out your house. We’ll do an inventory, and when you’re up for it, you can go there and look through what you have. We’ll get your house all cleaned up, and you’ll still have all your stuff. It’ll just be in a different place.”
“How will you be able to do that?” Andy was shaking.
“Leave it to an ex-military guy to scramble. Deal?” Frank put out his hand.
“Deal.” Andy winced.
“Sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“Not really. I’m practicing for the nurse. You did say three days, right?” Quickly, Andy was on board, and his spirits lifted.
Jeanne had driven behind the ambulance and met up with Frank in the lobby. “Is he all right?”
“More or less, but we have a major challenge.”
“What kind of challenge?” Jeanne asked.
“We have to clean out his house in the next two days.”
“How on earth are we going to do that?” Jeanne was dubious.
“We rally the neighbors. I’m sure the Gaynors have a lot of empty boxes. I’ll get a couple of guys from the shooting range; you call to get a U-Haul truck and the storage place where he keeps his cars. See if they have space. This way, all of his stuff will be in one place. Colleen can get in touch with a cleaning service. By the time he gets home and social services visits, they won’t have any reason to keep him from living there.”
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