Now You See Me

by S. Y. Thompson

  “In addition you will hold a press conference in the Holcomb Building at ten in the morning and admit to shoddy, tabloid reporting. The story will run on your news station at noon and again at six. If you don’t, I will slap you with a libel suit so hard you won’t know what hit you.”

  Carson could hear the editor’s desperate apologies from where she sat in the visitor’s chair and stifled her laughter with both hands pressed to her mouth.

  When he stopped groveling long enough, Erin smiled, but the smile imparted no warmth to her features. “Yes, both Ms. Tierney and I will be ready for you at ten o’clock in the conference room on the sixth floor.”

  Erin didn’t say goodbye, but merely hung up the phone. She sat quiet for a second. “Any thoughts on this?”

  “Only that you’re amazing when you’re pissed off!”

  Both of them burst out laughing, but after their mirth had tapered off, Carson said, “The article is a little sensational, but it did bring up a good point.”

  “Oh? What’s that?”

  “Are the two incidents related? That first night when you and I were in the building we didn’t know anything about the killer’s actions on the eleventh floor.”

  “That’s true, but if you recall we had other things on our minds...such as getting out of the building alive. I’m more concerned that he could come back here. Because of this article, the killer knows who we are now.”

  “What do you mean,” Carson asked.

  Erin’s expression hardened. “We know the killer had the opportunity to take Ed Cupper’s security card. He would have access to every floor, and if someone forgot to cancel that card he would still have access.”

  “It makes sense.” Carson frowned in worry.

  Erin began to tap her fingertips on the desk, and Carson wondered what she was thinking. “Erin?”

  “Remember I told you that I thought the killer looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I might have seen him?”

  “Yes. Are you telling me that you remember now?”

  “No,” Erin shook her head. “Nothing like that. But Marsters approached me about five years ago to represent their company when they were sued for spewing toxins into the air. It was the same incident mentioned in the newspaper article. I refused, but there were a lot of demonstrations at the time and a lot of people picketing on the front steps.”

  “You’re thinking that one of the protestors is the killer? That’s a long shot, Erin, and just because someone disagrees with chemical research companies, that doesn’t make them a killer.”

  “That’s true,” Erin admitted after a moment. “I’m sure I’m just grasping at straws.”

  “In any case, I’m going to go out on a limb and remind you that you have a curfew.”

  Erin responded immediately. “Uh uh, I only agreed to that before

  Christmas. Christmas is over now.”

  “Erin, please, humor me? The holidays aren’t over yet, and business won’t pick up until after the New Year. We both thought that first incident was an isolated event, but the fact that Marsters has been vandalized again, even if it wasn’t in this building, proves that it wasn’t. Until the police catch this guy you need to be careful.”

  “The police? Are you kidding me? I haven’t even heard from Detective Hutchins. The police couldn’t catch a cold.”

  “Nevertheless, they are all we have.”

  “Are they?”

  “Erin?” Carson didn’t follow where she was going with this, but she didn’t think she liked the destination Erin had in mind.

  “Just hear me out,” Erin said with a raised hand. “We already know that the police don’t have a clue, but you and I might. We also have access to the building, and the security personnel. I know Holcomb’s chief of security personally. Bill told me he had installed new cameras all over the building just before we were attacked here. Since the police were focused on the first floor, sixth, and eleventh floors they might not have seen all of the tapes.”

  “Then we need to tell them. They don’t have all the facts so of course they won’t be able to find the suspect.”

  “No, I don’t want to tell them.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because if we tell them, we won’t be able to find out who it is?”

  Carson lunged to her feet. “Erin, we can’t go around playing Nancy Drew!”

  “Why? We can figure this out.”

  “You are going to get yourself killed, that’s why. I won’t let you do it!” Carson was surprised that Erin would even consider such a thing. “Don’t you remember what it was like before? That guy is strong, and not altogether sane. He will kill you without a second thought.”

  That last statement seemed to hit home, and Erin’s expression tightened briefly with remembered fear. All the wind went out of her, and Erin finally relented. “You’re right, he would. Okay, you make a valid argument, but if I’m still on curfew, so are you.”

  “Beg your pardon?”

  Erin put her fists on her hips, and stubbornly jutted out her chin. “That’s the way it is. I’ll draft a memo to all of the firm’s personnel telling them that until this guy is caught, everyone will be out of the building by five-thirty. And that includes you. Agreed?”

  It only took a moment for Carson to concede. “Agreed. I’ll do the same with my people. Our new contract doesn’t go into effect until after the first anyway, and most of the preparatory work is already finished.”

  “Good. Now, I’d better get back to work.”

  Carson nodded and took the paper when Erin offered it to her. She was almost to the door when Erin spoke. “Oh, Carson? Since we want people to understand that we’re friends, how does lunch sound?”

  Carson turned around and her stomach tingled at the look in Erin’s eyes. Her expression said that friendship wasn’t the only reason she wanted to have lunch together. Carson nodded. “I’ll stop by to get you at twelve. There’s a little bistro down the street I’ve been wanting to try.”

  “Make it twelve-thirty, and you’ve got yourself a date.”

  A date, huh? So much for friendship!

  “Twelve-thirty,” Carson agreed.

  Erin sat in her chair for a few minutes after Carson left. She was more afraid than she had let on, but Erin was also tired of being scared. She didn’t like to feel weak, and had learned that when she felt that way, she needed to do something to take control. That was why she insisted that they be the ones to unravel the mystery. She could understand why Carson wouldn’t want to do this, but once Erin found some concrete evidence, she was sure that Carson would go along with her.

  Something else occurred to her, and Erin reached for her phone to speak with Amy. The secretary picked up immediately.

  “Amy, I’ll be taking over Mr. Eldridge’s account for Ms. Tierney. If I’m not busy when she comes to see me you can show her in.”

  Amy sounded a little surprised when she said she understood, but Erin was focused already on other things.

  Erin hung up the phone and walked to the small filing cabinet she kept in the corner. As a rule, she held onto every document that crossed her desk for three years. Most of them were kept in the archives downstairs after the one-year mark, but anything that was particularly significant she kept in the bottom drawer. The wrongful death information connected with Marsters Research Corporation fell into that category, and even though it was more than three years old, she had held onto all of the research she had conducted on it.

  For some reason Erin was convinced that all of this was connected to that original lawsuit, and it nagged at her like a toothache.

  The file was extensive, and contained information for Marster's safety protocols, employee records, and blueprints for the main lab. In addition, Erin had kept all of the newspaper clippings when the protests started. The newspaper articles contained photographs of the demonstrators, and Erin skimmed through everything very quickly. In the end, all she did was familiarize herself with the case fro
m the past. There were no pictures of the killer, and she didn’t find anything solid to connect anyone to the recent attacks. She really didn’t have the time right now to go through everything as closely as she wanted. Erin still had to go through the client files Ray had presented her with, and get familiar with each of them before she could hope to represent the clients properly.

  Carson had said that everything could be unrelated, but Erin had a gut feeling it wasn’t true. Somehow, she knew they were related, but she was missing the vital connection.

  Maybe what she needed was a fresh set of eyes. Erin would bring the subject up with Carson during lunch and see if she would be willing to take a look at the information Erin had on Marsters. Maybe she would find something that Erin had missed.

  Erin tucked the Marsters information away in her briefcase, intent on studying them at home later when she had time. After that, she sat down at her desk and focused on getting some work done.

  Time passed quickly while she worked and it came as something of a surprise when there was a light tap on the door.

  Erin looked up from the piles of paper on her desk and frowned at the door. “Come in.”

  To her delight, Carson was back. Carson leaned around the edge of the door and smiled at her. Apparently, Amy had taken her words to heart, and told Carson to go on in.

  “Hey there,” Erin said with a soft smile. “Is it time already?”

  Carson stepped the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind her before she answered. “I knew you would lose track of time so I figured I would come to get you.”

  “Good idea. I did lose track of time.”

  Erin stood and retrieved her overcoat from the coat rack in the corner. She left the stack of files where they lay on her desk since she intended to get right back to them after lunch. Erin’s only meeting that day was scheduled for two so she would have plenty of time to get the files organized and put away in her filing cabinet.

  “So where’s this amazing bistro you wanted to try?”

  “It’s just down the block,” Carson said. “DeLaurenta’s, have you heard of it?”

  “Yeah. I hear it’s pretty good, although I haven’t been there myself.”

  “That’s good. Finally, a place that neither one of us knows.”

  Erin ignored the curious look she got from Amy as the two women walked out the door. “We’re going to lunch, Amy. If anyone calls, just take a message.”

  “Of course, Ms. Donovan.”

  They walked down the street bundled up in coats and scarves. Even in the frigid winter air, the crowd was thick and they had to walk closely together. The wind bit into their skin, but like most people who lived in Chicago, it was just part of a typical winter day.

  Erin cast a glance overhead at the gray sky. The sun wasn’t even visible, and the air held a faint scent that told her another storm was only hours away. It wasn’t anything quantifiable, just something that one who lived for years in colder climates became accustomed to. It was almost like a sixth sense.

  “Have you heard the forecast today,” she asked Carson.

  “We’re supposed to get more lake-effect snow. I was planning on leaving work a little early to try to avoid the worst of the traffic. Ah, here we are.”

  The little Italian bistro was already humming with business, but they managed to find a small table in the back. In no time, a waitress came and dropped off two glasses of water before she took their order. When she was gone, Erin took advantage of the momentary lull to bring up the Marsters thing with Carson again.

  “I’ve been thinking about what we talked about before, and I went back through the files and pulled everything I have on Marsters Research Corporation.”

  “I thought we had that settled.”

  Erin ignored the frown and kept talking as if she hadn’t heard Carson speak. “And I didn’t really notice anything that could tell us who is doing this, but I thought that maybe you could take a look. You know, a fresh set of eyes and all that.”

  “You’re just not going to let this go, are you?”

  Erin grinned. “If I say no, will you help me?”

  Carson heaved a mighty sigh, but Erin thought it was more for effect than because she was annoyed. She sat patiently and waited for Carson to come to a decision.

  “All right. I’m probably out of my mind, but I’ll help you with your cockamamie scheme. Now, tell me. What did you have in mind?”

  Erin fought the urge to rub her hands together in triumph. “Well, I thought I’d bring the file home and go over it more closely. If you want, you could come by tonight and look at it with me.”

  “I don’t know, Erin. That storm is supposed to hit by early evening, and I don’t want to be out late in it.”

  She hadn’t thought of that, but Erin didn’t want Carson to drive in bad weather either. Still she was convinced this was important, and wanted to examine the file as soon as possible.

  “What if you stayed at my place tonight? You could bring some things to leave at my apartment so you don’t always have to worry about planning ahead. That way you don’t have to drive in the storm, and we can go over the information together.”

  “Thought of everything, haven’t you,” Carson teased with an uplifted eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s not just a way to get me into your clutches?”

  Erin enjoyed the banter and easily fell into it with Carson. “If I get you in my clutches, you’ll know it.”

  “Oh, I already know,” Carson assured her. Then Carson became serious, and shifted in her chair. “I’ll help you look through the files, Erin. But if we find anything you have to promise me that we’ll turn the information over to the police.”

  “Of course.” Erin just hoped Carson couldn’t hear how insincere the assurance was. “What time are you leaving work,” she asked to change the subject.

  Carson frowned at her as if she knew what Erin was doing, but let it pass. “I thought I’d leave about four, but I’ll have to go out to the house and get some things before I come to your place. I’ll probably go ahead and do that as soon as we finish lunch. What about you? I didn’t see your car in the underground lot. Did you take a cab today?”

  “No, I couldn’t get one. I guess all of the cab services are really busy because of the weather, so I decided to walk.”

  “You walked in this weather?”

  “It’s not that far.”

  The waitress dropped off their lunch plates and left quickly to wait on other patrons.

  “Why don’t you let me drive you home then,” Carson asked and picked up her sandwich.

  “All right. Come down and get me on your way out of the building.”

  “You don’t have any meetings that I’ll be interrupting?”

  “Not today. I only have one meeting, and it should be done long before that.”

  “Okay,” Carson smiled. “I’ll pick you up on the way down.”

  They spent a nice lunch together in one another’s company. The food was merely adequate, but the company was exceptional. All too soon, it was time to go back to work. The sky had darkened considerably while they were gone, and Erin thought the storm might be coming in sooner than expected.

  ‘What time did you say this storm is supposed to hit?”

  “The report I heard said by seven o’clock, but from the way the sky looks I’d say it will be here before that.”

  “I agree,” Erin said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets here by four.”

  They stepped into the elevator with six other people, and the car started upward.

  “Do you want me to stop by earlier?”

  “No, it’s not that far. Even if the snow starts before then I think we’ll be all right.”

  The doors opened at the sixth floor and they parted company. Erin and Carson shared a brief smile before the elevator carried Carson up four more floors.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ”BRRR, IT’S FREEZING out there! Tell me again why I walked to work this mornin
g?”

  Carson smiled at the rhetorical question and followed Erin into the penthouse apartment of The Bernardin. She carried a large duffel bag and a suit of clothes over her shoulder. They were the things she would need for work tomorrow, and the press conference that Erin had planned with the Chicago Tribune.

  Erin put her briefcase and a sack full of groceries that Carson had picked up at the market on the floor by the entryway, and took off her overcoat.

  “Why don’t you go take a hot shower and warm up while I unpack the groceries and get settled in the guest room,” Carson asked as she hooked her fresh suit on the coat rack. Erin put her coat next to Carson’s. She knew how bare Erin’s cupboards usually were and had suggested they stop by the market for some breakfast items. They hadn’t bothered with dinner because they planned to order from the RL.

  Erin turned toward Carson mid-way through taking her coat off. She had a frown on her face and Carson wondered what she had said wrong. “The guest room? Why in there?”

  Carson shook her head. “I just assumed that was where I would stay.”

  Erin walked up to Carson and took the duffel bag from her. She sat it on the floor, and then reached up to cup a soft cheek. “I had thought we were past that. After Sunday night, I guess I just assumed that you would stay in my room...with me.”

  “I guess I didn’t expect that,” Carson admitted shyly. She suddenly seemed to have difficulty meeting Erin’s eyes and looked down at the tops of her shoes. “You said you wanted to go slow.”

  Erin quietly assessed the expression on Carson’s face. She saw an uncertainty in the younger woman’s expression that she wasn’t accustomed to. It bothered her to think that Carson might think she was unworthy of Erin’s love, or that Erin was holding back because she thought Carson wasn’t experienced enough for her.

  “I do. It feels so good to take our time with this, and just enjoy being together without any pressure of something more. But, if you’re going to spend the night in my apartment, I really would like to sleep in the bed with you. If you want to, that is.”