Conspiracy

94

Chief Ball’s house was dark when Lia got there. She got out of her car and walked toward the front door, not quite sure what she was going to say to him until she pressed the doorbell.

She rang twice before she saw a light flick on inside and heard footsteps.

A short, frumpy middle-aged woman dressed in a red terry-cloth robe opened the door. She stood behind the screen door, eying Lia warily.

“Yes?”

“I’m looking for Chief Ball,” said Lia.

“The chief isn’t here right now.”

“He’s not here?” said Lia. “Where would he be?”

“I don’t know,” said the woman, eying her up and down.

“Who are you?”

“Lia DeFrancesca. I’m with the federal marshals.”

“Is there trouble?”

“I have to discuss something with him, about a case.”

“I can have him call you in the morning.”

“I’m here, Elizabeth,” said a voice behind her. “Thank you. Go back to bed now.”

The chief appeared behind his wife. She glanced at him as if she was going to say something, then moved away. Ball opened the door and stepped outside. He’d taken the time to dress, even putting on his shoes.

“What is it you want?” he asked Lia.

“Amanda Rauci. She’s disappeared. We’re hoping to track her down.”

“Rauci is who?”

Lia’s explanation leaned fairly heavily on the possibility that Amanda might have run away because she was somehow involved in murdering Forester, and hinted that she might have retrieved some evidence from the area. Lia left out the fact that Rauci had done a credit check on Ball roughly six hours before.

“Rauci.” Ball squirreled up his face. “Was she the one in my office this afternoon?”

“Was she?”

“Well, it was someone. She was a Secret Service agent, right? Wouldn’t tell me what the hell it was about.”

“Did she have a notebook with her?”

“Notebook. Maybe. The one you asked about?”

“Did she have it?” Lia asked.

“She might have. I didn’t take inventory.”

“What did she want?”

“She asked whether I’d spoken to Forester before he died.

I told her the same thing I’ve told everyone else. No. You people don’t seem to take no for an answer.”

“Do you?”

Ball frowned. “You telling me she’s missing?”

“She’s in this area.”

“How do you know?”

“She used her credit card locally.”

“So why do you think she’s missing?” asked Ball.

“No one’s seen or heard from her in days.”

“That doesn’t mean she’s missing. Maybe she doesn’t feel like talking to anyone.”

“But she did talk to you.”

“If she comes back, I’ll be sure to tell her to call home,” said Ball. He started to open the door and go back in, but Lia held it closed.

“What exactly was she asking about?”

“Besides looking for the notebook,” said Ball, “she asked me about Forester’s wife, whether I’d seen her in town.

Pretty ridiculous. She showed some picture that probably fits half the people in town.”

“Forester’s wife?”

“You know, I’ve never seen so much damn fuss about a jerk who killed himself before,” said Ball. “Waking people up in the middle of the night — can’t this wait until morning?”

“Can you think of anything else she might have said?” Ball shrugged. “We only talked a few minutes. I got the impression she was on her way somewhere.”

“Where?”

Ball shrugged. “She went down One Ninety-Nine after she left the office. Could be going anywhere.”