If she returned, she’d visit during the day. Back at her own building, Hollis parked and glanced upward. Lights glimmered in the second floor windows. Not too late to talk to Candace.
Before she had time to knock, Candace’s door flew open. “Did you find anything?” Candace said. She was holding her breath and stiffening her body as if she expected a blow.
“Nothing earth-shattering,” Hollis lied, but the hallway wasn’t the place to deliver bad news.
Candace breathed again. She peered at Hollis and braced her hands on either side of the door frame. “I can tell by your expression that you did. What was it?”
“Let me in and I’ll tell you,” Hollis said.
They moved to the kitchen, where Candace, operating on automatic, plugged in the kettle ready to prepare the ever-soothing cuppa. “What was on Danson’s computer? Did you get any leads? What about Gregory? What’s his last name? Who does he work for?”
Hollis raised both hands, palms toward Candace, to fend off the barrage.
“Whoa. One question at a time. First, I brought Danson’s computer with me. It needs a password, and I figured you might know it. If you do, I’ll go through his files and e-mails tomorrow.”
“I do, but should you have done that? What if he comes home and thinks there’s been a break-in? What if...” Candace stopped as Hollis again extended her arm, palm raised.
“Relax. I’ll skim quickly and forward anything important to my computer. If all goes well, I’ll have it back in twenty-four hours. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken it, but as far as we know, Danson’s absence is innocent. We’ll work from that premise until we learn otherwise.”
Candace stepped back. “I suppose you’re right.” As she poured the pale, pleasant smelling camomile tea into flowered blue china mugs, she spoke over her shoulder. “Did you discover any more about Gregory?”
Hollis waited until Candace swung around and handed her a cup. “Gregory is more and more of a mystery man. There was nothing, absolutely nothing with his surname on it, nothing to say where he worked or where to get a hold of him. Surprisingly, his laptop was there, but I couldn’t open it without a password.” How to phrase what she was going to say next? A statement, nonjudgmental and factual, would be best. “I did find out something important about him. Gregory’s a drug user, the heavy stuff. He stored what I guess was cocaine, although it could have been heroin in his shaving kit. Given that drug-users generally keep their supply with them, the fact that it was in the apartment is bad news.”
“My god.” Candace clapped her hand over her mouth.
Hollis watched her friend absorb the information. First, she lowered her hand then she stared into space as if marshalling information.
“That changes things, doesn’t it?” Candace said slowly. “Changes it a lot. Gregory’s in the equation now. It’s alarming that he didn’t take his drugs or computer with him.” She tapped her index finger against her lips.
No wonder she was hesitating. There was a basic and frightening question waiting to be asked.
Finally, Candace’s gaze met Hollis’s. “Did Danson have drug stuff?” Her voice betrayed her anxiety and her need to hear the right answer.
“No.”
Candace sighed. “Thank god. Because Danson was so obsessed about physical fitness, I can’t imagine him using drugs. Steroids maybe, if he thought they might improve his lacrosse stamina, but not street drugs.”
“I saw nothing to indicate that he takes anything.” Hollis unsuccessfully stifled a yawn. “Sorry. I’ve just realized how tired I am. That’s what happens to early risers who try to stay up late. I still have to walk MacTee. Tell me Danson’s password, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow after I’ve searched his files.”
“Before you go, there’s one more thing to think about,” Candace said.
“Related to his computer?”
“Yes, Danson’s wallet is gone. That means his credit card and bank card are also missing. Let’s see if he’s used either one since the Saturday he disappeared.”
“How could I have missed that?” Hollis said and answered her own question. “It may have crossed my mind, but I dismissed it because you need a password for internet banking.”
Candace smiled. “You can’t think of everything, and of course you assumed we couldn’t get in. But I do know his password plus the answers to the questions they ask to ascertain if it’s you.”
“I’m impressed. How come?”
“Because Danson’s girlfriend was murdered, he knows how fast and unexpectedly death can strike. In addition, he tracks ‘bad guys’, very bad guys, and that’s risky.”
“Too true.”
“After Angie died, he put his bank accounts, his condo and his car into joint ownership with me. He also made a will. If anything happens to him, everything is transferred to me.”
Hollis knew her face must show her surprise. “Did he expect something terrible to happen to him?” Given this information, it was no wonder Candace was worried.
“No, but he felt that since I’d been the mother-figure in his life, he wanted Elizabeth and me to inherit.”
“That’s why you have his information—to make life easier if he dies?”
“Right. I was going to give you the information and suggest that you go back to the apartment tomorrow. Now that you have his computer here, I won’t be able to sleep until I’ve seen his accounts. I’ll come up with you.”
She shifted from one foot to the other and gestured towards Elizabeth’s bedroom. “I don’t know whether to bring the baby monitor and plug it in upstairs or to ask you to stay here with her.”
“You can see her crib on the monitor. Why would I stay?”
“Because another call came tonight. It scared me.”
“Why?”
“The person, I think it was a man’s voice, whispered, ‘Where’s Danson’, gave a sick sort of laugh and added, ‘gone, gone, gone’, and hung up.”
“A sicko. It has to be someone who knows he’s missing.”
“Hardly anyone knows.”
“Not true. You’ve contacted his friends and his lacrosse cronies. They’ve probably told their friends, which means it could be anyone. You should call the police.”
“He didn’t say anything threatening. They wouldn’t take it seriously.”
“Maybe not, but you should do it.”
Candace shook her head.
“It explains why you’re afraid to leave Elizabeth, but the outside door is locked, the door into your apartment from the vestibule is locked. How could anything happen to her while you’re upstairs?”
