mister,” Cody said, stepping close and lowering his voice. “There’s such a thing as slander, you know. Unless you have proof, you’d better watch your mouth. You said my wife was caught stealing jewelry? If she knew she was inheriting money, why would she bother? You don’t make any sense. I can’t believe we’re even talking about the same woman.”
“Though there are obvious differences now, as I’m sure you’re aware, the woman in the photo you carry and the woman calling herself Laura Green are either identical twins or the same person. I am not mistaken. Now, please leave before I call the police. On second thought, that’s not a bad idea. What did you say your last name is?”
“I didn’t,” Cody said. He pulled on his hat and turned. Behind him, he heard the door open and close. Banner was gone.
The guy was calling the cops? This Laura Green had to be some other woman, someone else who stole Cassie’s identity in a more subtle way than using her credit cards and flashing her driver’s license. And that meant Cassie’s fate was still unknown.
He took a deep breath, unsure what to do now. Go home? Wait for the cops to arrive and see if they knew something? Cassie’s fingerprints would be in the house if she’d been here…
Across the street and down at the corner, he caught sight of a woman in the process of turning away from him. Because of all the cars parked on the street, all he could see of her was from the shoulders up, but there was something about what he saw that spoke directly to him. Maybe it was the glisten of her gold hair in the weak autumn light. Maybe it was a glimpse of her profile his conscious mind had barely registered. Something.
He hurried down the stairs and the driveway, then had to wait for a line of cars to pass by on the street. By the time he got to the point on the opposite sidewalk where he’d seen the woman, she was gone.
He began walking in the direction he thought she’d taken. What had she been wearing? What color? He closed his eyes as he walked, trying to picture—
Blue. She’d been wearing something blue, up by her face, at least. A scarf, a collar, a jacket…
He was traversing a residential neighborhood filled with stately homes set back from the sidewalk. The leaves were turning, asters and dahlias were blooming. There were cars here and there, but few people.
After a very long block, the road hit an intersection and he was given a choice of three directions. He peered down each street. Two old people walked a poodle down one, the other was empty, and on the third a figure walked away from him at a pretty good pace.
He went in that direction. It was a woman, he could tell that much, and there might be something blue around her neck. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to get that far ahead of him.
What was he doing? Why would Cassie have come back to that house after the accusations that must have been thrown right in her face? Banner said she went to the bus station. The chances the woman up ahead was actually Cassie were astronomical and yet he kept walking, forcing himself not to rush her, knowing such an action would spook any woman no matter who she was. And the only thing he knew for sure was he had to know the identity of this woman.
She turned left at the next corner. He waited until he was sure she couldn’t turn and see him, then ran to make it to the corner before she disappeared.
Too late. She was gone.
He walked fast now, looking closely at each house in turn. Still, he almost missed the door closing at the top of a flight of stairs that led to what appeared to be an apartment built over a detached garage. As he stood there, the drapes closed over a window.
The house that occupied the same property had an Apartment for Rent sign in its window. He walked up the path and knocked. The door was opened almost at once by an older man carrying a stack of books and a big set of keys.
“I’m here about the rental,” Cody said.
The man handed him the keys as he stepped outside. “My hands are full, so help me out. Take the blue one off the loop and give yourself a tour, okay? It’s the back unit I’m renting. You get a real nice view of the alley. I rented the front one to a little gal yesterday. You’re welcome to look at the place, only don’t bother my new tenant. When you’re done, slip the key in the mail slot here by my door. If you’re interested, my number is on the sign, call me this afternoon. No, wait, today it’s my turn to work at the library until closing time. Better call me tomorrow or drop by the library if you want. Ask for Stew. I’m running late.”
This was all said as Cody worked the blue key free. “Thanks,” he said, handing back the other keys.
“No problem.” The man hit the electronic button on his ring and the garage door rolled up. The garage itself looked huge, split into two sections. One side was laid out as a woodworking shop with a lot of nice equipment, a long workbench along the outside wall, and a heater for the cold winter months. The other side sheltered a vehicle. The man threw the books into the backseat of a vintage 1957 Chevy and took off, the garage door rolling closed after him.
Cody had no intention of touring the back apartment. He found the mail slot and slipped the key through the opening where it clinked as it landed inside the house.
He’d intended to show the homeowner Cassie’s photo, but it had all happened too fast; the fact that a lone woman had rented the place the day before fit. There was only one way to make sure, of course, so taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for another heaping dose of disappointment and walked toward the garage.
The stairs were pretty steep and ran against the side of the garage up to a landing. At the top of the stairs, you could either stop at the door of the front unit, or keep moving away from the street toward the unit in the back.
There was no peephole in the door, which meant whoever lived here had no way of knowing who was knocking. He rapped a few times and all but stopped breathing.
And as he waited he thought of the accusations Emerson Banner had leveled at Cassie. Lying, manipulating, stealing, murder. It was absolutely impossible to imagine Cassie doing any of that.
So, if the woman he hoped was his wife was actually someone else, was he about to come face to face with a murderer? And if it was Cassie? Had she changed so much she was capable of these terrible things?
His heart jammed in his throat as he heard footsteps sound inside. “Who is it?” a woman’s voice called. Impossible to tell whose voice, but the underlying tension rang out clear.
He mumbled, “Landlord,” and in that moment a jolt of doubt hit him so hard it was all he could do not to reach out and grab something for support.
What was he doing here? Why had he pursued her? She’d obviously left him behind, and yet he’d moved a piece of heaven and a whole lot of earth to find her while all the while she’d known exactly where he was. She could have come home if that was what she’d wanted.
Or could she have? Had he slammed the door that firmly in her face?
The door opened, catching on a chain after two inches, and he didn’t know who he hoped would peer out and see him. A stranger or his wife or maybe a murderer. Or maybe a woman who had managed to become all three?
The chain slid away and the door opened wider.
For one interminable moment, he stared into Cassie’s startled sky-blue eyes and couldn’t have felt more
