By mutual unspoken agreement, Kurt and Diane did not speak of their otherworldly encounter as they rushed back to Kurt's truck. Instead, they discussed the latest unexpected developments with the case.
"Cary didn't say anything else?" Diane asked again. She knew she was being ridiculous; if Kurt knew anything else, of course he would have told her. But Cary's phone was going straight to voicemail and Kalinda wasn't answering at all, and she was about to go out of her mind with curiosity. Roger MacPhee killed John Patterson? But why?
"Do you want to…?" Kurt gestured at the darkened house.
Diane thought for a moment. She didn't want to talk to Karen until she had more information. But at the same time, what if she was in danger? If Roger MacPhee was guilty, and somehow knew they were on to him… But how could he know that? From what Cary told Kurt, it seemed like the man had already cleared out his apartment before his name had even come up. No, she needed more information before she told Karen anything. She shook her head. "No, I need to talk to Cary first. Then we'll get her and Daisy...Damn it. Daisy. That's where what he's doing, he's out looking for Daisy."
She pulled out her cell phone and tapped in Cary's number again. This time the associate answered on the second ring.
"Agos."
"Cary. It's Diane. What the hell is going on?"
"Diane. Jesus, I wish I knew. Did McVeigh tell you? We found a notation about a meeting with MacPhee in Patterson's agenda. Since he never mentioned it, I figured it was cancelled or something, or just slipped the old guy's mind. So I tried to call him to check it out, but there was no answer. Kalinda suggested we stop over there, and when we did, we found the whole place had been cleared out. It wasn't until then that it even occurred to me he might be involved. I mean, it doesn't look good, does it?"
It certainly didn't. "Have you contacted Karen or Daisy?" she asked.
After a guilty pause, Cary answered. "Not Karen, no. I've been trying to call Daisy, but she's not answering."
Wordlessly, Diane shook her head. "I'll bring Karen to the office. You and Kalinda go pick up Daisy and meet us back at the office. We may need get the police involved."
Cary agreed, and Diane disconnected the call and looked over at Kurt, who had yet to start his truck. "Do we have room for one more?"
"There has to be some other explanation," Karen repeated, for probably the tenth time. "Roger would never hurt John. They were close, practically father and son after all these years."
Diane and Karen sat side by side in the large Stern, Lockhart and Gardner conference room, waiting for Cary and Kalinda to arrive, hopefully with Daisy in tow.
"And you have no idea why they had a meeting scheduled?" Diane asked again.
"No, but…I mean they had lunch all the time. It was a common enough occurrence that John wouldn't necessarily mention it to me. He might have…"
Whatever Karen had been about to say was drowned out when Cary burst into the conference room. He was breathing heavily, as if he had been running; his normally neat hair was dishevelled and his face was flushed a damp pink.
"Where's Daisy?" he gasped at Karen.
Karen looked from Cary to Diane and back and when she spoke, panic was seeping into her tone. "I don't know. Diane said you were going to pick her up."
He shook his head, still gulping air. "She wasn't there. Her neighbour thought he saw her getting into a dark-coloured, full size sedan. I hoped it was Diane's."
Karen paled. "Roger drives a black Cadillac."
"Did she appear under duress?" Diane asked.
"The neighbour didn't think so. He didn't even see the driver, just Daisy getting into the passenger side."
"I'm sure she had no idea what was even happening. He's her grandfather; she trusts him. There's no reason she wouldn't have gotten in his car if he asked." Karen said. "If he hurts her…we have to find them!"
"Kalinda's talking to her contact at the police department now," Cary said. "Don't worry; we'll find her."
Diane met his eyes over top of Karen's head. They had better find her.
Kurt cleared his throat then, and stood up from the chair in the corner of the room, where he had been sitting since they arrived. In all the commotion, Diane had almost forgotten he was there. He jerked his head in the direction of the hall, and Diane nodded, following him out.
"Look," he said, "I don't think I'm going to be of any help here, so…"
"Oh, yes, of course," she said. "Go."
"It's not that I don't want to help," he began.
"I know," she said, reaching over and laying her hand on his forearm. "It's been a long day, and it looks like it could be an even longer night. And you've already helped more than I had any right to expect."
He grinned crookedly. "I wish I could say, 'anytime', but I'd rather not experience anything like that ever again."
Diane laughed. "No, me neither."
He glanced at the floor and then back to her face. "Anyway, in spite of the strangeness of the situation, I've enjoyed spending time with you. Maybe when this is all settled, we could have dinner?"
"I'd like that."
Kurt nodded. "Good. I'll talk to you." He lifted a hand briefly in goodbye, then turned away.
Diane watched him walk off until he turned a corner and was out of sight. Then, with a sigh, she turned around and went back into the conference room. Inside, she found Cary pacing from one end of the table to the other, phone held to his ear, and Karen watching his every step.
"No, nothing," Cary said into the phone. Kalinda, he mouthed to Diane when he noticed her standing there.
She pulled out a chair across the table from Karen and sat down, watching Cary's expression carefully.
"Okay, call when you can. Thanks." He tapped to end the call and slid his phone back in his jacket pocket. "Kalinda managed to convince someone at the police department to put out an APB on Roger MacPhee. They'll have officer at the airport, the train station and patrols will be watching for his car."
"And Daisy?" Karen asked.
"They have her description as well and the police know she could be in danger. They'll find them, Karen."
Diane just hoped that wasn't an empty promise.
After an hour of no further news, Cary left to drive Karen to her sister's house for the night. It was far from the first time Diane had been alone in the office after dark, but it was the first time she was at all uneasy about it. The worst of it was, she didn't know if she was more worried about there being a murderer on the loose, or about her newfound knowledge that there may be so much more to life and death than she previously thought.
In any event, this day had lasted long enough, and she was going home.
She rode the elevator down to the lobby and said goodbye to the security guard, waving her thanks as he buzzed her out of the building. Her car was in the parking garage next door and she walked quickly, holding her jacket closed with one hand, and clutching her keys in the other, her shoulder bag hanging from the crook of her elbow. The street was well lit, as was the garage when she entered at street level. Her reserved spot was down a level and toward the back, so she continued walking quickly, her earlier unease gaining strides for no apparent reason. The garage initially seemed empty, but the quiet was suddenly shattered, first by one car door slamming, then a second, followed by a male voice echoing from around the wall separating the two hemispheres of the garage.
"This is a bad idea, girl," the man said.
"No, it's not," a familiar young female voice argued. "Running if we don't have to, that's a bad idea."
Daisy?
Diane stopped in her tracks, then backed up so she was flat against the concrete wall that separated her from the other two people. Silently, she thanked whoever was listening that she had neglected to change back into her high heels and had been walking through the garage in her noiseless hiking boots.
"We do have to. There's a witness; someone saw me!"
Roger, it must be.
"A stupid teenager says he saw someone walking out of the woods and getting into a car. I saw the picture, Grandpa; it doesn't even look like you. Please, just get back in the car and wait for me. I'm just going to go talk to Cary. He likes me; I know he'll help."
Was Daisy only pretending to help her grandfather in an attempt to get away? Or had she known Roger was guilty from the start?
"It's late; how do you even know he's here?" the old man demanded.
"Because he left me a bunch of messages asking me to come here, that's why. Please Grandpa, get back in the car."
"Well, what if she's here too? That woman lawyer, the partner?"
"She's not. I was watching the building while I was waiting for you. She came in earlier with some guy in a big old truck. I saw them leave again an hour or so ago."
Another car rolled into the garage then, and Diane used the echoing rumble as cover to pull her phone from her purse and tap in 9-1-1. Quickly and quietly she relayed her location and the situation to the operator, not staying on the line long enough to confirm she was understood. She shoved her phone back into her bag, just as the new arrival's engine turned off.
Another car door slammed.
"Daisy! There you are. I've been looking for you." Cary's voice echoed throughout the parking garage, sending Diane's stomach plummeting. She still hadn't quite gotten a handle on the conversation between Daisy and Roger. It certainly sounded as if the young girl was involved in her father's shooting in some way, at least by helping her grandfather after the fact, but there was still the possibility that she was only going along with the old man until she was able to get away. Unfortunately, in either situation, Cary had just unknowingly walked into danger.