THE BANDIT QUEEN - Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Walt Rogers kept in constant touch with his agents from his vantage point in an unmarked white van parked near Dr. Phillips’ office. All the watchers carried pictures of both Eden and Deakin taken from the security cameras at the Salt Lake City airport but they were handicapped from the beginning. Two out of every three girls had long hair of every shade from stark white to pitch black. Deakin look-alikes walked along every sidewalk and in and out of every building. It was like picking two ants out of entire anthill. The agents constantly checked their photos but had no luck in spotting either the boy or the girl.
Several older men and women entered or left the building but no student tried to talk to them. One of the watchers thought she saw Eden heading for another building several blocks away but she lost sight of her in the swirling masses of students moving around the campus. A large man in his late twenties had blocked her from view as he hurried out the door of the science building and headed for the nearest cafeteria. He returned fifteen or twenty minutes later with a white sack in one hand and a soda in the other. He entered the building and loped up the stairs. As he walked down the hallway, he met Dr. Phillips near the men’s bathroom. No overt sign passed between the two men but Dr. Phillips moved on with a slightly lighter step.
The agents in place around the science building began to get frustrated with their stake-out and moved into different positions as the hours passed. Finally, one or two of them at a time would follow a girl who might be Eden or a boy who slightly resembled Deakin. It never occurred to them to follow the older student who carried a large armful of heavy books. As soon as he turned in the direction of the library, the agents quickly forgot him.
Ten minutes later an agitated command blasted in each of their ears. The electronics expert in Walt’s van had just received information from the university computer showing the use of Eden’s identification card in the library. All the agents converged quickly on the library and blocked the doors of the building. Three of them fanned out from the building and worked their way along the wide sidewalks, looking for anyone running away from the library. They stopped ten or twelve students who didn’t match either of the photos. As soon as each of them showed identification in a different name, they were released and sent on their way.
The other agents worked through all the floors of the library until they’d seen id’s for everyone inside the building. Walt cursed as he stood in the entrance of the library. Just for the record, he asked for the title of the book Eden had checked out. Zen and the Art of Archery. “Crap,” thought Walt as he left in the building in a rage.
He consulted a map of the campus and then sent his people to the city bus company. They spoke with the drivers of any buses that stopped along the outer edges of the campus. None of the drivers recognized the photos of Deakin and Eden but that wasn’t so surprising. Thousands of students rode the buses and half of them resembled the photos. Walt pushed the search further and further afield. The agents visited car rental agencies and airports. They collected security videos from everyone who had them and set up a viewing center. Later in the evening, Walt slotted in the video from the central bus station in Los Angeles. There he caught a glimpse of a girl wearing a Lakers cap who could be Eden. He took the time to check the entire segment in case Deakin showed but the girl seemed to be alone. Walt memorized the face of the clerk who’d helped her and the time listed in the corner of the video. Then he ran to his car and drove to the main bus station in Central LA.
Just as he had expected, the clerk he needed to speak with had already left work for the day. Walt spent some time with the clerk on duty and pinned down the tickets that had been sold around the time shown on the film. Two tickets to Las Vegas, one to San Diego, one to Phoenix, two to San Francisco, and one to Sacramento. “Damn, it could be the one to Phoenix or the two to San Francisco. Hell, it could be any of these for some reason I know nothing about.”
Walt left the terminal armed with the name and address of the clerk. Just to be on the safe side, he sent agents to each of the destinations with orders to flash the photos and call him ASAP with any leads.

Walt hammered his fist on the door of the apartment rented in Stephanie Fisher’s name. A small voice called from inside. “Who’s there?”
Walt grimaced when he realized the voice originated about halfway up the door. He estimated the age of his questioner was seven to eight years old.
“Police. Is your mother home?”
“I can’t open the door for nobody. You have to come back some other time. Bye-bye.”
Small feet ticked away from the door and left Walt standing all by himself. He sighed with exasperation and hammered on the door to his right. No one answered that door so he tried the door to the left. An older woman called through the door and then opened it a few inches. She spoke through the crack in the door.
“Show me your badge. You don’t look like a cop to me.”
Walt held up his identification and waited impatiently for the woman to read his name. One eye peered through the two-inch crack and stared at Walt’s face.
“Could you open the door, ma’am? I need to ask some questions about your neighbor.”
“Say what you got to say but say it quick. The chain stays on the door and the door closes real soon.”
“Do you know if Stephanie Fisher still lives next door? When will she get home from work?”
“She still lives there but what gives you the idea I’d know her comings and goings. It ain’t none of my business. She’s a grown woman, a nice woman who takes care of her family the best she can all by herself. All I know is she works days. Good-bye, Mr. Rogers.”
The door snicked closed, narrowly missing Walt’s nose. He angrily stared around the metal balcony that ran around the entire second floor of this small apartment building. He glanced down into the darkened weedy courtyard as several older children argued over sharing a skateboard. He leapt down the stairs and pulled up in front of the three boys.
“Do any of you know Stephanie Fisher? She lives in #209 up there. I need to talk to her right now. When will she be home from work?”
Two of the boys stepped slightly away from the boy who held the skateboard. Their eyes slid sideways and flicked across his face and then they both stared down at their own shoes. The boy in the center glanced up at Walt from under his eyelids and asked,
“What you want to know about her for? She hasn’t done anything.”
“Don’t worry, boy. I just need to talk to her about something that happened at work. When will she be home?”
A car door slammed in the parking lot behind the building and a tired woman in her thirties walked out of the gloom of the parking lot and into the sparsely lit courtyard. The other two boys vanished silently into the shadows when Walt turned his head to stare at the woman. She stopped and transferred her sack of groceries from her right hip to her left. She reached her hand out to the boy and gathered him into her side.
“Who are you and what are you doing with my son?”
“Stephanie Fisher?” Walt flipped out his identification yet again and then quickly slipped the wallet back into his pocket. “I need to ask you some questions about your work. Could we go up to your apartment and talk?”
Stephanie nodded and led the way up the stairs. She turned just inside her door and closed the door behind Walt. She hugged her small daughter, sent both children to the kitchen with the groceries and gestured Walt to the couch. He cleared the coffee table with his arm and lay down pictures of Eden and Deakin. Stephanie knelt on the floor and stared at the pictures. She glanced questioningly up at Walt.
“She showed up on your security cameras. According to computer records, she could have bought one or two tickets to several different cities. Do you remember her? Did you see him?”
Stephanie picked up the picture of Deakin and shook her head. “I don’t remember him at all. She looks kind of familiar but I’m not sure.” She slid the pictures of Eden into a row and stared at them all.
“On the security film, she wore a Lakers cap and a sweatshirt.”
Stephanie frowned a little as she looked again at Eden’s face. “I’m just not positive. I have the feeling she wasn’t going very far. Not out of California, at least. Could you tell on the tape how much she paid?”
“It looked like she counted out four or five bills – maybe tens or twenties. The technicians are still checking that out.”
“If there is a California destination on your list, then that was hers.”
“One ticket to San Diego, one to Sacramento, or two to San Francisco.”
Stephanie dropped the pictures on the table. “Two tickets, I seem to remember she bought two tickets. She was polite. Lots of our passengers are rude and pushy but she wasn’t. What’s she done?”
Walt shook his head and gathered up his pictures. He dropped a card on the table. “If you think of anything else, call that number and leave me a message.” He nodded to the woman and her children and disappeared out her door.
Walt pulled out his cell phone and called in the information before he started his car and headed for San Francisco. One of his agents had already made a positive hit at the bus station in San Francisco. More agents had flooded the area but none had scored any other hits yet. Walt called in all his men and sent them to San Francisco. He wanted agents covering airports, bus stations, train stations, car rental agencies, and boat docks too. He pointed his car north and raced to the Bay area. He knew he was getting close to Eden and Deakin. He could feel it in his bones. His hands clenched tighter on the steering wheel and he leaned right and left as he slid through traffic, unconsciously using his body to propel the car faster and faster through the darkness.
Just as he closed in on the city of San Francisco, Walt’s cell phone beeped in the silence of the car. He answered it without taking his eyes off the cars in front of him. When the caller had finished speaking, Walt clicked the phone off and tossed it into the passenger seat next to him. There had been no further sightings of the two teenagers so Walt was now headed for Stanford University and an early morning meeting with Dr. Mala Allen.
Walt arrived at the university first thing the next morning and stopped at the guard station near the main entrance to the campus. A few flashes of his identification brought instant cooperation and an escort to the correct building. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and stopped outside the door of Dr. Allen’s office. A handwritten sign had been taped to the frosted glass in the door.

FAMILY EMERGENCY
No office hours or classes until Monday

Walt smacked the flat of his hand on the doorframe and looked around for someone else to question. The security guard who had escorted him to the building appeared at the head of the stairs. Walt grabbed him by the arm and hauled him up to the door.
“When did she leave? Who do we ask?”
The guard pointed to the double wooden doors at the end of the hallway. Walt loped down the hall with the guard close behind him. He pulled open one of the doors and stepped into a large office with a wooden counter running the width of the room. Students crowded in the narrow area in front of the counter and filled the benches along the wall. Walt shoved his way through the crowd and waved peremptorily toward one of the clerks. She stared at him over her glasses and pointed to a small machine on the counter.
“Take a number and we’ll get to you.”
Walt slapped his hand on the counter and waved again at the woman. “Over here, now.” He pulled the guard to his side and then pushed him toward the woman. He cannoned into several students who closed ranks to keep him back. They were all patiently waiting their turns. Why didn’t he?
The guard leaned across the counter and spoke loudly to the clerk. She looked down the counter and saw the identification in Walt’s hand. She stretched out her hand for the wallet, copied down the name and number, compared the picture with the man, and then handed it back. She then gestured to the end of the counter where a small door led into the office behind her. Just as Walt’s hand touched the door handle, she buzzed the door open and pointed to an office in the far corner.
The guard followed Walt as he threaded his way through the desks and chairs. Walt rapped his knuckles on the doorframe and entered the small office. There he found that Dr. Allen had been called away during the night. Some member of her family had been in an accident and she had left town immediately. Walt came away from the office with a list of family members from Dr. Allen’s personnel file and hurried to his car. He instructed the guard to monitor the doctor’s phone and office just in case Deakin and Eden showed up. He sat in his car and called the phone numbers he’d been given without connecting with a single live voice. He smacked his hand on the steering wheel in anger and frustration. He should have picked up these two children by now. He had no idea how they’d eluded him so far. Sheer luck, he guessed. He made a final call to his second-in-command, a rabbity-faced man with the soul of a viper. Art Johnson would have shackled his own grandmother to the wall to find out a piece of information.
“Art, she’s not here. Send agents to all the other names on that list I gave you. Make sure those kids can’t reach any of these people. I’ll find out where the good Dr. Allen has gone to and who told her to run. Call me with any information.”
Walt flipped his phone closed and collected the rest of his agents at the security guard post at the front gate. He sent one agent off to check phone records and several others to check out the local friends and relatives of Dr. Allen.
None of those people knew anything about Dr. Allen’s whereabouts or about any emergency that could have called her away from her job. One unidentified phone call had reached her home phone. It had been placed from a pay phone outside a convenience store in the Los Angeles area. Walt snorted in disgust. Soon it would be his turn for some good luck. He’d catch the two kids sooner or later.