‘I don’t know about a report, ma’am. Like I say, I’m just picking up phones. We’re stretched pretty thin.’
‘Okay, will you give him a message that I called?’ Maggie drove through the snowy streets of Congreve.
‘Certainly. What did you say your name was again?’
Maggie repeated her name, spelled her last name, then said, ‘Can you tell Chief Vogel that he can call me on my cell anytime, no matter how late? I’m staying at the Congreve Inn and heading out to Eddie’s Diner in Tipton. There’s a waitress there named PG who may know something about Anna’s disappearance.’
‘Oh, Eddie’s?’ The woman perked up. ‘That’s real good food. Try the flounder. It’s double batter-dipped.’
‘Thank you, bye now.’ Maggie hung up and handed Kathy back the phone. ‘In the meantime, will you do me another favor? Look up the FBI in Bangor and let’s give them a call.’
‘You’re on fire.’ Kathy took the phone, scrolled through, then pressed Call and handed the phone back to Maggie. ‘While you were on with the Congreve police, I Google-mapped driving directions to Eddie’s. I’ll set my phone here so you can see. It’s a straight shot north.’
‘Thanks.’ Maggie held the phone, listening to it ring. She slowed behind a snowplow as they passed the Congreve Inn. She didn’t want to think about the night she had taken the imposter there, with the canopy, the room service, and the Top Gun tears. Maggie had bought the whole thing.
‘I also checked Yelp. Eddie’s gets five stars, and they say it has great showers. I like a restaurant with a good shower.’
‘Me, too. I order the soap on the side.’
‘It must be a trucker thing.’
Maggie heard a click, and the phone was answered. ‘Hello?’
‘Special Agent Tony Delgado here. To whom am I speaking?’
‘Hi, my name is Maggie Ippoliti and I’m the mother of a seventeen-year-old, Anna Desroches, who went missing from Congreve School last April. I wonder if you can help me.’
‘Ms Ippoliti, it’s after business hours, and I’m on desk duty. This sounds like a matter for the local police, not the FBI.’
Maggie didn’t know the FBI kept business hours, but whatever. ‘They’ve already been contacted, but I think the FBI should get involved, too. There are two other girls who have gone missing, Jamie Covington from Congreve and Samantha Silas from Ardmore, Pennsylvania.’
‘Covington? I remember hearing about that case. That wasn’t a missing persons case. My recollection is she was a runaway.’
‘Maybe that’s what people were saying about it earlier, but I have new information that suggests that it wasn’t.’ Maggie drove behind the snowplow. ‘Jamie Covington was a friend of my daughter’s, and they were also friends with another girl named PG, who waitresses at Eddie’s Diner in Tipton.’
‘Your daughter went missing in April?’
‘Yes, but we just found out about it, and I want to find her.’
‘I can have my supervisor call you during business hours tomorrow.’
‘But do I have to wait until then? Can’t you help me? I’m driving to Tipton to speak with PG.’
‘You’re headed to Tipton now? That’s treacherous weather up north, Ms Ippoliti. You shouldn’t be on the road.’
‘Special Agent Delgado, forgive me if I’m concerned enough to drive around tonight. I’d do that for my cat, for God’s sake.’ Maggie looked in the rearview to see Caleb giving her the thumbs-up.
‘The Governor is about to declare a snow emergency.’
‘He hasn’t yet.’ Maggie accelerated when the snowplow turned off the road and she drove straight onto a single-lane highway leading out of town, mounded with snow on either side.
‘Ms Ippoliti, you’re not going to do your daughter any good if you get into a car accident, or cause one. I’ll have my supervisor call you.’
‘Please do, as soon as possible, at this number. It doesn’t matter how late it is.’
‘Will do, Ms Ippoliti. But please get off the road and leave the policework to the professionals.’
‘It’s not policework, Special Agent Delgado.’ Maggie steered into the storm. ‘It’s what any mother would do.’
Chapter Seventy-three
Noah, After
Noah was released into Cellblock C, where inmates were talking or playing cards at tables with checkerboard tops and stainless-steel stools affixed to the concrete floor. An old TV was mounted underneath the first tier of the cells, playing on mute, and inmates were watching on closed captioning or with old earphones. Another line of inmates stood at two phones, waiting to make calls. There were more COs than Noah would have expected, and he looked up to see COs and officials clustered in front of his cell on the second tier.
Noah scanned the inmates for Drover, but he was nowhere in sight. Drover could have been in his cell, since inmates were permitted to stay in their cells during block time. After last night, Noah couldn’t believe that prison officials would leave both him and Drover in the same cellblock, but changing cells in prison was an administrative problem like any other, and it took time.
Noah spotted Peach and walked toward him, looking around. He didn’t think any trouble would break out when there were so many officials on the second tier, but still. He reached Peach, and they shook hands. ‘You okay? They didn’t write you up?’
‘No.’ Peach half-smiled. ‘I owe you, Dr Kildare.’
‘Not a problem.’
‘What’d you do with it?’
‘Dropped it in the hallway outside. They’ll find it sooner or later, but they can’t link it to C.’ Noah glanced over his shoulder. ‘Where’s John Drover’s cell?’
Peach hesitated. ‘205. Top tier, catty-corner to us on the other side. Don’t look now.’
‘Is he there now?’
‘No. He didn’t come back yet.’
Noah wondered if they had already changed Drover’s cell assignment. ‘Tell me about him.’
‘He runs a gang from Coatesville. It doesn’t matter where he is, anyway. He’s got people.’
‘Why does he think I let Jeremy die?’
‘Because he ended up dead. They get each other’s back.’ Peach pursed his thin lips. ‘Jeremy was in the RHU more than he was out of it. Kid was so damn young. Mouthy, disrespectful, always in fights, and the last one, he pissed off the wrong guy. Drover got the first-aid kit to you for backup.’
‘Who killed Jeremy?’
Peach frowned. ‘I can’t tell you that.’
‘Yes you can.’ Noah needed to know as much as possible to protect himself. He didn’t have a weapon, and information was the next-best thing. ‘Tell me. Or I’ll tell them about the needle.’
‘You’re learning the ropes.’ Peach smiled, admiring. ‘Jimmy Williams.’
‘Is Williams on C too?’
‘Yeah, 207.’ Peach glanced behind him. ‘Dr Kildare, you got trouble. Drover’s going to blame you no matter what.’
‘So what do I do?’
‘Watch your back. You’re on your own. They’ll split us up.’
‘Right.’ Noah could see that Peach wasn’t unhappy about that, which made sense. If Noah was a target, his cellmate would be collateral damage.
‘Think I can get them to move me to a different cellblock?’ Noah had been running possibilities in the back of his mind.
‘It won’t make a difference. Drover’s guys can get you anywhere.’
‘Not anywhere,’ Noah said, looking around for a CO.
Chapter Seventy-four
Maggie, After
Maggie, Kathy, and Caleb stepped inside Eddie’s Diner, looking around. The room was an empty square with a drop ceiling and harsh fluorescent lighting, and in the front half was a cluttered store selling trucking supplies, lights and lenses, reflectors, headphones, air fresheners, tools, and hardware next to a cash register packed with cigarettes, chewing tobacco, gum, candy, and Tristate Megabucks Maine Powerball tickets. The air smelled like dry heat and stale cigarettes, and black-and-white photos of tractor-trailers lined the walls, interspersed with handmade signs: Whoopie Pie Our Specialty and Brake for Moose, It Could Save Your Life.
Kathy looked askance at the moose sign. ‘Does that really need to be said? What’s the alternative? See a moose and hit the gas?’
Caleb laughed, and Maggie hugged him to her side. ‘You hungry, honey?’