Robie was thinking, Did the homeless woman Diana Jordison get past Blue Man’s guys and go to the FBI? If so, she might tell Vance about her meeting with me.
“Her name is Michele Cohen. I don’t have the other information yet, but I will soon enough. Give me a call when you’re on your way.”
They parted company at the door. Robie hustled back to his car and drove off. He got on the phone to Blue Man and filled him in.
The man’s remarks were terse. “I would stay away from this eyewitness if I were you.”
“I think I had that one covered on my own. But find out what you can about her. Do you h
ave Jordison?”
“She’s doing fine and eating quite well. She’s cleaned up and has new clothes. Does our help include finding her suitable employment?”
“Yes, it does, preferably somewhere other than here. And make sure she gets a nice bump in salary over what she was making.”
Robie clicked off and sped up. Something had just occurred to him. He needed to talk to Julie. And he didn’t want to do it over the phone.
She was waiting for him when he opened the door.
“I’m not sure how much longer I can just sit in this place and do nothing, Will.”
He closed and locked the door behind him. He sat across from her. She wore jeans, a sweatshirt, lime green Converse tennis shoes, and an exasperated attitude.
“I’m juggling lots of balls,” he said. “I’m doing the best I can.”
“I don’t want to be one of the little balls you’re juggling,” she shot back.
“I’ve got a question for you. Depending on how you answer might change the complexity of everything.”
“What is it?”
“Why the bus? More particularly, why that bus on that night?”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s a simple question, Julie. There are lots of ways you could’ve gotten out of town. Why did you choose that way?”
If her answer was what he thought it would be, things were going to get more complicated than they already were. His head started to throb at that possibility.
“My mom sent me a note.”
“How? You said you didn’t have a cell phone.”
“She sent the note to my school. She did that a lot. They put it in your mailbox and they send an email to your advisor that a student has a note. I went to the office and got it.”
“When did she send it?”
“I guess the day I left the Dixons’. It was hand-delivered.”
“Did the office say your mom had delivered it?”
“No, I just assumed.”
“What did the note say?”
“It said to come home that night. That my mom and dad were going to make some changes. Get a fresh start.”
“Sounds like they were moving.”
“I wasn’t sure about that, but I knew that could be a possibility. All I know is as soon as I got the note I wanted to get out of the Dixons’ house. I dropped off those photographs of them at the foster care agency that night.”
“But what about the bus?”
“That was in my note too. Mom said if they weren’t home when I got there I was to go to the Outta Town bus station and take the 112 bus to New York City. They would meet me at the Port Authority Bus Terminal the next morning. They put cash in the envelope that came with the note.”
“Did you recognize your mom’s handwriting?”
“It was typed.”
“Did she often send you typed notes?”
“Sometimes. She used the computer at the diner. They have a printer too.”
“Why not just come to the school and talk to you directly?”
“She wasn’t allowed to. I was in foster care. They wouldn’t have let her in to see me. But she could drop off a note at the office.”
Robie sat back.
She stared pointedly at him. “You think my mom didn’t write that note?”
“What about that guy in the alley with the rifle? If they wanted us to get away, why send him after us? The bus had already blown up.”
“At first I thought it was a change of plan on their part. They didn’t want me to live, but then they did. But now I think their plan all along was for me to walk away. But they knew I’d get suspicious if they made it look too easy.”
“Easy!”
“I have higher standards than most people, at least when it comes to survival. They had to send someone else after me. It was probably the shooter from the Winds’ apartment.”
“But if they wanted you to live and me too, that means they need us