Going Under_ A Bill Roberts Thriller - Silas Payton Page 0,59

hoped.

He restarted the car and drove out of the parking garage. The sunlight was blinding when he made it outside. He stopped before pulling onto the street and used his good hand to reach for his sunglasses. They were a pair given to him by his daughter for his birthday. They were great at blocking the sun, but he was constantly being harassed by the other cops -- about the blue lenses.

Looking at the time, he knew if he hit every green light, he could just make his meeting in time.

Bill approached the first street light as it turned red, and knew he was in trouble.

Chapter 61

Rick Evans

Evans walked off the elevator and into the homicide department. He was on his way to his office, but stopped by Cathy's desk to let her know he was back.

"I haven't heard from either of the teams I left to watch the doctor's office and the movers. Have they called you at all?" he asked.

"Not yet," she responded. "All's been quiet since I spoke with Cliff. He called a while ago and said he'd found something of interest. He thought he'd be on his way back here shortly."

"Where's Bill?" he asked.

"He went to meet with Bethany, that girl from this morning."

"He what?"

"Apparently, she texted him and asked for a meeting with him alone, to discuss why she made the call to the police last night. At first he hoped to get something to help justify the disastrous raid last night. But, with what we now suspect of Dr. Nelson, Bethany Walker has become a much more important lead, in fact our only lead in finding him."

"He's not in any shape to be going anywhere by himself."

"That's what I told him, but he wasn't listening to me. And he never came back here for me to convince him to take someone along."

"Stubborn," Evans muttered. "I don't like the idea of him being on his own in his condition. Did he say where he was going?"

"No, and he said, he did not want us showing up, jeopardizing his meeting."

"I don't care what he said. He should not be alone. He should not even be out of the hospital!" He pulled out his cell and flipped to Cliff's number. When he answered, Evans asked if he knew anything about Bill's meeting with Bethany.

"No. I don't. Have you tried calling him?" Cliff asked.

"He doesn't want us there. I don't think calling him will get us anywhere."

"Track his phone," said Cliff.

"What do you mean?" asked Evans.

"It's a new feature on the police cell phones. If he has it with him and turned on, we can track where he is using GPS. It's a new app you have to download. You plug in his phone code number and it should tell you where he is."

"Have you tried this?"

"No. I read a memo about it. I'm guessing you didn't," said Cliff.

"I'll see what I can find out. Thanks."

Evans asked Cathy what she knew about it, and it wasn't much. She called the people in the IT department while Evans went on the city police app site. He was able to find the app and download it using his access code, and was trying to figure it out when Cathy got off the phone. She had the ID number for Bill's phone.

"Let's give it a try," he said. He plugged the number in and pressed Go.

A few seconds later, a map showed up on the screen with a flashing dot. Evans was able to zoom in and see the street names.

"I've got him!" Evans said. "I'm going, but he's well ahead. We won't be able to catch up to him before his meeting starts. Are you staying, or coming with me?"

"If that's an invite, I'm coming."

"It's an invite," he said, as they started for the door.

Chapter 62

Bill Roberts

Bill pulled into the closest parking spot he could find, down the road from the Sydenham Street Coffee Shop. He took his chances and ran five red lights to get there on time. The clock on the dashboard read two minutes to eleven.

Bill used his good hand to open the car door. It was a short walk to the cafe, but he wasn't sure how he was going to make it. Each step felt like his shoulder wound was tearing apart. The makeshift wrap was holding the gauze firmly in place, however, it was causing his shirt, or what was left of it, to creep up. About every twenty feet he had to stop,