Little Girl Gone - By Battles, Brett Page 0,36
the guy wouldn’t be following them anymore.
19
Taking the first exit, Logan circled around and got back onto the freeway, heading west.
“Jesus. You’re insane, aren’t you?” Angie finally said once they were cruising down the freeway. She let out a half laugh, like she was just joking, but he knew she wasn’t. “You’re going to take me back to my car now, right?”
He didn’t say anything.
When they reached the 405, he went north.
“Hey, it’s the other way,” she said.
He remained silent.
“I’m serious. I need to get my car and get out of here.” When he still didn’t respond, she said, “Are you even listening to me? Turn this damn thing around, and take me to my car!”
“I believe you promised to answer some questions.”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Fine. I’ll answer your stupid questions. Just take me back to my car.”
“Questions first.”
She groaned, then leaned against the door like she was trying to get as far away from him as possible.
“Where’s Elyse?” he asked.
“How the hell should I know? She was going to go visit her grandfather.”
“Where’s Elyse?”
“Seriously, dude. You really aren’t listening to me.”
“Where is Elyse?”
“Stop asking me that, God dammit!”
“I’ll stop when you give me a real answer.”
“I gave you a real answer.”
“You gave me a lie.”
“The hell I did. I have no idea where she is.”
“All right,” he said. “Then let me rephrase. What happened to her?”
“I don’t know.” Though she tried to sell it, some of the conviction had left her voice.
Around them, the traffic began to slow just a little as they neared the crest of the Sepulveda Pass.
“I think you do know, but are too scared to tell me.”
“Go to hell.”
“Why was that guy after you?”
“What guy?”
Logan looked over, his face hard. She was still sitting as far away as possible, her head against the metal frame of the cab, trying to look innocent. In quick succession, he punched the accelerator, tapped on the brakes. The result was the satisfying thunk of her head hitting the car’s frame.
“Ah! What the—”
“Why was that guy after you?” he asked again.
“You did that on purpose.”
“We can drive all night, or you can start talking now.”
She sulked in her corner.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “What I can also do is take you to the police. Tell them you’re involved in the disappearance of your roommate. That you probably also have something to do with the death of her friend Anthony.”
“What?” she said, surprised.
“Didn’t you know that?”
“I…I…”
Glancing over, he could see that, though she might not have actually known about it, she at least suspected something had happened to Anthony.
“They’re going to want to know all about you and your buddies Aaron and Ryan.”
“Hey, they’re not my friends.”
Logan shrugged. “But you were working with them.”
She said nothing, confirming he was right.
They passed the transition to the 101 and kept going north.
“What happened to Elyse?”
More silence. He was about to ask again when she finally spoke. “They took her.”
“Who took her?”
“I don’t know exactly. Aaron, I guess. A few others. I wasn’t there.”
“When did it happen?”
“Monday night. When she was with…Anthony.”
That answered that. “Where were they taking her?”
“I have no idea.”
He said nothing.
“Seriously,” she said. “I don’t know. I was just trying to make some extra money, that’s all.”
“You need to tell me what happened. Everything.”
She moaned loudly, as if it would be too painful for her to speak. But then she said, “Look, I got myself into some trouble, all right?”
“What kind of trouble?”
She paused, then said, “I took some money. A lot. Ten grand. Well, a lot to me, anyway. I didn’t think it was a lot to them. Thought I was being clever, taking a little here and there. But I needed the cash more than they did, you know?”
“More then who did?”
“The company I worked for. H. Wick Medical Supplies. I worked in accounts payable. Just a clerk, processing invoices. One day I came in and these lawyers were waiting for me in the conference room. They laid out copies of all the phony invoices I’d passed through. Said they were going to have me arrested.”
“Did they?”
She shook her head. “I was fired on the spot, and I spent the next two weeks waiting at home for the police to show up. Only instead of the police, this other guy knocks on my door. Totally professional looking, know what I mean? Expensive suit and nice shoes.”
“Was he from your former employer?”
“No.”
“The law firm?”
“He could have been, but he never said. He just gave me his name, Mr. Andrews,