that?”
Mike gave a little smile. “Number one, to intimidate you just in case you changed your mind. Number two, your condo complex is isolated.” Mike ticked off the point on his fingers. “Number three, he’s bound to have a different car by now, and none of the residents will recognize it parked in the visitor’s lot. Number four, he could even have changed his appearance, bleached his hair, dressed in clothing he didn’t normally wear, things like that. And number five, he might think that you got the money from Doug already and you’re keeping it until Monday so that we can set a trap for him.”
Hannah’s eyes widened in shock and surprise. “But I thought I’d convinced Ross that I still loved him and I wanted to help him get the money so that I could marry him again!”
“Look, Hannah,” Mike slipped an arm around her shoulders. “For you, that was an Academy Award performance. But don’t forget that Ross knows you pretty well. And he knows that he hurt you deeply and you’re not the type of woman to simply sit there and take it. He may suspect that you’re trying to trap him. And if he does, he may come to the condo to confront you again and scare you into submission. There’s no way we’ll leave you alone tonight and take the chance that Ross might come there to hurt you.”
Hannah began to feel anxious again. She’d been so sure that she’d convinced Ross, but perhaps Mike was right to be cautious. “All right, Mike. You’re probably wise not to take chances. But . . . what are you going to do if Ross does show up?”
“He’s threatened to hurt you, but that’s your word against his. It won’t stand up in a court of law. And he doesn’t have a history of physical abuse toward you, does he?”
“No! Never! That’s why I have trouble believing that he’d actually do anything violent.”
“We already asked his wife about that. She claims Russ never laid a hand on her all the time they were married.”
“Russ?” Hannah asked, catching the name that Mike had used.
“Yes, Russell Burton. That’s the name he used with her.”
Hannah felt slightly faint. “That’s the name he used on the storage locker in Minneapolis! The supervisor thought that the temporary secretary they used when they transferred over to their new computer system simply misread the name!”
Mike nodded. “Ross has probably used a couple of different names in different places.”
Hannah closed her eyes and winced as another possibility occurred to her. “Ross used Russell Burton with her and Ross Barton with me and with Lynne. Do you think that he could have more than one wife?”
“It’s possible.” Mike gave a little shrug. “Criminals often change their names when they go to new locations. For all we know, Ross’s real name could be John Jones, or something ordinary like that.”
“But don’t most people keep their initials? Ross had personalized velveteen lounge suits with the initials RB on them. He loved those outfits and he wore them all the time when he was home with me.”
“There are a lot of names that begin with those initials, Hannah,” Lonnie pointed out. “Ross could have been Robert Barnes, or Ralph Burns. Just look in a big-city phone book and you’ll find a bunch of people with the initials RB.”
Hannah nodded. “You’re probably right, Lonnie. It’s just that . . . I’ve never encountered anyone who went by multiple names before.”
“You might have encountered some without knowing it,” Mike told her. “Most con men change their names when they travel from place to place. That makes it more difficult for the authorities to track them.”
“Yes, I know about things like that, but I never thought that . . .” Hannah stopped and swallowed hard. “I hate to think I got taken in by someone like that. I thought that since I’d known Ross in college and he used the same name then, he was the man I knew from before!”
Mike looked thoughtful. “I think I’d better give Lynne Larchmont a call. I’d like to find out if Ross, or Russ, or whoever he really is ever threatened her.”
“Lynne told me that she had bruises from the time he grabbed her,” Hannah told him. “I had dinner with her last night.”
Mike turned to Lonnie. “You stick with Michelle tonight. I don’t want her going out to Hannah’s condo alone. Stop at the Corner Tavern or Bertanelli’s Pizza and use the department credit