JULIE CLAMBERED UP the vine and slipped inside her bedroom window. She squatted on the floor listening. All she could hear were her own heartbeats. Her legs shaky, she moved down the stairs, holding on to the wall for support. She rounded the bend, closed her eyes, and then opened them.
It was all she could do not to scream.
Robie stared back at her.
“You get around,” he said.
She looked quickly around the room. There was nothing there except furniture.
“Expecting to find something else?” he said, moving toward her.
She backed up a step.
“How did you get here?” she asked.
“Followed you.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible really. This is your home, right?”
She said nothing, just stared up at him, more in curiosity than fear.
He looked at a picture on a side table. “Your mom and dad were nice-looking. And there you are right in the center. Happy times, it seems.”
“You don’t know anything,” snapped Julie.
“Correction, I know some things. Like you’re in danger. People are looking for you. People who have a lot of money, muscle, and connections.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because they covered up two murders right here.”
Julie’s eyes widened. “How did you know that?”
Robie motioned to the wall next to where she stood. “Fresh paint. But only in that spot. It was put there to cover something up.” He pointed to the floor. “Used to be a square of carpet here. You can see where the wood is lighter. It’s gone. Again, covering something up.”
“How do you know it’s about a murder? It could be anything.”
“No, not anything. You paint walls and remove rugs to take away forensics. Blood, tissue, other bodily fluids. And they missed a spot of blood on the baseboard over there. Did you expect to find their bodies here? There would have been a smell by now, you know. An unmistakable one.”
“You spend a lot of time around dead bodies?” she said warily.
“Ever since I hooked up with you.”
“We’re not hooked up in any way at all.”
“I know about your foster parents, though calling them ‘parents’ stretches all credulity.”
“I don’t like that you’ve been snooping around my life,” she exclaimed.
“The city busted them,” he said. “The other kids there have been taken away by now. I think you had something to do with that.”
Julie’s angry look faded. “They didn’t deserve to be treated like that. No little kid does.”
“Now tell me what happened here.”
“Why?”
“Like I said, I want to help you.”
“Why?”
“Call me a Good Samaritan.”
“There aren’t any of those left,” she said firmly.
“Not even your parents?”
“You leave my parents out of this,” she said sharply.
“Did you see how they died? Is that why you were on the run?”
Julie backed up until she was against the wall. For a moment Robie thought she was going to run for it. And he wasn’t sure what he would do if she did.
“Were they mixed up in something over their heads?” he asked. “Drugs?”
“My mom and dad wouldn’t hurt anyone. And no, this had nothing to do with drugs.”
“So they were killed? Just a simple nod will do.”
She moved her head forward a notch.
“You saw that happen?”
Another nod.
“Then you need to go to the police.”
“If I go to the police they’ll put me right back in foster care. And then those people will find me.”
“The guy on the bus, he was the one?”
“I think so.”
“Julie, tell me exactly what happened. It’s the only way I can help you. If last night showed you nothing else, it’s that I’m someone who can get things done.”
“What about those people on the TV. Did you kill them? A mom and her kid? You said you didn’t do it, but I need to know the truth.”
“Well, if I did kill them there’s no way in the world I would admit it. But if I did do it why would I be here trying to help you? Give me a reason.”
She let out a long breath, played with the straps on her backpack. “Do you swear you didn’t kill them?”
“I swear I didn’t kill them. I’m working with the FBI right now to try and figure out who did.” He pulled out his badge and showed it to her.
Julie said, “Okay. I guess it’s cool. I got away from the Dixons and came here last night. I hadn’t been home very long when I heard someone come in. I thought it was my parents, but someone else was with them. He was yelling at them. Asking them stuff.”