young blood in the place. I’m feeling old.”
“You are old,” said the woman. “Really old.” She looked at Julie kindly. “Where are you moving here from, honey?”
“Jersey,” said Julie promptly. “I hear it’s warmer down here.”
“What part of Jersey?” asked the woman. ‘That’s where we’re from.”
“Wayne,” said Julie. “It’s nice there, but my dad got transferred.”
“Wayne is very nice,” said the woman.
Julie looked at Robie. “Mom said about forty-five minutes. She’s stuck in traffic.”
“Everybody’s stuck in traffic in this area,” said the old man. “Hell, you can be a pedestrian in this town and get stuck in traffic.”
“Come on, we’ll let you in,” said the woman. “No sense you standing around out here.”
Robie took the woman’s bag of groceries and they rode the elevator up to the sixth floor, where they left the old couple. The woman gave Julie a cookie from the bag and pinched her cheek.
“You look just like my great-granddaughter. Hope we see a lot of you if you move in here.”
Robie and Julie rode the elevator back down to the fourth floor and got off.
“Nice work back there,” said Robie. “They might have tripped you up, though, being from Jersey too.”
“I’ve been to Wayne. First rule, don’t say you’re from someplace you’ve never been.”
“Good rule.”
They found Apartment 410. It was at the end of a hall with no other door facing it. Robie scanned the hall for a surveillance camera but found none. He knocked on 410 three times without an answer.
‘Turn around and face out into the hall,” he told Julie.
“Are you going to pick the lock?”
“Just turn around.”
It took Robie all of five seconds. The lock was not a deadbolt. One slender piece of metal did the trick as opposed to two.
They stepped inside and he closed the door behind them.
“I guess this makes us felons,” said Julie.
“It might.”
The place smelled of fried foods. It was furnished sparingly, the rooms were few, and there was no one there. They stood in the middle of the living room. Robie surveyed the area.
“It’s a little too clean, don’t you think?” he said.
“Maybe they’re neatniks.”
He shook his head. “This place has been scrubbed.”
Julie looked up at him. “You mean?”
“I don’t know if anything happened to the Broomes, Julie. Maybe they’re okay. But someone has wiped this place down, and whoever did it knew what he was doing.”
Julie gazed around the space. “Should we check for prints or something?”
“Waste of time. We need to find out what Leo Broome did.”
“We can go to the hair salon and ask around.”
“I have a better idea. You can go to the hair salon and ask around. I don’t want to tip anyone off to what we’re doing. Folks are less likely to suspect a kid.”
“I’m not a kid. I’m practically old enough to drive.”
“But they’ll open up to you. They know you, right?”
“Yeah. I’ve been there lots of times.”
They left the building and drove off in the Volvo.
“You think the Broomes are dead, don’t you?” she asked.
“Based on what happened to your parents and the condition of the Broomes’ apartment, yeah, I think they’re probably dead. But then again, if Ida Broome is at the hair salon, I’ll be proved wrong.”
“I hope you’re wrong, Will.”
“Me too.”
CHAPTER
44
WHILE ROBIE WAITED outside in the car, Julie entered the hair salon. It was full of customers and her gaze darted around, noting the stylists working there today.
Ida Broome was not among them.
The smells of hair care products and perming solutions filled her lungs as she walked over to the reception desk. A constant chatter also permeated the place as stylists and patrons discussed the latest gossip.
“Julie, right?” said the young woman behind the counter. She looked college-age and wore black slacks and a low-cut top that revealed a flower tat near the top of her left breast. Her haircut, understandably, was very hip.
“Yep. Is Ida in today? I was hoping to get my bangs trimmed.”
Julie was praying that Ida was in the back, or maybe taking a smoke break in the alley behind the salon, but the woman shook her head. “She was supposed to be in at ten, but she never showed. I called her place, but no one answered. Really put us behind. She had seven cuts, two perms and a coloring scheduled today. Her clients were not happy when I called them to cancel.”
“I wonder what happened,” said Julie.
“Maybe some emergency came up.”
“Maybe it did,” said Julie slowly.
“I might be able to get Maria to do your bangs. She has an open