Returning to the patrol car with the intent of asking Lindy if she knew when Sam had left, he was stunned. The seat was empty. Danny’s mother was gone, too.
* * *
“Thanks for offering me a lift,” Lindy told Samantha.
“No problem. The chief said he was finished with you and me for now. He’ll want us to look at pictures of criminals later, but until then we may as well go home. I couldn’t see either of us sitting there, stewing and twiddling our thumbs, any longer than absolutely necessary.”
“There’s more to your kindness than that, I know. And I don’t mind. Not really. You’ve been good to my son and me in spite of all you know about us.”
“Danny needed my help and I gave it gladly.” She took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at her passenger. The woman’s hands were clasped in her lap so tightly that her knuckles were almost white.
“I was just doing what I thought was best,” Lindy said softly. “And now look at the mess I’ve made.”
“It’s not all your fault. If your husband wasn’t involved with criminals Danny would still be with you.” She paused to give her words time to sink in before adding, “I think you should tell me everything. Even the smallest detail may help. You must have noticed odd things about Ben’s behavior.”
“I certainly did.” Lindy slewed sideways in the seat so she was facing Samantha. “He’s been hard to please for as long as we’ve been married, but lately he’s gotten much worse. It’s as if I’m living with a totally different person. Know what I mean?”
“Oh, yes. My father had a Jekyll and Hyde personality, only the change in him was caused by too much alcohol. Does Ben drink?”
“No. Not a drop. Until recently he’s seemed pretty happy about everything.”
“He changed that drastically?”
Lindy nodded. “Yes. He kept coming home from work more wired than I’d ever seen him and then losing his temper over the stupidest things, like how his steak was cooked or whether Danny remembered his table manners. It was scary. I never knew what was going to set him off.”
“How about his friends? Did they notice anything?”
“Lot of them started avoiding us. I guess they were as puzzled as I was when Ben was so on edge all the time. He had meetings at night, too. Secret meetings. I was supposed to be sleeping but I saw men come and go at odd hours, sometimes two or three times a night.”
“Drugs?” Samantha asked.
“If it was, Ben wasn’t taking them himself.” She shuddered with a stifled sob and chewed her lower lip. “I suppose it might have been that kind of thing. I just don’t see how a man like my husband got involved with criminals or what his role could have been. He spent his days sitting in a stuffy office, not roaming around the streets.”
“He works as a CPA, right?”
“Not exactly. He’s an investment counselor.” She named a well-respected firm. “Basically, he tells people how to use their money to make the most profit.”
Sam’s eyebrows arched and her eyes widened as she made the connection. “Money? That sounds familiar. What did his bosses at work have to say about the fact that he’s now a wanted fugitive?”
“They didn’t like it a bit when the police contacted them and told them what had happened at the hospital. They sent a representative to interview me right away. When I assured them the incident had nothing to do with Ben’s job, they told me I’d better hope I was right because they were going to start an audit of his accounts.”
“They did? Do the police know about that?”
Lindy shrugged. “I suppose so. They investigated the firm when they were looking for clues to where Ben had gone, so they must.”
“How about you? Do you have any idea where he might be?” The other woman’s hesitation told Sam as much as her words would have and she had to bite her tongue to keep from insisting on an immediate explanation.
Finally, Lindy sighed. “There was a summer cabin we used to visit, this side of Mountain View,” she said. “I haven’t been there in so long I doubt I could find it.”
“What about using GPS?”
“You’d have to have coordinates to start with and I have no idea what those might be. All I remember is it was a little way off the main road that leads to Sylamore. It could be anywhere up in the hills. That’s really rough terrain and there are a lot of unmarked dirt trails.”