Page 53 of Stay Awake
“Getting even?”
“Yes. You can’t imagine what some people will do to settle a score.”
His voice trailed off as the word “Landed” appeared on his screen. He immediately dialed the owner’s number.
Halliday listened to Lavelle’s side of the conversation as she drove. The owner of the apartment was obviously shocked at first to hear that a murder had been committed in his apartment. His shock was quickly followed by concern. He wanted to know how much damage had been caused.
Lavelle told him the police department had arranged for the windowpane to be replaced since it was needed as evidence.
“Otherwise there’s no damage and not much blood. You could get a cleaning service to steam-clean the mattress and carpet,” he said. “Or you might want to replace them both given what happened in there.Either way, you’ll probably need someone to clean up the place. For one thing, the fingerprint powder leaves a residue on all the surfaces it’s brushed on,” Lavelle told him.
“He sounded more worried about the state of his apartment than that a man was murdered in his bed,” Halliday remarked when the call was over, flicking a sideways glance at Lavelle as she drove. “Did he tell you what you wanted to know?”
“The apartment was booked via a short-stay bookings website. The name of the guy who booked it is James E. Carter Jr. He put down his home address as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
“That’s the address of the White House,” said Halliday.
“Yes, it is. The owner didn’t notice he’d been given a fake address and the name of our thirty-ninth president. His main concern was that the payment went through. It did. He charges three hundred dollars a night plus tax. His guest paid for a week up front.”
“How did the guest pay?”
“Visa,” said Lavelle.
“We should be able to get a name for him from the credit card company. Hopefully, the card wasn’t stolen along with the fake address and Jimmy Carter’s name,” Halliday said.
An international call with a UK country code flashed on her phone screen. Halliday answered it on the hands-free system.
“Is this Detective Halliday?” asked a woman with a clipped British accent.
“Yes, it is.”
“Detective Halliday, this is Marcia Nichols. I’m calling from London. I heard via Scotland Yard that you might have found Liv Reese?”
“We haven’t found her yet,” Halliday clarified. “We saw the Interpol missing person alert and I contacted Scotland Yard for more information. What is your involvement in this?”
“I’m Liv’s social worker,” Marcia said. “I was the one who asked the police to file a missing person report when we couldn’t locate her.We’ve been awfully worried about her. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but Liv has a condition that makes her quite vulnerable.”
“What can you tell me about her condition?” Halliday asked.
“Well, it’s rather complicated. Maybe I should start at the beginning.”
“Go ahead,” said Halliday, signaling to take a left turn.
“Liv moved to London about two years ago after she was almost killed. Attempted murder, I believe. The killer got away.”
“Do you know the specifics of what happened?” Halliday asked.
“I’m afraid I don’t,” said the social worker. “Neither did Liv.”
“What do you mean?”
“Liv was in a coma after the incident. She never remembered what happened. She moved to London afterward to start afresh. As far as I know, her life here was relatively normal. In fact, from what we can tell, she had no memory problems other than being unable to remember the incident in which she was almost killed. That’s perfectly normal given that she’d been unconscious for days afterward. In fact, it was probably a blessing in disguise.”
“The Scotland Yard detective told me that she’s suffering from a memory blackout,” Halliday said, pulling to a stop at a red traffic light. “When did that start?”
“As best we can tell, it began five weeks ago.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
