FINN
TWENTY MINUTES AFTER FINN LEFT Sean Nast’s office, the young man had come out the front door and headed to a sandwich shop. Then they’d watched as Nast did exactly what Finn had expected—he’d met someone. Just not anyone Finn expected.
“You said this was Adams’s second work exchange in Los Angeles?”
“Huh?” Damon jerked, blinking, from his thoughts. “Right. She did one a couple of years ago— You think that’s how she knows this guy?”
“She clearly knows him.” Finn waved at the pair sitting in the window. “And it’s gotta be related to what’s going on . . . unless the girl I’ve been trying to contact all day just happens to be messing around with the guy who just blew me off.”
“Hope wouldn’t screw around on Karl.” Damon studied the couple. “It must be connected, but it’s not coming together for me.”
It wasn’t coming together for Finn either.
“How well do you know her?” he asked.
“Hope? Of Bobby’s friends, I know her the best. You know how it is. Well, maybe not, but when you marry someone, they bring their friends along. For better or worse. When your wife tells you one of them is coming over, sometimes you suddenly remember library books that need returning. Sometimes you retreat to watch the game or grade papers. And sometimes you say ‘cool’ and stick around. Hope was one I always stuck around for.”
“They’re close, I take it.”
“Friends since high school. Hope’s got her own stuff going on and they might not spend as much time together as they used to, but if you ask Bobby who is her best friend, she’d say Hope. Hope took this work exchange to help Bobby. I’m sure of it. Whatever is happening here, it’s all about that. Helping Bobby.”
Finn waved for Damon to go inside and eavesdrop on the conversation.
TEN MINUTES LATER, Hope Adams was standing and putting on her jacket. Damon came down the restaurant steps and hurried to Finn.
“So . . .” Finn said.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?”
Finn gave him a moment before repeating the question. Damon didn’t answer, only watched the shop door, eyes following Hope as she appeared on the stoop with Nast. They walked down to the sidewalk, still talking.
“What did they say?” Finn asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You couldn’t hear them?”
“I just . . . I have no idea what they were talking about. It didn’t make sense.”
“Code?”
“You use code when you don’t want to be overheard saying something strange, right? If that’s what they were doing, they were totally blowing it, because that was the strangest conversation I’ve ever heard.”
“What did—?”
Finn stopped as a cab pulled to the curb. Nast opened the door for Adams, then closed it behind her.
“Go with her,” Finn said.
“Huh?”
“She already gave me the slip once. Get in that cab. I’ll follow. If she loses me, find out where she’s going, then meet me at the station.”