Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini Read Free Book Online Page B

get my business card into evidence.
    Katia seems happy, even if surprised, to see me. Why she didn’t think to use my business card to call, I’m not sure. And I don’t ask.
    “I guess we should start at the beginning, why you took the bus?” says Harry.
    This isn’t exactly the beginning I might have started with, wondering instead how she met Emerson Pike and how their relationship developed. But I leave it to Harry for the moment.
    “If you wanted to return to Costa Rica, why not fly?” says Harry. “There are direct flights to points south out of San Diego.”
    “I couldn’t,” she says. “The first place Emerson would have looked for me was the airport.”
    “Emerson Pike was dead,” says Harry.
    “I did not know that. All I know is that he was alive when I left the house.” She looks at me on this. “You must believe me. I knew he would follow me. And the first place he would go would be the airport in San Diego. Besides, I didn’t have enough money to take a plane.”
    “Let’s talk about that, the money,” says Harry. “Pike’s wallet, the one the cops found on the bed, had your fingerprints on it. Did you know that?”
    She shakes her head no, and then says, “Of course. I am not surprised. I took the money from his wallet. I already told the police that. I needed the money for the, how do you say? The
boleto.
”
    “The ticket,” I say.
    “For the boose.” She is talking about the bus. “It was the only way I could get away from Emerson. He wouldn’t give me money. And he wouldn’t let me go.”
    Harry is standing less than two feet from her, one foot on a chair, looking down at her. This is one of his favorite postures when he’s visiting someone in jail and wants answers. “Why wouldn’t he let you go?”
    “I don’t know.” She looks at him, shaking her head. “He wouldn’t tell me. I asked him, over and over again. But he refused to tell me. He said he loved me. But I know that wasn’t true.”
    My partner shoots me a cynical glance. Harry is thinking, older man, younger woman, the oldest reason on earth.
    Katia’s darting eyes vacuum up Harry’s thoughts. “No. Es not that,” she says. “It’s something else. It’s something to do with the pictures. I’m sure.”
    “What pictures?” I ask.
    She spends several minutes telling us about the photographs taken by her mother in Colombia the year before and the fact that Emerson Pike seemed to be obsessed with these the moment he found them in her camera. She tells us that it was then that Pike first suggested they take a trip north to the States to stay at his house near San Diego, and about Emerson’s wizardry in obtaining a short-order visa for her, as if on demand.
    Harry has a puzzled look. “How long did you say the visa took?”
    “Three days.”
    Harry makes a note. “Easy enough to check it out,” he says.
    Katia tells us about her mother who, as far as she knows, is still down in Colombia, visiting relatives. Emerson was having Katia call home every day, checking to see if her mother had gotten home yet, back to Costa Rica. According to Katia, although she can’t prove it, she is certain that Emerson was not going to take her back to Costa Rica until Katia’s mother was back there, and maybe not even then. Emerson Pike’s captive. This may be the best defense she has, perhaps the only one.
    “Why didn’t you go to the police, or the Costa Rican consulate?” I ask. “If you’d gone to them, you wouldn’t be in this mess now. They would have provided assistance. You know that.”
    She looks at me sheepishly. “I couldn’t be sure of that. Emerson was a powerful man. He had a great deal of money. He would have friends in the police. Look at how quickly he was able to get the visa for me to come here.” She has every explanation in the book for not making two simple phone calls.
    “Did he ever hit you?” Harry plumbs the depths and comes up empty.
    “No.”
    “Did he ever lock you up, confine