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She had just started to explain her theory to the lieutenant when the bar door opened again. It was her father, and he immediately ran to her and gave her a hug. When he finally let go, she could tell he was inspecting her for injuries.
“Dad, I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
After speaking to the police, Laurie had used Charlotte’s phone to ask Leo if he could meet Timmy back at the apartment. She had hated to interrupt whatever dinner obligation he had, but she didn’t want Timmy left to wait at a friend’s house with no explanation.
“Don’t worry. Timmy’s in excellent hands. His babysitter just texted that she made it to the apartment minutes before him and they’re now becoming fast friends.”
“Fast friends? Dad, I’m sorry I dragged you out of your dinner, but you can’t just hire a stranger on a second’s notice to watch Timmy.”
“It’s not a stranger,” he said, suddenly flustered. She had never seen her father be so clumsy about making a point. “She’s very trustworthy. In fact,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper only she could hear, “she’s the chief judge of the federal district court.”
Laurie didn’t think anything could make her smile, but that did the trick. She pictured her father at dinner—on a date—with Chief Judge Russell. He must have called her after they met at Alex’s induction last week. Then, forced to leave early, he would have explained the urgent circumstances. Now he was here, and she was keeping his grandson company.
“Well, if it all works out, you’ll certainly have an interesting first date story,” she teased.
“Sorry to have to make an executive decision on the fly, but Alex called me in a panic as Maureen and I were leaving the restaurant. He was going to miss the rest of his conference to fly back here tonight until I assured him I was on my way to the scene of the crime.”
After calling Leo, Laurie had phoned Alex in D.C. She had tried to mitigate the severity of the incident, but she should have known how worried he would be.
Lieutenant Flannigan interrupted to introduce himself. “It’s an honor to meet you, Commissioner.”
“Call me Leo. I thought you all might have moved to the station house to talk to detectives by the time I got here.”
“I figured we’d send the detective to the witness tonight, under the circumstances. Laurie was just telling me about the man who might have been following her last week.”
“What man?” he asked, clearly alarmed. “Someone was following you?”
“I thought I was imagining things at the time,” she said, explaining her decision not to mention her fears earlier. “Now? I’m not so sure. It’s a stretch, but if Kendra hired someone to kill her husband, she certainly could have hired him to find out how close we’re getting to the truth. My notes and my laptop were in my bag, and now they’re gone.” In truth, her notes contained nothing but conjecture. If anything, the man from the Beehive would be comforted by the fact that she’d gotten no further than the police in determining his identity.
Leo shook his head. “It’s not just your notes, Laurie. Charlotte told me what happened. You were pushed in front of a car. You could’ve been killed.”
“That would certainly be one way of halting your investigation,” Flannigan said drily. She had been terrified when she saw that taxi headed toward her, but she hadn’t let herself think about the possibility that someone had actually been trying to kill her. “Or,” Flannigan added, “it was just a random mugging. No way to know unless we find him.”
She could tell that he was not optimistic.