Billy’s mobile rang as the elevator doors opened onto the CJC’s mezzanine floor.
“Where do you want to meet?” he said to Frankie, as he walked along the mezzanine railing. Below him people crowded the atrium, waiting for their court cases to be called.
“Something’s come up,” she said.
She sounded off her feet. A ten-hour night shift takes it out of you.
“You hungry? How about if you do what you have to do, and we’ll meet at the Arcade. I have photos to show you.”
“I can’t. A friend had surgery and I may have to stay with her.”
A kid ran through the atrium, screeching his head off. The sound bounced off the ceiling and fed back over the phone.
“Can’t we—”
“It’ll have to wait,” she said, cutting him off.
A woman from below laughed and clapped her hands. He looked down as the echo amplified over the phone. Suddenly Frankie came into view, walking quickly away from the stairwell door and through the crowd, her phone to her ear.
“Where are you?” he asked, incredulous.
“At the Baptist East Hospital in the lobby. I’m about to take an elevator.”
The elevator in the atrium binged. The doors opened, and people maneuvered their way out. The last person was a heavyset woman, her arms wrapped around a cardboard box. She glanced about as if uncertain of which way to go. Frankie, almost to the bank of elevators, stopped dead, as if poleaxed by the sight of the woman with the box.
“Hold on,” she whispered and stepped behind a concrete pillar. The woman, casting about, got her bearings and made her way toward the main exit. She stopped briefly to speak to Dave Jansen, a detective Billy knew from the burglary squad.
Frankie peered from behind the column, tracking the woman’s progress. Not only was she lying to him, she was acting weird as hell.
“Sorry to leave you hanging,” she said in a husky voice.
“How about giving me a quick rundown on what you found on Davis and Lucy. We can get into the details later.”
“I’ll have to get back with you. Bye.” She ducked from behind the pillar and headed for the back exit.
Mystified, he took out a pad and made a note of Jansen’s name.