Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

suspended?’
    ‘No.’ But he looked away. ‘Leave me alone.’
    ‘Don’t take that tone with me, boy. I had to take time out of my schedule today to meet with your guidance counselor. She says if you get suspended one more time, you’re out. I’ll have to find you another school. I don’t have time for that just now. So whatever the hell you just did, it better not be a suspendable offence. You got me?’
    Cole glared down at him. ‘Loud and clear. Sir.’
    Mitch flinched when the door slammed in his face. He knocked again. ‘I’ve got an HVAC job tonight. Office building, so it’s an after-hours job. I should be home by the time you have to go to school tomorrow, but if I’m not, you’d better get your ass out of bed and go to school.’
    ‘Fine. Whatever.’
    Meaning no , Mitch thought. He’d figure out what to do about Cole when he got home. Tonight he would be in West Virginia. Beckett had to have figured out by now that Ford was in the hospital in Wheeling. If I were Beckett and that kid had seen my face, that’s the first place I’d go .
    Mitch took out his keys and jangled them in his hand. ‘The van’s having engine problems, so I’m taking the Jeep. I saw a pile of your schoolbooks in the back seat. Do you need any of them tonight, to maybe do . . . I don’t know. Homework? ’
    Silence met his ears and Mitch felt a dull ache behind his eyes. I wish to God you were still here, Mom . Because that kid’s making me crazy .
    His mother still would have been here had it not been for Daphne. Just one more reason she needed to pay.
    ‘When I get back from this job we need to talk, Cole,’ Mitch said quietly. ‘I want a better path for you than the one you’re on. Please go to school tomorrow.’ More silence met his ears and Mitch let out a frustrated sigh. ‘Just don’t get into any new trouble till I get back. Okay?’
    His head pounding, he got into the Jeep and left for West Virginia. At least everything was moving in the right direction there. And it was only a matter of time before Mutt’s daddy would be getting a visit from his very unhappy Russian boss.
    Things could be a lot worse, all in all.
    Wheeling, West Virginia, Wednesday, December 4, 4.30 P.M.
    There was something illicit about adjoining hotel rooms, Daphne thought as she watched Joseph slide her key card through the lock. He went in first, put her bag on the dresser, and proceeded to check every window, nook and cranny for . . . for what?
    ‘I don’t think a killer could fit in there,’ she said when he opened the tiny microwave in the kitchenette.
    He slanted her a look. ‘Camera might.’
    Her eyes widened. ‘Camera?’
    ‘He used one to rob Trooper Gargano.’ He checked the cupboards. ‘I’m nervous that we’re here, that Ford was found here, that you used to live here. Feels like a trap.’
    She wished he was teasing her. But he wasn’t. He was on high alert and had directed Hector to be as well. The Vice detective was currently patrolling the perimeter of the hotel, checking exits, watching for anyone who looked like Doug.
    He checked all the vents, then shut off the lights and pulled the draperies closed, pitching the room into total darkness. ‘I’m looking for pinpricks of light,’ he said, even though she hadn’t asked. ‘Holes that could be drilled.’
    ‘Wouldn’t they have to know we were staying in this room?’
    ‘Or they could have bribed the clerk at the front desk,’ he said, as if not believing she could be so naïve. He had a point. She was purposely being obtuse. Defense mechanism, right up there with her Stepford face. He unlocked the door between their rooms, then left through the hall door. ‘I’ll be right back,’ he promised, then shut the door, again plunging her into darkness.
    She could sit down, put her feet up. It was a mini-suite, with a sofa and a kitchenette and a bedroom with a separate door. She could move, but she didn’t. She could turn on a light, but she didn’t do that, either.
    Because something was going to happen. She could feel it. Blindly she put her purse on the kitchen counter, listening.
    Joseph was in his room. She could hear him doing all the checks he’d already done in her room. The deadbolt on the other side of the adjoining door was thrown and . . .
    Her heart was pounding and had been since they’d come up in the elevator. His jaw had been clenched, his fists shoved in the pockets of his coat. His expression dark.
    She might